and which one did you leave? and why?

Bought into canon, never left.

I bought a fuji compact. Dont know why, I barely use it.

Started off with a Praktica film SLR kit in 1988 because it’s all I could afford. Bought into Nikon when the Praktica broke a year or so later after having played with one. Been with Nikon ever since.

My sister was into Canon so I have experience of them but never liked the ergonomics.

Nikon have kept the same mount on their DSLRs, so the choice of classic used lenses is huge.

Nikon. 20+ years ago.
Wanted to move to Canon when they were the first with image stabilisation then full frame DSLR’s but could not afford it.
Happy to still be with Nikon.

Nikon.

Mates had Nikon so I could potentially borrow kit.
Canon felt too fiddly in my gorilla hands.

Olympus, Sony et al hadn’t really made any head way into DSLRs at that point.

went from Olympus to canon and never looked back. Canon L lenses and the dog’s.

Years ago I had Nikon.
More recently Olympus – lovely zuiko lens and excellent build quality.

Canon, purely because I had an old Canon 35mm slr with a couple of lenses and wanted to use them on whatever dslr I bought to replace it. Got hold of a 400d second hand as I find the new prices stupidly high.

I got my first actual camera about 2.5 years ago that was a Nikon compact then got a Cannon G7 bridge then a Nikon D60 now have a Nikon D5000 I also got this week a Panasonic GF2 Micro 4/3 and a couple of lenses, so far I find its great for when you want good pics but dont want to cart round the DSLR. Im not a particually got photographer but I enjoy it.

Praktica for my first SLR with screw fit M42 lenses.
Then Pentax P50 with KA mount lenses
Pentax Super A
some ok ish Samsung Digital compact now.
I’d like a Digital SLR but the cost and realistically limited use I’d get out of it preclude me from getting one, for now.
I’d be quite happy if I could get a digital conversion of the Super A done, but again probably limited market for that.

Pentax, started with an MZ50, now have an K10, have looked at Nikon and Canon, yes they do far more lenes, but still prefer the feel of the Pentax to them, if any of the other felt better, would change.

Still seem to use a cheap Sony compact digital I got about 4 years ago more than anything.

Canon, nikon somehow seems less pleasant. Not sure why, just personal preference. Always found my Canon cameras to be more than capable, so never seen a need to look elsewhere.

nikon somehow seems less pleasant.

🙂 The company, the camera ergonomics or the images themselves?

Camera shapes and ergonomics, I’ve not invested enough time looking at either of the other two to be fair.

Nikon. Didn’t like the cheap plasticky feel of the low-end Canon’s so bought a quality cheap plasticky feeling Nikon instead.

Also Nikon has a long heritage in cameras which has got to might mean something or possibly nothing.

Canon.

Good offer and eos550 makes spunky videos. Cue the ‘it’s not a camcorder’ replies. Ahh but it is. It does everything pretty well without costing the earth.

My dad gave me his old Chinon camera when I was 21. That had a Pentax fitting, so when that got pinched I ended up with another Pentax. Then I splurged on a digicam in 2000 which was £500! It was an Olympus CZ-2020 which was actually really good – luckily, because I did no research. That got broken in 2004 (not by me) so Mrs Grips got me the then somewhat old-hat CZ-5060 which was fab and lasted me til last year. I was shopping around for a DSLR and had decided on Sony more or less, then I saw an Olympus E-600 for £330. A quick check to see that it wasn’t a turkey and I bought it.

Very happy with it too – love the small size, good lenses, movable screen (most didn’t have that two years ago), in-body IS and general good features and usability. Fingers crossed that Oly don’t ditch the format now..

Recently gone bananas on lens purchases too 😳 and since discovering the super cheap German Oly eBay store I got a mju Tough compact for biking and underwater tomfoolery.

Zenit 11 Manual SLR (still have it, still fun to play with)
Minolta Dynax 500
now Sony as minolta lenses fit….

My first film camera was a Canon A1. I then had T90’s and F1N’s when shooting semi-pro and I moved to EOS1’s when I went for auto-focus stuff. I believe having the motor in the lens is far superior to having them in the body as using big telephoto’s like 400mm f2.8’s the Canon lenses were very fast but cameras like Minolta’s pro stuff really struggled with long lenses as they have the motor in the body and that has to work for everything from wide-angle to big telephoto’s and they just couldn’t cope. Nikons were the same too when I tried them.
I now use Canon 1ds mk3 and mk2’s with L series lenses and the buttons, switches and menu’s are just so easy to use for me and so I’ll stick with my Canon gear. I have tried Nikons and the film camera’s were very very good but for me, the DSLR’s they make though don’t do it for me.

Nikon. Many because I have family who also have nikon. It makes it easier to understand settings and try kit they have.

Nikon – can’t ever see myself leaving them, especially as I’ve started investing £ks in their f2.8 pro tele-photos…

Canon for me. I wanted full frame and at the time the 5D was the only option. Plus Canon’s L series lenses were cheaper than Nikon’s equivalents.

Canon, nikon somehow seems less pleasant. Not sure why, just personal preference

This, pretty much. Bought a Canon cos I got a good deal off a mate, but most people I know have Nikons. I looked at a couple of them to make sure I wasn’t backing the wrong horse and just thought “WTF?” – the Canon was way more intuitive (to me) in a way that Nikon wasn’t.

Leica M

Started with Olympus OM system and moved to Nikon when it came to digital SLR. Tried a few brands but the Nikon was the one that seemed the most intuitive and comfortable to use and felt better put together than the competition.

I give you the Nikon Pronea S APS SLR. Quality of image wasn’t as bad as APS detractors made out. Still use my Nikon FM for B&W, but I prefer the Canon digital experience.

Bought into Pentax about 15+ years ago, still using it now (including medium format).

Nikon, but I cant really remember why

Canon. Can’t remember why.

Still have a Nikon FM in use with a couple of lenses all bought in about 1980, and a digital Nikon P90 superzoom ‘bridge’ camera – particularly like the articulated screen on that. More recently bought an Olympus Pen EPL-1 which is great but definitely needs the hotshoe viewfinder (haven’t got one of those at the moment)

Currently waiting to see how impressive the new Pens will be this year before deciding whether to go for one of them or a Nikon D5100…

Canon – because there was a Tesco bargain which swayed me. Then stuck with them for the 40D which is superb. Only one Canon lens – the nifty fifty. Tamron and Sigma make up the rest.

Nikon – because the sales lady had bigger tits in the place with Nikons

Canon – had a special offer on one of their film cameras years ago which made it far and away the best buy. When I upgraded to digital I had by then got a spare Canon lens so it made sense to go with that.

Had a 300D when they first came out, sold that and got a 350D (again, special offer), that got nicked last year so I/the insurance co replaced it with a 50D.

Went to Canon and left Pentax when the price of their lenses rocketed and the lack of anything (zoom or prime) over 300mm,also their lens based AF system called SDM is quite poor compared to the Canon USM

First proper camera, after a 110 point-and-shoot, was a Contax 139 Quartz, still have one body with a Tamron 35-80. Went digital with a Nikon CoolPix 5700, then a Lumix TZ-3, now got a Nikon D60. Like the Lumix compacts, prefer Nikon ergonomics for DSLR’s.

Panasonic because it wasn’t Canon or Nikon 😀

nah.. Panasonic FZ8 was one of the best bridge cameras at the time.. then got an FZ8

then bought the first micro four thirds camera (the Pana G1)

if I went full blown DSLR atm it’d probably be a Pentax

First proper camera was a contax 167mt, sold on ebay this year. lovely build, obscure mount.
I am now on Nikon and plan to stay loyal. I went Nikon because at the time (2007) the D80 was much nicer ergonomically than the equilalent canon. Also with Nikon the wireless flash is amazing.

RED

Nikon.