First and foremost: The comparison to the "Ford vs. Chevy" is perfecty accurate. Basically if you're looking at a good digital SLR, you're looking at Canon or Nikon, and just like Fvs.C, both have advantages, both have disadvantages, and most people will "stick" with one because that's the first one they had, etc. Second, megapixel count is (almost) irrelevant. Why? Put it this way: most photo printers (whether "one hour" or home printers or "pro" shops) print at around 300 DPI (dots per inch.) A 4x5" color print at 300 dpi needs only 1.08 megapixels. Taking that shot with an 8MP SLR and then printing a 4x5 is basically "throwing away" 7/8ths of the image data. An 8MP camera then, has more than enough resolution to print up to 8X10 with no problems. For that matter, dropping the print resolution to 220 DPI or even lower, is basically undetectable to the naked eye, and allows you to print even larger. I've printed several of my Rebel XT shots (8MP) as large as 18X24" (poster size) and they look great. Yes, we did a minor bit of what's called "upsampling" (digitally increasing the original image resolution) but again, the results look great. In other words, don't make your decision purely on the megapixel count. A 12.3MP Canon 5D is a bit of overkill if all you're doing is taking shots to post here on the HAMB at 72DPI. Lots of newspaper reporters still use the older Canon 1D (4MP) and Nikon D2h (4MP) and still get great results. The only time a big MP count comes in handy, besides printing poster sized pictures, is cropping. Maybe you want to take away most of the background and have just the car. With more resolution, you can do that and still print fairly large. But that's not that common, because unlike a point-and-shoot, you can more properly size the lens for that shot, either zooming in or backing out, framing the shot through the viewfider before pressing the shutter. Again, it's nice to have the MP, but it's not something you should put right at the top of the list. Personally, I have two Canons- the Rebel XT, and the big 1DMkIIn. I'm very happy with both of them. I have 30,000+ shots on the XT, and it's never given me a single problem. I have another 30K on the 1D, and the only problem it ever gave me was when I ***umed the "weather sealing" was a bit more capable than it was, and shot 400 frames in the pouring rain. Obviously user error, not the camera's fault. (After drying out, it works perfectly again.) You can see pics taken with both cameras here on my Smugmug site. It's mostly paintball stuff, but there's some drag racing and some cool junkyard shots in there. I would have no problems at all recommending the Rebel XT. It'll do everything you need it to, ***uming you're not a Reuters photojournalist on duty in Lebanon. Really, one of the only reasons I got the big 1D was for the faster framerate for shooting sports. Apart from that, I still tend to carry the XT because it's smaller and considerably lighter. I have no problems with the Nikons- I'm sure they're also great cameras, but I've never used one so I can't say one way or the other. However, professional photojournalists have gone with Canon in what are, I'm told, overwhelming numbers. There's this photo from Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday; There's two Nikons that I can more or less positively identify- the rest are Canons. FIFA World Cup Soccer= Probably as many as five Nikons, the rest are Canon. (The circled guy is, for some reason, using a point-and-shoot.) Photographer's row at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. In that front row of remote cameras, there's at least one Nikon, probably two, and a Fuji or Kodak SLR. Again, the rest are Canons. And, of course, Canon's own supposedly unstaged promotional photo; probably close to a million bucks in Canon gear, no Nikons. Just thought I'd point those out. Doc.
And now go look at advertising photography, portraits, weddings, any art based photography and you'll see the overwhelming numbers are Nikon.
-That may have been true a couple of years ago, but the trend is, as I understand it, still rolling towards Canon. The movie "Corpse Bride", for example, was "filmed" using Canon 1DMkII SLRs- using Nikon gl***. They tested Nikon cameras, as well as other brands, and the Nikon, while their first choice if for no other reason than they already had tens of thousands in Nikon gl***, proved to have too much noise (essentially static) in the dark areas. So they used 24 Canons with off-t******lf Nikon lens adapters. But even still, it's back to the "Ford vs. Chevy" or "Mac vs. PC" arguments. Both have their strengths, both have their drawbacks. But in this case- as in, the fellow who asked the original question- the details of the differences are so fine, he'll likely never notice. Chances are he's not going to be shooting for Vogue or National Geographic, or blowing the pics up to a billboard. Which means the differences boil down to which one feels better in the hand, and has a more user-friendly operating system. Doc.
Absolutely not... I support and work with these people everyday and my wife works in the Pro-Photo industry. I see it everyday, there is a definate Nikon bias on one side and a Canon bias on the other. Not that people don't cross the line. And I don't really think your stop motion animation story helps either side...
Doc, thanks for your insite.. If I was starting out fresh I would consider the Nikon because the grip seems to fit my hand better (older versions at least... going to look tonight again) but will stay with a Canon because of my other Lens.. thanks to all who have shared there thoughts and info on what they shot. It has proven insightful.
With me, it was a simple choice, although hindsight rendered my logic moot. I went with Canon because I already had Canon film cameras, and more importantly, I had lenses I could re-use. So I bought a used D30 body to get started (around $200) and then on my path of enlightenment discovered that the lenses I had were cheap **** and had to buy new ones anyway. But I do love the cheap ol' D30 so far for amateur use. Eventually, I may sell off the D30, the Elan 7N and the old Rebel body to upgrade to a newer Canon with the improved imaging.... Now my problem is that I never bother getting prints any more, so I have a bunch of CD's and nothing on paper to show for it.
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