Thursday, June 21, 2007

Canon Vs Nikon

I know I know.. I am not asking for a flame war here .. Just that I am sharing some of my thoughts over this Canon vs Nikon issue.

It started this way, as you may aware I bought my first DSLR, Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) a month ago. And been shooting lots and lots.
But I quickly grown over it. My main gripe are the tiny grip , cheap plastic construction, no dedicated bracket button and slow fps. To make it worse, I just found out most Canon bodies wont do wireless flash where as Nikon is doing it (D80, D200 etc) out of the box.

So I was just thinking of my future upgrade.
Seems like I don't have much choice. In Canon side, I can either go 30D or 5D. I like 5D so much for its full frame sensor alone but the price is a little out of reach for me. 30D is an old camera. Its just 20D with some face lift. Same sensor and features except bigger LCD etc. It doesn't even have some features of my 400D eg. 10MP sensor, anti-dust etc. And also there are many rumors of 40D coming out soon. So it may not be the right time to get 30D.

That's when I start to look into Nikon side. I was a Nikon SLR user before. I used to have F50, F60, F70, F80 and tried F90x a few times. I sold them all back in 2000 to get my first digital camera Canon G2. Anyway, on Nikon side, there's D80 and D200. D80 is pretty much in the same league as my 400D albeit a little better. But D200 seems to have all the cool stuffs I want. The weather seals, more dedicated buttons, more rugged body, better ergonomics, faster FPS (though same as 30D), wireless flash control etc.

But after digging deeper and based on my own experiences with both sides, here's what I concluded.

Bodies
Nikon surely seems to build better bodies. Even my flatmate's Nikon D50 is better built than my 400D. And D200 surely beat 30D in that area.

Controls
Nikon also have more dedicated buttons than Canon. eg. Bracketing, WB , Flash mode etc.

Metering and Flash
This is in Nikon's court. 3D matrix metering, matrix fill-flash and built-in wireless flash commander.

Lens
I think this is where it hit me on Canon side. I am not talking about the optical quality here though. I am sure both side makes awesome glasses. But even as far as I remember in 35mm days, I am always disappointed by how slow the AF on Nikon compare to sleek USM lenses of Canon. But now Nikon has a few choices of AF-S lens to compete. The problem is they are much higher price than normal Nikkor lens. For canon, most of the lens are USM and its pretty good advantage. eg. EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens, EF 100mm f2.8 macro and EF 85mm f1.8 lens are within my reach (less than $500) yet offers USM. For Nikon, most of the early prime lens not AF-S.

Sensor and Image Quality
I think this one goes out to Canon. It's pretty known fact that CMOS sensors on Canon produce less noise hence better low-light shooting. I've been shooting ISO 800 and 1600 without much hesitation. But those images I can get from Nikon seems to have higher noise above ISO 400. Not sure about the in-camera processing engines but Canon market them as DIGIC II and they seems to offer better constrast and saturation to my eyes. And only Canon offer full-frame sensors now. This is also favorable to me cos it allow even better noise levels and shallow DOF for pretty portraits. It also allow to use more wide angle lenses.

Verdict
So what's the verdict? Depends on the user I guess. Both have different pros and cons. For me, I think I am gonna have to wait for the new 30D replacement body. Or save the $$ and get EOS 5D later.
I just wish that Canon would try to build better body in lower end camera (weather seals), more dedicated buttons and ergonomics. They can build very rugged body wit full weather seals in EOS 1D series and it's just marketing decision for them to make it to lower end camera like 5D. With pressure from cameras like Pentax K10D and Nikon 200D, I think the new Canon model will have better ergonomics and built.

Well. This is it. My humble opinions on Canon vs Nikon. So what do you think? Feel free to comment.

2 comments:

weiran said...

On a modern Nikon DSLR body the lack of AF-S on short primes is very much a non-issue, the in body motor is quick enough to handle it. The 50mm f/1.8 and f/1.4 focus very quickly on my D80, and the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens I use focuses incredibly quickly and is a AF-D lens, infact its faster than some of my longer AF-S lenses.

Either way, I prefer the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM as my low light prime, which has its own AF-S. Lenses make little difference to me as most of mine are third party, why pay for brand name lenses when you can get cheaper ones that are just as good optically?

The 30D does have better high ISO noise than the D200, but neither comes close to the 5D, and to a lesser extent the Nikon D50. To be honest, I've had A4 prints at ISO 1000 from my D80 without problems, and even ISO 1600 prints are fine.

In terms of contrast and saturation, both are a non-issue as its controlled by post processing, not really comparable between sensors.

Maung Maung Hla Win said...

Hi Weiran, thanks for the comment but you seems to be making contradictory comments .. you said USM/ AF-S is not important yet you claim u like Sigma 30mm with HSM.. aren't they the same? USM is the kinda thing that once you get it, you dont wanna go back.

And another comment, you said 30D has better noise than D200 but less than D50? how does it even happen? In canon camp, the new 1D mark III nosie levels are so low even at ISO3200 .. I am sure that technology will came down to cheaper canon line ... making the already better canon IQ to a new level..

In the end , cameras are what the photographer feel and enjoy but the images are the what people see.. so I prefer to get a camera with better image quality .. and a better upgrade path then Nikon.

:)