New camera purchase - Canon or Nikon?

Are you looking for DSLRs or point and shoots? If so, Nikon makes some excellent DSLRs. I’m unfamiliar with the Canon DSLRs, though.

Are you a casual photographer or more hands on? If the former, I would opt for Canon. Otherwise, for the serious hobbyist, Nikon.

We recently got a Canon, and I love it. It’s a DSLR, the Rebel XSi. We looked at Nikon too, but for our purposes (and because it was on sale) we went with the Canon.

My choice is: Canon for point and shoot, Nikon for DSLR.

That said, I’ve never actually used a Canon DSLR. I just intrinsically prefer Nikon, I’ve used one quite a bit and I love it even though I know I’ve only scratched the surface in terms of what it can do. If anything it’s probably more complicated than a Canon one.

But Canon makes great point and shoots. I am so happy with my Canon Powershot SD1100IS, it takes great photos no matter what and now with an SD-HC card I have it set to take maximum quality shots at the biggest size and it still holds hundreds.

I almost bought a Canon Rebel last year but decided to go with the Nikon D90. I haven’t been disappointed—I love my Nikon. Of course, there’s an everlasting debate on Canon vs. Nikon. Both are terrific brands, so you can’t go wrong with either. For me, the deciding factors were (1) how the Nikon felt in my hands, (2) the fact that the Nikon had the ability to shoot video (not that I use that much), (3) the lens choices that go with the Nikon.

Best thing you can do is go try both brands out in a store to see how the cameras feel in your hands.

About DSLRs: I shoot Canon because it’s less expensive—but for the absolute best image quality in my opinion, go with a Nikon. The sound Nikon cameras make when the shutter clicks makes me swoon.

Anything by Olympus would be a good bet, as I really like the quality of their products. I was also looking at a Fuji FinePix S1500, which is also in my price range.

The difference between Canon and Nikon is largely a matter of personal preference. Most photographers who have used both will have a preference for one or the other, but it’s more subjective than objective.

My preference is for Nikons, but I really don’t think you can go badly wrong with either.

Both are terrific! Recent DSLR’s are all very good. Canon has the advantage of better lenses, bit better sensors and a bit better third-party software support.

Personal preference plays the biggest role, you will make better pictures with a camera that you’re used to.

If you really want to compare models closely, go to dpreview.com and find reviews, they’ve got goot 100% crop comparisons with models that are alike.

As a Canon DSLR user, I’d say go with Canon.

Then again, it’s not just the camera which makes the pictures, it’s the photographer which is 80% of the equation.

Get whichever feels more natural to you, as @cwilbur said, any preference is a subjective bias. I own a Canon DSLR and love it. My professors shoot with Canon and I started on a Canon film camera, so that made sense for me, but I’ve seen great work come from both and I don’t think there’s a big difference between the two companies.

I own three Canons (one SLR, one DSLR and one point/shoot) and a Nikon DSLR, and I find that I use my Nikon the most often. It feels the best in my hands, and I do better work with it.

I have a Canon DSLR and I love it. The image quality is superb and it works very well for casual and artistic photography. I also have a small pocket Canon camera for taking pictures with my friends; it’s also an excellent camera that takes HD video. In addition to that, I’ve had several other Canon cameras in the past: the SX110 IS, the SX100 IS, and the SX 10 IS. (I’m obsessed with cameras). Basically, I’m a bit of a Canon fanboy, but my dad who uses both Canon and Nikon agrees that their quality is pretty much the same. It’s really up to you. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed going with either one. I have to disagree that Canon is only good for PAS, because that’s not true at all. I’ve had great experience with a Canon DSLR, and so has my dad who owns both a Canon and a Nikon DSLR.

I’m not really sure about recommendations. How much are you willing to spend? The XSi gets excellent reviews and costs about $570. My Canon DSLR cost about $1200 but it was a present from my parents and I don’t plan on replacing it any time soon.

I can’t comment on Nikon, but I sure love my Canon 20D. I bought the body well-loved but well-taken care of off Craig’s List for $350. Couldn’t be happier with it.

Another vote for Canon here. I found they had more lenses available at my local camera shops, and their prices were within range of my (limited) photography budget.

The main decider was that most of my friends have Canon DSLRs, so we tend to lend each other our lenses depending on where we’re going (no point in buying a 500mm lens if you’re only going to use it rarely, and your friend has one he can lend you, etc).

Love my Nikon D-80. Incredibly fast…and forgiving. The only problem is I’m too lazy to read the manual, so I bet I’m missing out on a lot of its features. Also, it is not tiny, so forget trying to stash it in your purse. However, if you need performance, it’s hard to go wrong. Example here: http://share4pic.com/en/5056417/snapshot_of_a_perfect_day/

Nikon (:

With Nikon, you usually get more for your money. And better quility. I find that with Canon you end up paying for the name, you know? I’d go with Nikon.

Not to turn this into any battle or something, I said both are really really good but Nikon isn’t the superior brand. Sorry for that but there sensors in the same price range make noticeably worse pictures, IQ is down by a tiny bit, noise is up by a bit more and worse of all, they use more aggressive noise reduction (even with NR turned off, to trick the non-pro into thinking it’s better). That said, Canon’s need fewer color corrections when calibrated, Nikon’s colors are funky but unreal.

Not to start a war here or anything but I’ve used both for a long time professionally and recently review models for a local store and those are the facts.

Still for this question, since the user is looking for a rebel-series camera, I say brand isn’t that important cause he won’t be pixel-peeping, calibrating and printing large format.

Nikon (sorry @Marina – some professionals prefer it).

Basically – check both out: Hold them in your hands, fiddle with them, see which one has the interface you prefer… they’re both excellent cameras, but differ in “feel”.

Canon. Canon. Canon.

The Nikon vs. Canon debate will always rage one. It comes down to personal opinion which you will need to decide. Canon users will always be loyal and the same with Nikon users. That being said NIKON NIKON NIKON alllll the way! hahaha

But i’m biased, Nikon D90 is stunning.