Canon Rebel or Nikon D40/60

[iwannaprettyone]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

[Cleopatra]

I don''t have any personal experience with either, but as a past photography major, everyone in our entire department was ga-ga over the Nikon D60 - it was literally the god of cameras to them - and they were all super talented photographers, so I trust their judgment.

One day I''ll get one of my own!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Hmmm...well, I''ve not answered based on any real solid knowledge of the models in question, but I''ve had both Nikon and Canon Point and Shoots (I know they are different), and I''ve ADORED my two Canons - fantastic cameras, and they take wonderful pics.

 

[Evelynn]

My vote is for the Nikon!!

I have had stellar luck with all 3 of my cameras. I can''t remember the models of the previous ones...but my current one is the s60 and I love it! (I have droppped/lost the other two, so I figured I should just stick to the standard digital cameras for everyday use! I am so bad with tiny electronics!) IMO the shooting options are wonderful and the pic quality is great.

 

[BriBee]

FI has the Canon Rebel and loves it. He''s very into photography and takes lots of action pictures at the beach (surfing, skimboarding, breaking waves...) He''s actually had many pictures published, so I''m assuming the camera is working great for him in that regard. He wants to upgrade, and when I suggested going to a Nikon he said he''d rather stick with Canon. So no personal experience, but that''s my story.

 

[EricaR]

You have to go into a store that has both and try them out. Ask yourself:

How does this feel in my hand?
Is it comfortable?
How heavy is it with the lenses you are looking at?

I''ve got small hands and the Canon felt overwhelmingly huge to me, to the point where I struggled to hold it steady with the larger lens on it. On the other hand, the Nikon fit in my hand perfectly and I felt much more comfortable with it. Needless to say, I went with the Nikon. There are some faboo deals out there right now. Check out the Nikon DSLR Guru thread for the ones I posted yesterday.

 

[strmrdr]

Technology and image quality wise the canon xsi is the best entry level dslr.
But if someone prefers the look and feel of the D60 it is also ok.

 

[TravelingGal]

You can''t go wrong with either. Canon would probably beat out the Nikon slightly on the image quality (at least from what I have read) but SO many reviews prefered the Nikon for other reasons.

I prefer Canon for point and shoot and Nikon for DSLRs.

The Canon Xsi also has live view mode if you want that. Keep in mind your point and shoot already does this and will do it better than a DSLR currently can. If you want to shoot from the display, get the canon. If you don''t mind looking through the viewfinder, Nikon is great.

I opted for the D40. I found 6mp enough for me, I don''t need to do huge prints and I don''t crop often. I also wanted one walk around lens to start and wanted to buy body only so I''d have extra money for the lens. The D60 was out of my budget since my budget was around 1000 bucks and the lens I wanted was about $650. So I got a D40 body only for 275, refurb, and I am totally happy with it. Also at the time, from the countless reviews I read, the D40 was the better bargain and eeked out the D60 by a bit on the image quality. For the price, the D60 didn''t offer much more than either the D40 or the Canon xsi (which for slightly more had better features). However, the canon didn''t feel right in my hands.

Now, with the D60 prices coming down (as Erica said, check out the current B&H deal) and if you don''t mind two kit lenses, I would have heavily considered the D60. I just bought my camera a couple of months ago. Within that short time, the D60 deal has come down $300 bucks (was 949 at costco with the two VR lenses - now is 640 at B&H for the same kit.)

 

[misysu2]

Canons are AMAZING, intuitive, and reliable. I''m on my 2nd. My DH has a Nikon and isn''t crazy about the battery setup (it has a weird battery that has to be recharged) or it''s design (the power button is right next to the shoot button). Takes good photos though.

Go Canon!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 12/3/2008 2:37:01 PM
Author: misysu2
Canons are AMAZING, intuitive, and reliable. I''m on my 2nd. My DH has a Nikon and isn''t crazy about the battery setup (it has a weird battery that has to be recharged) or it''s design (the power button is right next to the shoot button). Takes good photos though.

Go Canon!

Are you talking about P&S or DSLR? The Nikon''s power button is a flip switch on the power button. There is no separate power button next to the shutter button.

And do you mean the battery itself is weird or the fact that it has to be recharged weird? Because I have both canon P&S and Nikon DSLR and both are rechargable batteries.

 

[TravelingGal]

IWPO, btw, looks like your results may be skewed. Based on the answers here, people are voting on the canon vs nikon debate and not on the actual DSLR models in question.

 

[beau13]

Wouldn''t trade my Canon Rebel XSI for anything..simply fabulous!!

 

[iwannaprettyone]

Has anyone used both? Specifically DSLR.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 12/3/2008 3:09:40 PM
Author: iwannaprettyone
Has anyone used both? Specifically DSLR.

Yea I have for a short amount of time.
My favorite is actually the Canon s5is or sx10IS for my type of shooting unless I had $5k to spend then it would be a dslr.

 

[diamondsrock]

I love both Canon and Nikon, but I own the D40 and it's great. It was our gift last Christmas and has seen a lot of use.

Besides the price, I just liked the feel of the Nikon. It's lightweight and fits really well in my grasp. I actually own a Canon film slr which I still have after many years and it still works like a charm. Canon is a very reliable camera so you can't go wrong with that one either.

I have the kit lens (which is actually a great lens by the way), a zoom lens 55-200vr and now we have a fixed 50mm 1.8 which is the most similar to what I am used to (on the old film camera) and seems to be working really well in low light situations. My old film lens was actually a 1.8 as well and I took some fantastic shots with that camera in available light, no flash. In regards to my new lens, for $109 it's quite cheap and one of the best rated lenses, plus it's very lightweight. Did I mention I like this lens?

Only downfall is it's not autofocus and you have to manual focus, which I'm used to from my old camera.

Anyway, either camera is great, but go to the store and get a feel for them. I like my camera to be lightweight and easy to carry, which is one reason I'm not jazzed about the zoom lens, but it is useful at times. Sorry to go off about the lenses but they are such an important part of the camera. Anyways, I found the Nikon to be less bulky in general than the Canon. Let us know what you decide!

 

[Pandora II]

I bought DH the Canon Rebel as an engagement present - he had the choice of that or the Nikon (d80 at that time).

We both love the Canon - when DH upgrades in the next couple of years, I get to use the Rebel and we will share the lenses.

It's worth checking out the cost of the accessories - lenses are serious $$$ and you will want to buy them.

Anyway, huge vote for the Canon (and I was a Nikon user at art college).

I recommend getting the extra battery pack on the Canon (makes it easier to hold).

 

[robbie3982]

I borrowed my wedding photog''s Cannon Rebel XTI to second shoot a wedding for her and I have a Nikon D80 for work. I think part of it depends on your skill level. I found the rebel to be easier to use and get good pictures without editing. I''m often having to adjust the brightness of my Nikon photos. I''m definitely still a beginner though so if you''re more advanced it could be different.

 

[iwannaprettyone]

This will be my first DSLR camera

Robbie- how did the Rebel feel in your hand? My hands are not particularly small but I don''t want a clunker either.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

The guy at Wolf said Nikons are easier to use than Cannons but he was kind of an idiot so who knows....I would go and check them out in person.

 

[pocahontas]

Wow, what a tough choice, huh? Thanks for starting this poll, Iwanna. I swear I thought I had things all figured out from T-Gal''s thread, but now people are loving the Cannon too. FI and I want to buy a digital camera this Christmas so I''ll be following this thread. Thanks again

 

[iwannaprettyone]

I know Poca, it is!

I think it is a kind of like the Ford vs GM deal. There are seperate camps and people are religious about there cameras in either "camp".

 

[Lexie]

I'd also like to thank iwanna for starting this poll

I'm in the market for my first Digital SLR as well, and have been leaning towards Nikon over Canon. I've had quite a few people recommend Nikon thus far, and it also doesn't hurt that my boyfriend gets better accommodations through them (he currently works for a big electronics retailer).

I'll be interested in seeing if any other people chime in, as this thread has given me some more food for thought!

 

[diamondsrock]

forgot to mention, when planning your purchase, don''t forget to budget in the cost of a good camera bag, a memory card, besides the extra lenses I also have a uv filter on there which protects the lens, etc...
Plus there are books out there specific for each camera which you can buy and are helpful.
The extras add up but are useful.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 12/3/2008 8:21:58 PM
Author: robbie3982
I borrowed my wedding photog''s Cannon Rebel XTI to second shoot a wedding for her and I have a Nikon D80 for work. I think part of it depends on your skill level. I found the rebel to be easier to use and get good pictures without editing. I''m often having to adjust the brightness of my Nikon photos. I''m definitely still a beginner though so if you''re more advanced it could be different.

Just a FYI to others who aren''t familiar with the D80, it''s a more prosumer level camera with more you can control than the D40. The D80 would definitely be tougher to use than the rebel. The d40/60 is more in line with ease of use than the rebel.

The D80 also got excellent reviews and was on my list until I held it. For my small hands, it was a clunker even without a lens attached! I still wanted it because I thought it would be nice to have a camera to "grow into" but the D40 is plenty for me to grow into at the moment! That''s why I also wanted the camera body for a steal, in case I wanted to upgrade later, I wouldn''t have invested too much in it. The D80 is discontinued, so if you can find it, it may be for a great deal.

As for the feel of the D40/60 vs the Canon, the one thing that bugged me that may not bug others is the grip of the Canon. Imagine the grip of the Nikon is an upside down "V" (but not as pointy) if you were looking at the camera from the top. Your fingers curl around it in a more natural position. The grip of the Canon looks more like a "D" from the top...curved at your palm but coming to a 90 degree drop where your fingers curl around it. It felt kind of crampy to me.

And for a really superficial reason to like the nikon...the shutter sound of the canon sounds like a "clack" whereas the Nikon has a nicer, fuller, "thwock" sound to it. Hehehehe.

But as I said, I''ve seen results with both cameras, and if you have the skills, you can do magic with both . If you can get the canon at a good price, no doubt about it, it''s more feature rich and apparently better IQ than the Nikon. But as novices, can we all really tell how good IQ is unless there is a side by side comparison? Get the camera that FEELS good to you. Go to a real camera store where it''s not attached to some display counter and take it around the store with different lenses and shoot with it. Are the buttons in a good place for you? Easy to access? Anything in the way? How does the viewfinder feel? (The D80 has a much nicer viewfinder than the D40/60. I found the canon less so as they are more comparable cameras, but I do think it was nicer.)

There are good reviews on cnet and dpreview. Ken Rockwell (some think he''s a moron, others like him) has detailed reviews on the cameras as well.

 

[iwannaprettyone]

Thanks TG

! I appreciate the time it took to write this up. Very useful information.

Thanks to all that offered their picks and advice!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I just bought a D60...I''ll let you know what I think!

 

[pocahontas]

Iwanna, did you decide?

 

[iwannaprettyone]

DH and I went to look (this is my christmas wish hehe) and I liked the Nikon in my hand and the shutter button seemed to be placed better.

From what I have read on Ken Rockwells site the D60 only has a couple of additional features to the D40 so I am thinking the D40 with a 2 lens kit.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d60.htm


So, Nikon here I come!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 12/11/2008 9:47:32 AM
Author: iwannaprettyone
DH and I went to look (this is my christmas wish hehe) and I liked the Nikon in my hand and the shutter button seemed to be placed better.

From what I have read on Ken Rockwells site the D60 only has a couple of additional features to the D40 so I am thinking the D40 with a 2 lens kit.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d60.htm


So, Nikon here I come!

IWPO, I have seen the D40 refurbs on ebay (CametaAuctions) go as low as $230. I would skip the lens kit unless you can find something with VR (which at the time I was looking, the D40 did not have). Buy the body cheap and then buy a VR lens.

 

[iwannaprettyone]

TG can you find out how many "clicks" or whatever it is called? Are you happy with yours? Have you posted pics TG and Tacori???


So many questions...


Right now a Nikon with 2 lens VR is $598 or with regular lens $499.