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Archive 2009 · Jumbing to Canon ?

ntv369
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p.1 #1 · Jumbing to Canon ?

I am Nikon user with D300 and D200 with all F/2.8 AFS lens. But oflate I could not get the color and the separation that Canon gives in Nikon. Last week I have tested both 5D MK II and D300 . Shot in RAW and processed in LR2 and Cap one Pro. The protarits shot in day light gives similar color and the studio shots with strobes ,Canon gives better color . But my decision to go for Canon is the Nature and Bird shots which I see in FM forum. So I have given order to buy 5D MK II . with 135mm f/2 lens. Is it a wise decision? Ofcourse II should not ask this question after giving the order :-( just for getting the support of you guys to keep my mental peace. Hope I will not fell sorry at later date. :-)

Sep 29, 2009 at 04:18 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #2 · Jumbing to Canon ?

For whatever it is worth, this is my opinion based on my own experience. I have been using both systems for over a year now after I added a D700 and several Nikon lenses to my Canon system. I have been a long time Canon shooter prior to that. I don't have the D300 and as such, I honestly can't tell you much if anything about its color rendition. I though it is similar to that of the D700, which I think is comparable to Canon 5D MkII. AF tracking wise, maybe the D300 is a little bit better but not by much. For sure, because of the FF format, you will loose some kind of "reach" although you can crop images from the 5D MkII more so than you can with those from the D300.

I love zoom lenses on the Nikon side; their 14-24, 24-70 and 200-400 zoom lenses are really superb. But I love Canon lenses for their fast primes lenses. Furthermore, I enjoy their long lenses for birding and wildlife shooting. Although Nikon long end lenses are also great but you easily pay more for them and they are hard to find.

Keep in mind though that a 5D MkII and a 135mm lens won't give you the reach similar to those images on the N&W board. The "shortest" lens would be at least a 300mm on a FF camera; most of the time, even 400mm may fall short. So, depending on how serious you will be in this respect, be prepared to get longer lenses. Again, the good thing here is, Canon lenses are relatively less expensive and more readily availble than Nikon lenses. Generally speaking, of course.

Hope this helps,
Joshua

Sep 29, 2009 at 05:30 PM

thedigitalbean
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p.1 #3 · Jumbing to Canon ?

I agree with everything Joshua said. I'll add that color separation on the Nikon D700, D3, D3x (don't know about D300) is quantifiably and provably better than even Canon's top end bodies. I don't know that this necessarily means the colors will be more pleasing, so if you prefer the color the 5D2 gives, then by all means go for it.

As Joshua said, for wildlife photography the 135L on a 5D2 is not going to cut it. You'll eventually want longer glass. Canon has more affordable options in this department (though that affordability edge is slowly disappearing with recent price increases). You may want to consider a newer copy of the 100-400. IQ wise, the newer copies of the 100-400 are pretty fantastic. The AF will be slower than a prime, but it should be a great lens to get started with wildlife photography.

If bird photography is your thing, then I'd highly suggest waiting and seeing what the new 7D can do. It may very well be Canon's best bang for buck birding body and with that resolution in an APS-C sensor, you may not need to buy the really expensive telephotos for a little while longer.

Sep 29, 2009 at 05:37 PM

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p.1 #4 · Jumbing to Canon ?

ntv369 wrote:
So I have given order to buy 5D MK II . with 135mm f/2 lens. Is it a wise decision?

NOoooooo!!! You are about to fall in love and spend lots more money on those red liny things... ;-)

Seriously, Canon makes some great gear, and you will love the detail a 5D2 and 135L will capture, which would cost far more to achieve on the Nikon side (D3x etc.).

5D2 with 135L:

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unscaled crop:

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This image is copyrighted by the owner

Sep 29, 2009 at 05:48 PM

paulfeng
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p.1 #5 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Richard, what a fantastic image!

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:06 PM

PetKal
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p.1 #6 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Forget the image, forget the ISO noise........just behold that babe.

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:09 PM

Doo-bop
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p.1 #7 · Jumbing to Canon ?

paulfeng wrote:
Richard, what a fantastic image!

What a fantastic woman, you should take her home next time

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:13 PM

Daan B
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p.1 #8 · Jumbing to Canon ?

D200 colors in LR/ACR are the worst... It was one of the reasons (beside many others

) to switch it for a 5D. But IIRC the D300 is better than the D200. Still, I favor Canon colors any time...

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:35 PM

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p.1 #9 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Doo-bop wrote:
paulfeng wrote:
Richard, what a fantastic image!

What a fantastic woman, you should take her home next time :)

Good advice - I will :)

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:41 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #10 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Richard,
That's one heck of a great image using your 135mm lens but it hardly falls under "nature & wildlife" category

. And your focus point was actually on the other woman two seats down to her right, correct? Just kidding....

Sep 29, 2009 at 06:58 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #11 · Jumbing to Canon ?

paulfeng wrote:
Richard, what a fantastic image!

Thanks - but with a 5D2 and a 135L it's pretty easy to get pictures like that...

Sep 29, 2009 at 07:31 PM

hfillmore
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p.1 #12 · Jumbing to Canon ?

But really, don't you think the 7D is much better for nature and wildlfe? Faster frame rate, 8 vs 4, MUCH larger buffer.... important for shooting continuous for fast moving targets....birds etc. MUCH better focusing, by all indications so far., etc. Crop factor gives more pixels on target with a given lens, effectively increasing the focal length of your long lenses, and giving you better cropability. Dual digic 4 chips for faster focusing and image processing.

I think you might want to take a real hard look at the 7D if your main purpose is fast shooting. Not to mention the fact that it's 1000 bucks cheaper. For my money, even if the 7D were MORE expensive than the 5D, I'd still choose it if focusing ability, frame rate, and buffersize were my prime considerations. And they would be if I were shooting birds, moving animals, sports, etc.

Seems to me that the only place a 5DII would edge out the new7D would be in landscape work, where speed and accuracy of focus, buffer size, and frame rate are not important factors.

Sep 29, 2009 at 07:35 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #13 · Jumbing to Canon ?

hfillmore wrote:
But really, don't you think the 7D is much better for nature and wildlfe? Faster frame rate, 8 vs 4, MUCH larger buffer.... important for shooting continuous for fast moving targets....birds etc. MUCH better focusing, by all indications so far., etc. Crop factor gives more pixels on target with a given lens, effectively increasing the focal length of your long lenses, and giving you better cropability. Dual digic 4 chips for faster focusing and image processing.

I think you might want to take a real hard look at the 7D if your main purpose is fast shooting. Not to mention the fact that it's 1000 bucks cheaper. For my money, even if the 7D were MORE expensive than the 5D, I'd still choose it if focusing ability, frame rate, and buffersize were my prime considerations. And they would be if I were shooting birds, moving animals, sports, etc.

Seems to me that the only place a 5DII would edge out the new7D would be in landscape work, where speed and accuracy of focus, buffer size, and frame rate are not important factors.

Yes - if you are a long lens shooter for sports or wildlife moving at distance the 7D will indeed be better. But the 5D2 is great too. Get both ;-)

Sep 29, 2009 at 07:38 PM

hfillmore
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p.1 #14 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Yeah, that's the ticket - 7D and 5DII. Or perhaps, in just a few months, a D3, or at least an updated 5DII. Man, what a combo. Two great cams for less than I paid for my MKIII a few years ago!! But I do love my MkIII. Just wish I could get 17mm with my 17-40 on it

I have to use the 10-22 on the 40D to get wide.

And yeah, I know, everyone says it's a little "too soom" for an updated 5DII. But these days, at the rate Canon's coming out with stuff to fight the Nikon battle, I wouldn't be surprised to see an update sooner than many suspect. Especially in light of all the new stuff in the 7D, and at a thousand bucks less.

I mean really, given what appears to be a great new AF, built in remote, new WA flash, new ability to control off camera flash, 5 stop plus/minus EV, dual Digic IV, built in grid, tilt level meter, etc, etc on the 7D, the 5DII kinda seems a little lacking these days. All I can say is.........THANK GOD FOR NIKON

Sep 29, 2009 at 11:35 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #15 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Doo-bop wrote:
What a fantastic woman, you should take her home next time

OK - I took your advice. All seems fine so far. ;-)

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This image is copyrighted by the owner

Sep 30, 2009 at 12:53 AM

brainiac
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p.1 #16 · Jumbing to Canon ?

AGeoJO wrote:
Richard,
That's one heck of a great image using your 135mm lens but it hardly falls under "nature & wildlife" category

. And your focus point was actually on the other woman two seats down to her right, correct? Just kidding....

Ha! Yes - I checked the focus point and the rightmost one was selected. I guess they do work sometimes. Actually, this picture illustrates one reason why I like manual focus more: in order to put the af point on her face I have framed a bit high, leaving surplus white space at the top and cutting off her arm. a bad workman blames his tools I know, but I find all af systems cause me to make these small framing errors when I'm in a hurry. i don't find the 1 series or Nikon af system any better as the af points never cover enough of the frame, even on the D300.

Sep 30, 2009 at 03:37 AM

globalkiwi
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p.1 #17 · Jumbing to Canon ?

brainiac wrote:
Doo-bop wrote:
What a fantastic woman, you should take her home next time

OK - I took your advice. All seems fine so far. ;-)

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This image is copyrighted by the owner

You dog!

Sep 30, 2009 at 03:44 AM

Grantland
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p.1 #18 · Jumbing to Canon ?

nice

Sep 30, 2009 at 04:13 AM

MSC
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p.1 #19 · Jumbing to Canon ?

Nikon colors are def different. Not as vibrant. Not sure if that is good or bad, just different. I've been comparing a lot lately.

Sep 30, 2009 at 04:18 AM

gotak
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p.1 #20 · Jumbing to Canon ?

brainiac wrote:
AGeoJO wrote:
Richard,
That's one heck of a great image using your 135mm lens but it hardly falls under "nature & wildlife" category

. And your focus point was actually on the other woman two seats down to her right, correct? Just kidding....

Ha! Yes - I checked the focus point and the rightmost one was selected. I guess they do work sometimes. Actually, this picture illustrates one reason why I like manual focus more: in order to put the af point on her face I have framed a bit high, leaving surplus white space at the top and cutting off her arm. a bad workman blames his tools I know, but I find all af systems cause me to make these small framing errors when I'm in a hurry. i don't find the 1 series or Nikon af system any better as the af points never cover enough of the frame, even on the D300.

First thing I noticed on my 50D is the coverage, not the same as the G10 where because of the contract AF you can plunk the AF point almost anywhere. Maybe if the m4/3 idea of no mirror works out and becomes as fast as the current phase detection AF... but that's a big maybe

Sep 30, 2009 at 04:55 AM

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