Going Dual System
The Canon versus Nikon debates have raged for years. All Brand X versus Brand Y discussions are fueled by both facts and myths. Windows versus Mac. Emacs versus vi. In the camera world, these debates are often polarized more than many other competitive debates by a big contributing factor: cost. Because of the price tag of the tools at hand, most people only have full-time access to a kit of equipment from one brand or another. You choose your brand and buy in. After that point, your perception of the world is colored by your choices and financial investment.
In the late 1990’s, I bought into Canon with a film SLR with a 50mm prime and have been a Canon shooter ever since. I did so because of their work on Image Stabilized lenses and then their later lead in digital image quality. For the longest time, I was totally happy with that decision. But, times change. It’s now much harder to make blanket statements to the effect that one brand is better than the other at all tasks. In fact, I think it’s impossible.
Not having a single answer isn’t all that surprising. In fact, having an easy answer for a period of time when it comes to digital SLRs may have been a fluke of history. Ten years ago before digital, when you were shooting in low-light environments, you may have reached for the Tri-X. If you were out in the landscape, you might go for Velvia or Provia depending on your taste. Or maybe, you would go for a medium format Hassy or even a large format view camera. I think the truth of the matter is that we’re now in a similar situation when it comes to Digital SLRs. The design decisions made by the camera makers are producing really good results in some areas with compromises in others. This means that sometimes Canon is going to be the right tool, other times Nikon.
The problem I have is that my own photography takes me into situations where I want the best of both worlds. I’d really like Canon to provide solutions that cover the full range of what I do, and many of my posts of late have reflected that point of view. I could wait another year or two, or even three for Canon to produce the camera I’d like them to make, but I have more immediate needs. Instead of waiting around any longer, I’m adding some tools to the tool chest and going dual system. I’m in the process of selling off some of my Canon gear that provides my current level of backup and duplication and using the proceeds to buy up some Nikon gear, starting with a D700 and a couple of lenses, including the amazing 14-24 wide zoom.
To be clear, the current goal isn’t a total switch. Instead, the goal is to end up with the tools from both makers that complement the various kinds of photography I do. Along the way, I’m going to share thoughts from the process, including some initial experiences with the new equipment from the perspective of somebody who has used Canon gear for 10 years. Hopefully, it’ll be interesting. At the very least, it’ll be fun to see for myself what the real differences are between the brands beyond what can be ascertained by comparing sample images and playing with the equipment for just a few minutes at the camera store. And, along the way, I wouldn’t mind popping a few myths if I can find them.
Blatant For-Sale Section: If you’re interested in benefiting from all of this and picking up some used Canon gear, I’ve currently got a few things on my list to sell and would love for them to end up in caring homes, including a 1D Mark III blue-dot, a 16-35 f/28 L II, a 70-200 f/2.8 L (non-IS), and a 430EX Speedlight. You can if you’re interested. Furthermore, if you want to check things out in person (always a smart idea with camera gear), I’ll be in the SF Bay Area later this week and into early next week.
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15 Comments
Hey Duncan,
as said on Twitter: Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the Nikon family ;-) I am very interested to see what your experiences are. There are just not that many people that can compare the systems with authority.
I would be in particular interested in the af sensor spread compared to the 1D Mark III.
When upgrading from the D200 to the D300 I appreciated the wider spread focus points very much, only to get them taken away from me when getting the D700 ;-( (*)
When I focus closely on a face I feel that the focus points are not spread wide enough. Usually, when close, the eye is higher than the highest focus point.
For the D800 I would wish for Nikon to keep the MP count, to enlarge the af area and HD video (non-jelly) wouldn't hurt either.
And good lens choice. I also got the 24-70 since about and month and love the sharpness.
I couldn't afford the 14-24, so I went for the Sigma 12-24. It's not too bad, but the edge performance restricts its purpose to artistic uses ;-)
Cheers.
(*) Technically I believe it is the same absolute spread, but on a larger sensor.
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Thanks! It's already been quite fun playing with the camera and I've got lots of notes scribbled down for future publication. I'll keep an eye (hah!) on the AF point spread. So far, I've not found it restrictive compared to what I'm used to, but I've just been shooting around the living room and out the window and haven't exactly been giving it a good workout. I can see that this AF point layout on the D300 would give awesome coverage.
As far as the lenses, both have knocked my socks off already.
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Yes!!!! I am so excited for you and myself! I can't wait to read about your experiences.
I knew this was coming. I'm hoping to pick up a D700 sometime next year. We'll see if its in the cards.
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I've been a Nikon user since 'F' days, and consequently have amassed a lot of lenses and accessories along the way. But, after digital came into play especially, I have wished many times that I had chosen the Canon route. Watching your reasoned assessments as the D3, and now the D700, were released, I've lost that urge now!
I've had the D700 since it came out and a lot of my old Nikkor lenses have come back into play (with some reservations). I recently bought the 14-24mm though and it's absolutely astonishing in its performance, far better than any of my older full-frame wide primes.
I know a lot of pros who use Canon and the results are, of course, still excellent. I think you have made exactly the right decision to run both in parallel - but I bet you end up wishing that the 14-24 fitted the Canons at some point!
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Very interesting that you've succumbed to obvious the attractions of the D700 but have decided to continue using your Canon equipment as well. I do wonder how that will work out for you on a practical level and will watch closely.
I've currently got my Nikon D200 and all my DX lenses on EBay pending a purchase of the D700 next week hopefully.
The AF Point spread issue has also been my only trepidation (well apart from having to take a deep breath and part with my 18-200VR).
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You are going to love the d700. I shoot with both the d700 and d3 and it has really made life easier. Everything is is in focus, I am shoot with the ambient light much more and I fine that my images are needing very little post processing to create that rich image. Enjoy the camera and I can't wait to hear your thoughts.
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I am looking forward to your comments and insight on the two platforms as it is truly difficult to get unbiased opinions. I've always liked Nikon wide angle glass and wish, dearly wish that Canon would pull it together on their wide angle scene. The 16-35 mkII is just too soft in the corners and their quality control on lens production simply is not where it needs to be. That said, their telephoto zooms are wonderful. Though I wish they had adopted the same lens strategy Nikon has in terms of mounts making even their newer systems backwards compatible with all their old *gorgeous* manual focus glass.
Perhaps more importantly however, Nikon has seriously stepped up in the SLR body game and the time I've spent with a D700 was a bit of a revolution for me. I still am quite happy with my 1D mkIII systems, but... I want low light sensitivity and don't necessarily care about 10fps.
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Caldedonia, I too am interested in seeing how this works in parallel, most especially how my brain handles switching back and forth. Obviously for a few weeks, the Nikon is going to feel different in hand and I'll have to learn everything, but it's how the tools feel compared to each other _after_ that break in period that I'm looking forward to.
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BWJones, indeed, the Nikon wide glass is truly impressive which is why I’ve started went with the lens choices I did. The Canon 16-35 II is a much better effort than they've had before, but... it's not in the same league. As far as the F-mount compatibility, I plan on playing with that a bit with that soon. Years ago, my Dad gave me his FE with several manual-everything lenses and I'm curious to pull those out and see how they do. It’s too bad that an FD-EF mount adapter isn't even really possible.
As far as the impressions go, I hope to have a post up later today (Tuesday) with the first blush impressions after having the camera around for a day. Much more will come after that.
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I'm a die hard Canon user, and I'll probably stay that way. But I'm really looking forward to reading about the differences that you see in the Nikon gear. We're all lucky to have someone willing to buy the other brand's gear to compare it for us.
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Duncan, here are a couple of my favorite under the hood features that were well implemented on the Nikons. They fall into the “I’m lazy and forgetful and don’t always pay attention to what the view finder is telling me" category.
You can set the front command dial as the default exp comp control; no pressing a button while you turn a dial, just turn it. The killer benefit (for me anyway) is exp comp resets when you power off. With the power switch surrounding the trigger, I power off frequently. The net means I almost never forget to reset exp comp. I wish bracketing reset in the same manor. If you DO set exp comp using the button/dial combo, it is sticky.
The other biggie for me is how Nikon approaches Auto ISO; it’s more like ISO priority. In Aperture Priority set a minimum shutter speed eg: 1/30, if you need more light the ISO is pushed. A Max ISO is set, which on the D700 can be something ridiculous like 6400. If you are working in rapidly changing conditions, there’s no need to monkey with ISO. More importantly, if you’re like me it is now impossible to forget you jacked the ISO 5 minutes ago when you step out into the sunlight. I’m not sure how Canon implemented this feature but I live by it on my D200.
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Hurrah! While I'm excited we'll have the fruit of your talents behind Nikon glass, I'm almost more interested to see how handling the dual setup goes.
Hope you enjoy it :)
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Thanks for a few pointers there. I'm finding myself in the middle of the "Where the heck is..." on a lot of things. :) Auto ISO is smoothly implemented on the Nikons for sure. I'm so good at watching that in the viewfinder anymore, but still, I may try to enable it at some point. We'll see.
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i have been reading your posts with interest and you make many references to the idea that you will be using your canon equipment for certain things, and your new nikon equipment for other things. the basic premise seems to be that neither brand is going to be perfect for all the types of photography that you do, so you will use one brand for certain types of work and the other brand other types . i was wondering if you could specify WHICH brand you think might be better suited to WHICH type of photography. maybe you cant be too specific at this point but just general ideas or hunches would be great. there must have been something specific that was lacking in the canon equipment that caused you to turn towards nikon. if you cant answer this question in a comment, maybe you could try to just keep it in mind as you continue with your postings. a lot of us readers are trying to decide between canon and nikon ourselves - trying to figure out not which is the "better" brand, but which makes the most sense for the particular type of photos that we take, so your hands on experience and opinions would be great. thanks!
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Phoebe, you’re right. It is something that should be said more explicitly as I go. I’ll try to keep it in mind and please feel free to chime in with comments when you would like to see more answers as I go.
At this moment, as I start this experiment, I can safely say that if I were working solely in the studio or out in the landscape, I'd stick with my investment in Canon and continue to simply lobby for the things I want. After all, Canon’s emphasis on increasing resolution won’t hurt in those environments at all. And, I dearly love the Canon primes, including the 85L, 135L, and 300L. They are wonderful tools and lenses are a big part of the magic of photography.
But, the bulk of my work is made in environments that require the use of ISO 1600 and up. Nikon is currently providing the top of the line tools for this use and I don’t see Canon’s emphasis leading to a re-domination of that area. In addition, Nikon has some amazing wide angle glass—and isn't a slouch in the rest of their glass lineup either. And, a refresh of their primes seems to be in the cards, starting with their new 50 1.4 coming out.
If your work takes you into low light, or if you’re focusing on photojournalism, I think Nikon is the hands down top choice. For these kinds of work, you want a D3 or a D700 in your hand. I’ve spent the last year resisting this because of the obvious monetary impact involved, but at this point, for this kind of work, and after evaluating the gear, things seem clear enough to warrant the investment needed to go dual system.
Now, the most interesting of the observations that can be made along these lines are ones I can't yet made. I've said that I would stick to my Canon gear if I were just working in the landscape or studio. The big question is which gear do I reach for in a few months in those environments now that I’ve got access to both brands of kit. I simply don't know the answer to that yet and am as interested as anybody else to see what the result will be.
It could be that shooting dual system will allow me to pick and choose equipment based on strengths and weaknesses. Or, I might end up going all the way and my Canon gear might collect dust awaiting a future amazing Canon body in several years that is just now starting development.. We shall see.
I hope that helps answer the question. And I'll try to pay attention to this as I go. Once again, please feel free to comment and nudge me if you think I could be saying more along these lines.
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