And the most popular FF prosumer DSLR is ... ?

[Keith]

The two prosumer full frame DSLRs that seem to get talked about most at RFF are the 5D (mkl or mkll) and the D700. I'm amazed at how many members seem to have D700s ... Nikon must have sold a lot of these.

And I've frequently heard mention from contented M8 and M9 owners that they have a D700 or 5D mkll lurking in the background ... obviously for those times when only the best will do! 😀

I really like my D700 and my only regret is that It can't do what the Canon does and readily accept a diverse range of other manufacturers lenses with an adapter ... I nearly bought the Canon because of this but the praise for the Nikon's low light performance was so vocal at the time it was hard to go against the flow.

I realise there are other unRF choices out there but if you're looking for a full frame DSLR for a couple of grand there really only seems to be two in the offering when you get down to it. I aplogise to any Sony fans but the A850/900 doesn't seem to be that pouplar around here and as highly as the new K-5 Penatx's praises have been sung, it's not full frame.

So which one then ... Canon or Nikon and why?

 

[mfunnell]

I'll stick with my 5D original. The MkII is better for some stuff while the D700 is no doubt better for high-ISO. But what I have suits me just fine.

...Mike

 

[Thardy]

I have Canon and Nikon dslrs (one Nikon belongs to my daughter actually). I would probably buy the Canon full frame because I have some decent lenses for it, but the bulk RFF members buy Nikon.

Thread over. 😉

 

[Pablito]

Sony supposed to be very good.

 

[damien.murphy]

Tough call, I have neither, but can faintly see a D700 in my future.

The Canon's ability to mount legacy glass is a nice boon, although Nikon legacy glass is no slouch either.

Megapixels are the only thing that made me think twice on the D700 in the past, but reading Steve McCurry's blog recently where he mentions how his D3S, with a similar sensor to the D700, is good for prints up to 30"x40", put that one to bed for me.

 

[Keith]

I have Canon and Nikon dslrs (one Nikon belongs to my daughter actually). I would probably buy the Canon full frame because I have some decent lenses for it, but the bulk RFF members buy Nikon.

I expect the Nikon to be more popular but is it just that the Canon owners are less vocal. The Canon's IQ and high ISO performance are not far from the Nikon's and it has video ... what's not to like?

 

[f16sunshine]

I have Canon. Not because I prefer it but rather because I was a Contax and M42 reflex user before the digital era. I bought my first DSLR late in the game ('07). At that time onlyvtge 5D would fit my need. I did have z 40D for a second body for a while. Now it's 5Dii and M8 for any jobs. 66 & 69 and film for fun.

 

[hausen]

Love my 5d2 and can't fault the high ISO performance. Mine will look a little lonely with the M9 in the house.

 

[slm]

Although I don't have one, I so want a Sony A900 (but would settle for the A850)

 

[tlitody]

The next one... Probably a Canon 5D MKIII

 

[Keith]

I have the distinct impression that when the D700 does finally become 'old hat', which may take a while, there will be a lot of them around for sale and they may become the excellent user bargain that the original model 5D has become of late.

The bottom feeders of the world can rejoice in having a choice of budget priced used full frame DSLRs. 😀

 

[MP Guy]

These stats are from a site that I run. I wont give the name but lets just say that this data is accurate and gathered from 8000 images.

 

[andredossantos]

I expect the Nikon to be more popular but is it just that the Canon owners are less vocal. The Canon's IQ and high ISO performance are not far from the Nikon's and it has video ... what's not to like?

I would not be so quick to say the D700 has better IQ than the 5Dii. I'd say they are at least on par with each other with a possible slight nod to the Canon. High ISO goes to Nikon though the 5Dii is also excellent in this regard. Excellent enough where one might not even notice the difference in a lot of situations.

For me I struggled deciding (I had a Nikon DSLR previously but had sold the entire kit) it came down to the video capability.

 

[Keith]

These stats are from a site that I run. I wont give the name but lets just say that this data is accurate and gathered from 8000 images.

That's interesting ... the pie chart indicates that the D700 and 5DII are very close, which globally you would expect.

Not so close around here though ... and I can't help but wonder why?

 

[Keith]

I would not be so quick to say the D700 has better IQ than the 5Dii. I'd say they are at least on par with each other with a possible slight nod to the Canon. High ISO goes to Nikon though the 5Dii is also excellent in this regard. Excellent enough where one might not even notice the difference in a lot of situations.

For me I struggled deciding (I had a Nikon DSLR previously but had sold the entire kit) it came down to the video capability.

I know that Gavin (fdigital) prefers Canon files to Nikon ... and I've always thought that there was probably nothing in it, it just gets down to user preference and brand loyalty.

 

[ferider]

With 6% M8 images Jorge, there is surely some distortion in your statistics, no ?

 

[andredossantos]

I know that Gavin (fdigital) prefers Canon files to Nikon ... and I've always thought that there was probably nothing in it, it just gets down to user preference and brand loyalty.

I totally agree 🙂

 

[gavinlg]

I'd say that 5d would be the more popular camera wordwide, but the d700 would be the more popular camera on this forum. RFFers love their nikons.
As for me, I love the d700, but I find the 5d/5dII to be a better suited tool for my uses. If I was a war photojournalist, I'd have a d3s though. That's one sexy camera!

Edit: The d700 and 5d/5dII are popular for a reason - they're just the best cameras out there in value to performance ratio. I think a lot of people use point and shoots or entry level crop DSLRs and get perpetually turned off digital cameras because they never experience a 35mm lens as a 35mm lens as with the 35mm sensor. It's like shooting heaven after using a 24mm lens a crop DSLR to imitate a 35mm for a while...

 

[MP Guy]

With 6% M8 images Jorge, there is surely some distortion in your statistics, no ?

No distortion. This is based on the photos in the gallery and what they were taken with.

As far as Globally goes, here is another pie chart to savor 🙂

 

[tlitody]

OMG we better have another poll to determine which camera model owners are more likely to post images with exif data so that we can determine the accuracy of the pie chart which, incidentally, seems to have the 5DMKII on there twice making the software very suspect.