Are you a Canon or a Nikon SLR-shooter?

Are you a Canon or a Nikon SLR-shooter?

  • Nikon

    Votes: 628 56.0%

  • Canon

    Votes: 471 42.0%

  • other

    Votes: 368 32.8%

  • none

    Votes: 19 1.7%
  • Total voters
    1,121
My first SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic SPII, then, at the early 70', I bought two Rolleiflex SL35 and in the late 70' I moved to Nikon (since then: two F2, EM with MD, Nikonos III, F301 and F501, F90x, F4, F100, F70 and F200)

I still own all, except the F90x that I traded for the F100.
 
I was just thinking about my first camera the other day...a Kodak Instamatic X-15. I got it for X-mas. It used Magicubes for flash which were fun to take apart and toss in the air, landing with a bright flash. Then I moved up to my first SLR, a Pentax auto 110, also a gift. My neighbor's dad thought is was a trick squirt gun. After high school I got a Canon AE-1 program, later a Canon F1n, then a T-90, then an EOS1n, my last SLR film camera.
 
Canon 20d.. even invested in some ef-s lens, FYI, the 60mm macro lens is really amazing. Anyway, I'm holding out for whatever replaces the 5d, hopefully flooding the market with a buncha used 5d's. Now if someone else came out with a full-frame sensor, I might switch... my only complaint about the canon system is the lack of a PC port on the flashes, how annoying is that?!
 
Although my first photography was with RF, I started using SLRs at least part of the time in about 1971 (I was in school). It was an old Exacta. In about '73 I started working with a Pentax Spotmatic and a Nikon F2. Except for a brief flirtation with two Canons, an AE-1 and an F-1 in about '77 and '78, I've been Nikon ever since. For years I shot with an FM in the backcountry with a 24 and 85. When I didn't have to go so far I added motordrive, lenses second body, etc. I later switch to F3. Now I own an FM2n, two F3s and an F4. I love the MF Nikkors.

The reason I have never gotten into digital SLRs is that I hate AF lenses and pushbutton, menu-driven camera controls. The whole reason I've gotten back into Leica is because the M8 is about the only digital option for me that has MF lenses and traditional camera controls (OK, the DMR, but it is so much bigger and heavier).

In a perfect world I would have a full-frame digital back for the FM2n and/or the F3 so I could use all my AIS lenses with a camera I like. But in the actual world I suspect I will rarely, if ever, use a Nikon camera again.

I have a M8 on order. But much as I like my M4-P and much as I'm looking forward to the M8 (and a couple more lenses) it still isn't as desirable to me as a digital FM. Close, though. The two biggest issues are the need for an accessory VF for my favorite focal lengths (20 & 24 on 35mm) and the inability to use split ND filters with an RF camera.
 
Nikon. My back wishes I'd chosen Canon, when I came to that fork in the road, but I love my F4s. At one point I used a Minolta of the auto-everything variety. I always wished Minolta to be beter than they are and have a real pro level SLR, but for each truly useful and innovative feature they come up with, they added ten that are just pure gimmick. My first SLR experience was with my dad's Exacta...maybe that's the reason why I think that the shutter of the Bessa is not too loud. Banging two pot lids together might be quieter than snapping with the Exacta. 😀
 
Nikon, and always nikon.

why?

because i've always shot canon for work and they ALWAYS seemed to break down.. even the 1 series from the vhs, to the d, dmk2, etc... yes, digitally we know canon's better, etc etc.. but after my bodies continued to fail me after less than a year's use,(followed by a ridiculous bill from CPS,) i totally gave up.

Even better, was the constant testing for "sharpness" whenever i wwanted to buy a lens, used or even new. After my 24-105 flared flat in my face, i wanted to throw rocks at them.


On the quieter side, my nikons have been serving me well, using the F bodies from my grandfather, father, and now me, with a beat up F5 with over 800 rolls of film through, and a D2h that doens't seem to want to die. As for lenses... Nikon doesn't have that much of a selection compared to canon, (mkI,II,III,etc)but hey... they don't need to.
 
Leica SL2. Althought it (like most of my cameras) doesn't get enough use. Noboby told me that fatherhood would be so time consuming!
 
I am used to using in-camera spotmeters, so going for a Canon and dumping Nikons was natural. The F1N with the right screen gives me spotmetering that was not available in any Nikon camera for quite some time. I unloaded my Nikkors and got instead Canon FD lenses.

Raid
 
I have many SLRs but the ones I use are My first serious camera a Minolta maxxum 5, a Canon T90, and a Nikon EM. I have a Konica autoreflex and a Yashica TL super that I want to try. My Canon T70 worked so good I spent money on the T90.
 
Strictly Nikon - for many years - for both professional and fun use. I started with an F3 - the best slr I've ever used - and went from there. For years I did specialist macro work and accumulated accessories like the Novoflex autobellows - the Nikon system is just excellent for macro. And in my spare time I built on my collection, adding many film bodies and eventually buying a D70. My favourite lens is the 70-200VR - but it's a monster size so I only use it for work.

F3, F90X, FE2, FG, D70, bucket loads of accessories, SB21 macro flash, SB28, SB12, SB600 etc etc.

I returned to rangefinders (started with a FED 4 when I was a teenager) when the sheer bulk of Nikon gear became a hassle. I spend most of my shooting life dragging enormous cameras around the world (the tripod alone is 22kg) so when I just want to shoot for fun, a smaller system like the G2 is a joy to use.

I don't like Canon cameras at all but envy them the long wildlife lenses...
 
My Nikon FE, that I bought in a pawn shop for 100$ when I was 16, was been my only SLR for the past 22 years. I've tried F2, FE2, F3 and F4 and recently an F65, but don't consider any of then an improvement on the FE. They either too heavy or too fragile, or too complicated.
 
I spent far to much of my first student´s allowence on a Nikkormat with Nikkor 85 mm in january 1972. Had to sell it within a couple of months to get through the semester. That was my first.

Then came a long infatuation with Minolta. I had SRT 100, 101 and 303 - all great, hefty mechanicals. Then the XG2, wasn´t it? and even a pro´s electronic - XM??

After that it was Nikon again; the FM came and charmed my boots off, then an Japan-imported F2, and old F and so on for ever. Today it´s D200 and FM3a (the last one´s a real beauty - by looks as well as in usability).

leif e
 
'Twas all Olympus MF gear in my early days. After a long hiatus digital brought me back - and Canon captured me with their long IS glass for wildlife. I haven't been sorry, and quite like my dSLR for that. Rangefinders are new to me (but I've liked what I've found) although the film thing I'm finding to be a love/hate relationship (I love some of the results, but hate the logistics).

...Mike
 
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