Canon Vs Nikon

I've got a Nikon D50 at the moment, with two lenses, and a few SD memory cards.

I've had it a while and i want something with more pixel power

I can't decide between these...

Nikon D80 - with lens - £624
Canon EOS 400d - with lense - £399

Both have 10 MP.

I just don't know if the Nikon is worth the extra £200+
I could maybe get the canon and use the difference to buy another telephoto lens or flash...

I suppose i could use my existing lenses and memory cards with the nikon, but i plan to sell all my existing lenses and cards with the D50.

Does anyone have a general opinion on which brand is better... Nikon or Canon.

TBH the d50 is a excellent cam and many pros use it as their backup. Pixel count doesnt matter unless you are planning on blowing your images up more then a4, even then its not hugley important. Iv blown up cropped d50 images to a3 before now and my customer was more than happy.

Your better off investing in a better lens as this is where the image quality counts.....

As for your original question, neither the nikon or canon are better than the other - its mostly down to personal preference. However in this case the d80 is arguabley a better camera when it comes to build quaility and design. Colour reproduction tends to be better on the Nikons too, also its a slightly higher end cam. The Canon, in its favour has a smaller, lighter body and handles higher iso setting better. Canon also tend to make faster sharper lenses - albeit more expensive..

You need to look mat each one and see which suits your needs better. Your not buying a brand your buying a system - do your research and you will find pros and cons of each which you can then weigh up to make your choice.

ps welcome to the forum and please excuse my grammer and spelling - im lazy so its always this bad!! LOL

Just been down to wildings.... local camera store on my lunch. I had a quick go of the Nikon D80 and the Canon.

My first thoughts were on how small the canon was compared to the Nikon.
The guy let me take a couple of pictures and printed them for to.

The colour was brighter on the nikon, but this could have been down to settings on the camera.

I was pleased with the similar menu system on the Nikon, and shocked by the menu system on the canon... they're so different.

I'd have to spend weeks getting used to the canon.

I now need to decide whether to spend the extra £250 (£650 total) and get the nikon, over the £399 canon.

I did however see a deal at jessops for the canon, and just over £600 and you get the camera, 2 lenses, a case, a flash and 4gb memory card.

hm.....

What are you planning on using the camera for? At the end of the day its a tool so the body doesnt matter so much - if its for a hobby then consider the offer on t Jessops with the Canon - although the lenses included will not be fast or sharp - they are kit lenses - designed for the hobbiest.

If you are getting serious, then IMO the Jessops offer is obsolete (sp?) The kit lens are just not up to scratch.....

The colour reproduction on the Nikon is down to the cams software - it naturally produces more vibrant colours than the Canon (as i pointed out earlier ) However i dont know what the Canon colour is like after the settings have been personalised.....

Wildlife and landscapes are what i enjoy... At some point in the future, i'd like to try some portrait work and maybe even weddings...

The zoom lens I have on my D50 used to annoy me as it took ages to focus. So a faster lens would sway me a bit.

Do you think the lens that comes with the D80 would be any good? 18 - 135 i think.
Of is that just of "kit lens" standard?

The guy in the shop did say that Nikon are removing the motors from the lenses and having them just in the camera? or was it the other way around? I can't remember... i was playing with cameras at the time.

If thats the case, id personally choose the D80. Its reproduction and body (robust) would be ideal.

The kit lens isnt bad - its a pretty good value zoom lens. But at f/3.5 -5.6, not incredibly fast, but will be ideal for landscapes and wildlife. (The speed comes down to the maximum apperture - as this allows you to use faster shutter speeds - hence fast lens - this has little to do with the AF motor )

You could always just get the D80 body and spend x amount on a better lens, although i think the above is a good standard lens to start off on...

Yes in the newer models D40/x and the new D60 - Nikon has taken the AF motor from the body and kept them in their lens range. Why they have done this, i dont know, but its a pain in the rear whenit comes to getting new kit - all your lenses will need to be AF, unless your happy to manually focus. The D80 doesnt suffer from this issue.

Canon every time!

Hiya

I've mentioned this elsewhere but - I've also got the D50 so the natural progression would be the D80 however for the money I'd probably be tempted to go for the D200.

If that wasn't an option I'd go for the D80 body, stick with the lenses you have and upgrade the lens later.

LOL very helpful "D"

To be honest, another customer in the shop said exactly the same thing. "canon wins everytime"