How many of you do Nikon and Canon?

[poker]

I might give in to my curiosity of the Nikon world sometime this year. A friend of a friend of mine might offer me his Nikon D2X at a bargain although I would still need to get a lens.

I'm very much vested in Canon bodies and have many lenses as well.

I'm just wondering how many of you have both and what are the pros and cons of having mixed systems?

[Photo-John]

Well, you know I use all kinds of gear. But the stuff I own is all Canon. I am currently making a concerted effort to better learn the Nikon system. That's partly because I feel it's a blind spot for me. Specifically, I want to get more intimate with Nikon's best AF. So I will be using the D3S a bunch for a while. At least until Nikon demands I return this sucker

But I diverge.

For me, the biggest problem with using more than one system is getting used to a particular lens or feature with one system and then not having it with another. This has been most acute when *not* using the Olympus DSLRs with their titl-swivel LCDs and 2x digital crop factor. When I've been using the Olympus for a while and then go to another system, I am really peeved when I have to crouch down to use Live View on the tripod. And I LOVE the Olympus 70-300mm lens. It has no equal when it comes to size/power ratio.

Oh yeah - Nikon does everything backwards. Honestly, it's a big pain in the ass if you've been using another camera. Everyone else does lens rotation and dial rotation the opposite of Nikon. So be prepared to waste a bunch of time correcting your exposure adjustments...

[SmartWombat]

Amen.
The user interface was the reason I didn't buy Nikon.
Fit my hand like a glove, but aaaaaargh it was all backwards !

[mattbikeboy]

I've been a Nikon guy since 1989 (when my parents opted to remove the possibility of me carting their Canon gear off to college with me). I've played with a couple of the other photographers Canon toys -- but I definitely love my D700 and D300s.

mbb

[freygr]

Amen.
The user interface was the reason I didn't buy Nikon.
Fit my hand like a glove, but aaaaaargh it was all backwards !

Why do you say that. It's like saying: I don't like Canon because "it was all backwards"

Really if the camera "Fit my hand like a glove" Now that is a good thing

[Ray Dockrey]

Amen.
The user interface was the reason I didn't buy Nikon.
Fit my hand like a glove, but aaaaaargh it was all backwards !

I was the exact opposite. A friend of mine bought a Canon and was asking me questions on it. I couldn't figure out the menu system for nothing. None of it made sense.

[livin4lax09]

Amen.
The user interface was the reason I didn't buy Nikon.
Fit my hand like a glove, but aaaaaargh it was all backwards !

haha when i finally started using a nikon seriously, I went "ahhh, now THIS makes sense!" There are a lot of small things that always seemed weird to me about canon's system. I shot canon for a bit the other day again, and it felt so odd. Probably just because I'm adjusted to Nikon now, though.

[daq7]

I kind of wish I had gone with Nikon when I started buying equipment. Their speed lights seem to be more capable than the canon ones. The nikon ones zoom to over 200mm, and the canon ones only go to 105.

[Photo-John]

Don't misunderstand - the Nikon gear is excellent. But it's the opposite of every other camera maker out there. I'm talking about dials and lens mounting - they all turn the opposite direction. I'm sorry, but that's just pure stubbornness. Sure, you get used to it. But if you have been using something else, it's really annoying.

[Franglais]

I hate missing pictures and screwing things up by making mistakes. I get used to a piece of material and use it without thinking. When I have to switch to something that works differently I forget. Even going from the D300 to the D60 and back has caused me a few problems (example: shooting in broad daylight at 3200 ISO because the D60 has an OK button and the D300 doesn't).

I would never run Canon and Nikon DSLR systems in parallel. I would switch from one to the other and relearn everything.

[SmartWombat]

And with my "other" cameras including 2x OM10, 2x Exacta RTL1000, Zenit EM ... I have plenty of room for confusion.

The biggest problem for me with the Nikon is the control wheel on the front edge of the grip in front of and below the shutter release. I totally hated that.
Then the menu system was hard to navigate, where the Canon menus were clearer to me.
And finally I tried focussing the lens and all my reflexes of 30 years were the wrong way, or the Nikon was the wrong way.
Naturally I didn't think that I could be at fault

If I had only Nikon then I doubt it would be an issue.

Oh and the fits the hand comment?
Sony alpha 850 beat the Nikon hands down.
But it didn't exist when I was shopping for my dSLR system.

[drg]

I used Nikon's almost exclusively for nearly 25 years in the 35mm film era. With the advent of dSLR's I found I wasn't satisfied with Nikon for a number of reasons, certainly in parallel with their film cameras and switched to Canon over the course of one summer. I didn't start with a Nikon (or the Nikkormat flavors that so many started with when I was a youth) so the backwardness later wasn't as big an issue but I sure noticed the change!

It was costly but I had to do it at the time.

Now I've found that I'm working with people who have finally decided to go digital in the past two years or a little longer and they have for the most part opted for Nikon. Thus I've been working with Nikon's part of the time and they, Nikon, have definitely caught up. Yes it's backwards and the control layouts are still funky (always were compared to Contax, Leica, and Pentax).

Trying to switch between to different systems doing serious work is tough because with something you'll have to stop and think for a while how to change something obscure. Meanwhile the sun goes under a cloud, the bride' father retires to the bar, or one of your models has a clothing malfunction. Or worse such as the event is over and you missed the climax.

I want at least a full day to switch between two cameras I'm familiar with under the best of circumstances if I'm doing anything vaguely important. When I was shooting film and digital with regularity I liked to allow several days when switching to Large Format as that is almost a state of mind to do it reasonably well. I could tell the difference in how I was working and thinking when I used film and digital in parallel. One set of images would always be better.

Business reasons demand that for the past year or so I had to switch over and use the Nikon D3 and D700 part time. I blogged about shooting a couple of weddings at the last moment, but I had help with those. I use a business partner's cameras, the Nikon's, with enough regularity to be familiar as she does with my Canon's. But I believe we both are still fairly entrenched with our primary choice. But I really like that D700!

There are enough serious differences with the professional models that many photographer's wouldn't want to switch back and forth with any regularity. No real advantage other than, in my case, what the workflow for certain jobs (wireless/tethered computer setups, color management, print fulfillment, post processing, etc,) demanded for getting the job done in a timely fashion. If it's set up and ready to go and you know how to do what you need, that's one thing. Several different systems can handle the demands of making good photos, but there are different gotcha's that can get in the way.

Just my two bits worth at the moment

[Frog]

My first slr was a Chinon 35. I had a Nikon Coolpix 8700 for a while and quickly became unhappy with it for lack of control so I started saving for a dslr. At the time tthe Canon xsi was competing with the D80 I think. I wanted the D200 but they were a bit beyond my means at that time and with the same sensor as the D80 it was said the D80 could take just as good of pictures. I didn't know much about digital then and still don't but I went with the D80.
The controls seem pretty natural to me but I've never used another model. I guess it would be like trying to drive a car with steering and controls where the passenger should sit.
I am considering a Canon p&s though.