Rockwell Dumps Nikon

HarleyFrank

Forum, I just surfed by wacky Ken Rockwell's web page and his new 'best camera' reviews are updated without a single Nikon in the bunch. It looks like he's on Canon's payroll now. I know he garners little respect here, but that's a popular consumer photo website completely dumping Nikon. Ouch.

BVS

What's interesting is that his 'best' cameras are all Canons, but his 'recommended' cameras are still Nikons.

tektrader

Care factor .................. ZERO.............. he's an idiot.....

Ironheart

Meh L-)

NSXTypeR

I don't care about him moving to Canon, all I care about is his review on the Nikon D5s.

(With much sarcasm of course.)

FreezeAction

I'm not wasting my time reading his paid for opinions. More knowledge here than anything he has to say.

heartyfisher

Can't believe I am defending him! LOL. but I don't appreciate unsubstantiated accusation of anyone not even KR.

donaldejose

I often defend KR. You have to understand his "style" and his "humor" to properly evaluate his "opinions." If you don't "get" those aspects of KR you are not going to understand what he writes. His "style" is to intentionally over exaggerate for entertainment. His "humor" is to make a big deal over minor items. His "opinions" are often delivered tongue in cheek. You have to strip away these overtones and not let them bother you to see the underlying truth. In his article about the best cameras for certain purposes he makes two basic points, each undeniable for even a Nikon fanboy. I. The Canon 5DS is the only full frame camera with over 50 megapixels so it is the best when you want maximum pixels such as when you are shooting landscapes. 2. The Canon 7D Mark II is the only camera which can sense the flickering of sports field lighting and shoot when the color is right so it is the best camera for shooting sports under such conditions. These two basic points mandate some subpoints. For example, since the two bodies are Canon KR obviously cannot chose Nikon lenses as the best lenses to put on those bodies. KR also has a preference for how Canon bodies handle compared to how Nikon bodies handle. I have not shot with both so I cannot say he is wrong on that aspect. Prior to the appearance of Canons 50+ mp 5DSR KR did say the Nikon D800 and D810 bodies were the best technical image producing bodies. DXOMark says they still have the best dynamic range. Next year this may change if Nikon produces a D5 and a body with more than 50 megapixels. Nikon should also add the technology to handle flickering lights like the Canon 7D Mark II. This is another interesting comment on Nikon vs. Canon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jva08HY6uLE

heartyfisher

Oh that Northrop one :-) He tries hard to hide his canon fanboy in him ( maybe a bit of self denial too LOL! ) but you have to factor that into his presentations :-) Other than that his presentations are pretty good.

tcole1983

I will say I look at his site when I want certain info on lens construction or specs of things. I don't care for his opinion on much though. He does have nice summaries of how things are built, etc.

manhattanboy

KR also has a preference for how Canon bodies handle compared to how Nikon bodies handle. I have not shot with both so I cannot say he is wrong on that aspect.

Here's what I like about Canon that I wish Nikon had:
Generally quieter shutters, especially in quiet continuous mode.
A much more useful quick menu that basically allows you to set everything of value from one screen
An AF system that has high specificity AF points with lenses 2.8 and wider
A much better wifi app with useful exposure controls
Generally pleasing skin colors (when the exposure is spot on)
Some more lenses to compete with the Canon 200 2.8 prime, Fresnel 70-300 zoom, and 40 2.8 pancake

Paperman

Man, if only they had " spot metering " at chosen AF point like any level Nikon had ...

donaldejose

manhattenboy: those reasons could explain why Canon is so popular with wedding and portrait photographers.

nek4life

Man, if only they had " spot metering " at chosen AF point like any level Nikon had ...

Really they don't have this? Hasn't Nikon had this forever?

NSXTypeR

Tony Northrup is equally annoying in my opinion, he looks and sounds incredibly pretentious.

manhattanboy

Man, if only they had " spot metering " at chosen AF point like any level Nikon had ...

I generally shoot the 7100 in center af point only, but don't use spot metering as its evaluative is pretty darn good and if it's off you have enough DR to recover from RAW. The 810 I tend to use group af and again prefer evaluative or highlight priority. Metering only on a single focus point may blow out something else in the picture so I rarely use it; even with ISO 64 I've had blown highlights.
If I shoot Canon I prefer center weighted as the center most focus points are the high accuracy ones that I would use to be sure of the focus in large aperture lenses. I again will not use spot as its too narrow and the pictures tend to underexposure which is tough to correct given slightly less DR than the Nikon.

I'm not sure if you were asking a question or making a comment but hopefully that answers any questions you have.

paulr

KR is like Marmite You love it or hate it, He does give good information about spec he his describing though. Clearly he gets under the skin of some photographers, but at the end of the day he is only trying to make a living and his opinions are his own, whether you agree, is claerly subjective.

Msmoto

OK, let's give Ren credit where credit is due. He just might be making a good living as a fiction writer. But, this is like many folks who are in the media. Look at all the attention he gets and lots of folks enjoy reading about him.....humor is often quite fun.

As to his contributions to photographic knowledge, well, sometimes we have to look at a lot of different perspectives to arrive at our own opinion and Ren adds a perspective whether we like it or not.

However, I have not read anything from Ren for a long time, so I may not know what I am talking about....... oh well.....

Paperman

Man, if only they had " spot metering " at chosen AF point like any level Nikon had ...

I generally shoot the 7100 in center af point only, but don't use spot metering as its evaluative is pretty darn good and if it's off you have enough DR to recover from RAW. The 810 I tend to use group af and again prefer evaluative or highlight priority. Metering only on a single focus point may blow out something else in the picture so I rarely use it; even with ISO 64 I've had blown highlights.
If I shoot Canon I prefer center weighted as the center most focus points are the high accuracy ones that I would use to be sure of the focus in large aperture lenses. I again will not use spot as its too narrow and the pictures tend to underexposure which is tough to correct given slightly less DR than the Nikon.

I'm not sure if you were asking a question or making a comment but hopefully that answers any questions you have.

Making a comment/joking actually, manhattanboy ...I find it ridicilous that 7DII has this astounding antiflickering feature but no real spot metering , a feature simplest Nikons had since forever. ( Even 5DMIII does not have AF point spot metering )

My setting is also on evaluative but very often I opt to go spot ( on faces ) in backlit scenes and I love being able to do it at the touch of function button with my pinky. ( best use of that button, for me )

donaldejose

some specifics:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/nikon-vs-canon.htm

If I shot both Canon and Nikon I might agree with many of his points but I am not going to invest in two systems and I am too heavily invested in Nikon to change. Thus, I cannot properly evaluate the validity of his points.

spraynpray

@NSXTypeR: agreed.

kanuck

Yes he jumped ship about 2 years ago. it's a shame I used to follow his site quite a bit from 2006-2010, but I realized there were much better sites out there.

framer

Because of this thread I went to his site for the 1st time in several years. I read his comparison between Canon & Nikon. Not to get in to a debate and in depth analysis of the article IMHO his logic is flawed. Not one camera will do it all and is the best. More megapixels is just one factor but there are so many more. Not one mention of professional Nikon bodies. D810 is pro-consumer.

framer

Paperman

. D810 is pro-consumer.

framer

Can we say that when there is no other recent/decent/high resolution Nikon body ( like D4s) for the professional ? Nikon seems to have made their choice that D8xx is the pro body for high resolution/non-journalistic purposes ...

donaldejose

People can categorize Nikon bodies however they want. However, Nikon includes the D810 and D810a in their category of professional cameras on the Nikonusa website. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/dslr-cameras/professional-dslrs.page

kyoshinikon

His latest matchup between the 2 clearly makes him a Canut... While I do agree that Nikon has been kinda laggy, Canon isn't lightyears ahead of them. It is a pity that someone like Ken has such an impact on new shooters tho.