Switching about switching

richfisher

Hi

First of all, I am not a troll. i have lots of Canon gear and just back from Africa. Friends with D500 got shot I missed with 7D M2. So I am thinking of switching.

- how often does nikon offer rebates?
- any good reviews on switching? I found a good one from Greg Basco (deep green)

Any members of the forum recently switched from Canon to Nikon (or other way)? Like to hear about your experience.

Thanks

Rich

Pistnbroke

its all about money/ how much Canon gear you got . Personally I don't like Canon .I say if they cannot get the on/off switch in the right place for one handed operation what else have they got wrong.
Let us know how much gear you have

WestEndFoto

richfisher said:

Hi

First of all, I am not a troll. i have lots of Canon gear and just back from Africa. Friends with D500 got shot I missed with 7D M2. So I am thinking of switching.

- how often does nikon offer rebates?
- any good reviews on switching? I found a good one from Greg Basco (deep green)

Any members of the forum recently switched from Canon to Nikon (or other way)? Like to hear about your experience.

Thanks

Rich

I won't be much help. I did switch to Nikon from another brand, but it was Bushnell, not Canon. I was 8 or 9 and I have been with Nikon ever since.

PB_PM

richfisher said:

Hi

First of all, I am not a troll. i have lots of Canon gear and just back from Africa. Friends with D500 got shot I missed with 7D M2. So I am thinking of switching.

- how often does nikon offer rebates?
- any good reviews on switching? I found a good one from Greg Basco (deep green)

Any members of the forum recently switched from Canon to Nikon (or other way)? Like to hear about your experience.

Thanks

Rich

Without knowing what lenses you were using on the 7D MK2 vs the people with the D500, it's hard to say if it would help you or not.

spraynpray

Switching systems is something that lots of people do, no need to make apologies or worry about being labelled a troll, we are generally more grown up on this forum.

My friend has a 7D2 and I really rate it. A guy on here sold up his Nikon stuff when they were late with the D500 and got a 7D2 then sold it all when the D500 came out citing problems with the 7D2's AF. In all honesty, I have seen that the 7D2 AF is so capable and complex that a lot of people just don't take the time to get to understand it so they can get the best from it. There is rumour of a 7D3 soon - if I were you I would see how that checks out.

Have a look at this months Photo-A-Day, @Jimo is getting great results with the D500/200-500 combo.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

NSXTypeR

Honestly if you can't get decent results with one brand, you probably won't get it with the other brand if you're just generalizing. Switching brands won't make up for poor technique which is by and large the biggest problem.

HankB

Nikon and Canon keep leapfrogging each other — at the moment, Nikon D500 and D850 do seem mostly ahead of Canon.

How long till we move to the next leapfrog cycle?

heartyfisher

I never recommend switching.. (...actually i always recommend switching to Nikon ! if I don't want to think about the logic of it!)

having said that... my nikon d500 is pretty darn great...

I have now given almost all my camera gear.. except for the d500 (and the set of lenses that work great with it for me.)

BVS

@richfisher:

richfisher said:

I have lots of Canon gear and just back from Africa. Friends with D500 got shot I missed with 7D M2. So I am thinking of switching.

What lenses were your friends using, and what lenses would you be looking to replace if you switched?

richfisher said:

- how often does nikon offer rebates?

The biggest sales event with the biggest discounts the last couple of years has been during the Black Friday through Christmas period. There was also a good sale last year starting on April 30th which included the free grip deal. This was right before the 6DII release IIRC, so I'm not sure if they'll do it again this year or not.

richfisher said:

- any good reviews on switching? I found a good one from Greg Basco (deep green)

I'm not sure. If I see any I'll let you know. Where are you located? As Greg said in his review, access to equipment and service can be an important consideration.

BVS

birdsasart-blog.com/2018/01/24/why-i-switched-from-canon-to-nikon/

richfisher

Hi Greg

I am outside Chicago. I think there is a Nikon Authorized Service Center about 10 miles from my house - about a third of the distance as the Canon Service Center.

paulr

Switching manufactures in one word is "Expensive" No matter how much you have cared for your equipment values are never what you think they are when parting with your old system. I am still in the process of selling all my Nikon gear, not because I have gone off Nikon simply because I have moved to DMF.I found dealers to be bandits when offering prices and most of my Nikon gear has been sold on Ebay. and the odd private sale. Selling as to be done patiently, and there are buyers who will pay, its just a matter of time, Thats fine if you can wait.I have sold now approx 60% of my gear and with Spring/summer things will go with time.

richfisher

after going back and forth, starting the process I have opted not to switch. I'll wait to see if Canon does something "reasonable" with the 5D Mark V. Who knows, perhaps they will put a good AF system into it.

spraynpray

The mk IV is already a great camera actually, unlike the II & III.

framer

IMHO if you own good pro glass, it's better to stay with that brand. Bodies today are throw away just upgrade to the next generation reusing that glass. My reason for staying with the F mount. I got glass I bought and use from the 70's to new this year.

framer

KnockKnock

x2 I have a colleague who's constantly moaning about her iPhone camera. Always wants to switch to the latest x-y-z because anecdotally, she's at a concert seeing others zoom in and take low light shots much better. Did she drop the other person's photo into an editing software, blow it up to 1:1 and compare? No. I have stopped just short of telling her it's not the camera, it's the operator.

To put it more constructively - improving one's hit/miss ratio is more often a matter of training and practice practice practice. Like shooting free-throws (basketball). If you do it 3 times a year, your hit/miss ratio will be "worse" than if you practiced every day.

Sure, feed the economy and get a better camera, some things will definitely improve. But don't forget to practice!

NSXTypeR said:

Honestly if you can't get decent results with one brand, you probably won't get it with the other brand if you're just generalizing. Switching brands won't make up for poor technique which is by and large the biggest problem.

BabaGanoush

"To put it more constructively - improving one's hit/miss ratio is more often a matter of training and practice practice practice. Like shooting free-throws (basketball). If you do it 3 times a year, your hit/miss ratio will be "worse" than if you practiced every day."

Is that you, Allen Iverson?

Hiker

richfisher said:

after going back and forth, starting the process I have opted not to switch. I'll wait to see if Canon does something "reasonable" with the 5D Mark V. Who knows, perhaps they will put a good AF system into it.

A friend of mine does wildlife tours. He's a Canon guy. Don't remember his full frame camera but he does shoot with a 7d MK2. Amazing shots of Snow Leopards and Himalaya Wolves...all from a 1/2 mile away at 2000mm.

EricBowles

Rich

It really depends on what you photograph. Both companies have good camera systems, but different strengths. Right now, the Nikon AF system and high ISO performance are pretty amazing, and have been for the past 8-9 years. The Nikon ergonomics and button placement is a strength, but has a little learning curve.

Probably the most well known switcher recently is Arthur Morris. Artie is a former Canon Explorer of Light and probably the top bird photographer in the world. He switched from Canon to Nikon several months ago and has written extensively about it in his blog posts. The big advantage he's seeing is a significant improvement in AF - especially for birds in flight. Artie has repeatedly said that he is "amazed by the images he is getting now that were simply not possible with his Canon gear". He qualifies it in terms of technique, but the statements are pretty remarkable.

Artie sold a full kit of Canon pro glass and pro bodies. He has replaced it with a D500, a D850, and I think a D5. He's got lot of images with the Nikon 200-500 lens, but also has bought a full kit of pro lenses including the 600 f/4.

Here is a link to Artie's blog. The blog post today was a bird in flight with the Nikon D850 and 80-400 lens.
http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/

If you are photographing a lot of wildlife or birds, the Nikon system does have some advantages. I have both a D500 and D850, as well as a wide range of pro level lenses and love my gear, but no manufacturer is perfect. I was an early buyer of the D800E that had a problem with the left AF sensor, but it was a minor issue that I waited almost a year to repair under warranty. I had an early D600 with the "shutter oil spot" issue, but considered it minor enough that I have not sent the camera to repair under warranty. I also had a D70 "green light of death" repaired under warranty. But I've also had no defects with two D300's, a D200, another D70, two D7000's, a D7200, and a D850 over more than 300,000 images.

Msmoto

At present, to switch in brands would be prohibitively expensive for me, but I suspect many might suggest going the new Nikon mirrorless route rather than a change from one DSLR to another.

daveznspace

richfisher said:

Hi

First of all, I am not a troll. i have lots of Canon gear and just back from Africa. Friends with D500 got shot I missed with 7D M2. So I am thinking of switching.

Rich

1st off it's nice to see a canon user unafraid to even look at a nikon. I find it really strange that canon users typically are afraid to go to nikon even though all the things they complain about with their canons the nikons have... it's stupid IMO.

I started with a canon 30D when they came out and about quit photography before I got started because it was so frusterating. At the time I was helping a friend with her fashion company but I found out a lot of my web clients wanted pix out fishing and usually in the rain in the rockies and the canon wasn't weather-sealed until you got up to a 5d. However, I saw Nikons D200 was weather sealed and about the same price so I ordered one with one of the first 18-200mm lens and a 50mm and figued that was my outside gear.

When it came in I took it out to try and and just holding it felt right (so much better than the 30D) and took some pix and went home and opened them up... looked at them.. looked at the canon and cursed the bejesus out of it then logged into craigslist and put it up for sale. It was the the competing model to nikons d200 but the Nikon just destroyed the canon and there was no point in keeping the canon so it got the boot.

Once you get past caring about what name is on it you'll find the make and model that fits you, which IMO is the better way of doing it. Canons are good cameras but they are like paying for a lexus and only getting a toyota (if you know what I mean).

The big debate is glass and how much will it cost you? To me thats a non issue if you enjoy the camera and/or system more and don't have to worry about the camera being the reason why you missed shots.

They are both good cameras but it's really not even a close compition between the two, the 7dm2 is more like jv and the d500 is varsity. Better iq, dr, lower noise, basically unlimited buffer, the af system and on and on. And while the canon crowd downplay it, AF spot metering (especially on wildlife) is worth it just for that and the new highlight spot metering (it spot meters but gives first priority to not blowing highlights out since you can so easily recover shadows) is fantastic. I really don't want to knock canon but theyre sitting on their thumbs. I bet the 7dm3 will still get smoked by the d500.

And thankfully it's not a sony!!

I'd even pick up a pentax if it had higher fps speed and a decent af.

spraynpray

My mate has a 7D2, it is a very good camera but it seems you have to be excellent in the understanding and use of its AF to get the best out of it (which he is). Others have failed which we hear about on this forum, and they then blame the camera. Just be sure you can't improve your results by putting in the effort to learn it inside out.

daveznspace

spraynpray said:

My mate has a 7D2, it is a very good camera but it seems you have to be excellent in the understanding and use of its AF ...

All true but do you want and/or have the time to learn about the canon af system or just get the Nikon, set it to group area af and go find some birds ;-). aka it just shouldn't be that complicated in today's world.

I also find it odd that Canons usually (mostly always) have way more cross type af points, yet the af is still behind Nikon... weird.

As far as what the 5dm5 will be. It will be decent but it's features will still be severely handicapped and the sensor will do but will still be years behind> IMO, I just can't see how anyone in their right mind would buy a 5d and spend as much or more than for a d850 and it'd probably at least 8 years before the 5d has comparable specs.

As for AF, my old barely working D700 still gets more shots in clear focus than any of my old d7*** ones or my d750, go figure. I've also noticed if I speed up CL to 5fps and use that instead of CH, it works much better... and of course, it should.

On a side note... have you ever say been on a site like b&H looking at let's say lenses and you click on the customer photos and like 99.9999% of them are completely embarrassingly awful lol

spraynpray

daveznspace said:

spraynpray said:

My mate has a 7D2, it is a very good camera but it seems you have to be excellent in the understanding and use of its AF ...

All true but do you want and/or have the time to learn about the canon af system or just get the Nikon, set it to group area af and go find some birds ;-). aka it just shouldn't be that complicated in today's world.

True. When I got my D850 I was amazed by not searching through BIF's for sharp shots, only best composition.

snakebunk

spraynpray said:

daveznspace said:

spraynpray said:

My mate has a 7D2, it is a very good camera but it seems you have to be excellent in the understanding and use of its AF ...

All true but do you want and/or have the time to learn about the canon af system or just get the Nikon, set it to group area af and go find some birds ;-). aka it just shouldn't be that complicated in today's world.

True. When I got my D850 I was amazed by not searching through BIF's for sharp shots, only best composition.

You are making it hard for me to stick with the D810 . I will be on a boat in Svalbard for two weeks next summer, sitting on the deck and waiting for an Ivory gull to fly by. In cases like that great AF is all that matters (in addition to luck and good preparation of course).

spraynpray

I was really impressed by the D850 group AF on BIF's. I don't do much of it, but as a shotgun shooter I know how to move my body. Keep the gull in the viewfinder and bam! Sharp shot.

For macro, it is great too, but being FX there is the disadvantage of the shallower DoF if you want to fill the frame.

I am not a fan of the sensor in low light though.