Nikon vs Canon DSLR aggravation

HankB

Nikon and Canon both make excellent DSLR's and lenses. They keep leapfrogging each other, so over time, the two brands are overall equal in design and performance.

But quality control and repair support, hence the aggravation factor, may not be equal. Any thoughts?

We can all tell stories about our narrow experiences, so it is especially informative to hear from those who have extensive experience with both brands.

scottcarruth

From my experience, your comment pretty well sums it up, "They keep leapfrogging each other, so over time, the two brands are overall equal in design and performance." With that said, as far as customer service and repair support, I have always had very positive experiences with Nikon. The turn-around time has been short, and I've been kept in the loop during the repair period as to that the overall status was, and when I would be receiving my camera back after the work. I did use Canon service one time, however, that was from a local photo shop here in town that was an authorized Canon repair location. They were fast, however, never spoke with me when returning the camera, just provided an overall "here's what we did" summary report. I'm sure there are others who have had similar, and others who have had very different experiences with both manufacturers. At the end of the day, shoot with what feels good in your hands, and your comfortable with the operations. My sister-n-law is a semi-professional photographer, she swears by Canon. I was raised in a house of Nikon enthusiasts, so I'm a little more inclined to go with Nikon. Whichever your choice, as you mentioned, the quality of the camera will be similar after each company releases the next new thing. I look at it this way, I have the majority of my investment in the glass, I wouldn't leave Nikon based off of my lenses alone. Sorry to ramble, interesting question you posted. I'm going to follow this thread!

Scott

spraynpray

My experiences with Nikon support have always been positive, but with Canon, not so much. This is due to differences in policy by Canon that are particularly customer un-friendly and also that Canon Does not have a 'Canon' repair centre, only 'authorised' repairers and in my experience they are never as good as an OEM repair centre.

Pistnbroke

Canon is a word that should be banned from this forum

retread

When I was in the army I shot a cannon. We all had to wear ear plugs it made so much noise.

WestEndFoto

I wouldn't get all superior on Canon. Despite their lagging camera tech they have still maintained their market share. Eventually they will catch up and still be in business. When I buy a system, I am more concerned about that.

Nikon is still a good bet, even better than Sony, but Canon is the best bet if you want to know you will have bodies for your lenses in ten years.

SDunn

I know this is a crazy thought on a site devoted to gear, and one brand of gear in particular; but honestly it makes little difference. I know a bevy of Cannon shooters who's work I could never match. Would their work look better if they shot Nikon? I dunno maybe? That doesn't make the shots they take any less impressive.

As for the debate about service; I think that in this day in age customer service is dying out in favour of cost savings. They have you already with big dollar sunk into the system. You're not going to switch just because of bad service; particularly if the service on the other side is just as bad (going to switch right back). I think customer service is a race to the bottom these days.

PB_PM

WestEndFoto said:

Nikon is still a good bet, even better than Sony, but Canon is the best bet if you want to know you will have bodies for your lenses in ten years.

If you asked someone 15-20 years ago if they thought Kodak would get out of the photography business/go bankrupt, they'd likely laugh and call you crazy. No company is immune to failing to recognize what customers want/need. Both Canon and Nikon have some serious issues, and I'm not just talking about what they make, but how they go about developing products and target them. Both seem to want to be the next Leica, but neither is in the same class, or likely ever will be. The Nikon Df is a good example that shows this clear as day.

mhedges

As someone who recently got into DSLR photography I was very surprised at the number of bodies both companies currently offer. It seemed a bit excessive, to be honest. The DSLR market size is stagnant to shrinking - I would expect these companies product line to do likewise.