UKC

I'm looking into buying a full frame sensor camera , at present i use a Canon 550D for general landscape stuff, portrait and lifestyle, and a G10 for when I'm climbing . pro photographers that i know have advised i should defo get a full frame camera . I like the Canon 550d but the autofocus isnt always great and the metering is supposed to be a lot better in the nikon when comparing with the 5D , but the nikon weighs more and is more expensive . the HD video on the Canon is a plus but the Nikon has built in flash . Your thoughts and experiences would be helpful , thanks

In reply to nk:
Both are great cameras but it depends on what you want out of it really.
If you have a Canon 550D do you have full frame lenses for it or are you on cropped body lenses?
If you have full frame lenses for Canon and like them then i'd advocate going for the Canon.

I use a Nikon D90 and will at some point upgrade to full frame and it'll be a Nikon ( I like the metering and find them easy to use). I'd argue the Nikon JPEGS look marginally worse out of the camera than Canon ones but you can get amazing images with very little processing anyway.

I'd discount the built in flash as a feature they generally arent worth using at all- better off to buy a proper speedlite from somewhere. Strobist blog has some good recommendations for cheap high specced third party models.

One point to note if you are leaning towards the Nikon is that the D700 has been due a replacement for a while and that will probably cause a bit of a price drop.

Both are great cameras so you cant really make a wrong choice here

In reply to geordiekev:

I've heard the D700 is in very short supply and that prices aren't dropping. Keep in touch with the Nikon rumour websites for updates on its replacement which has been delayed due to the Tsunami in Japan (it seriously affected production).

Jim

In reply to nk: I have a D700 and it is a great camera. You will need to use top quality lenses to get the best out of it. The 24-70mm f2.8 together with the D700 is a dream.

In reply to icnoble: thanks for all the info , wieght and price are also factors and I'm leaning towards the canon . looking at images from both of them , they both look amazing , so like you say its difficult to go wring with either . hopefully will have some good pics to put up soon

In reply to nk:

Either way you will be spending a shed-load of money. Go to the shops and handle both cameras. Look through the viewfinder, have a good look round all the buttons. It would be too, too horrible to spend all that money and find you don't like using the camera...

In reply to nk:

I would suggest you go for the Canon. As a long time nikon user I always find canons unusable as the controls are in the "wrong" place, dials don't do what I expect etc. You would get the same thing going over to Nikon.

Plus you already have some canon glass.

In reply to nk:

Full frame is great but its expensive couple grand for the body and the same again or more for good glass. Biggest advantage of full frame is ISO performance, if that where your gear is falling down then it should be worth it.

Simple answer for which one to get, if your subject is moving get a nikon as the AF works, and it has a AF illuminator so AF works in the dark as well.

If your subject aint moving then a 5D MkII is a great buy, with 21MP you can crop more severely when needed. It is also lighter for carrying about/up mountains.

Its horse's for courses.

In reply to nk: Also dont count any glass you have into the mix unless its full frame glass. Using APS-C sized glass on a full-frame sensor defeats the purpose of going full frame.

What ever system you choose get a 24 - 70 f2.8 and a 70 - 200 f2.8 also a 50 f1.8 or similar an you will be set.

In reply to nk:

Can everyone stop saying glass?

mkII is brilliant, not used the Nikon.

Not sure I'd agree with the comment about sticking with one make of camera because you know the handling of the thing - I changed to Canon and didn't notice after a few days. You're spending a lot of money and will presumably be using it for years, so you'll get used to either I'm sure.

In reply to Southern Man:

You prefer lenses made of plastic?

I have an instamatic I can sell you somewhere.

In reply to Southern Man:
>
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Should the photog world use the word 'sent' when they succesfully expose a photo correctly first time, without using a light meter or iphone exposure app?

In reply to Southern Man:


Agree. I think it's comparable to the dashboard of a car - might get confused for the first 5 mins when the indicator and wiper switches are on the 'wrong' side. Not something that will affect how a person 'drive', or more importantly, places that can be explored with the car.

Having sad that, I recently got a SLR with only one dial, which is on the rear side in front of the right eye, rather than under the right index finger. Don't like it as I keep poking my eye/rubbing finger grease on my glasses.

In reply to Southern Man:


Ah so it's not just me then.

In reply to Southern Man:


Agree completely with that too - I had exactly the same experience.

In reply to jamestheyip:

Maybe it's just me then. I just like the way that I can pick up almost any piece of Nikon kit and get the manual settings I want almost instantly. I'm not saying I can't adapt, but I doubt that I would be as fast.

To someone above, you should not only go full-frame for high ISO, but also for a bigger viewfinder, 'real' wide angle lenses and thinner depth of field. I went from a D40 to a D700, and the 'view' of a FF camera is just great - a bit hard to describe, I think it is visible in pictures.

That said, if you require good AF in a camera, go for the D700 - the AF is not just good, it is absolutely fantastic. I recently had a full day workshop with a wildlife photographer, and we tracked ducks across a pond with a 300mm f/2.8 lens, and the D700 did an amazing job. I sometimes try it out on random objects to practice (on cars, birds, cyclists), and its tracking ability is just really good.
I don't really mind the weight of the camera to be honest, although I moved from a very light to a relatively heavy camera. The weight is ok, and with my 150mm f/2.8 sigma it feels very nice and balanced. Having a light camera but heavy glass can feel a lot heavier than a heavier, balanced combination.
I don't know if you do off-camera flash, but I have to say that Nikon's CLS system is (once you've figured it out!) great, off-camera TTL flash, and in-camera flash power control is just very handy, especially in changing lighting conditions.
There's a nice trick to a get a single 9fps burst out if the D700, search youtube for it.
I don't really like the ISO button placement on the D700, it is on some weird place, and it cannot be re-assigned.

There's lots of talk about the D700 being 'at the end of its cycle', but in the end of the day it is still one of the best camera's out there. I bought mine a few months ago for 1700 euro - even if a 'D800' is around the corner, it would be the full price, probably around 2600-2900 euro... The same goes for Canon, of course.
Anyway, you can great pictures with both cameras - if you're a landscape photographer, mostly working on a tripod photographing sessile objects, go for the Canon - it has the better sensor at base ISO.
I find the D700 12MP files large enough (15mb NEF files are filling my HD up quickly enough...), but if you want more pixels, go for the Canon.
If you need a working autofocus sensor, go for the Nikon, apparently the middle AF sensor of the 5DMkII is alright, but any of the other ones are (supposedly) next to useless, I read some rants from pros online that clearly didn't like the AF of the 5DII (but then, a few people making a lot of noise get a lot of attention) If you have a dark sense of humour you can check out fakechuckwestfall.com for some Canon-related rants...

Anyway, have fun trying both cameras, and let us know what you went for - both are great and have their pros and cons, and you'll have fun with either of them.

In reply to nk:
Im a Nikon user, but the colour quality, and video capabilities from the Canon are so good im considering switching!

In reply to dek:
OK who hacked Dek's account?

In reply to Removed User:

Aye whodunnit?!