« Sweet Stupidity | Main | The Victorian Internet »
May 5, 2007
Cameras (Needs and Wants, Redux)
We were at Costco today to return a failed LCD (have I mentioned I love their return policy?) and I stopped to look at the DSLRs for a moment.
They had both the Canon EOS 400d and the new Nikon 40x.
Both felt goodin my hands, but neither had batteries installed, so I couldn't explore the user interfaces.
The review consensus seems to be that the Canon is a "better" (more featured and capable) camera but comes with crappier lenses, whereas it's hard to beat the "out of the box" performance of the Nikon with the included Nikor 18-55 and 55-200 lenses.
The big downside to the Nikon seems to be the fact that the body has no auto-focus drive, so it'll only autofocus with AF-S and AF-I lenses.
The Nikon kit with the aforementioned two Nikor lenses was an even thousand, whereas the Canon kit with a Canon EF-S 18-55 lense (which most reviews I've read deem fit for the dust-bin) was a couple hundred cheaper.
Neither one came home with me, but if the bug bite doesn't go away in a couple months, one just might...
Posted by dberger at May 5, 2007 10:06 PM
Comments
(OpenID seems broken, my lj login ain't working here)
The kit lens on the Canon isn't GREAT, but it isn't terrible. I've seen worse lenses, and I've taken some pretty great shots with that one. Admittedly, it is probably my least favorite lens of the 4 I have (70-300mm USM, 50mm f/1.8, 35mm f/2, the 17-55 kit lens), but it isn't as bad as the reviews made it sound (at least to my eye it isn't.)
I haven't played with Nikons much, but I do love my Canon. One thing that makes right now not the best time is that lens prices for Canon just went up. I'm not sure if this was repricing or that they are having supply issues or what. The 50mm f/1.8 (which is a very nice lens) was only ~$75 when I bought it a year ago, it is up to $100-$125 now, and pretty much all the other lenses saw a similar bump.
But really, Canon is an excellent technology platform. I've got no complaints. (http://finn.winters-ca.net/gallery2/main.php/v/albums/best/)
Posted by: Titus at May 6, 2007 9:14 AM
Can't speak to the Nikon 40X specifically, but the D70 I have is quite usable. Menus are easy and the frequently accessed things are a button or -button away.
The Nikon lens thing is legacy defining what they can and can't do. Nikon made the decision to stay fully compatible with their "F-body" cameras which were immensely popular with the pro(|sumer) crowd. This really helped early adoption for them because people that had thousands of dollars invested in their lens system could try out DSLR without losing their investment so they managed to keep all of their old customers. Dunno if that was the case with Canon.
-Steve
Posted by: Steve S. at May 6, 2007 5:35 PM