Canon G5 compared to Coolpix 5400

[joe_woodcrest]

A friend is looking at getting either the Canon G5 or the Nikon

Coolpix 5400, and has asked my recommendation. From what I have seen

in terms of the reviews on dpreview.com and the comparison at

http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/CP5400vsG5.shtml it looks like the

Nikon 5400 offers the better package in terms of control and

options. The extra wide-angle coverage is a nice feature.

 

Are there any other considerations that would make one of these

cameras the better choice versus the other?

 

Thank you,

 

Joe

[phule]

<a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp</a>

<p>

 

Can be helpful. Dpreview has in-depth reviews of both.

[Greg M]

I gravitated to the G5 because I already owned an Elan 7 outfit with both a 420EX and 550EX flash that could also be used by the G5. A Nikon owner would, likewise, go with the Coolpix 5400 for the same reason. Having the extra few mm on the wide end would be nice, but I think Canon has the better working TTL flash system with it's digicams than Nikon and I use flash ALOT. If TTL flash ability/flexibility is important to you look into the differences in the systems. Neither Canon nor Nikon build their digicams to take advantage of all the TTL flash capabilities built into their own flash units. As one example Canon does not allow for the use of the infrared focusing beams built into their EX (ETTL) flash units. Likewise, using a Nikon SB80 on a Nikon F100 isn't the same as using an SB80 on a Coolpix 5400. Of course, all this rambling means nothing if flash isn't important to you.

[ronbudway]

Hi Joe. I took a good long look at both including several visits to the camera

store and decided the 5400 had the better feature set for me personally.

Points that really swayed me; Nikon seems to be more well built and is

considerably smaller, Nikon has less chromatic abberation (because the

camera itself does less sharpening than the G5 -- you can sharpen them up

on your computer with whatever software you have better than any digicam

can), the somewhat wide angle factor, and the fact that the Nikon has a

dizzying aray of creative features -- the manual is 150+ pages.

 

Of course, I have seen very few posters here with anything good to say about

the Coolpix line. In fact, there are more than a few who seem to think they are

junk. For what it's worth to you, I have two degrees in art, I took one photo

class in college, I taught B&W for a year at the high school level (that was five

days a week in a darkroom for a full school year seeing LOTS of different film

cameras), I have displayed my photos in several local shows, and I have

been using a film SLR for about six years, and I think the 5400 is, with the

exception of a few annoying quirks like the fact that the self timer can only be

used with closeup auto focus or manual focus (which is an exercise in

frustration) a wonderful little camera that generally produces better pictures

than I could get from from my film Rebel with cheap canon glass.

 

From what I have read, the G5, Oly C5060, and the 5400 all seem pretty darn

similar. I think any of them would allow someone to artfully express their

creativity.

 

Good Luck.

[david_haynes]

For me, a working professional photographer, the G5 was a

no-brainer as it interfaces seamlessly with many of the batteries,

flashes and accessories I already had with my dslr's.

 

I'm sure a nikon shooter would feel the same about the coolpix.

 

That said, I couldn't be happier with the G5 for what it is intended

to do. It goes with me everywhere and is a pleasure to use.

Before the G5 I owned and also loved my G2 Canon.

 

To me one of the best and often overlooked features of the G5 is

it's "innocent" demeaner. By that I mean that to most who are not

photographers it would appear to be a toy camera. This allows

people to relax easier with I'm photographing them. For candid

photography I have found no equal to the G5, particularly with the

f/2 lens.

 

I have the Canon WA converter lens for the G5 and with it I can

have equivalent coverage to a 24mm on 35 format, shoot at f/2

handheld down to about a quarter or half second, and because

the lens is so short, rely on depth of field to keep everything in

focus.

 

I also use the camera with a variety of Canon flash, incluing the

MR-14 macro ringlight, 2 550EX's and the ST-E2 IR transmitter.

 

For Christmas snapshots this year, I sat two 550EX's discretely

on either side of our living room, pointed into the ceiling, set the

lens to f/2 with the WA adapter lens and used the ST-E2 to

trigger the slaved 550EXs. Not once did it fail to fire the slaves in

well over 100 images and every exposure was dead-on perfect.