qiang_lin Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Still couldn't make a decision on which Canon DSLR to buy, I walked into a BestBuy today to get some feeling. There was a Nikon D80 next to Canon DSLRs. Out of curiosity, I picked it up. I was shocked! The viewfinder was so big and bright! Although 5D has a full frame sensor, I felt the viewfinder on D80 was bigger. The price was lower than a 30D. I'm so jealous of Nikon users for their lower price camera having such a great viewfinder. Anyone have the same feeling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinsouthern Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 No :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 I have for a while now been complaining that Canon bodies are underspecced and overpriced compared to the competition. They have the best sensors at over ISO 800 which is obviously important for lots of people, but there is not much else they have got going for them. I think Canon has the best lens choices (though perhaps less so in the consumer price range) and they are using that to drive the price of their bodies much higher than what they otherwise should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuppyDigs Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 "Although 5D has a full frame sensor, I felt the viewfinder on D80 was bigger." No way, the 5D is larger. Yes, the D200 and D80 have larger VFs than Canon's 1.6x crops bodies (so do Pentax DSLRs!). Of course the Nikons are 1.5x so that helps a little but you're right, Canon could do much better with their 1.6x sensor bodies. But then, did you ever look through an Oly DSLR? Sad indeed... Sometimes the light’s all shining on me. Other times I can barely see. - Robert Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbalko Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Hardly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitmstr Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 >>I'm so jealous of Nikon users for their lower price camera having such a great viewfinder.<< Jealousy is like a rotten apple... If you feed on it, you'll get sick. Which camera do you own? Get the camera that YOU love and be done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred_c1 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Canon SLRs accept manual-focus lenses from many different brands and provide metering at the same time. D80 users are stuck with AF lenses to maintain metering and a slippery body-covering. It's them who should be jealous. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtwhite Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 <p>Yes, I'm intensely jealous of Nikon owners, who get to experience the joy of having to consult <a href="http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/slr-lens.html">lens compatibility charts</a> every time they want to consider getting a new lens. With Canon, I know that if a lens physically mounts the body will meter for ambient and flash just fine. It doesn't get much simpler than that. (The same goes for Pentax. Kudos to them for maintaining <i>real</i> backwards compatibility across their entire line.) <p>I like Nikon's ergonomics and lens quality, but until they get their act together on the light meter issue I won't even consider them. I have no interest in buying from any company that artifically cripples their lower-end products just to push their higher-end stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bueh Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 I agree with my previous posters. I abandoned Nikon and switched to Canon when I realized that I couldn't use my manual focus lens collection anymore on anything less than an expensive D200. What a smart move by Nikon -- this kind of deliberate crippling will not be supported by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars c Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Honestly , I am. :D I've been thinking about buying a d80 with the 18-135 or the 18-70 lens. But I already have the 24-105 L, 50mm 1.8 mkI , 70-300 IS and very very very very soon to have the 10-22 :) So its dificult for me to shift to another system, and I know that my current system is very good. Instead of buying the d80, I figured out, buying a new lens for my 350d would improve my photography and let me shoot what was not possible before. I really really like the d80, But I love the lenses of canon and their availability and lower prices compared to nikon's ...And who knows, the next affordable Canon body might be a d80 killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qiang_lin Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 Well I love my Nikon FE and Canon Elan7E. Both are great cameras. FE has better viewfinder, but 7E allows me to access reasonably priced lenses. I just hope Canon will put better viewfinders on their low end and middle range cameras to make them more attractive than their competitors. Puppy Face, I couldn't believe what I discovered either at the beginning, so I compared D80 with 5D again and again. I DID feel that D80's viewfinder was at least comparable with 5D's. You can go to a store to look at them. That's why I said it was unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anson_ko Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Not until Nikon has AF 501.0 or 1.2, 85 1.2, 24 1.4, the list goes on. Not to mention the FF bodies. Wait till then, I will be jealous. Pros buy a camera system, not one camera, one lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petemillis Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Jealous? No, not me. I'm one of those people who always buys something when it's 2 or 3 or more years old so I get more for my money. I always try to ignore the latest things, wait a couple of years then pick up cheap. If I happened to see a D80 in 2 years time with a good choice of lenses for pocket money then I might get one. At the moment I'll stick to my new "used" 10D that came with lens and spare battery pack for ?250, and happily takes my collection of Canon lenses. I just keep my eyes shut to anything else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 The battle between Nikon and Canon users has been going on since Nikon stopped supplying Canon lenses, at least. If the bright viewfinder is really important to you, fine; but these companies and others have been playing the old catch-up game, so that jealousy of 'new' features--if you acted on it every time-- would have you yoyo-ing back and forth between the two makes every 6 months. I am another old Nikonian who switched to Canon, and had the joy of continuing to use my old non-AI Nikkor lenses. If I'd stayed with Nikon, as Bueh indicates, there was no option at the time I went to Canon. Now the D200 has some ability for backward compatibility, but I would have had to wait 3 years for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad_w Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 I think Nikon has done a great job keeping their system functional and competitive despite Canon's overwhelming superiority in sensor development. With great viewfinders, reasonable prices, really nice profiling and file rendering, blazing write speeds, and great new(er) lenses like the 17-55/2.8, 18-200 VR and 200/2 VR. My seldom-used personal gear is Canon, but I shoot Nikon daily at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qiang_lin Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 Let me make it clear. I just liked the viewfinder on D80, but I'm not going back to Nikon from Canon because of that. I'm not just shopping for one body, I'm looking at the system. I already have some decent Canon lenses at reasonable price, and I really enjoy using them. This is not another Nikon vs Canon question. I just hope that one day, Canon will improve their viewfinders for lower end and middle range cameras, so we can enjoy their products more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_murray2 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 One of the other photogs in our company has a 30D backup to his 5D and has a magnifying attachment over the viewfinder. I can't tell the difference between it and the 5D looking at both one after the other. I think his magnifier is made by Olympus and cost $50 but he said Nikon makes one for half that that works almost as good (but doesn't fit as perfectly). Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuppyDigs Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 I have the Nikon VF mag. Very well made but needs an adapter to fit EOS. Because of the extra extension of the adapter, I can't see the entire VF, so it's useless. Well, I can use it on my FM3A. The Oly VF mag isn't as well made but works perfectly. Just realize the focusing screen texture is much more apparent. Sometimes the light’s all shining on me. Other times I can barely see. - Robert Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexdi Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Don't much care about the D80, but I wouldn't mind having an 18-200/3.5-5.6 VR. DI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_hardy1 Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 I've seen the D80, yes it has a nice body. But to me no nicer than my 20D. The D200 has a very nice VF, I don't remember the D80's though. Not many of us are rich and can just go out and purchase the next hottest thing, but it would be nice to be able to do that. Nikon comes out with killer gear...Canon guys all jump ship. Canon substantially lowers price on full frame stuff and Nikon shooters all buy Canon systems. I think we'd really see the best that these companies have to offer. But, they know that most of us buy into a system and then just stick with it....warts and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenPapai Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 When Nikon makes a low noise full frame sensor only then will I be jealous of them --and then only if Canon doesn't do better in upgrading its DSLR line (5D? 30D?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_lubow Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 At this point the problems with Nikon run so deep and on so many levels that no single feature is even worth mentioning, really. It is sad, as they used to be a great leader in the industry, but the way I see it, the only things Nikon has going for them at this point are compatibility, tradition, and a few scattered gimmicks here and there, like the high speed crop mode on the D2X. Compatibility means (for the most part) any Nikon SLR lens can be made to work on any Nikon SLR body. 35-year-old, quality manual focus glass with great depth of field scales can be put on your new digital camera with ease. Of course, these old lenses will also work on a Canon body with an adapter. (But you are screwed if you are like me, and shoot FD and EOS. I would have been better off shooting Nikon Fs and EOS, but I am too far into FD to turn back.) Tradition means that pros for years have largely used Nikon over Canon. Nikon had a professional SLR system up and running 10 years before Canon did, so when Canon entered the market, most pros were already entrenched in Nikon gear and did not switch. For the most part, only newcomers in the field of photography chose the Canon system, despite their great lenses. The press used Nikons almost exclusively since they went to SLRs. Only recently did the wires strike deals with Canon and switch. As a result, many are in love with the Nikon name, and already have an investment in Nikon equipment. I understand brand loyalty and tradition to a point, but Nikon is so [relatively] horrid at this point that I just don't get why they are even still in business. ...and they have some great gimmicks, and great individual cameras for specific things. For instance, if I shot ALL telephoto ALL the time, nothing would beat the D2X's resolution combined with its 1.5x crop, in a pro body. ...but I don't, and, really, who does? The noise and the crop are total deal killers as far as I am concerned. I'd rather just use film than a digital Nikon. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denisv Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 I beleive D80 (and soem other Nikons) have built-in wireless flash controllers. An this is someting that I would really like Canons to have. With Canon I have to 1. pay extra for it 2. carry another gadget in my bag + batts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_lubow Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Forget wireless...how about a universal mechanical cable release receptacle!? Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Horrid? Oh well. I never have to use a table to determine accessory compatibility - but then I avoid the low-end bodies to avoid problems. Also, I don't see noise problems with my Nikon, no it isn't as good as the Canons at iso 800 and up, but then I only rarely use those settings anyway. When Canon realizes that some of us wear eyeglasses and designs viewfinders which allow the whole image instead of 70% to be seen by them then they might become interesting. But alas, Canon doesn't seem to be interested in such customers. Ok the 1.3x bodies don't have this problem but then how long will they exist? Nikon is in business for very good reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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