Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Well, Puffball, it isn't quite as simple as all that! Sure Canon changed it's mount in 1987 and put Nikon of the back foot which it is where it has been ever since. Nikon used to be the 35mm SLR of choice for professionals in the sixties and seventies, and Canon did the hard thing, breaking compatibility with older lens mounts and took the market leadership position. Something that Nikon has never regained. What's so bad about that?

Now, I admit that using old Canon manual focus glass isn't easy or ideal on a modern Canon DSLR, but adapters exist with optical elements of varying quality. Better are the replacement mounts. I have an FL 55mm f/1.2 lens circa late sixties, FDn 135mm f/2.0, FDn 35-105 f/3.5 and FDn 500mm f/8 reflex that all work perfectly on my Canon DSLR. Before long I hope to have the FDn 85mm f/1.2L converted. Not as easy as Nikon, but it can be done.

So eat your own Puffery!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

neener, neener, neener...., I'll bet your old jalopy of a Canon can't even use one of Mathew Brady's lenses!!! Don't worry, mine won't either!!!
BUT I'll bet you Qiuxdraw would free-lens them just to say he could!!!
SS

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

I just came back from a college graduation here in Colorado. Although there were cameras there, it was a ratio of about 1 camera to every 50 cellphones taking photos. If you think Nikon is the only one having trouble, think again.

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

The best camera is the camera you have in your hands and that's a cell phone.

al davis Loc: chesterfield virginia

Agree 100%. When you talk about companies and there financial statements that is only one piece of the puzzle. When it comes to cameras today you are talking about a very wide field. You have Phones,mirror less, point and shoot, and dslr what it comes down to in my opinion is preference. I prefer my canon Dslr. I have an I phone 6 like most of us have a smart phone now it is always with me but very rare for me to take it out and shoot some pictures. Simply put it is not my canons.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yup. I can too with Pentax. Canon keep changing mounts every few decades. Though for AF is suspect Canon does have an edge there.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

What is really different in that picture? There are a lot of picture takers and a few photographers. How different was that in 1960? Just different technologies.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

19104 Loc: Philadelphia

It seems that the most popular topic here is which camera is best. One manufacture fans berating the other manufacturers fans. But all i want to say is can we all just agree to disagree. I can respect of you your choice of religion, political party, sexual preference, favorite car make, if you choose to smoke or not. Why can't we all just agree that your camera choice is your own choice. Fully dedicating our energies to the pursuit of photography. Using this forum as an asset for education and expansion of knowledge. I have been involved in photography for 46 years, and for a lot of that I have made at least some of my income behind a camera and never once has a client asked what kind of camera I used.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

I always enjoy reading what people think of what is "trending". Then again, what is a trend? Because something is trending, does that mean it is really an accurate preview of the future? 8-track tapes "trended". I even had an 8-track recorder. For the car it made a better tape for listening in the car. Did I toss out my Teac reel-to-reel? No, of course not. Why? It was superior to 8-track tape. When it disappeared I lost no sleep. About r-t-r tape? They are still around. Am I using it. No, not at all.

Now watch what's happening with vinyl records? I left them in the dust in the 70's, and happy about it. But my students are loving them, and the world market of vinyl records is exploding. So are quality turntables. Look at watches. I've watched my students top wearing and using watches when the iPhone became popular. For the past 15 years I've hardly seen a single (college) student of mine wearing a watch. Wow, look what's happening now? Boys and young men are beginning to wear watches again. I never doubted for a moment that they would come back.

What in the world does this have to do with this topic of DSLR cameras? Few technologies totally disappear, but seem to take a break, and then return. I believe top quality products never really disappear. I may be, and you may be among the smaller group taking a beautiful capture with a camera whose lens can be changed. But I'm confident we will still be doing that 10 and 20 years from now.

I don't feel threatened by the thousands holding their smart phones to take a picture. I'm glad "photography" seems to be identified as an amazing activity, even if by those who will view their work only on a small plastic thing in their hands, yet few will enjoy that capture for years and years as it is framed on hung on their walls.

We should all continue to do what we love best. Capture it, PP it, frame it, love it, knowing the wonderful memories it brings us will continue doing that for years and decades in the future.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Back then it was the Kodak cameras and point and shoots. And then one stepped up to a SLR. The difference is they were all film cameras and any mobile phone could not take a picture. The quality of the low end film cameras were no match for a SLR.

The reason there are very few point and shoot cameras to choose from these days is because they have been replaced by cellphones. And these cellphone have entry level cameras in them now. I know because I have a Galaxy S7 and it has quite a good camera in it. Do I use it often? No, I prefer to shoot with my Olympus and download my pictures to the cellphone. But that is because I have a preference for better photos than the cellphone is able to produce. The new generation doesn't really understand or necessarily want photographs that are better than a cellphone's pictures. And now with the likes of the S7, one can control aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, modes, etc. plus it puts the shutter "button" on the edge buttons and has almost no shutter lag. Only recently have the cameras caught up to the cellphones in GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi. The new generation is asking why do I need a DSLR and the answer for most of them is they don't need DSLR. The next generation is not buying into DSLRs and the older generations are both dying off (death is inevitable) and too weak and old to carry the heavy DSLRs (hence the relatively stable market for mirrorless). It will be only be a matter of time before DSLRs are very expensive and only owned by upper end and well heeled pros.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No iPads? They seem to be popular, too.

Canon, in general, is a much larger company than Nikon, so they have some financial padding as people turn from real cameras. I wonder if Japan would consider Nikon "too big to fail" and bail them out if necessary. I doubt it. That seems to be an American tradition.

If Nikon goes out of business, that will ease the pressure on Canon, both technical and financial.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

When I transitioned from Film Photography after years of using SLR's, I purchased a point and shoot, thinking that it would be a good way for me to enter the Digital Age.

The main reason for purchasing a digital camera in the first place was to be able to have a digital image to post with items that I was listing for sale on line.

My decision to purchase the point and shoot was the worst decision that I ever made and essentially a waste of my hard earned cash. Going from what I'll term an "Adult Camera" to what essentially ended up being a toy that didn't work for the purpose that the purchase was intended, was money that I threw out the window. You just couldn't get a really good quality shot out of that camera.

It took me about 10 years to finally purchase a real DSLR last year, mostly for economic reasons, but essentially because it was needed for a class that I was taking.

Since my interest in photography was nurtured by my father at a young age, I've shot with a Kodak Instamatic, a Leica Range Finder, a Minolta 101, a Nikon 6006, and a Sigma film camera. I "Graduated" to a Sony Cybershot, or so I thought. My current camera is a Canon Rebel T3, which I hope to upgrade within a year to the Canon 7D Mark II. I have to save up the cash first to be able to purchase it.

Once you're an SLR or a DSLR shooter, you often don't want to simplify down to a point and shoot, a cell phone, or tablet camera, because you don't have the same kinds of controls that you get with an "Adult Camera".

Yes, cell phones and tablets have the convenience to shoot and post, if you pay for an internet connection with your equipment. But for the purists among us, the satisfaction of obtaining that outstanding shot, and maybe tweaking it in PP before posting are the true rewards of our more expensive equipment.

The reason that I chose Canon last year is because I have a cousin who is a professional photographer and all of her bodies are Canons, although she does own both Canon and Sigma lenses. The Canon bodies have been very reliable for her over the years with her global trecking and shooting trips.

exakta56 Loc: Orford,New Hampshire

For me and presumably for many, using a DSLR and picking the right lens for the subject is part of the satisfaction of this hobby. Using lenses, filters and varying ISO, shutter and aperture provides a great deal of satisfaction. It is the engagement with the camera that is fulfilling.