deanc56

Joined the Navy in the mid-70's. After making it to the Teams, some of our guys were out parachute training. Joe C burned in (his chute never opened). Joe shot Canon ergo Canon's were bad luck, so I bought a Nikon and haven't looked back. Obviously no real objective rhyme or reason for the brand decision as most all are pretty great systems for a variety of reasons, but that's why I went Nikon over Canon.

NealB Loc: Lowell Indiana

My wife and grand daughter both have Canon DSLR's so naturally I was leaning toward Canon and not Nikon. At dinner one night they both said it would be great if I went Canon so we could all share lenses. A picture flashed in my head of never being able to locate my lenses. The next day I went out and purchased a Nikon D7100 with several lenses and never looked back.

adm

Thanks everyone for your interesting stories. Canon is still a good product but my feeling is that they became number one by selling their loyal customers down the river. Back in the 1960's and 1970's, I found Canon to be a somewhat better value than Nikon. The FT and FTb were as bullet proof as anything Nikon made but cost less. My experience with later Canons (with the exception of the F-1) was that they were not as well made as the earlier mechanical Canons. When Canon changed their lens mount and essentially made all of my cameras and lenses for the past few decades obsolete, it was time for me to move on. If I had to move to a new system, I was going to move to a manufacturer that was committed to non-obsolescence, i.e., Nikon. I realize that not all Nikon lenses are fully compatible with all bodies. However, they have done a better job taking care of their customers that way than any other manufacturer, with the possible exception of Pentax. This is why I am a Nikon guy now.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

And yet it has taken Nikon and Pentax thirty years to wander to the lens technology that Canon jumped to; during that time Canon leapt to the top of all manufacturers and Pentax sank to also-run status. When I talk about my current Pentax gear, hardly anyone here knows what I am talking about.

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

I think it helps that Canon makes broadcast lenses. Fujinon also makes broadcast lenses so perhaps their broadcast lenses trickle down to their Fujifilm camera lenses.

D.T.

Got a Brownie hawkeye for my 14th birthday.
Went off to college a few years later without the camera, and returned at Thanksgiving and learned that it had become my mother's camera.
Fast forward to age 24 and camera-less, and my wife was about to release our 1st child in an Army hospital where flash cameras were not allowed.
Bought a Rollie 35 with Zeiss-Tessar lens, variable focus was by visual guess, but variable speeds and f stops, with a built-in light meter so I could shoot pix through the nursery window
in B & W with no flash. The store even gave me a 10% discount because I was in the Army. Bought a used Leica M3 with 2 lens from the photographer who shot our daughter's wedding in that he needed another lens for his Hasselblad and they offered him a poor trade amount for his Leica stuff. Slowly acquired a few more lens over the years. Bout a Sony A7s (weighs les than the M3)which is excellent for existing light / candid shooting. Had to buy an adapter for the M lens-which can use any of Leica's lens from their early screw mount to the newest bayonets. Compact lens and the camera travel well. The lens are all manual compact, lightweight & essentially water proof (the Sony is "water resistant") which is fine except for absolute downpours.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

first slr was nikon second was minolta - still use both systems.