Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Hello, Good Afternoon, and I would personally like to welcome you to the UHH Forum..

Your inquiry is not unusual, many people have asked the same, and I feel as though you deserve a honest and sincere answer, simply because whenever someone has shown an interest as you have shown with such well made cameras (those made by Canon and or Nikon), you have demonstrated, at least you have demonstrated to me, that you want to make the very best images that you with camera in hand can !

Being that you are a new member to the forum, you have no idea about how often people have posed the same question which pertains to Canon and Nikon.. Perhaps, this is why some of our members have been terse with their replies, but I know that terse is not what you are seeking :-D

My advice for you would be for you to purchase Nikon and I say this because when a day arrives when you want to step onward and upwards, you may want to get yourself a Nikon D810, etc, and if Nikon continues with their past and current trends, you will never have any problems using past Nikkor lenses and even today's Nikkor lenses when a time comes when today's Nikon camera bodies become old Nikon camera bodies which will have been replaced by the newest and greatest camera bodies for those people among a newer, next generation.

Too, I feel that Nikkor lenses, with some exceptions, are the best lenses. Yes, I know that some of our members will not agree with me ~ as they may favor Carl Zeiss lenses, etc, but the Zeiss offerings are far less when compared to the array of lenses provided by Canon and or Nikon.

I have found that Canon cameras are somewhat easier to use because, to me, Canon has an easier format presence of controls, but once that a person learns to use the more complex Nikon camera body menu, they will be better pleased with images they can produce.

You won't go wrong if you opt for Canon or Nikon, however; at today's writing, Nikon offers a camera with 36mp, and if you are like most Nikon owners, you will want to graduate up to it (Nikon D810). So, with this said, I suggest that you start off with the D5300, if that is what you like, and the bonus of getting it vs. Canon's equivalent, is that you will be able to use today's Nikkor lenses with any Nikon body made the future.

Thanks for asking your question, I hope that I have helped you and, speaking for all of us, I hope to see some of your photos in the upcoming future :lol:

~Doug~

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

if you really care then you should be comparing contax 645 digital, with the mamiya 645 digital imaging devices. or the fujiblad (oops, sorry; hasselblad) and sinar hy digital imaging devices. and don't forget the leica s2!

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

There we go again!

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Need more specifics. "...clearer sharper pictures" under what set of circumstance?

What are you going to be shooting? Requirements for a camera used in a studio are different than those for shooting B-I-F, sports, landscapes, low light, etc...

The question should not be centered around image quality alone, but image quality for a type and style of shooting.

wolfd Loc: Vancouver, Canada

Give Pentax a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

The list was a sample layout. Order of the cameras was not an issue. I couls have put a Coolpix L30 there with an 810 as the entry level.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Surely you gest ! Ask yourself how many lenses can be had for those you've mentioned vs. Nikon choices and I don't think the question asking person had the Mamiya 645 format on his mind.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

perhaps not, but then again, how many of the users of this site have considered something other than miniature image making?

to become an excellent photographer or digital image maker you do not need a lot of lenses. one will usually do nicely, if you've mastered your craft.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

If you really believe what you have just posted, certainly your craft has it's limitations.

Would you use a portrait lens for macro photography ? Would you set your tripod upon a beautiful scenic view and use a portrait lens to capture it's beauty ? If you had need for a shot that requires the ultimate of depth of field, would you use your macro lens or a portrait lens ? If in a situation where a long lens is needed for a sports event, how would you master it ? Your kit 50mm lens ?

Like I said previously, seriously, you gest !

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

The Nikon people will swear by Nikon and Canon will swear by Canon. Same with the rest. So read reviews, take them with a grain of salt, and make your choice on all the rest of the things you expect from a precision piece of equipment. There are many things to consider when choosing a camera. The cost of your investment is probably the number one thing to consider. But there are a lot of things to consider like how it feels in your hand, button placement, easy of menus, cost of lenses and/or lens choices, GPS, strobes, Wi-Fi, buffer size, fps, focus points, cross type focus points, percent of image in view finder, articulating LCD, size of LCD, clarity of LCD, microphone jack, earphone jack, memory card slots, type of memory they take, I could increase this list ad infinitum.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Jeep Daddy, you have said it accurately and very nicely !

I like your avatar.. One of these days, I will attempt to find out how to post one too.. "til then, have a great day !

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

all craft has limitation. to think otherwise is an illusion. prior to the advent of digital image making and its ubiquitous zoom lens fetish, fully 95 percent of all photographs were taken with normal lenses; 50mm in 35mm format, 80mm in 120mm format. you may wish to consult the nikon, canon and e leitz (leica) historical societies.

habits, unfortunately, have changed. digital image makers no longer are able to move; among photographers (film) that is considered a functional disability. true macro work is done with a normal lens, bellows mounted, on a tripod. the greatly dismissed nikkor 50mm f2.0 lens, exhibiting flat field, edge to edge, is greatly prized among knowledgeable photographers (film).

landscape photography (film) does not require a wide angle lens, it never did. wide angle lenses are considered only for certain specific applications, given their inablilty to reproduce images in a flat field.

sports photography requires only that you study the discipline which you want to cover and move along the field, or station yourself where the most interesting participation occurrs.

in portrait photography e leitz wetzlar (leica - the people who invented 35mm photography (film), long considered the diagonal of a piece of 35mm film and the distance, including depth of field and lastly angle of view; their findings were lenses of 50-58mm were the best choice for facial portraits.

with the advent of digital image making there has been a dearth of fundamental pictorial knowledge. regardless of changes in electronics, machinery and market, these basics are immutable. they don't change.

i would highly recommend to all who wish to enter any image making craft, if you can even find it, David Vestal's bible of photography - the name of the book is "The Craft of Photography".

and if you don't think it's as important today as it was when first published, you and i will continue to be subjected to well exposed mediocre images which all look alike, say nothing and are instantly forgettable.

Mudshark Loc: Illinois

Jerry, the perfect answer!

TheDman Loc: USA

LOL!

TheDman Loc: USA

This may shock you but... they don't let you on the field.