I just tried to point out facts without being pedantic. If you go to Hong Kong or China, where there are just as many renowned photographers judging from the amount of prizes won in International photo competitions, and also ask around the camera stores, and they will tell you what they sell most. If you read British publications now, there still seems to be also a slightly higher preference for Canon than Nikon. Like in any arts, there is a cultural preference in each country in the way they perceive colours, light and shade. Who would argue about Italian designs (even Nikon had used Italian designs) or French elegance. The other conclusion is that not everything can be universal. Market also rules.
Thank you for your opinions.
On a lighter note, Just to deviate slightly from the A camera vs B camera never ending controversy. To show my age, I have observed over the last half century from reading magazines like Amateur Photographer (that's real old from UK and used to be weekly!!), Modern Photography, Popular Photography, etc etc. and having lived both in the East and West, that there seem to be a cultural bias towards picking camera brands as well. The British photographers used to love Pentax, Olympus especially and Minolta whereas the American counterpart always placed heavy emphasis on Nikons and Canons. Germans of course, had their Leicas and Voiglanders, but they also liked Tokina lenses whereas the British always gave Tamrons good reviews. Swiss had their Alpa's and Bolex in cinematography and who could forget the beautiful French Beaulieu Super 8's. Asians would not buy Tamrons or Sigmas if they owned Nikons or Canons, they would save hard to buy the Nikkors or Canon originals. Americans of course had their solidly built Vivitars (especially Series 1's). In Asia, Minolta was king for a while, and Pentax was also very popular till about time of Vietnam war when Nikon F became the tool of the war photographer although quite a few still swore by their Leica M3s. Today, Canon is the bigger seller in Asia and if you are to be taken seriously, you must own the Holy Trinity of Canon 24-70 f2.8 L II, the 100f2.8L II Macro and of course the 70-200 f2.8 L II. This is interesting since there must be just as many top exhibition class shooters in each of these regions using multitudes of equipment. I guess the natural conclusion is there is no such thing as "the best".
I thought Ken Rockwell said the 5D III is the better landscape camera and that's why I plonked for the 5 instead of the 800 a little while back since I take a lot of landscapes.
SharpShooter wrote:
H, for me, low light is the last thing I would use to make a buying decision.
The 5 will do anything the 800 will do. The 800 will only do about half of what the 5 can do.
If you need the largest most detailed file you can get, and will be frequently printing to 40"x50", you better get the Nikon. If your subject is going to move, get the Canon.
The 800 is a landscpe camera, the 5 a sports/action camera.
If you want the lowlight KING, get the one with the fastest lens available for it, that will far above and beyond, outperform the other in low light, hands down!! ;-)
SS
H, for me, low light is the last thing I would use... (
show quote)
I tried to google Manuals Inc but could not find it !
Is it possible to let us know the approximate price ?
If you want to buy junk you will get junk. Lowe Pro is mostly Made in China, so is Manfrotto, so are some Nikon Lenses including the famed 105 f2.8 Micro and quite a few of their cameras, so are most other camera brands except their top models. One should not just generalise and be negative or biased against any manufacturing country. We all have our bad experiences, just concentrate on the joy you get when you end up with any item that provides you with untold amount of fun. Don't dwell on the country of origin. Live with an open mind and heart.
May be Bruce should try to try to live a year without buying anything that is Made in China to see how miserable his life can be!
Thank you very much, all. The Olympus Stylus 1 sounds an interesting alternative given its constant f2.8 from 28-300mm and weighing under 1 lb and has a decent EVF as well for a travel camera. It also takes a 1.7x tele converter making the max zoom 510 mm and still retains the f2.8 !
Many thanks for the info, jerryc41. It is all very helpful in comparing the various superzoom models, one of which I have to get for a trip to photograph the Komodo dragons in Indonesia.
As most of us would agree, the difference of 4mm at the wide angle end of a zoom extends far more than any extras (say 50mm) in the tele end.
Having followed Ugly Hedgehog for a while, I have not noticed much talk about Panasonic Lumix FZ70 which has the longest zoom of all at 60x. How does the FZ70 compare to SX50 or the Nikon & Fuji counterparts ? SX50 seems to garnish the most votes so far.