Another should I swap threads, sorry.

Toggerman

Toggerman

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Hi all. Forgive me for the lack of quote marks in the title, I've just noticed.

I've got a fair amount of Canon equipment (2 bodies, 6 lenses and a flashgun), however I have been coveting my neighbour's Nikon for a while now and lately I've been feeling it even moreso.

It's not that I don't like my Canon kit, I do, in fact I love it to bits. It's just a lot of small things that are making me want to switch and I'm looking for some advice as to whether or not these small differences are worth the change. I've already switched once from Pentax to Canon and didn't regret it even though I loved my Pentax gear (although I did have a lot less of it).

About a month ago I bought a 5Dc and since the first day I love the output of it, the pictures seem smoother and crisper than those from my 7D. However I shoot motorsport and my kids (who can't sit still) a lot and find the focusing system to be very slow and can only keep up if I use the centre point, which doesn't help if I'm trying to compose a shot off centre like I do with the 7D. I love the focusing on the 7D and can easily grab the shots I want, but I now find that I don't like the output as much as I did.

A week ago I tried a D700 in my local Jessops and loved the way it felt but also the control layout seemed a lot better and instinctual. For example my wife and I are forever knocking the mode dial on both Canons and have ruined pictures by being in the wrong mode and not noticing, the D700 lacks the dial completely which to me seems a better idea. But it's a completely different thing trying out a camera in a shop and in the field. I don't really have the money to rent a Nikon system to try out either and nobody I know has a Nikon.

The things that are mostly drawing me to Nikon are the focusing system, CLS (I've played with the 7D's wierless fuinction and like it but it has a few drawbacks like no HSS), built in flash (went to use the one on the 5Dc the other day as I just needed some quick fill only to remember that the 5D doesn't have a flash), being able to use any lens on any body (I wish I could use my EF-S 60mm Macro on the 5D as it's such a good lens) and the control layout.

A lot of my Canon stuff is second hand or was bought really cheaply so I'm not worried about selling it, however I have no extra money to put towards a change at the moment or any time soon. I'd be looking at a D700 and either a D7000 or D300 and some lenses and flashgun. What worries me is that to get the similar range of lenses that I have now I'll be looking at Sigma as the Nikon versions are too expensive (70-200 2.8 for example), and what I don't want to do is get better bodies (in my eyes) but inferior glass (if it is, I've had good and bad Sigmas). I'll also only be looking at buying 2nd hand.

As I've said, all these things seem small and I do love my Canon gear and have taken lots of good photos with it, but there are times when I do get quite frustrated with it as well, wishing that some things were done differently. I know if I change there will be some things that annoy me still, there is no perfect camera, but I don't know how many things or how much they'll annoy me compared to the Canon.

Sorry for the long post. Any and all opinions and name calling are welcome as all this going around in circles is driving me mad :bang:.
 
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You can probably sell your gear out and buy second hand on the nikon if you feel you wanted to change.

If you sell your 7D you can probably get a used D300/s easily and your 5D as well to get something similar price. Lens as well.

If you have a canon 70-200 f2.8 IS L lens then you can pretty much sell that and grab a used nikon version easily.
 
My current lenses are:

Canon 24-105 F4L IS
Canon 70-200 F4L IS
Canon EF-S 60mm Macro
Canon 50mm F1.8 II
Sigma 10-20 F4-5.6
Sigma 50-500 EX

What I'm looking at is lenses that cover a similar range of focal lengths, I'm not too fussed about like for like as long as it's good glass. I was thinking along the lines of 24-70/105, a 70/80-200, a 50mm prime and maybe another Bigma, those would make me happy.
 
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What about Nikon 50mm AF-D f/1.8, Nikon 60mm macro AF-D f/2.8, Nikon 24-120 f/4 VR, Sigma 100-300mm f/4? Not sure what ultra-wide you could go for on FX.... Sigma
15-30mm maybe? Nikon 14mm f/2.8?
 
I'm not too worried about an ultra wide, nor a 60mm macro really. I managed to pick both of those up cheap when Best Buy closed down, which was before I got the 5D. If I got the 5D first I probably wouldn't have bothered with either lens. 24mm is plenty wide enough for me on FX.

Good choice of lenses though, very similar to what I was thinking bar the 100-300 which I'd forgotten about. On FX that would be better for me than the 70-200.
 
I think the next decision is full frame or not. You would be able to swap to Nikon with no extra cost on a cropped body, but that D700 isn't cheap and nor are the lenses.

On the wide side, the Sigma 10-20 is the one to have on a cropped Nikon body (unless you can actually afford the Nikon uwa).
 
for the canon 70-200 f4 L you can either get a sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM mkII used or the Nikon 80-200 f2.8 AF-D.

By the way i use nikon d300 and d7000 and it work well together.
 
If I swapped it'd be D700 all the way. I love the full frame image I get from the 5D but the focusing system isn't great wheras the 7D does have a great system but the IQ isn't as good as the FF. The D700 appears to me to be a cross between the 2 which is ideal.
 
Maybe get a used D700 and use thats as main, then grab a used D90 as a backup and also DX format as well for crop stuff.
 
Toggerman said:
If I swapped it'd be D700 all the way. I love the full frame image I get from the 5D but the focusing system isn't great wheras the 7D does have a great system but the IQ isn't as good as the FF. The D700 appears to me to be a cross between the 2 which is ideal.
Click to expand...

Alternatively, look wait to see what Canon lauch as a replacement for the 5D MKII.

I'm not well up on my Nikon bodies, but you are comparing a much older 5D (MKI, I presume) to the D700, have you thought about maybe a 5D MKII ? Not sure what the AF system id like on the MKII v D700, but I suspect the new 5D MK ??? will be a jump up - and so will the price probably...

The other option is looking at the 1D series ...
 
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As far as knocking the dial on the canons goes I know you can send off a 7D to have a new dial fitted that has a locking button in the middle, so it wont move. You can get 5DII done, don't know about 5Dc though.
 
Toggerman - CLS is one reason why many photographers have gone with Nikon.... it really is a brilliant function and very, very easy to use.

It's obvious that you want to move to a D700 but the back-up body is probably where you may have to compromise, although there are some good D300 bodies with a few click on the clock that would be worth looking at; how often will you use the back-up?
 
Toggerman said:
If I swapped it'd be D700 all the way. I love the full frame image I get from the 5D but the focusing system isn't great wheras the 7D does have a great system but the IQ isn't as good as the FF. The D700 appears to me to be a cross between the 2 which is ideal.
Click to expand...

And therefore you want a good CANON body. 1Ds mkII (and III) is just perfect for everything. Changing all your presumably good glass is a bit too extreme, but nevertheless it sustains the gear-scavenger ecosystem :lol:
 
Hi again all, thanks for the replies. I've given it much thought and had a grand chat with the missus. The end result is I'm sat here with my used mint D300 (1300 shutter count) and Nikon 50mm 1.8. The reason I went with the D300 as a 2nd body was as a decent backup but also I want my wife to sometimes be a second shooter for me.

So far I'm very happy, I've got a big weekend ahead of me with forest rally on Saturday and an awards ceremony on Sunday, so I can give it a fairly good shakedown, can't imagine being disappointed though.
 
toggerman - that would have been my recordation on both body and glass. look forward to what u do in say 6 weeks
 
Hi again all, I thought I'd let you know how I got on.

In the end I got the following:

D700
D300
Nikon 50mm f1.8D
Tamron 28-75 f2.8
Sigma 100-300 F4
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM II
SB700
Meike grip

Overall I am very, very happy, I have gotten to grips with the Nikons quite quickly and find the controls and overall ergonomics much better for me. I've done a couple of races with them so far and I've had no problems. Before when I would use my 7D I would often get a pain in my right thumb, especially if I use the rear dial to adjust shutter speed or use rear focussing, but with the Nikons I haven't had any aches or pains yet. My wife also loves using both cameras although she hasn't had too much of a play with the D700. She has used the D300 a fair bit and finds it easier to use than the 7D.

The D700, wow, what a great camera, superb image quality and incredible ISO performance. The AF system is brilliant (just as it is on the D300) and even using the outer non cross type sensors I've not had any problems, not even with tracking fast moving cars or my kids.

The only thing I really miss about my Canon setup at the moment is the crop ability of the 7D's 18MP, but I can work around that. Also none of my current lenses are weather sealed, but that may change in the future.
 
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