Nikon to Canon, should I?

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chrisphoto

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So then guys after many hours of looking I've come to two choices, should I upgrade to a D700 or migrate to Canon and get a 1D mark III, 17-40L and a 70-200 F4L with a 430 exII.
I currently have a D90 with a tamron 17-50 2.8, a sigma 70-200 2.8 and an SB800. I do a mixture of sports, mainly skating lit with strobes, portraits and live music.
So basically I was just wondering if anyone has any advice or had been in the same position and what you went for!
 
I was in a similar position.
Had a D3, a 24-70mm f2.8, an 80-200mm f2.8 one touch and an SB800.
I do some press work and some wedding assisting.
I really wanted a 2nd body because changing lenses was annoying me.
I now have a 5D1, a 1D2, a 17-40 F4L, a 70-200 F4L, a 430 exII and a 580 exI.
Oh and about £200 in my pocket.
I sometimes miss low light performance, the D3 was exceptionally good at high iso and the jump from f2.8 to f4 is quite noticeable.
Other than that I'm very happy though.
My 24-70mm picked up a dink on the focus ring so was away getting repaired when I decided to do the swap, buying the Canon gear meant I was without a wide lens for less time. The 80-200 f2.8 I had was good but slow to focus and heavy. The Canon 70-200 F4L is much much lighter and focuses really really quickly.
I used to have an SB600 too which when used with the 800 as commander was really good for wireless slave stuff, the Canon guns aren't quite as good but I've just bought some radio triggers that'll sort that out.
 
ahh right, well a D3 would be the best for me but I cant justify having 2K in a camera body when the whole canon set up with a pro body going of ebay prices would be just a little over 2K. That is the one thing that is worrying me like is the F2.8 to F4 jump, but most of the time im using strobes and triggers so it wouldn't affect me too bad. The main problems I have with the D90 are AF performance and build quality which I guess the swap would help drastically. How did you find the change in controls btw?
 
Yeah, that's how I felt, I'd enjoyed using the D3 but knowing that I could have two decent Canons (I also thought of getting 2 5D1s) in place of the one Nikon was the decider for me.

I think i notice the iso performance more than the aperture thing, while the D90 is no slouch in iso performance it's not up there with the D3 so you shouldn't notice so much of a difference.

Control-wise it's fine. The 1D2 is a bit funny because you pretty much need 2 hands for everything, your holding a button and turning the rear dial for all the menu's n stuff, but I think the 1D3 did away with this so once you get used to focusing and zooming in other direction your golden. I had the benefit of having used my GFs 5D1 so had a good idea of my way around a Canon.
 
I've done it too, but by way of micro 4/3rds.

I choose the lens first, then the system - so, I swapped from C to N for the 18-200 [at the time, no equivalent] and when I had free choice again, I chose the 100-400L and the canon system that came with it.

I always lose a bit on every sale, but have fun all the time and consider it cheaper than hiring stuff.
 
NO-one can answer this for you!
 
awp said:
NO-one can answer this for you!
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Yes they can.

The OP didn't ask a subjective question, he asked if anyone else had done a similar thing, that's either yes or no, and what they went for, a case of listing what they had before and after.

He did not ask "Should I change?"

In response to my reply he asked about how I had found the change in controls, again a very simply answered technical question.

"Will I be able to adapt to the Canon controls?" would have been a question I, nor anyone else, could have answered.
 
chrisphoto said:
So basically what camera does everyone think is better a 1DIII or a D700?
I know both will be a massive step up from a D90 its just whether the canon would be worth selling up for?hmmm decisions decisions haha!
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You should bear i mind that it's a 1D3 with Canon L glass or a D700 with 3rd party glass.
 
There's a question that probably has a yes/no answer but that will likely divide opinion greatly!
 
chrisphoto said:
haha, ok I'll rephrase, would a 17-40L be better than a 28-75 and the 70-200 F4L be better than the siggy 70-200 2.8?
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You are comparing apples and pears, a better comparison is the canon 24-70 as it is f 2.8 or the canon 24-105 IS.
Then it boils down to if you need the extra stop that f2.8 gives you.
If you need f 2.8 then the lenses you suggest are much more economic than the canon eqivalents.If you can live with f4 then personally I would go for the canon 24-105 and the 70-200.But I,m biased as thats what I have.
 
I'd say build and optical quality of the L lenses will almost definitely be better.
If you can give up the little bit f aperture then I'd be going with either the 17-40 or 24-105 and the 70-200 F4L.
 
I'd suggest upgrading your D90 to a D700+grip. Full-frame sensor, 8fps, cheapest. The other changes you've mentioned make no sense, financially or otherwise.
 
chrisphoto said:
The 24-70 would be way to expensive. I think the 17-40 would be better as I like shooting wide and on a 1.3x sensor it would give a larger field of view than the 17-50 on my D90. Are the L lenses weather sealed? cause that'd be a big seller for me with the body also being weather sealed.
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Think my 17-40 has an ass gasket but the 70-200 doesn't. Dunno how well sealed the rest of the bodies are, pretty well I'd imagine.
 
I really like the 17-40 on the 1D2. It's just that little bit wider than when I had the 24-70 on the D3. Only like 2mm or something wider but it's enough that you notice it being wide rather than normal if you know what I mean. On the 5D it's awesome too.
 
D700 & grip does not feel flimsy! I have both set ups (D90 gripped & D700 gripped)

The D700 is actually a touch bigger than a D3 when gripped.
I switched from canon- Nkon from a 20D rather than go to a 1d or a 5D. A lot is down to ergonomics, a new system takes time to learn, and if you are earning money from your kit do you want to learnn a whole new system?
 
I think you'd be looking at roughly the same money for a D700 and a 1D3 and then you'd have to get the grip and extra batteries for the D700.

If you're Tamron 17-50 is only for DX then what'd you be going for to put on the D700 if you went that way? 24-70 f2.8 or the 28-70 beast are both gonna run you more than the Canon 17-40 and you'd not have to add much to what you could sell the 70-200 Siggy for to get the Canon 70-200 F4L.

Having owned the D3 and 1D mkII and also a 1D mkI briefly I can honestly say that a built in grip feels much nicer than any of the cameras with add on grips I've tried.
 
SK617 said:
D700 & grip does not feel flimsy! I have both set ups (D90 gripped & D700 gripped)

The D700 is actually a touch bigger than a D3 when gripped.
I switched from canon- Nkon from a 20D rather than go to a 1d or a 5D. A lot is down to ergonomics, a new system takes time to learn, and if you are earning money from your kit do you want to learnn a whole new system?
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I don't buy that whole "learning a new system" thing.
Unless you're changing something like ISO or drive or bracketing every few shots then it's just zoom and shutter button.
It's not like learning to write with the other hand.
 
Scotty, the thing is I could do with the weather sealing, which would be compromised if it was gripped.

If i was to get a D700 it'd have to be the tamron 28-75 2.8 which is most likely a drop in quality from the canon 17-40L.

The whole change in system doesn't worry me really I just didnt know if there was a drastic difference.
 
fixedimage said:
I don't buy that whole "learning a new system" thing.
Unless you're changing something like ISO or drive or bracketing every few shots then it's just zoom and shutter button.
It's not like learning to write with the other hand.
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You missed the part about skating under lights and live music then?

You need to know your camera inside out if you want to shoot those successfully; or any sport for that matter.
 
No, I saw the bit about using triggers and figured from that the OP uses his flashguns in manual and while it's a slightly different technique to adjust the power on Canon and Nikon flashguns it's hardly going to take you years to master.
 
fixedimage said:
I don't buy that whole "learning a new system" thing.
Unless you're changing something like ISO or drive or bracketing every few shots then it's just zoom and shutter button.
It's not like learning to write with the other hand.
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The canon TTL flash system is very different to the Nikons CLS especially in the way FEC works on the camera body etc.

But it's all just what you get used to.


Not sure what the reason for wanting to change is though, if you stick with Nikon and keep the D90 you can use your SB800 and the new FX lenses on the D90. You don't want to do that?
 
Graham, I barely ever use CLS anyway as I find triggers are more reliable. I'd be keeping the strobes I use off camera anyway as it doesn't matter which brand they are.
And as for the reason for changing as im only 18 I cant really afford a nikon FX camera and good lenses to put on it, so the D90 would have to be sold to fund some of that anyway.
 
chrisphoto said:
Graham, I barely ever use CLS anyway as I find triggers are more reliable. I'd be keeping the strobes I use off camera anyway as it doesn't matter which brand they are.
And as for the reason for changing as im only 18 I cant really afford a nikon FX camera and good lenses to put on it, so the D90 would have to be sold to fund some of that anyway.
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Fair enough, I don't have an allegance to any particular brand. I like the Nikon gear but Canon make good gear too, in fact I eish Nikon would hurry up and do HD video on their pro bodies ot I'm going to end up with a canon body and lens or wto myself.

Personally I don't think I could live without TTL flash now though, as much as I prefer off camera flash, on camera bounce flash is great for a lot of wedding work and TTL makes it a snap.

Good luck with whatever you choose, let us know how you get on.
 
It's really down to what you feel is best. No one can say that one is better than the other you just have to follow your gut instinct.
 
personally I think once you have bought into a system you should stick with it. Canon Nikon Olympus Pentax Sony can all take good pictures, no matter which way you change it will cost money, just make the best of what you have.....................I have Nikon which does me fine, I cannot imagine anything that any of the other mfrs could offer that would make it worthwhile me changing.
 
Stick to Nikon, Canon are way overrated especially there full frame models, nikon d700 is outstanding camera but currently in short supply but I'm waiting for there d800 hopefully in September
 
Only thing I would recommend is you try the Canon model for a few days before you flog your Nikon kit. If necessary rent one.

Time and time again I change stuff over only to think after a few days I haven't gained anything, or niggles with the new kit that don't appear when trying in shops.
 
go for it, and welcome to the DARKer side!
 
Interesting pojnt by fixedimage

fixedimage said:
My 24-70mm picked up a dink on the focus ring so was away getting repaired when I decided to do the swap, buying the Canon gear meant I was without a wide lens for less time.
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Do Nikon have the equivalent of Canon's Professional Service? If you've got two decent bodies and 3 L lenses you can join the service (level depends on the amount of kit), then you get a rapid turnover of repairs or a loan if your's can't be replaced quickly.

This year I've had my main flashgun repaired in three days, from sending to return and when my main lens couldn't be repaired quickly (getting parts because of the tsunami), Canon lent me a replacement lens free for the period.

Details are here: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/services.do
 
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