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Canon or Nikon

AlexTheTinyBean
Apprentice
Hello so ive been thinking about getting my first dslr. ive pretty much narrowed down my options to the Nikon D3300 or the Canon T5 with a added 50mm 1.8 lens. Which one is better? Or should I go for a Canon T5i? I will probably not do many portraits and more landcapes or sunsets or closeups. Thank you.
19 REPLIES 19

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

It's hard to buy a bad camera these days.  

 

If you happen to enjoy a fantastic meal, you probably wouldn't ask the cook/chef if they used Calaphon brand cookware vs. All-Clad brand cookware to prepare the meal... because you'd recognize that the results are really due to the cook and not the cookware.  The same is mostly true of cameras.

 

I say "mostly" true because it's possible to find a camera that isn't really suited for how you intend to use it (I probably wouldn't use a 12 quart stock-pot to prepare an omelet -- so it is possible, even among camera, to find a use that isn't suited to a particular model.

 

The results you get will mostly be based on your knowledge and skill.  Sort of like playing the piano... buying a better piano wont necessarily make your music sound any better.  To sound better.... requires practice.  That analogy definitely translates to phoography.  The more you do it, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the higher your "keeper rate" tends to be.

 

You mentioned the T5 and the T5i.  These two cameras are not related.  

 

Canon produces DSLR cameras several ranges.  

 

The entry-level range for Canon are branded as the "Rebel" series here in North America (it has a different convetion in other parts of the world).  Within the entry-range there's a low vs. high end of the "entry" range.  

 

The lowest end of the range have no letter suffix after the number.  So there was a T3 (several years ago - now discontinued) a T5 and a T6.  

 

The high end of the range have suffixes... usually an "i" but Canon also started using an "s".  So there's a T5i, T6i, and the brand new (this year) T7i.  These cameras add more features.  

 

A T5i wouldn't be just like a T5 with a few extras added, they really should be thought of as completely different cameras.

 

Canon also makes a mid-range and pro-range series of bodies.  The pro-range bodies tend to be more "technical" (so many features and configurations that they may seem confusing for those just buying their first DSLR camera.)

 

Portraits and landscapes tend to want different focal length lenses.  Portraits tend to look better when shot with longer focal lengths (say... 50-85mm focal lengths but I do know of photographers who shoot portraits with 200mm).  

 

Landscapes, on the other end, tend to be shot with shorter focal lengths (probably in the 10-20mm range).  

 

There are no 'rules' for this... it's just that different focal lengths will alter the look of an image.  If you've got a beautiful panoramic scene in front of you, and you need to let your eyes gaze around to take in the view, then you probably want a wide-angle (short focal length) lens to take in the view.  

 

But those same wide-angle focal lengths don't work well for portraits where subjects will either look small -or- if you get close enough to help the subject fill the frame, they tend to create a distorted view of the subject (features that are closest look larger than features that are farther away... so your subjects appear to have big noses and other non-flattering features in a portrait.)

 

The 'kit' lens that would typically be included with a body+lens kit is typically an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.  But Canon makes two of these.  The older generation is included with the T5 kit.  The newer generation is included with the T5i kit.  The newer generation has the letters "STM" in the lens name and this refers to the auto-focus motor type (stepper motors).  Nevermind the stepper motors ... the optics were redesigned for the newer generation and the newer generation is nicely improved over the previous lens.    

 

The same is true of the 50mm f/1.8 lens... only buy the "STM" version.  For the 50mm the new generation did not actually redesign the optics... the 50mm "optics" are identical between the old and new.  But what they did change was the aperture blade design.  The old lens had a 5-blade aperture with flat edges.  This created a pentagon shaped blur and caused out-of-focus background blur to have a non-smooth "jittery" quality that wasn't very pleasant.  The new lens has a 7-blade aperture which greatly improves on the quality and smoothness of the blur.

 

Overall I feel that what will make your images better are:

 

1 - you (your knowledge and skill level)

 

2 - lighting and knowing how to use it (lighting can be used to create a sense of emtion or energy... I can create a sense of soliditude, despair, peace, joy, excitement... all by how we use the lighting.)

 

3 - the lenses

 

4 - the camera body

 

Notice the body is in last place - and that's no mistake.  It has the least influence on the results.   

 

The Canon lens lineup and lens quality is, in my opinion, a very strong reason to go with Canon.  It's difficult to make a general statement about this without getting into specifics... but there are so many areas where the Canon offering is significantly better than the Nikon offering (or where Nikon doesn't even have an offering).  There are, of course, also 3rd party lenses as well.  But the Canon brand lenses usually tend to exceed what the 3rd party offers. 

 

There are a handful of serious lens brands... mostly Canon and Nikon dominate in the lens market for their own cameras.  But Sigma and Tamron dominate the 3rd party lenses.  There are others such as Rokinon (these tend to be budget-priced and usually manual lenses that don't offer auto-aperture or auto-focus but the optics are often good) to Schneider or Ziess at the high end (although Sigma now makes the "Art" series lenses which are high end glass.)

 

I will offer just one example... the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II is an exceptionally nice lens.  It's extremely popular and most photographers either have a 70-200mm lens in their bag... or they want one.  Canon's 70-200 is the only model I know of that doesn't have a serious "breathing" problem.  

 

I enjoy my 70-200mm lens so much that it's THE lens that "lives" on my camera body.  I am constantly using it and have far more shots taken with that lens than any other (even for shorts where you'd probably think I should use a shorter focal length... for example I take portraits with this lens rather than using a more traditional portrait focal length).  

 

The Nikon equivalent has a serious "breathing" issue (as do all the 3rd party lenses).  All lenses "breathe" at least a little.  This means that when you set a specific focal length and focus to infinity, your lens probably actually is accurately representing the focal length (with only a very tiny margin of error... so a 100mm lens probably is 100mm and a 200mm lens probably is 200mm).  HOWEVER... if you re-focus the lens (but don't touch the focal length), the focal length actually changes.  So if I use my 70-200mm lens and focus on a subject for a portrait and that subject is close to me (so I'm mostly getting a "head and shoulders" composition of them) the Canon lens breathes and the focal length is reduced to about 190mm.  That's with 5% of the 200mm I think I'm using.  But try that on the Nikon lens... or the Sigma version or the Tamron version and those lenses REALLY breathe... you'll find the measured focal length actually drops to something in the 130-150mm range (nowhere even remotely close to the 200mm you think you're getting.)    So this is just one example of where the Canon lens massively exceeds the competition.

 

You may be wondering... why is this guy bringing up the 70-200mm lens?   Because every photographer either "owns" one of these lenses or "wants" one of these lenses.  So if you buy a camera and start to really enjoy it and want to start acquiring more gear... you'll eventually want one of these lenses (there are a lot of reasons why they're extremely popular.)

 

Lighting is a bit trickier because there are vastly more brands of 3rd party light and lighting very heavily relies on light modifiers to alter the quality of the light.  But if one were to compare just the Canon brand lighting choices, Canon offers more choice with nicer features than Nikon.  Canon's latest series of speedlite flashes these past few years are now including radio technology (rather than relying on optical methods to trigger off-camera flash which requires line-of-sight.)  

 

I don't want to denigrate Nikon - they make very nice and very capable camera products and there's no denying that (and so does Sony).  But I consider the overall "system" of gear that I have to rely on -- not just the camera body.  And so the above reasons are why I tend to prefer the Canon system.

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

I have the Canon T3I. I also have the Sigma 18-250/Sigma 17-50 and the Canon 10-18.  I usually go through slickdeals.com to find the best deals for my canon.  I wanted to get more Canon lenses....but the Canon 70-300 price wise was OUT OF THIS WORLD!  The Sigma's were much better!

" I usually go through slickdeals.com to find the best deals for my canon."

 

I am all for saving a buck when I can but if you let price alone determine your choice of photo gear, you will get burned.  Not the best approach in buying photo gear.  Just be careful and wise.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Which Canon 70-300?

The 70-300 DO is $1400

The 70-300 II is $550

The 70-300 L is $1350

The 70-300 is $450

 

While the DO and L might be considered "out of this world", the standard 70-300 and its II replacement are pretty reasonable at about $500. (These are the prices from Canon's website.)

"...the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II is an exceptionally nice lens.  It's extremely popular and most photographers either have a 70-200mm lens in their bag... or they want one.  Canon's 70-200 is the only model I know of that doesn't have a serious "breathing" problem."

 

Unless you're looking for absolute precision, focus breathing isn't something that's likely to affect how you shoot on a day-to-day basis. So you can pretty much ignore it and keep shooting as you do.  Another of the pixel peeper thingy.  Most people are not even aware of it.  And the problem is less as distance increases.  Which brings up the fact you have two feet.  You can take a step or two one way or the other!

 

Some of the best lenses do it, is true. The Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VR II is known for it.  Very expensive lens!   But the truth be known all lenses in the tele focal length category over state their long end.  I don't know of any lens that under states its focal length. Not one!  If memory serves me the mentioned Nikkor is actually only 170mm at the long end not 200mm.  Both the Sigam and Tamron beat that. The Canon is in the 190mm area.

 

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

John_SD
Whiz

@AlexTheTinyBean wrote:
Hello so ive been thinking about getting my first dslr. ive pretty much narrowed down my options to the Nikon D3300 or the Canon T5 with a added 50mm 1.8 lens. Which one is better? Or should I go for a Canon T5i? I will probably not do many portraits and more landcapes or sunsets or closeups. Thank you.

I don't think it much matters. Both cameras should give you excellent results. Fans of either brand could present compelling arguments for their preferred choice. 

 

But the fact is, if you're going to pursue this as a hobby, I think what you really have to decide is which system you're going to buy into. For me, I decided on Canon. My reasearch confirmed that their lenses were better, in general, have a wider variety of lenses, and the costs were a bit lower. 

 

I think you'll be happy with whichever system you choose to go with. 

"I don't think it much matters."

 

I tend to agree on especially the higher end models.  But on the lower priced ones like the Rebels and the D3300 all you have to do is handle each.  That should convince you the Rebel is a better buy.

 

Lenses is a no doubt, Canon is not just better but best!  Take it from a guy that owns both and uses both brands.  I have for five decades. Worth something?

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

You are on the Canon web site, so expect to be advised to buy a Canon.  I chose Canon for the wider selection of lenses, and most especially for the simpler model numbers.  The T5 is a great camera for a new DSLR user.  It does have limitations, though.  It is a great starter camera.  I outgrew mine after a 5000, or so, shots.

 

The Rebel T5 typically comes with an older version of the 18-55mm kit lens.  I highly recommend the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, for its' fast aperture.  It is a great learning tool.  You can read about wide apertures all you want, but you will not really understand the differences until you use a wide aperture lens.

 

A good compliment to the kit lens is a special two lens package that Canon calls a portrait package.  It includes the 50mm STM lens, and an ultra wide angle 10-18mm lens, which is great for landscape shots.  You save a lot of money buying the lenses as a portrait package.  The 50mm is almost given to you for free.

 

The basic Rebel T5 kit, with the 18-55mm lens, is a great start.  Before you invest in more lenses, you may wish to consider investing ain a quality tripod, not a plastic one from the big blue box store.  You should also consider a camera bag to carry and store your gear.  

 

Camera bags come in different styles and sizes.  Bags can range from a classic shoulder bag to a large backpack.  I realized that I needed at least two bags to hold my camera and 4 lenses, including a large telephoto.  I had a large "kit" bag, that could hold everything, but weighed a ton fully loaded.  So, I bought a smaller bag for traveling.

 

With just a T5 and the 18-55mm lens, I would suggest investing in a bag that can hold 3-4 lenses.  This extra room will come in handy for things like the camera battery charger, a cleaning kit, or a more powerful external flash.  Of course, the extra room can be used to hold additional lenses, too.

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AlexTheTinyBean
Apprentice
do you think getting the T5 with better lenses will be a great start rather than getting lets say a T6 with the kit lens?


@AlexTheTinyBean wrote:
do you think getting the T5 with better lenses will be a great start rather than getting lets say a T6 with the kit lens?

The quality of your shots will never exceed the quality of your lenses.  

 

The T5 and T6 are pretty close to being the same camera.  The T6 adds Wi-Fi functionality, which does not mean the camera is networkable.  Remember, the T6 is currently occupies the lowerst rung in the Canon DSLR lineup.  Both cameras come with the same version of other 18-55mm that Canon first released several years ago.  I don't see any price/performance advantage in buying the T6 over a T5.  The limited Wi-Fi feature is not as useful as one might think.

 

I think the best think in favor of the T5 is the lack of an articulated LCD screen on the rear of the camera.  I think that a tilt and swivel screen is just another moving part that can be easily broken.  The Canon Refurbished Store offers great deals on the T5 camera kits, with the older 18-55mm lens.  Combine that with the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens [the STM lens has a metal mount, instead of a plastic mount like the old one], and you will have a great camera kit.  

 

I buy all of my Canon gear from two online sources.  Either directly from Canon, or from the biggest online Canon retailer, B&H Photo Video in NYC.  If I cannot buy it from the Canon Refurbished Store, then I will buy it through B&H.  Their customer service is second to none.  They also deliver VERY quickly.  Most orders are delivered within 1-2 business days.  I have even bought used tripods and tripods heads from B&H.  Their used gear rating system seems to be pretty honest, IMHO.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."
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