Moving away from Pentax... Canon, Nikon or Sony?

Richdog

Richdog

Richdog

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UPDATE - I've now bought a Nikon D7000.

:D

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As title, i'm now moving away from Pentax and have decided to sell all my stuff and invest in a new system with a view towards getting a camera that I can really grow into.

I will be buying the camera on finance, so budget is around £1000, possibly up to £1200 including a general-purpose lense with good range. To start with I want an all-round lens I can keep on 99% of the time that covers portrait and wildlife, then I will worry about expanding with more later.

My uses (only at hobby level) will mainly be:

  • Portraits
  • Landscape
  • Wildlife
  • Sports and fast-moving objects
I have been doing my research and duly looked at Canon, Nikon and Sony and can honestly say that I have a bit of a dim view of Canon as an option because I can't find anything that I really like the look of in current and upcoming ranges compared to Nikon and Sony. The 7D is still nice I know, but a bit long in the tooth now, and still very expensive. The upcoming Canon 6D seems less well specified than the Nikon D600, so I don't see it as a good upgrade path.

Nikon I feel now have the edge in models available and the upgrade path you can take (D600, D800). Cameras like the D7000 are still excellent, though I presume a D71000 or similar is due early next year so if I want to go Nikon maybe it would be worth waiting till then.

Sony seem to be really leading in terms of technology at the moment, with some great translucent mirror cameras at what appear to be very competitive prices with fast burst speeds and great movie modes to boot. The A65 looks like a good camera at a good pricepoint.

So, if you had no kit at all and could start again... which would you objectively recommend to a borderline intermediate hobbyist looking for a decent camera that will last a good while, with a good lens range and decent future upgrade path? :)
 
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Body comes and goes, lenses are where the money is at.

Sony (or Minolta) always have made great bodies, for the past 20 years. The Dynax series was great, what let them down, and still do are the lenses and accessories, and still the case to an extent. i.e. the New Sony A99, it has something like 100 AF points, Sony makes a good number of lenses but do you know how many that actually can use all those AF points?

2. Two. The rest of the lenses will let you use only a fraction of that.

As an amateur, they are all excellent, it is just the ceiling for Canon and Nikon are much higher. They both make lenses that Sony doesn't and probably won't for decades. I can't see for example Sony ever making a 17mm/TS-E lens.

Plus when you come to sell your gear, the second hand market for Canon and Nikon are much larger. Try selling Sony gear you are limited to a much smaller pool of users.

What I am saying is that you should look further than the current generations of bodies. To say the D800 is great (which is it) or the 6D isn't as good as it should have been (which is also true) or the 5Dii could've been better (true) are all valid. But time flies and we have a 5Diii which is a great body.

Look further, think ahead. Look at the system as a whole and see which one suits you best. To look at 1 body alone and is very shortsighted.

Sony users will no doubt trying to rebut my arguments but there is a reason why all the pros uses Canon or Nikon. Buying a camera is more than just buying the camera (body), it is much more than that. Canon CPS for one thing can be invaluable. In the US, the CPS can lent you gear to try out or even in case of emergency if you have your gear stolen. The CPS turn around time is also very fast, 3 days for me, which means I can get gear repair between weddings.
 
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I wouldn't be so quick to rule out the 7D tbh, its a great camera. It might not be cutting edge anymore but that doesn't really matter. Spend your money on lenses.
 
theheyes said:
I wouldn't be so quick to rule out the 7D tbh, its a great camera. It might not be cutting edge anymore but that doesn't really matter. Spend your money on lenses.
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True, it is a great camera, but given the big price difference between the Canon 7D and the Nikon D7000 (almost double) I think i'd much rather get the D7000 and a good lens. In real-world usage the chances of me seeing any noticeable difference out of a 7D that costs almost double what the 7000 does are negligible.

I can get the D7000 for £580 and am looking at the Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM (which gets very good reviews as a superzoom that is pretty sharp through all focal ranges) for £360 as a starting point.

I think the D7000 just ticks all the boxes in terms of price/performance, and it's very well featured too. :)
 
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There isn't anything better than a D7000 on the market for price / performance.
If I was starting out today it would be a D7000.

Canon seem to be utterly stuck in the 'no innovation' camp and simply aren't moving forward at all with their consumer level bodies and don't have anything near Nikon's line-up for quality, specs and price.
 
I can't speak for the Nikons because I don't know them very well. If the D7000 ticks your boxes for the price then run with it. And you're right, you probably won't notice much difference. You can take stunning photos with practically any camera on the market.
 
ManCuBuS said:
There isn't anything better than a D7000 on the market for price / performance.
If I was starting out today it would be a D7000.

Canon seem to be utterly stuck in the 'no innovation' camp and simply aren't moving forward at all with their consumer level bodies and don't have anything near Nikon's line-up for quality, specs and price.
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My thoughts exactly, very unimpressed with Canon compared to Nikon lately as it stands.
 
Raymond Lin said:
<Snip a very good post>

Sony users will no doubt trying to rebut my arguments but there is a reason why all the pros uses Canon or Nikon. Buying a camera is more than just buying the camera (body), it is much more than that.
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I'm a Sony user (having come from a Minolta film camera) and I couldn't agree more with your post Ray. I've actually been pondering where I might go in the past week and might well jump to Nikon or Canon.

There's meant to be more some new Sony SLT models Q1/Q2 next year so I'm no hurry ; there's also the minor point of the potential damage to the bank account!
 
IMO...

Sony: Just backing yourself into another corner, same problems as the Pentax system, not as many accessories/lenses and harder to find.

Canon: Huge range of lenses and accessories, easy to find both new and used. Generally much better lens selection than Nikon however, especially in the mid priced longer range stuff.

Nikon: Huge range of lenses and accessories, easy to find both new and used. Generally better cameras than Canon at the moment, see above about lens selection.
 
Richdog said:
True, it is a great camera, but given the big price difference between the Canon 7D and the Nikon D7000 (almost double) I think i'd much rather get the D7000 and a good lens. In real-world usage the chances of me seeing any noticeable difference out of a 7D that costs almost double what the 7000 does are negligible.

I can get the D7000 for £580 and am looking at the Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM (which gets very good reviews as a superzoom that is pretty sharp through all focal ranges) for £360 as a starting point.

I think the D7000 just ticks all the boxes in terms of price/performance, and it's very well featured too. :)
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I ended up getting the D7000 over the 7D even when the price was similar. There is very little real world difference between the two but the D7000 is smaller and lighter which was a big positive for me.
 
I'd look at maybe a used D700, or increase the finance to get a D800.
D800E would probably be the 'ideal' camera for the genres of photography your interested in.
 
An Exception said:
D800E would probably be the 'ideal' camera for the genres of photography your interested in.
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Let me know where to get one for £1k will you :D

I'm a canon user and if I was starting again tomorrow I would go Nikon. I agree with the comments above that canon seem to have lost the plot in innovation. They come out with great stuff like the new 600rt for example and put out a trigger with no AF assist beam. Wtf, a £10 addition forgotten. God knows who though leaving that out was a good idea :confused:

Or the 6d, which could have sold them cameras as fast as the 7d with the addition of more cross point AF's. I've tried the 6D and its still very very good at outer point AF but the spec on paper will have put loads of people off.

Try both bodies and see what feels best.
 
If you don't want to end up in the same situation as with Pentax then stick to canon or Nikon. Nikon undoubtedly have the best bodies at most price points but who knows in the future what will happen.

With the current sensor canon have I really wouldn't want to use anything below the 6d or 5dmk2/3
 
Richdog said:
Not sure if serious, but thanks anyway. :p
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Yep serious.
If budget won't stretch.. D700
If more finance is affordable/practical.. D800 or D800E

Basically it works out cheaper to buy the best you can afford, rather than getting a D7000, then D600, then D800 etc.

I would completely skip the D7000 and get a FF camera to begin with.
 
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