Is there an advantage to the Canon system?

It's a highly personal thing, but certain lenses that do / do not exist in one system or the other can be the main deciding point.

On the Nikon side this might be the 14-24 or the 200-400/4 VR.

For me on the Canon side the number one is the 100-400L. This is a lens I use a ton and love, and the Nikon 80-400 just does not even come close.

A lot of lenses are comparable.....24-70, 70-200 etc. but there are certainly a few that either don't exist or are not equally good in important ways. If one of these lenses is important to you, then it drives the system decision.

Nikon CLS is more advanced than Canon E-TTL, it gives you control over your 3 groups independently and second curtain sync on wireless. With Nikon you can control an external speedlite from the built in commander wirelessly. but Canon cameras (except 7D, 60D, 600D) require a master transmitter, an extra piece of gear to carry. it's also a bit expensive.

The fact that EVERY Canon EF Lens made since 1987 works on EVERY Canon EOS body made without fitment or compatibility issues.

I learned on a Nikon F2 and would have preferred going with a Nikon body, but ended up going for a 5d2 because of the superiority of the 24mm ts-e ii over the nikon PC-E lens (rotation of tilt/shift performable in the field and larger image circle/better sharpness). To me that's part of the "system" of the canon (available lenses) but not sure if that's what you're looking for.

Canon's lens-mount is what I go for. Third party adapters open up a huge array of old lenses from various manufacturers from times past for my use. Nikon's lens-mount makes this a bit problematic mostly.

When I switched to digital, I chose Canon because there was no FF from Nikon. 5D is my first Canon DSLR. It seems unbelievable that Nikon did not have FF until D3.

The service may be better for one or the other system in your country.

I simply could not get my head around cameras where the lenses attached anticlockwise and the digit "0" was displayed as a lower-case "o".

The ability to adapt MF lenses to Canon bodies was huge to me (even back then).

I used Olympus wet film cameras, so my original foray into digital followed suit, 'I like what I know and I know what I like'. This culminated in my first DSLR the E500.

After about a year of using the Oly I was looking to expand a little, there didn't, at the time, appear to be a great deal of third party equipment suppliers support, or a large second hand market and Oly kit was so expensive.

So I decided to jump ship, the two obvious choices were Canon and Nikon, I wasn't fussed as to which. The two I looked at were the 30D and IIRC the D200. I preferred the layout of the 30D, with less buttons, and of course the price! So I went with the Canon.

I knew that Canons range of lenses was large, but hadn't appreciated just how large. This in turn feeds a healthy second hand market, where most of my kit has been sourced. My friend currently uses a D7000, an impressive piece of kit (still too many buttons for my liking!), even if I want to change to Nikon I couldn't as I've too much invested in Canon kit.

In a nutshell the advantages of Canon to me are:-

Excellent second hand market.
Dedicated forum that runs on donations not subscriptions.
Software comes with the cameras, so you can be up and running without extra cost.
The 30D was there at the right price at the right time.

Not a lot really, no 'my kit is better because of megapixels, colour of paint on the lens, red ring, yada, yada, yada', because in the world of photography awards are won by photographers not kit (well maybe a little bit). We can associate ourselves with them by buying into the same brand. Then justify to ourselves (because no one else really gives two hoots) why we spent all that money, by saying 'my kit is bet.............'

I think that should be for another thread though.

I started with Canon simply because the camera(s) felt better in my hand. I first had an XTI and it felt better in my hands than a Nikon. I now use a 5dmk2 and my better half uses a Nikon d300 and I just don't like how it feels in my hands.

Are defining "system" as everything but the body?

If so, my primary reasons for going with Canon were:
-better lens selection
-the lenses were cheaper than Nikon for the same quality glass
-I love Canon ergonomics over Nikon (button placement and how they feel)
-I was more familiar with the Canon menus

I know you said not body, but one of my main reason was the Canon bodies were cheaper when comparing similar models and features. I also hate Nikon's choice to do in body AF and favored Canon's choice to do AF in the lens itself.

The reason I chose Canon was because I liked the feel of the camera in my hand more than any other I tried. And the fact that I got the camera off ebay for a very good price new. I've now spent around $25.000 on the Canon system and don't regret 1 penny of it.

I went with Canon (300D) because I had a Canon P&S, and the 300D was a pretty amazing thing for the price back then. As I've expanded changing systems obviously becomes more difficult. Even if I wanted to right now I'm not sure there is an equiv to the 400 F/5.6, which is my most used Canon lens.

greenjacket wrote in post #14095341
When I switched to digital, I chose Canon because there was no FF from Nikon. 5D is my first Canon DSLR. It seems unbelievable that Nikon did not have FF until D3.

Agreed. I always used Nikon when I shot film. When I decided to switch to digital I went with Canon for a number of reasons. Nikon stated that they never planned to make a full frame sensor or use CMOS sensors (they were all CCD). Most Nikon AF lenses were the slow screw drive style and they didn't have a wireless TTL flash system either. Also in their persistence to keep their ages old lens mount it became very confusing as to which lens had what compatability on certain bodies. Canon had none of these issues so I jumped ship. No regrets.

jrmy wrote in post #14080006
That and PowerShot doesn't sound as lame as Coolpix.

Hahahaha.

I picked Canon because I had friends who shot Canon. I'm happy I did, I love my gear.