d200 vs Canon

A friend is planning on buying the Nikon D200. I would like it if she bought a Canon like the 50D or 20D/30D.

What makes the Canon models I mentioned better (if so) than the Nikon D200?

She has no previous DSLR. She enjoys a wide range such as landscape, to night shootint to macro to portraits to sports. Preference in that listing too.


thanks

That you will let her use your lenses?

To be honest I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between Canon and Nikon.
The D50 is an excellent budget DSLR. Likewise the D200 is a very competitive camera.

So my question is, " How apt is your username"?
Just a joke mate, but you take my point.

Tell her she should forget about night shooting if she opts for the Nikon. They just can't match Canon's low-light/high ISO performance (especially on the 5D). Also dynamic range (again, especially on the 5D).

Gary.

Exactly!

Another member on another forum accused me of being selfish, in that I wanted her to go Canon so I could borrow her lenses. Rather silly, first look at my gear list, am I need in need of borrowing lenses? Haha, secondly, she would just be starting out, I doubt she would have a 300 f/2.8 IS L or a 600 IS L that I would want to borrow.

So far, its dynamic range and ISO.

Now the even more honest question. What makes the D200 better than the Canon models I mentioned? (20D/30D or 5D)

OK, I'll be Devils Advocate.

I'd say the D200 smokes the 20D and 30D.
The 5D is 50% more expensive therefore can't be compared.

Some will wonder what you're smokin' . But I'll leave it up to the original poster to decide; here's a review (with comparisons) that may help.

Nikon takes very nice sharp, true to color shots, better than Canon(straight from the cam) but like someone else said, Canon kicks butt in the high ISO dept. Nikon noise is what killed it for me way back.

I did see the review Ross mentioned and in my eyes, it looked like the 20D killed the D200 in sharpness (from the sample images). I was doubting myself becauase so far every one mentions better ISO (for Canon) and dynamic range. No one has mentioned sharpness (resolving power).

I don't smoke.
I'm the Devils Advocate.

At the end of the day the camera is not the thing to decide on it's the glass.
The camera will be history in 18 months the lens will not.
So buy your gear on that thought.
Ask yourself this , " How many white lenses do you see used by the pros". ?

Buy Canon.
I've given up being the Devils Advocate.
People can take this thing too seriously.

Other than lowlight performance which isn't much better than your average PS i have to agree with lomond. Check out the samples from Phil's review over at DPR

About colors i much prefer the canon way. I generally think Nikon images tends to have a cyan cast, but maybe its something that can be changed in settings.

I dont know about resolving power - this image looks pretty well resolved to me:
http://img2.dpreview.c​om …nals/dsd_0184-raw-acr.jpg

D200 seems like a killer camera except for lowlight and should definitely be on the list of considerations for a person just getting into DSLR's

hemuni, I was talkin about the first set of comparisons by Phil. The little side by side shots of the wine and what not he usually shoots for tests.

Just show her this image from the D200:
http://img2.dpreview.c​om …es/originals/ds​d_0235.jpg

And then this from the 20D:
http://img2.dpreview.c​om …es/originals/im​g_2183.jpg

Both are ISO 3200 - end of discussion!

hemuni, I wish the 2 images were identical. That way it would be more ideal in regards to comparison. But good enough for me.

Canon 5D, 20D, 30D
- Sharper images
- Better high ISO performance
- Canon has better telephoto lenses

Nikon D200
- Better colors
- AF is more accurate than that of Canon
- Build quality wins hands down
- More customized buttons
- Nikon has better wide angle lenses

As someone mentioned, the 5D is much more expensive than the D200, so it's really comparing apple to orange, in a sense. If she wants better high ISO performance on the Nikon side, she could consider Nikon D50. The D50 equips with the best sensor Nikon has (better than that of D200 in terms of low light performance). The build quaility of course is not as good as the D200 (about the same as 350D in terms of build quality).

Quite frankly, they are all great cameras Maybe at the end, I didn't help much