Canons amongst the people

In another thread, someone commented that in a nature exhibition, more than half the pix were by Nikons.

My wife and I just spent most of today at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I made a point of noting the make of all the DSLRs I encountered we walked around. This was an extremely informal and inaccurate "survey."

My count: 34 Canons, 3 Nikons, 1 Pentax, and 1 Sony.

I realize this was hardly a scientific survey, but I think it supports the argument that, for ordinary folks, Canon is it in DSLRs.

There was also 1 guy with two Pentaxes shooting film (Kodachrome in one with a nifty-fifty-type lens and Ektachrome in another with a 70-200mm zoom. He says he was finishing a project that required film. But then, he was from Wisconsin. He was probably hunting the wild Arizona Cheesebird.

As a curious aside, my wife took 521 shots on a 2GB card, JPEG fine-large. Everything worked perfectly until we were pulling out of the parking lot and she tried to view her last few pix. No go! Dead battery! Hows that for timing?

Pick up another couple of batteries at www.sterlingtek.com. The BP511's are only about 12 bucks on that site.

I had the reverse experience at a college football game. All the regular sideline shooters were using Nikon. A couple of out of towners had Canon gear but Nikon dominated the field.

I use Canon, does that help?

All four of those companies make some pretty good stuff for the consumer market. My local camera shop sells a ton of Pentax gear. In that arena, Canon might just be the "Budweiser" of cameras. They sell more, not because of product quality, but because of big bucks marketing efforts over a long period of time.

liza wrote in post #2930219
Pick up another couple of batteries at www.sterlingtek.com. The BP511's are only about 12 bucks on that site.

I had the reverse experience at a college football game. All the regular sideline shooters were using Nikon. A couple of out of towners had Canon gear but Nikon dominated the field.

Oh, we have spare batteries, and had them with us. Right in my front pocket, as a matter of fact.

I just found it amusing that the battery lasted just long enough to take all the pictures for the day, then had insuffiecient energy to display them.

How will I capture an image? With a Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Sony?

How will I drive in a nail? With a Craftsman, Stanley, Husky or Vaughan?

How will I get from point A to point B? In a BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Volvo?

Choices. Isn't life great?

Curtis N wrote in post #2930277
All four of those companies make some pretty good stuff for the consumer market. My local camera shop sells a ton of Pentax gear. In that arena, Canon might just be the "Budweiser" of cameras. They sell more, not because of product quality, but because of big bucks marketing efforts over a long period of time.

Could be.

On the other hand, we did extensive homework before the jump to DSLR from a Nikon Coolpix 5700. Nikon lost out early on. The three we were most serious about were Canon, Sigma, and Pentax.

The Sigma SD-10 came very close. I really like the Foveon sensor. I think it is better than conventional CCD and CMOS sensors by a long way. The thing that killed Sigma with me was a lack of third-party support, especially in lenses.

We almost went the Pentax route with the *st DX, but the number of available lenses was limited compared to Canon, and non of those lenses offered or (at the time) had promise of offering ultrasonic motors or image stabilization.

Pentax did irritate me slightly by producing a camera with a name that has no pronunciation (You pronounce "*st" and no, it is NOT "first"!). I consider such marketting tricks an affront to the consumer. But, that is not why we didn't get Pentax.

That left Canon. Canon won out because of the number of available lenses, the availability of hypersonic motors, and the availability of image stabilization.

So naturally, except for the kit lens, we don't have any Canon lenses. Our two primary lenses are Sigmas, neither has an ultrasonic motor, and neither has image stabilization. Go figure!

Nikon lost early on, as I said. Mostly, this was because my wife (the real photographer, I'm just the geek) simply didn't like the "feel" of the then current Nikon D70. This in spite of the fact that she liked her Coolpix 5700 very much. No technical reasons whatsoever. But a damning one, nonetheless.

Lord_Malone wrote in post #2930339
How will I capture an image? With a Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Sony?

How will I drive in a nail? With a Craftsman, Stanley, Husky or Vaughan?

How will I get from point A to point B? In a BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Volvo?

Choices. Isn't life great?

You betchum, Red Ryder!

I cannot imaging living in a society where you lack such choices. Many do, I know. And this saddens me. It also gladdens me that I am not one of them.

Lord_Malone wrote in post #2930339
How will I drive in a nail? With a Craftsman, Stanley, Husky or Vaughan?

Are we talking a finish nail into trim? or a 16 penny framing nail into a 2"x4"?

For the former I prefer a Craftsman 16 ounce curved claw with the nice checkered ash handle (might be hickory come to think of it)

Framing is the realm of the much larger 22ounce Estwing with one piece all steel handle and straight claw.

You also want a heavy straight claw for roofing, though not as big as a framer,. the straight claw is for piece of mind, if you start to slip you want a straight claw that you can dig into the roof to stop the fall like an ice axe.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2930415
Are we talking a finish nail into trim? or a 16 penny framing nail into a 2"x4"?

For the former I prefer a Craftsman 16 ounce curved claw with the nice checkered ash handle (might be hickory come to think of it)

Framing is the realm of the much larger 22ounce Estwing with one piece all steel handle and straight claw.

You also want a heavy straight claw for roofing, though not as big as a framer,. the straight claw is for piece of mind, if you start to slip you want a straight claw that you can dig into the roof to stop the fall like an ice axe.

Nicely driven nail! You must have a good hammer!

On today's Sunday photog jaunt in the park, I met three other 30D's, a couple of Rebels, and one Nikoff. There were two 100/400 f/4 cannons (spelling correct), both on 30D's.

Oh yes, I also collected a token "spoils of war". My first tripod shot was by a picnic table, and when I set my gear bag on it, there was a somewhat grubby Nikoff lens cap. It uses the "centre pinch" thingy, the same as my Tokina 12/24 cap - which I always seems to drop when I use the "pinchers" to remove the cap.

Beware of putting a Noink cap on that 100-400. We wouldn't like to see and spontaneous explosions!

I was on a boat tour in Guatemala two months ago. there were about 20 of us on the boat. There were 6 SLR's on the boat. One 30D, three 350XT's, one Nikon film, and the guide's helper had a Nikon D-something.

That's a lot of SLR's for such a small group!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2930415
Are we talking a finish nail into trim? or a 16 penny framing nail into a 2"x4"?

For the former I prefer a Craftsman 16 ounce curved claw with the nice checkered ash handle (might be hickory come to think of it)

Framing is the realm of the much larger 22ounce Estwing with one piece all steel handle and straight claw.

You also want a heavy straight claw for roofing, though not as big as a framer,. the straight claw is for piece of mind, if you start to slip you want a straight claw that you can dig into the roof to stop the fall like an ice axe.

You know, in the last several years I've really come to love the milled-face hammer for framing - along with cement-coated nails, it works very well for me when I'm not working on a finished surface. Since that time I've gotten an Estwing, a Craftsman, and a Vaughan with the milled face. For normal use, my selection is larger, but my favorite may be my straight-clawed, smooth-faced Hart. (How did we get here? )

Have Fun,

I was shooting a concert in Toronto earlier this month, and the only other photographer was shooting with an Olympus OM-1. He said he'd never switch to digital...