Canon or Nikon

I have a Nikon D40 that I've had for 7 years and it's still going! It hasn't even been babied at all - I've spent full days photographing horse shows in dusty indoor and outdoor arenas. It's had a lot of use and I must say I'm so impressed that's it's lasted me this long.

I have very little experience with DSLRs, but I went Nikon after playing with my friends' entry level Canons and not finding them overly user friendly. The D40 was much easier for me to get the hang of as a beginner photographer. I have been impressed enough with my D40 that I'm hoping to get a new Nikon next year, although I wouldn't necessarily pass up a Canon if I got a good deal and had an opportunity to try it first.

I'm hoping to make the upgrade to a D7000 this year (largely because of the lack of an internal focus motor) so I'm glad to hear that you like it!

Whoohoo!


I do appreciate the offer, but I upgraded from the 50 for a few reasons. I think a lot of the missing is nostalgia--it was my first "big" purchase I made on my own and I shot with it for so many years. I develop weird attachments to inanimate objects, lol.

I will have your D40, please.

Or, really, just keep it. Honestly it's a really nice entry level Nikon and even if it doesn't have a high MP count it's good for taking photos to share on Facebook or the forums. Having a back up camera can be really nice (I toted around 2 D90's at one point) and one of these days I'd like a D40 as a back up camera

Cool that you're getting a D7000 though!! We really will have to make a D7000 club here on Chaz, I think that's what most people are using here now

I'm so torn!! Half of me is like "do the smart thing, sell it and put the money towards the new camera!" but then the other half is like "well, what if I need a back up? Something to travel with?" not to mention I'm probably more attached to it than I think I am.

I'm still not totally decided on what I want next but am strongly leaning D7000. I think we'd definitely have to make a club I think I need to go handle and try out a bunch of comparable models!

I have a Canon 6D Full Frame. I haven't found any issues with it. My only complaint is that there are less "external" controls than what I was used to with my Nikon D200 Crop Frame.

I much prefer external controls over a menu based system. However, you can fully modify the external buttons so that's not a big negative, I'd just have to put some effort into it.

The suckiest thing about a full frame camera is the lack of zoom compared to a crop frame. I used a 18-200 on my Nikon (24-300 equivalent on Full Frame). And right now I'm limited to 24-105. I'm really missing that zoom, haha. Eventually I'll buy a 70-200 2.8 lens, and a 1.4x extender. That'll help cover the 105-250 range.

In regards to MP, honestly I don't really see any point in having more than 10mp. With my Canon 10mp point and shoot, I was able to make a crisp picture that's 18" x 24". Unless you plan on making poster size photos, anything more isn't really a big deal.

I mean my 6D has 20 something MP. And? I never show anything more than 1024 pixels anyway

Keep it. You can always sell it later, the price of a used D40 will stay the same if you wait a few months! Although for the money you could also buy a nice new lens, in addition to having some more money towards the D7000. Hm... apparently I'm bad with decisions, too LOL

It'll be a great idea to try out a couple of cameras first!! Maybe you'll end up wanting the D7100 It'll be fun if you get the D7000 though, we'll be able to swap tips and chat about cameras some more!

I shoot Canon because that's what I started with and I started with that because I didn't like the swivel screen on the Nikon equivalent, that is the truly the only reason I went Canon. Now that I have a couple high quality lenses I'll probably stay Canon so I can continue using them.