Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

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bfitzgerald
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Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Being honest they still don't grab me much.
5d MkII tried that nice enough, 40/50/60d tried those and again nice but lacking something all of them.

I'm ok with them in the "hand" feel and fit fine, I just can't get my head around Canon's button placement and handling/ergo and I have to be honest they're not doing it for me for some reason. Menus feel a bit awkward and alien to me, don't really like the AF point movement holding the button down and rotating the dial. I'm sure part of that is getting used to the bodies, but so far nothing says "wow must buy one asap"

Anyone else feel the same or is it just me? (they sort of feel "anti Minolta" handling wise)
On a side note I was out yesterday and ran into a group of I assume camera club members (either that or a tourist type guide thing), quite a lot of them actually well over 20 maybe 30 people. The majority were using Canon, some Nikon there too. I didn't see much else other makers wise.

Whilst I've been quite critical of Sony (and not had a good time lately repair wise) I did pay a visit to a friend who was quite curious about the beercan and other vintage lenses I have. He couldn't believe you could buy a 70-210mm f4 for not a lot over £100, after he looked at s/h prices on the Canon 70-200mm f4. And was taken aback with the "oh and it's stabilised on an A mount body part" even a s/h 70-200mm f4 IS is pretty hefty. I know the old beercan is old (nicely built though) but still I think I am charmed by some of the vintage glass, old or not some of them are really rather good.

Wonder why this has escaped the buying public? Seems to be they auto mode into a buy Canon DSLR mind set. Curious as to why that is...maybe the brand is so well known and so many people use them most just follow that.
mvanrheenen

Re: Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by mvanrheenen »

bfitzgerald wrote:Wonder why this has escaped the buying public? Seems to be they auto mode into a buy Canon DSLR mind set. Curious as to why that is...maybe the brand is so well known and so many people use them most just follow that.
It has everything to do with image (of the brand) and thus: marketing. Every major store that sells photography equipment around here have the last couple of years put their whole stock of Canon and Nikon gear in the shop to display and try. The shops are full of signs, posters, LCD screens and whatnot screaming Canon or Nikon ads at you. Sony is there, somewhere, in a dusty corner with the a37 and, if you're lucky, some sort of Tamron budget zoom. And no, you can't try it, no battery...

This example is how every big electronics shop here has their camera department. I've some big camerashops nearby, one of them even an official Hasselblad dealer, and they have some more Sony stock, but even then: all demo models they have ready for action are Canons and Nikons and (nowadays) m43 & NEX camera's. A-mount is there, you just can't try them. Sony lenses always need to be ordered and if I only want to try them, I need to pay a fee in some instances, while I no 2 shops they even have a Canon 500/4 for demo's, no charge.

All has to do with marketing. Sony's marketing is nothing compared to Canons and Nikons. Lots of friends and colleagues no I do photography as a hibby and no my work, but when they ask about my equipment its always along the lines if "And what do you should with if I may ask? Canon or Nikon?". When I tell them I shoot with Sony they always remark "Ah... Sony... right...". Not a single one of them ever heard of a Sony dSLR. The people I know who do photography them selves know of Sony DSLRs but find them inferior and thus me, you can seen it on their faces. Again, just one culprit: marketing and brand image.

It's a near miracle anyone chooses Sony at all. I did because of my uncle. He had a Minolta 5d, which he was really happy with. When my father bought his first dSLR he went with my uncle and came back with a Sony A350. When I was looking for my first SLR, I took yhere experience and weighed it against... Canon. If I hadn't had my fathers and uncles experience with the Sony/Minolta brand and I came across a sale of the A390, I would have bought a Canon too.

Mark
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KevinBarrett
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Re: Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by KevinBarrett »

Canon enjoys a brand-recognition in the DSLR world akin to that of Coca-Cola or Kleenex. I've heard people refer to DSLRs from other makers as "Canons" simply because they're bigger than a P&S and have a viewfinder hump. I've heard of telephoto lenses, in general, referred to as "Canons," also. When the point is clarified, the same people will sometimes appear confused or defensive, as if you just explained to them that not all soft-drinks are "Cokes," because they knew that perfectly well.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I'm sure much of it is brand recognition and marketing but there must be more to it than that.
I attended an event the other day and there were around 10-12 photographers there (some private, some press), so I took note of what they were using.
Only one person had a Nikon (D700 from what I saw), the others all had Canon mostly 5dMkII's and some MkIII's a few 7d's around too.

From what I can see in my local area I would say Canon completely dominate in the working photographer category, even Nikon have had little impact in this segment. Though I do from time to time see some Nikon shooters (ie wedding photographers) again I would say Canon continue to clearly be the no. 1 choice for these folks overall.

Consumer wise (hate the word but hey there you do) I think Nikon have more influence and market share. I don't see many using Sony bar the odd budget entry model. I have seen a few A700's about and a few A200-350 models. I've seen nobody using Pentax recently.

On the press side of things no shocks to me as most of these will have heavy investments (and for many years) in Canon, so they have no incentive to change to Nikon.
Regarding working photographers, I spoke to a guy there..and slight side issue he said things were pretty grim work wise, we both agreed there are too many photographers around, and not really enough work either!

Consumer wise I'd say Canon still have the lead there, Nikon are a clear second with maybe 4/10 people using that. Sony are not really doing much at all, and Pentax even less so. Only thing I think is odd. Nikon consistently should be outperforming Canon (they do have a good lens range, not quite up to Canon but near in most ways) They get some of the best reviews and have used more up to date, higher mp sensors.

Maybe the QC issues I experienced could be a factor there, esp higher end Nikon adoption.
I don't think Sony have any chance of taking market share higher end, that's being dead honest.

But I'm quite happy to use non mainstream makers too, maybe there is an element of avoiding the "mass wave of Canon users"
I could use Canon no problems, and get used to it. I just don't really like their handling that much.
mvanrheenen

Re: Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by mvanrheenen »

Maybe when the "consumer" got more interested in photography they looked at the pros and saw them using Canons and decided that they could do the same using the same equipment. At other communities I attend people asking advice when venturing into the dSLR world always, no ALWAYS, are pointed to either Canon or Nikon. I never read someone there pointing at Sony, Pentax or Sigma except when they have very specific wishes only available to those brands.

The only non-Sony community I know of which actually do point to Sony and Sigma on regular occasion is Luminous Landscape of which the founder uses Sony gear too.
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Dusty
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Re: Been trying a few Canon's lately..and

Unread post by Dusty »

The reason I took up Minolta originally was because of the advise of a pro. A friend of the boss had a photo studio, and I was ready to step up from the simpler cameras I has been using to an SLR.

I ask him what I should get - I needed affordable, but good, and told him I may never invest in a whole system, but wanted to be able to build one with what I bought if I ever decided to go that way. He told me to get an XGM, that he had several and they were great, affordable cameras and that it had everything to build a system with at less than the Nikons cost.

I bought one at the local K-Mart. Of course, 6 month later the X700 came out! I eventually had 2 XGMs, an X700, an X570, a couple of SRTs, (bought after a battery died in the middle of the Amazon jungle) and an XGA. More lenses than I can remember, from 21mm to 500mm, flashes glare and enough other stuff to keep me poor.

Point is, people do take the advise of pros, and where they point them is likely to where they've been. If my guy had said I had to get an F1, I probably would have.

Dusty
An a700, an a550 and couple of a580s, plus even more lenses (Zeiss included!).
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