Why do professionals use Canon?

Question

Thanks to the help of Dr. Sam and Koko I have finally purchased the Nikon D80. I wanted to know though, why is it that almost every single professional uses Canon when all you hear about is how Nikon is better. I see photojournalists, sports photographers, and many other people. My uncle is a Canon fanatic x100. I especially see the photographers that photograph models on the beach use only Canon.

Answer 1

Professional photographers might have a personal preference but they are generally not brand fanatics. They treat their cameras simply as tools to get a job done, and they buy whatever brand does the job best. These guys you see at sporting events with honking big lenses are holding +$10,000 setups, and they probably have another $15,000 worth of gear at home or in their studio. And for sports, Canon DOES have an edge. If money is no object, of course. But these high profile photographers with $$$ Canon gear make people think that a $1300 Canon or even a $600 Canon somehow has magical properties. Not so.
I also hear Brandon's remark a lot: that only Canon has full-frame cameras. So what?! Canon, with a few frame full-frame cameras already on the market and years of market research into full frame sensors introduced a new professional camera this month with, guess what, a 1.3 crop factor. So I guess full frame isn't a holy grail for professionals. It's just another option that's available if you need it and you're willing to spend +$2500 for the body alone. There are rumours that Nikon also has a professional camera in the works with a full-frame sensor. And again, so what?! I don't need it, I can't afford it, and it won't make my mid-range Nikon D200 a better camera.
Look beyond the marketing. Nikon can do sports photography almost as well as Canon and for professional landscape photography, portrait photography, macro photography... any other kind of photography, you might find that a digital Nikon, Leica, or Hasselblad does a better job. Or... dare I say it... a film version! But you don't see those photographers flaunting their gear. You only see and admire their WORK.
You took the time to read all the literature and you concluded that for $1000 or less, the Nikon D80 is the best all-round dSLR currently on the market. Correctly so, in my opinion. (And although I'm a Nikon user, I'm not a Nikon fanatic.)
Stop worrying about it. Besides, now that you have a great camera, you can worry yourself sick over what lenses to get :-)

Answer 2

Hi Kirr, and hi to all the other users here.

First thing first, it's the photographer who makes the images, not the camera.

That said I'll tell you why more pro's use Canon that any other brand. It's mostly because it's what's mostly available and it's also the brand that offers the most options to professional photographers.

I'm currently thinking about going pro and have started putting together a lens kit that I think will work for a few years ahead.

Many of the lenses I have bought don't have an equivalent in Nikon's lineup.

15 mm f/2.8 fisheye $559 - Nikon 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye $755
17-40 mm f/4 L $679 No Nikon equivalent
50 mm f/1.4 $324 - Nikon 50 mm f/1.4 $279
100 mm f/2.8 Macro $580 - Nikon 105 mm f/2.8 Micro VR $759 (VR, on a Macro... why?)
70-200 f/4 - No Nikon equivalent
300 f/4 IS - No Nikon equivalent

If you can see most of Nikon's glass is more expensive, not because it's better, but because they make fewer units of each.

In the long and expensive lenses used in pro shooting Nikon's stuff is more expensive and not stabilized.

OK, that's that for glass.

As far as image quality goes, with the D200 and D80 Nikon got awfully close to Canon's quality for consumer's SLR's, but there's no question about it, even Nikon's most expensive camera can't get close to Canon's full frame cameras. Here's a comparison between Nikon's top of the line and Canon's semipro 5d, I think you'll see for yourself what I mean:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5d/page27.asp

I believe that the problem here is that Nikon has struggled to with sensor quality when trying to make their own (D1H) and currently outsources most of their sensor son NOiSY, I mean SONY, while Canon has been able to manufacture and control their own sensors for a while.

Bottom line is, even if Nikon got really close with the D200 and the D80, I still believe Canon camera's are had and shoulders above what Nikon has to offer for the pro and serious amateur.

That said, you will probably take 3 or 4 years to outgrow your D80, so don't worry about your purchase and enjoy it to the max.

Hope this helps!

Ignacio

Answer 3

Congratulations, kirr45. Personally, I think you made the best choice. You are KILLING Koko, though, to make it sound like he influenced you to buy a Nikon. (LMAO for real!)

I've been searching for an answer I posted about Canon marketting techniques that place so many of their cameras in the hands of professionals and I just can't find it. It's pretty much exactly when Nikon did in the 1960's and found so successful. If anyone can find this question, please edit your answre and include a link for me, as I didn't save it. THANKS!

Before you Canon lovers go all freaky on me, though, read my answer here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmrHqvfg0IoGYuE942C3M90AAAAA?qid=20070316163758AAIahFa&show=7#profile-info-AA11589366

And in the spirit of fairness, here is a question with many opposing points of view:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApSz9ZLj9HvkaWVc.GsrCe8jzKIX?qid=20060716150101AAN3oX5

Maybe the beach photographers want to use those white Canon lenses so they don't get too hot to touch in the summer sun.

Buy a copy of Popular Photography (but don't tell Ignacio) and look at the ads. Nikon features the pros who use their cameras. At least then you won't feel so alone.

Lest you forget, you did intensive research and you chose the camera that seems best suited for YOU. If you didn't like the Canon for some reason, your pictures would suffer as the result of making the wrong choice.

I think that - if it is at all possible - you have to remove "for the money" from your decision about a camera that you will grow to love. The best thing to do is choose your preferred camera first and then see if you can afford it. You can't say, "Well, I really like the Nikon D80, but - for the money - manybe I should have bought the XTi."

I think you done good. I mean, jeez... At least you have a spot meter!

Answer 4

Okay, I'll bite.

I'm a professional who shoots Canon gear and glass and I do so because, frankly, I started off with a Canon Elan IIe film camera and had already bought a 35-350mm zoom that set me back around $1300. When I went digital, I went with Canon so I could use the lens I already had.

But, since then, Canon has been an innovator, while Nikon has been playing catch up. It's no accident that there are scads of white Canon lenses at just about every sporting event, far outnumbering the Nikon stuff. But, again, it's the photographer BEHIND the camera that matters.

Canon for sports only? I don't know who made up that line, but, clearly, the Canon 1DsMk11, at nearly 17 megapixels and a frame rate of, what, 3 frames per second (fps), is no sports camera. It's a portrait or wedding camera. I shoot the Canon 5D, at nearly 11 megapixels and 3 fps, for weddings and portraits, and my Canon 1DmkIIn for sports, photojournalism assignments, and, yes, some portraits, too. I shot the cover of a magazine with that 1D, so, hey, it must be good for something besides sports.

But, just so I'm clear: It's the person behind the camera that matters. I could hand my 1D with a Canon 300mm f2.8 lens attached to my niece and she wouldn't know what to do with it, except freak because she would then be holding $8000 worth of camera in her hand.

On the other hand, put a $400 point and shoot in the hands of some of today's most famous pros and they can shoot a work of art.

Also, Nikon's D2H is a pretty amazing camera that many of your working pros are shooting, even WITH access to Canon gear. So don't sell Nikon TOO short. They've got some great gear, too.

Answer 5

Who says that you use your camera as a professional? A large number of the professionals counted by Canon are the sports photographers at football pitches and car races, with those massive telephoto lenses. Their trick is to set their camera at infinity and take a fast shot of the action at a distance. Go to a wedding, or a portrait studio, and you see far fewer Canons and many more Nikons.
If you tend to photograph car races and murder scenes a lot, then you've made the wrong choice in camera. If you take pictures of people and other scenes that require a more demanding camera, then Dr Sam and Koko gave you good advice.

Answer 6

Mr Happy is right when he says it's not the camera...it's the photographer that makes great photos. There are photographers out there who are still using 20 year old cameras...that take fantastic photographs!

I wouldn't worry about what professionals use, if I were you. I'd learn to take the best photos you can!

Canon users will swear that their cameras are the best, while Nikon shooters swear by their camera! I bet, if you put comparable cameras from both manufacturers in the hands of professionals and asked them to take the same photos with both cameras, you or I wouldn't be able to see any quality differences between them!

In my opinion, the best camera, is the one that fits the individual photographer best.

Answer 7

$$$$$. Professionals, unless they're showing off, aren't that impressed by spending several hundred dollars extra for the Nikon name. The Canon is just a tad below the Nikon in quality, much cheaper, and much less likely to get stolen.

Answer 8

Its a status thing. Personally I like Nikon better but if you are a good photographer, it doesnt really matter what camera brand you own. D80..nice camera....I just got the Nikon D200 and love it!

Answer 9

There's a lot of Pros that don't even use small format cameras they use medium and or large format, and far as I know Canon don't make lens for Large format but Nikon does.
igneous a VR on a 105 micro make more sense that a IS on a 17-55 or a 17-85.

Answer 10

I heard their lenses are better quality. I am not a photographer so I don't know for sure, but I did buy a regular Canon camera and I love it more than any other camera I've ever owned. The pictures always look so vivid and lifelike.