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Originally Posted by Tyler
1.) Is there ANY truth to the idea that Canon's auto-focus works better than Nikon's? I've read in a few places that Nikon's system beats Canon's hands down.
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No, that's not true. Except for the fact that Nikon's entry-level bodies (D3000/D5000) will not autofocus with all the new lenses (only AF-S), there's no truth to this. The two systems are relatively comparable on the entry level bodies. On the higher end bodies, you hear people fighting a lot to justify spending big bux.
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2.) I'm really confused by his last statement, but I'll ask anyway - is there any truth to Canon lenses working better for faster action? I think the "glare" of the lens comes more from the coatings on the glass but I'm just trying to look at this from every angle.
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Glare is from coatings, and probably what he meant by brighter was the concept of a faster max. aperture. Again, there's really not much difference here between Nikon and Canon with zoom lenses, but when you go to the prime side, it becomes a slightly different story. Only Canon has an autofocusing 50mm f/1.2 (Nikon's is manual focus on all bodies), and only Canon has an 85mm f/1.2 lens. But those are astronomically priced pro lenses, and not a huge advantage for your average hobbyist photog. Where Canon tends to win out is on midrange offerings Nikon doesn't provide and lower prices, because they don't include hoods and only offer 1 year's warranty vs. 5.
Price out Canon's 100mm macro and Nikon's 105mm macro choices, sometime. Also the 70-200 options. Canon tends to have superiority with telephoto glass, Nikon with wide angle.
If you were more interested in landscape photography or portraiture with off-camera lighting, otoh, I'd say go Nikon.
Where there's an advantage to low-light action photography is in focus motors on primes (typical for stage shooting or indoor sports if you can't afford a $1500 70-200 f/2.8 lens). Canon's analog to AS-F (a silent ultrasonic focus motor) is called USM. Most of Canon's primes have them. On the Nikon side, only two affordable prime lenses have USM. AF-S/USM affects the speed of the autofocus locking in, because the motor is what pushes the glass elements into place. The faster the motor, the faster the focus.
It's worse on the Nikon side, because if you don't have AF-S in the lens, the lens won't autofocus at all on an entry level body, whereas on a Canon, if the lens doesn't have USM, it just autofocuses a little slower.
If you are going to be shooting stage and sports on a budget with an entry level camera, I do think that Canon is going to be the better choice, simply because you'll be able to get a relatively inexpensive longer prime that autofocuses, and a good choice of midrange-cost telephoto zooms, like the 70-200 f/4L USM. On the Nikon side, you won't. It'll be f/5.6 consumer zooms and non-autofocusing primes longer than 50mm.
If, however, you can afford to get up to Nikon's D80/D90 tier which can autofocus with non-AF-S lenses, then, it probably won't matter much.