Canon and Nikon

[Theo]

I'm about to buy my first DSLR. I've looked at several models, but because of money limitations I've limited my choice to the Canon Rebel XS or the Nikon D3000. I would like you guys to give me some advice in my choice. Are there some obvious advantages in one model or another? One thing I'm a little confused on is the in-camera auto-focusing. Some one said that the Nikon D3000 it won't be able to auto-focus with lenses like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 which I was also considering getting. Thanks in advance for your tips!

[Seltzer]

Ooh, time to start dodging the heated debate!
Honestly, have you had a chance to play with either one or both? Get them in your hands and see which you like better for funtion, controls, layout, etc.
Another factor for me was do you have any friends that have DSLR cameras that you would have access to borrow lenses and such? If you do, that would certainly be a good reason to step towards the same brand that they have.
As for the auto-focus, I'm not sure. I know it does not have an auto-focus with some of the older lenses but I would assume that they have a new enough version on the 50mm 1.8 that it would work. Maybe the Nikon users can answer that one for ya.

[Theo]

I think I prefer the Canon's controls, but I am willing to use the Nikon if it has some great advantage over the Canon. No one near me has any lenses I can borrow.

I guess this is more of a "which one has higher specs/better features" than a Canon vs. Nikon fight.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Theo

Some one said that the Nikon D3000 it won't be able to auto-focus with lenses like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 which I was also considering getting.

This is correct. The D3000 and D5000 do not have focus motors in the camera body, and rely upon a motor in the lens to achieve autofocus. Nikon's AF lenses do not have motors, their AF-S lenses do. So, the D3000 will be manual focus with any non-AF-S lenses. The 50/1.8 does not have AF-S. The 50/1.4 ($500) and the 35/1.8 ($200) and most of Nikon's zooms are AF-S, though, so there are a few choices if you can't afford to move up to the D80/D90 tier, when this no longer becomes an issue.

However, on the Canon side, none of the bodies have focus motors; all of the lenses do. So all of the lenses in the EOS mount will autofocus on all the digital bodies. And you'd have your choice of 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, and 135mm primes that will all autofocus on an XS.

Don't go for camera body specs. Nearly everybody comes out good with different tradeoffs. You may want to consider the systems overall. If you're interested in off-camera flash, Nikon pretty much has it sewn up. If you prefer wide-angle glass, ditto. Canon rocks in terms of telephoto choices and fast primes. Canon and Nikon have the most lenses on offer and are often the easiest to find with the largest market share. Sony offers wider dynamic range, cheaper full-frame, and autofocusing Zeiss lenses, but their non-standard flash hotshoe is a PITA Strobist-wise. Pentax has normal-on-a-crop, pancake lenses, and weathersealing. Olympus does small and light and offers f/2 zooms and manual lens adaptability like no one else.

You should be looking at the systems as a whole, overall. You're locking yourself into a mount system, after all. Your camera body is the basis of that system, but because the cameras are now digital, most folks upgrade bodies the way they do most computer equipment: every three or four generations. Which means three to five years. You'll easily spend two to three times the amount of money you spent on the body on lenses, lighting gear, a tripod, software, remotes, etc., etc.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by inkista

all of the lenses in the EOS mount will autofocus on all the digital bodies.

I'm being really picky here, and not at all helpful to the original questioner, but this statement is only 99% true.

Canon currently makes five manual-focus fixed-focal-length specialty lenses for EOS mount: four TS-E tilt/shift lenses (17, 24, 45, and 90 mm) and one MP-E macro lens (65 mm). Since these lenses are manual-focus only, they obviously don't autofocus on digital bodies or anything else. These lenses are not marked as EF or EF-S: the "EF" designation is Electro-Focus.

They're also rather pricey.

[inkista]

Right. Should have said EF/EF-S instead of EOS. I was thinking more about the discontinued lenses...

[candleman]

this nail has already been driven... but heres an extra whop for fun.
dont waste your time on Nikon with a D3000
(good sensor) but AF issues with the lack of focus motor.

if you go Nikon.. get a D90 or up, then you've got a good platform to work with.

otherwise.. buy a Canon,
the upper end Canon glass is cheaper too so you can "save" a few "k" by going canon.. but you dont have the same iso performance... yet
to my knowlege a 5dmk2 doesnt hold its ground against a D3/D700 ...but that sort of step may be a few years away for you.. if ever.

but.... handholding is the key.
canon 40D was horribly uncomfortable for me.. the D80 was nice.. so that may sway things a bit too

[inkista]

Except that the OP already said money limits were keeping him at the entry tier bodies. (sigh), let alone worrying about the high iso noise performance differences between a D700 and a 5DMkII.

Two more smallish points.

Don't look for "the best" camera/system. Look for "the best fit" for what you want to do. Part of that fit is going to be the price. Some folks might sneer at saving a few thousand dollars in glass at the expense of a stop or two of per-pixel high iso performance. For, say, a nighttime landscape photographer who does long exposures and pull processes at low isos anyway, it might not be such a bad deal.

Do you need autofocus? It's typically only critical to have autofocus with fast action photography. For over 100 years, photographers were taking pictures just fine with only manual focus and for much of that time with much slower lenses and film speed. If you concentrate on landscape or portrait photography, autofocus isn't that big a deal. If, however, you plan on being a sports shooter or have some really fast kids, it might become a larger factor in your decision.

Ditto all the other pros/cons of the different systems. What do you need? What do you want to shoot? Arguably, if you're mainly interested in street photography, then Pentax or Olympus might be better for you, since Pentax's pancake lenses and Olympus's tiny bodies make for a nice small discreet package. Do you live somewhere that weathersealing is going to make a difference? Do you like the idea of buying used manual focus lenses for cheap?