Canon 600D vs Nikon 5100: price difference worth

[orion318]

hey guys,

I'm still undecided between these two cameras.
Some reviews claim the 5100 is better at picture taking while others claim it's value will run out quicker because of its limitations.
I've read a lot, seen comparisons and really can't make up my mind.
But now there's also another issue i've just discovered, prices.
Although the reviews claim the price range to be the same there's quite a difference in the store i'm looking to buy from:

Canon 600D 18-55mm + 55-250mm: costs 909€
Nikon 5100 18-55 VR + 55-200 VR costs 818€

So is the Canon worth the difference. Is the Nikon a better deal?
The built in body autofocus from Canon is attractive cause then i can try to fiddle markets for cheap/good/old lenses. But then the claimed better low light performance from the Nikon is important.

Help me please.

[inkista]

Can't have everything. It's always a tradeoff.

How much fast-action photography do you do? And which lenses do you want to use when you do it? Those two questions will determine the importance of the AF motor issue with the D5100. I do have to somewhat disabuse you of the notion that the AF motor in the Canon will let you get old used lens bargains, if by bargain you mean lenses under US$300. Old lenses in a compatible mount hold value. The only super-cheap bargains to be had are in manual focus lenses, and there, you aren't going to have autofocus at all, which is why those lenses are so cheap.

On the Nikon side of the fence, you can use old Nikon F-mount manual lenses directly on the camera. On the Canon, the old Canon manual focus lenses won't mount or focus to infinity with a simple adapter ring, but you can uses lenses in the Contax-Yashica, Leica-R, Nikon F, Olympus OM, Pentax K and M42 mounts with adapter rings.

As for the high iso noise performance....check it out for yourself here, and make up your own mind, vs. just accepting other peoples' opinions.

Whether something's "worth the price" is also a personal thing, because everybody tends to like different things and has different amounts of money to spend. You goal here is not to get the best camera you can, but to get the one that's the best fit for you. Part of that fit is the pricetag. I will say, however, that if this kind of price difference is enough to put you off, you may want to spend a little extra time considering whether dSLR photography is really affordable for you. Because the cost of a body is nothing to the cost of lenses.

[ceremus]

IMO the 5100 was made to specifically compete with the T3i/600D on the intermediate-range DSLR field, I haven't handled the 5100 personally but from the reviews it seems very comparable. Honestly you won't be mistaken if you go one way or the other, Canon and Nikon make great products and have a wide variety of lenses and accessories to choose from.

I agree with inkista that you should look more closely at what lenses you might want to buy going forward. More important than the specific features of the camera body are the options of the system you're buying into, if you get a Nikon you're going to get Nikon lenses (or at least Nikon compatible ones), will you be happy with that selection? You can always upgrade to a different body later on, but you'll likely keep your lenses. Make sure you're comfortable with the system that you're buying into, not just with the camera body that you choose.

At one time I was pretty enamored with the Lumix G2. It was a pretty neat little camera body at the time, I'm still a big fan of articulated screens like it has. But when I looked into the micro-four-thirds lenses I found that they basically had no fast standard zoom lenses (nothing wide aperture like a f/2.8, at least not without utilizing some sort of adapter that may or may not have autofocus capability) and felt suddenly a lot less comfortable with my decision. I ended up holding off and later got the 600D and (eventually) the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. Another factor in my decision was the fact that my sister also shoots Canon professionally, so going forward we can share equipment. If you have friends or relatives with old lenses that may be compatible with your system, you might figure that into your decision.