I just read the new bad boy Canon 50D is due to hit the streets soon. At first glance it appears not that big an improvement. Sort of like when Canon released the 30D a year after the 20D.
They must be figuring they need to do something.
Coincidentally this “arms race” between Nikon and Canon, doesn’t appear to be letting off. Nikon just announced the release of their D90.
I used to get caught up with the latest and greatest. Not so much anymore.
Better to invest my energy in learning new skills whether it’s a photoshop trick, a new recipe that’s easy, quick to fix and nutritious which my kids won’t wrinkle their noses at.
Naturally I speak as someone who’s got priorities. I’m actually more anxiously awaiting the Canon 5D’s replacement.
The Canon 5D is a good buy but it lacks the sensor cleaning capability.
If you shoot regularly with any volume at all, you will find this feature indispensable saving you hours of aging at the computer cloning out dust specs.
| Canon 50D | Nikon D90 | |
| Megapixel | 15.1 | 12.3 |
| ISO | 100-6400 (extendable to 12800) | 200-3200 |
| Suggested Price body only | $1,400 | $1,000 |
Anyway, rather than cutting and pasting and re-hashing the bloated sales and marketing pitch, I’ll let you find out about the Canon 50D and the Nikon D90.
And for the geeks in us all, Lenovo Thinkpad announced a 17″ notebook with specs that should make Steve Jobs and company MacBook Pro 17″ owners take notice.
Great for consumers, unfortunately not this one. Actually I’m quite “tech-trified†already.
Hi Hector,
I don’t remember if I mentioned this but when I worked at the newspaper, I was issued Nikon gear. When I left the business and ventured out on my own I bought Canon gear. Why you might ask?
I already had quite an sizable investment in lenses in the Canon line. Switching systems at that point would have cost me more.
A year or two after I left, the newspaper switched from Nikon to Canon. The short answer is this: at any one time, the 2 big camera manufacturers are always playing leap frog with one another. It’s a good thing for consumers and pros alike. Forces Nikon and Canon to innovate.
So honest answer without sounding all philosophical is this: once you have a DSLR and lenses that are decent, it makes little difference. More important is the person behind the camera and what they know to exploit the technology.
Extended ISO range is necessary and desirable in many situations when you can’t use flash (inside a church during a ceremony, indoor sporting events like basketball, wrestling)
Then of course there is the matter of flash-to-subject distance. Even if you have a long lens to fill the frame with your subject, it won’t do any good if your flash can’t light the subject from that distance.
It may not be an issue if you can set up lights closer to your subject and remotely trigger them but when you can’t, that flash on your hotshoe isn’t going to carry that far. So I hope that answers your question.
Hello peter,,,I have a question(s),,,I happen to believe that nikon are the best cameras, simple light and not that expensive for their results, meaning they take quality pix, anyhow,canon has a wide variety of cameras, I see that the canon 50D has a ISO range from 100-6400 extendable to 12800–my question,, is that feature (ISO) really necessary? I mean that wide of a range? where and how would you u use it? maybe you can clarify…than you,,,hector