Nikon vs Canon Camera Death Match!

Note: I’m going to buy the Canon 7d. Just so you know!

Welcome to the Nikon vs Canon camera death match!

I am in serious need of a new DSLR camera. I have been a Canon girl for as long as I can remember, but a few key friends of mine are Nikon users and you should see some of the beautiful pictures that come out of their digital studios. This has led to a lot of indecision on my part as far as what sort of camera I should buy when I finally do upgrade. I don’t have that much money invested in accessories — I’ve only bought a 50mm macro lens and a 430EX II flash — so if I was going to make the jump from Canon and Nikon, now would be my chance.

But the problem was, is Nikon really better than Canon? I’m definitely prone to gear lots and while I think that Nikon cameras take more saturated, evenly balanced photographs, I was a little wary of the fact that I was suffering from “grass is greener” syndrome.

So, in an effort to allay my fears and put my indecision to rest, I decided to conduct a an amateur Nikon vs Canon camera death match. I enlisted the help of my friend Ben, one of my photography friends that I really respect, and together, we put our cameras to test. My camera, an older Canon digital Rebel (so old, in fact, that it doesn’t even have any spiffy letters to go in the name) went up again his Nikon D90. Now, I’ll admit in the very beginning that his camera is much newer than mine, and probably has all sorts of neat features that mine doesn’t. But, in the end, I just wanted a quick comparison of image quality straight off the sensor, so I think that this test will work for my purposes.

Note: my friend Nate happened to come by while I was writing this post, and he mentioned that Lightroom can read raw files differently (and apparently, somewhat inaccurately) when compared to the individual Canon/Nikon raw tools that come with the cameras. He believes that this may be the cause of the different color casts in the images. This very well may be true, but for the purpose of this test I’m going to accept Lightroom as a baseline because that’s what I use. But for those of you out there who are really interested in an exhaustive comparison, you might want to keep this in mind.

Nikon vs Canon Cameras, Who Will Reign Supreme?

Ok, I’ve rambled enough. Let’s get to the photos. The subjects are all food (because Ben and I are geeks like that), so be forewarned. All images were taken from a tripod at ISO 200 with a 50mm 1.8 lens.

The first pair of images is of a cheddar cheese plate my friend Kirstin (cheese goddess extraordinaire) set up for us. These two images were taken with a set of Ego lights, lit from two directions from behind.

These images were both taken at f14, 1/5 sec. Notice how the Canon image is more evenly color balanced while the second image, from the Nikon, has a reddish cast:

Canon:

Nikon:

These images have not been altered at all, so the Nikon is definitely warmer. More magenta, even. This may be why I believed that Nikons take more saturated photos. Now look at the histograms:

Canon:

Nikon:

There’s definitely more color present in the mids of the Nikon image (and here is where I admit that I can only marginally read a histogram, so if you have more input about this, please leave a comment).

These next two images were taken at f4, 1/10 sec. We used no lights beyond the tungsten light of the overhead fixture, and in both cases, the light meters read as correctly exposed. No digital edits were made to these photos.

Canon:

Nikon:

Here, the Canon shot is much warmer than the Nikon image, which looks much more balanced. And the histograms:

Canon:

Nikon:

The next images are of a roquefort cheese on a white plate with to Ego lights lighting from behind. You’ll notice there’s not a lot of different here, though the Canon image is slightly greener than Nikon image, which has a gentle magenta cast (especially in the pecans):

Canon:

Nikon:

Here are the same images with a touch of editing in Lightroom. I boosted the exposure in both images by +1.25 and white balanced them to +3 temp and +1 tint:

Canon:

Nikon:

Again, not a huge difference besides the green versus magenta casts.

These next two images are a plate of meatballs shot with one Ego lighting from behind and to the right, though we increased the shutter speed to see how the cameras compared when it comes to low light detail. These were shot at f1.8, 1/160 sec. You’ll notice that the Nikon shot has a more pronounced magenta cast than the Canon:

Canon:

Nikon:

The meatballs are more visible and look more vibrant in the Nikon shot. But how will they look after postprocessing? Here are the same images with a few minor edits – exposure bumped up +.75 and white balanced to +7 temp and +3 tint:

Canon:

Nikon:

Now the Canon shot looks much more appetizing, doesn’t it? The Nikon image looks sort of like it’s been colored with red dye.

And the final shot, a persimmon shot from behind and to the right with a single Ego light and a bounce card slightly behind and to the left. Shot at f9, 1/10 sec. Again, notice how the Canon image is more muted while the Nikon shot is more vibrant, more luminous and noticeably warmer:

Canon:

Nikon:

And now with a little postprocessing. For these images, the exposure has been bumped up to +1.25 with a little fill light enhancement (+10):

Canon:

Nikon:

The Nikon image is incredibly orange and luminous, but the Canon image looks much more true to life and just real. The persimmon almost looks fake when photographed with the Nikon and put through minimal adjustments.

So, where does this leave me in my indecision? I entered into this test wanting a Nikon because from what I’d seen, the images were more saturated right out of the gate. Turns out, they’re just warmer – which is not always a good thing. When it comes down to it, I feel like the Canon may be more consistently true to life, and if you want to oversaturate your images, you can use Lightroom/Photoshop/whathaveyou.

That said, if I had no money invested in accessories, I would probably go with the Nikon because I like the overall look and feel of the images. But the differences between the two brands are just not enough to cause me to jump ship and have to re-buy my equipment.

The Verdict: Nikon vs Canon Cameras

Both the Nikon and Canon cameras produced great-looking images, though the Nikon shots are more warmly saturated and the Canon shots appear to be more true to life. I’m sticking with my Canon, but would be happy with a Nikon as well. Buy whichever’s cheaper for you and has an interface that is more intuitive to the way your brain works.

I’ll probably end up buying the Canon 50d or the 7d. It’s more of a cost issue at this point, and we’ll have to see how much I want to spend when it comes times to actually make the purchase.

So…………

What camera do you use and why? Did you switch from Canon to Nikon, or vice versa? Did you perform your own tests, and what did you find? Why are you loyal to one brand over the other?

I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments, and I’m sure others will appreciate them as well when considering what camera to buy.

Also, ipicking between the 50d and the 7d, which would you pick and why?