What DSLR should I get? Nikon D80 or Canon Rebel XTi?

Question

I have read the reviews, I want feedback from people who own the cameras. I am torn between these 2. Please help.

Answer 1

You're talking about two different classes of cameras. While the XTi is actually a relatively nice camera, it's not as sophisticated as the D80 by a long shot. It also does not have the metering flexibility of the D80. And it's not as robustly built. The D80 is a significantly better camera.



I used Canon for thirty years in my film days and was happy with them. I got over $10,000 in professional gear over those years. Then when they started offering digital solutions they refused to maintain compatibility with my gear, making it all obsolete over night. Since I had to start over as a result I went to Nikon for a number of reasons.



1) Nikon cameras are designed to meet the needs of professional photographers so the bodies are designed to be nice to hold, to have critical controls exactly where you need them and to be well balanced. Canon cameras these days are designed to look sexy so they'll sell to consumers and if they happen to feel good in the hand that's purely accidental. In most cases they don't feel good at all. Canon also tries to keep the prices down to capitalize on the consumer market, so they build their camera bodies as cheaply as possible which also means they're not very robust. Nikon continues to build robust bodies that can handle a lot of abuse.



2) Canon is always the first to innovate, they usually come out with all the firsts - first consumer based SLR, first auto focus and so forth. Nikon is a lot slower to innovate but when they finally come out with the same feature you can be sure that it's bang on and better than anything Canon has forcing Canon to then catch up and forcing Canon users to buy the feature a second time when all the bugs are finally ironed out.



3) Nikon recognizes that people invest a lot in gear, so they try their best to always be compatible with their older products. If I happen to find an old Nikon F mount lens at a garage sale it will actually attach to my Nikon digital SLR and work. If you find an old Canon lens it won't work on their digitals. Photography will continue to evolve, there will be ever more sophisticated camera bodies. With Nikon I feel assurred that a lens or other gadget I buy today, will attach and be useable on a body I buy in the future. With Canon? Well I have about $10,000 in gear at the moment that I can't even give away because it doesn't attach to anything Canon makes now.



4) I find that the Canon range of lenses is rather bizarre these days. They have an incredible range to be sure, but they're all mostly designed to the 35mm format since they have to have a line for their full sized sensor as well as the smaller one. Unfortunately while these ranges are ideal for 25mm, they don't work well with the smaller digital sensors. This forces Canon users into owning several lenses and changing lenses a lot or buying lenses from Sigma or Tamron both of whom have ranges that are ideal for digital photography with the smaller sensors. Nikon? Well I can also buy Sigma or Tamron lenses if I want, but I don't need to, Nikon has similar ranges that are perfect for digital and they're a better quality too.



All in all, while I accept that Canon still produces high end professional digital bodies of exceptional quality and provides a diverse variety of outstanding lenses, the really good stuff is hellishly expensive even compared to Nikon and it's not really any better than Nikon, only equal. At the other end of the scale, the consumer end, there's no comparison, Nikon has it beat. And with Nikon whatever you add to your camera will work with the next Nikon body too. So Nikon is my choice.



If these are not issues for you, go and touch and squeeze a Canon and if you feel it handles better in your hands go for it. Both manufacturers are capable of producing outstanding images. There is no difference in image quality.



I hope that helps a little.

Answer 2

The D80 is more appropriately compared to the 30D from Canon. The XTi is solidly in the consumer quality class. The 30D and D80 are a step up, not at pro level.



I have a D80. What convinced me was 1) How the camera felt in my hands and 2) the fact that Canon screwed FD lens owners by making those lenses incompatible with their EOS cameras. I owned FD lenses and didn't appreciate the blatant money grab on Canon's part.



But, if you don't have such issues, then try both cameras and see which feels better in your hands and operates more intuitively for you. It is a wholly subjective thing. Both cameras will take fine pictures.

Answer 3

Pass on either the Nikon or Canon since they do not address the issue of image stabilization/vibration reduction. Should you opt for telephoto lenses [in the case of Nikon] you will have to pay a price for the special VR lenses which are not cheap.



Reconsider another award winning camera system which incorporates image stabilization into the camera body: Pentax KD series beginning with the Pentax K100D starter kit which includes two Pentax lenses: 18-55 mm normal and a 50-200 mm telephoto and sells for $600 [until 7/31/07] or the Pentax K10D at samys.com



Good luck!

Answer 4

Nikon D80 vs. Canon 400D/Rebel XTi



One of my boilerplate answers......



Comparing the Nikon D80 vs. Canon 400D/Rebel XTi



Check this page:



http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/page21.asp



The first thing I notice is that the Canon does not have a spot meter. I thought they added that in the XTi, but I guess past criticism was not heard at Canon.



The Nikon user-definable Auto-ISO is an interesting feature that lets you define a couple of parameters about what's acceptable to you and what's not. I don't think this would be the tie-breaker, though, if you can't decide between cameras.



The D80 has a pentaprism and the Canon uses mirrors. "They" say that mirrors are getting pretty good, but I would expect the pentaprism to be a brighter viewfinder.



The Nikon lets you do actual multiple exposures in the camera and some people think this is pretty cool.



Click "next" and move to page 22 and you'll see some image comparisons. Click "next" a couple more times to see more direct comparisons on page 25. Click "next" a couple more times to see some noise level comparisons on page 27. It looks to me like the D80 has actually tamed the noise better than the XTi, but read the comments about image softness.



Click one more time and see that the D80 is clearly the winner in image sharpness.



Go on to the next page and read the conclusions.



You can go to the side-by-side at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos400d%2Cnikon_d80&show=all and also click on "Our in depth review" and "Read owner opinions" for each camera.



The last line in the Nikon D80 review reads, "If you're a more discerning photographer who can see the advantages offered by the 'all round' D80 you may well consider the extra money well spent."



The last line in the Canon 400D/XTi review reads, "Thanks to its blood line and low price the EOS 400D will no doubt be a huge success for Canon. However unlike the EOS 350D, for me it's no longer the first or obvious choice, so before jumping on the bandwagon make sure you've weighed up the competition."



In other words, you've selected with the two best cameras in their price class. Canon is probably saving a little money using their CMOS sensor and this will bring them some market share. Whether the sensor and images are better or not is open to wild debate based on personal preferences. Whether one camera feels better in your hands might just be the determining factor. You have got to go to a real camera store and handle them both. I guess Costco, Circuit City or Best Buy would also have actual samples on display, but you may not get as much help from the staff.



As far as lens choice, I'd rather see you start with one decent lens instead of the kit lens, although Nikon's kit lens (18-55) has actually tested pretty well. Canon's new 18-55 Series II lens is okay, also. For Nikon, I like the Nikkor AF-S 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G ED DX. This costs about $300. I bought this for my wife on her D50 and liked it so much (for the money) that I bought it as a backup for one of my cameras. Nikon is now offering the D80 in a kit with a very nice 18-135 lens, although it does have a polycarbonate ("plastic") mount that might begin to wear if you buy additional lenses and change them often. For Canon, one of our best answerers (Panacea) recommends the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. This costs about $500, so there goes the $200 price difference.



Of course, you'll need a decent memory card and I recommend a genuine Sandisk Ultra II (60X) or Extreme III (133X) of at least 1GB - preferable 2 GB - for either camera. Lexar is another excellent card supplier and they have the "Professional" 133X as well as the Platinum 80X to choose from. Both Lexar and Sandisk come with image recovery software and limited lifetime warranties.

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The February 2007 issue of Popular Photography has an article where they compared the top 10 MP DSLR's, including the D80 and XTi. The Nikon D80 was BEST in Image Quality, Control and System Flexibility and the Canon Rebel XTi (400D) tied with the D80 for best in System Flexibility, but won no other categories.



http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3569/10mp-dslr-shootout.html

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Here's another reference from outside the photographic press. Consumer reports compared the Nikon D80, Canon Rebel XTi and Sony Alpha. Personally, I'd say that the Nikon came out on top here, also. It beats the Sony in "noise-free ISO" with an acceptable rating at ISO 1600 (kind of optimistic, I think...) compared to the Sony's ISO 400. It beats the Canon (in my opinion) by having a spot meter that the Canon does not offer.



http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/news-electronics-computers/november-2006/shootout-10-megapixel-digital-slr-cameras-11-06/overview/0611_digital-slr-shoot-out.htm

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Nikon D80 vs. Canon Rebel XTi (400D) vs. Sony Alpha A100



http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Canon-Rebel-XTi-vs-Nikon-D80-vs-Sony-Alpha-A100-Head-to-Head-to-Head-Digital-Camera-Review-.htm [Note the navigation menu near the top of the review]

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And yet the XTi is a top selling camera, so many people are happy with it. I'd buy the D80. I don't have one, but I have the D70s and D200, so I can interpolate the reviews for the D80 and appreciate them.