Canon vs Nikon, Which is better? Nikon or canon? A very popular question I always hear again and again. Everyone has their own opinion and it seems a never ending debate. How can we judge who is the best? We will try to weight every details of these two brands. I will try to cover the whole lineup of their DSLR camera and lenses only.

Canon and Nikons Equivalent latest DSLR lineup (03/2015)

We will only focus on the latest DSLR above (March 2015) lineup and its equivalent to the other brand. Note that Nikon D300s has been discontinued and no replacement yet. Canon 100D and 760D do not have Nikon Equivalents as of this writing.

Canon vs Nikon: ISO performance

In general, nikon is better at higher ISO. It produce cleaner and more detailed picture compared to canon at higher ISO. Well technically speaking canon seems to offer higher ISO but DXO rating suggest that Nikon is better performer. I have seen so many samples of Nikons low light performance. Overall its always nikon wins in the sensor category.

 

Overall Winner: Nikon

Canon vs Nikon: Image Resolution

 

Nikon has a bunch of 24MP camera except for the D300s which is discontinued. In general without considering canon 5DS, Nikon offers higher resolution. We may see canon to step up on the megapixel war with the introduction of 5DS. I am expecting that Canon will offer higher resolutions on their next product updates.

Overall Winner: Nikon

Canon vs Nikon: Image quality

Although Nikon scores higher on sensor ratings, in real life no one can tell which is which. They have the same images quality except for low light situations where Nikon generally shines. Most Landscape shooters prefer nikon because it has better dynamic range and color while most portrait and fashion photographers prefer canon because of better skin tones. I think they are almost the same here. So I won’t choose any winner.

Overall Winner: None

Canon vs Nikon: Lens lineup

This is the category where canon shines. Canon has cheaper and better lens lineup especially with the introduction of STM lenses. STM lenses are great innovation from canon. It allows silent and faster autofocus than conventional non STM lens. It also allows manual focus override.

Overall Winner: Canon 

Canon vs Nikon: Auto focus speed

It is well known that Canon focuses faster in general. Canon don’t have in-body focus motors because all focusing mechanism are in lens. That’s the main reason why canon has faster autofocus. With addition of the STM lenses of canon, Canon steps up. STM lenses are quite and have faster autofocus than non-STM lenses.

Canon vs Nikon: Auto focus points

Autofocus points comparison of Canon 70d and Nikon D7100

Generally, Nikon have more autofocus points compared to canon(Considering the equivalent model on both brand, ie: canon 70d nikon equivalent is nikon d7100). But for the case of canon 70d vs nikon d7000 for example, nikon has more autofocus points. But the cross type autofocus points of nikon are all on the center. If you shooting fast object and use the focus points on the side which are not cross type, you might have less focus shots. Canon 70d on the other hand only have 19 autofocus points but they are all cross types.

 

Overall Winner: Canon 

Canon vs Nikon: Frame per second

If you are shooting moving subjects like sports, birds and concerts, consider these figures. Overall canon offers higher frame rates.

Overall Winner: Canon 

Canon vs Nikon: Video features

When talking about video, Canon is very popular. It produces better video and is preferred by most film makers. Canon DSLR is used in many movies like “the avengers”. One of the reasons why canon is preferred is because you can use magic lantern with it. Magic lantern is a third party software that you can run in canon cameras. This will give you more controls over image and photo. Features includes focus peaking, live histogram, intervalometer, etc.

Overall Winner: Canon 

Canon vs Nikon: Innovation

Canon’s Innovations:

• First to have touch screen (650D)
• First to offer WIFI  connectivity (6D)
• First to offer Full HD video capability (5D mark2)
• First to offer mic input option  (5D mark2)
• Dual Pixel autofocus technology (650D)
• Smallest DSLR(100D)
• First to offer NFC connectivity (750D, 760D)
• First to have entry level camera(300D)
• First to offer 50MP resolution(5Ds, 5Dr)
• First to offer GPS
• STM lenses

Nikon’s Innovations:

• First to offer Video recording (D90)
• First to offer built in flash commander(D90)
• First Professional DSLR(D1)
• First to have tilt and swivel screen(D5000)
• Full frame DSLR with flash(D600)
• First to offer 36MP resolution(D800)

For the video recording, Nikon D90 and Canon 5D mark2 announced in the same year but D90 came months earlier. Nikon D5000 was the first to offer swivel/tilt screen but the hinge was located at the bottom. Canon 600D was the first to have a swivel/tilt screen with the hinge on the side.

Overall Winner: Canon 

Canon vs Nikon: Value for Money

Value for money is getting more than what you paid for. And in the case of these two camera brands, Nikon seems to put more feature on their cameras. For example, Nikon have higher resolution, ISO, FPS, focus points on their lower end camera.

Overall Winner: Nikon

User friendly interface

 

In general, canon is easier to use. In general it takes less time learning canon compared to Nikon. I will not declare winner here because I don’t know how I can measure the user friendliness of both systems.

Customer service

Considering Philippines, many would agree that canon has more and better service center. Maybe because canon have more product lines like printers, video cameras and projectors.

Overall Winner: Canon 

Conclusion

Both brands have their own advantage and disadvantage. Canon is better at video and have better lens choices while Nikon is better at low light and has better sensor ratings according to DXO. You can never go wrong choosing any of them. Remember that the camera brand doesn’t make you a better photographer. Choose the brand that best fit your hand, personality and needs. Just always remember to upgrade your skills first, this will make you better photographer.