"Bill Hilton" wrote in message

I know of several "big name" nature photographers who
switched from Nikon to Canon, usually taking a big loss to dump
their Nikon gear. I don't know of a single Canon pro who dumped
his Canon gear for Nikon, fwiw.

Bill wrote:

Some of the people you listed shoot with Nikon.

If you can tell me which ones and give a link indicating you are right
I'll remove them from my list .

Jim Brandenberg (switched for the full frame sensor digital, may
have switched back when Nikon brought out the D2x, not sure)

Switched back to Nikon.

The way I heard the story he did the first ever digital camera article
for "National Geographic" using a Nikon, I think the 2.7 Mpixel model
but not sure ... for sure it was one of the 6 megapixel models. He
liked digital but felt the Nikon bodies available at the time didn't
have enough pixels, so for a while he experimented with the Canon 1Ds,
an 11 Mpixel full-frame camera. At the time Nikon had nothing over 6
Mpixels. He never actually dumped all his Nikon gear, just temporarily
used Canons while waiting for Nikon to bring out something with more
pixels, which they did for the pro market with the D2x. I never heard
if he went over to the D2x but it wouldn't surprise me if he did, so he
probably doesn't belong on the list.

Erwin and Peggy Bauer

Sadly both died two years ago - not applicable since they may or may
not have switched back in those couple of years

I met them a couple of years ago at Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel and we
photographed roseate spoonbills together for an afternoon. By chance I
had read many of his "Outdoor Life" magazine articles as a kid and was
about the same age as his son Bob, and I even remembered some of the
trips in his articles, so we got along well and he invited my wife and
I to stop by his home on the Olympic penninsula in Washington when in
the area.

He was shooting a Canon 600 f/4 L IS and Peggy had I think a 500 f/4 L
IS ... at some point I asked him why he had switched to Canon since I
knew he was a long-time Nikon user and he said because of IS. So he
stays on the list ...

Leonard Lee Rue - Leonard Lee Rue Jr.

Not sure.

Well I'm sure they shoot Canon ... I've bumped into them at Yellowstone
once and several times in Alaska (five times at Denali, twice at
Katmai) ... twice Len Jr. stayed at the same lodge as us in Alaska and
we've talked to them several times ... once we were shooting a bull
moose near a kettle pond at Denali and while waiting around I asked Jr.
when he had switched to Canon, since the cover of their catalog showed
them with black lenses ... he said they dropped Nikon several years ago
because Nikon was slow to bring out new products, specifically saying
that when the 600 f/4 lenses first came out that was the final straw
because Nikon was late and he felt he had to switch to Canon to stay
competitive. Last time I saw him was 13 months ago at Katmai and he's
still shooting Canon ... the Rues stay on the list.

Tom Vezo (famous bird photographer)

Another who switched from Canon to Nikon.

Do you have a source for this statement? If so I'll take him off my
list ... I don't know Vezo, though he lives fairly close, about 3 hours
down the freeway, so I have no first-hand knowledge or conversations
with him.

But the way I heard the story is that he shot Nikon for 30 years and
then in Sept 2003 he finally sold off his Nikons and switched to Canon.
He said he did it because ""As far as AF is concerned, the Canon stuff
blew Nikon away"

So what you are saying is that he dumped about $30,000 worth of Nikon
gear three years ago and bought $25,000 worth of high-end Canon gear,
then decided to dump Canon 3 years later? If you have a source for
this I'd like to see it and I'll take him off my list, but I really
doubt this is true ... here's the source for his Sept 2003 switchover
.... http://www.birdsasart.com/bn114.htm and scroll down to "well knock
me over with a feather"

Not knowing anyone who has switched the other way doesn't mean
anything. That's like saying you haven't seen a squirrel fall out of a
tree so that must be proof that squirrels never fall.

Well this sounds like a squirrelly argument to me ... all I know is
that it seems to be a one-way street, with many big name guys taking
the wrenching step of selling off Nikon gear (at a financial loss) and
spending big bucks to move to Canon. As I've said I don't know a
single long-term Canon guy who made a reverse move to Nikon the past 10
years or so.

If you aren't impressed by the numbers then look at the sidelines of
major sporting events and see how many Big White Lenses you see
compared to the black Nikons ... fourty years ago Nikon supposedly had
90% of this market and now they probably have 20% of it, if that. The
trend is pretty clear.

Besides, while it might be of passing interest, unless full frame
sensor is required it's not really relevant. Nikon performs as well as
Canon, and vice-versa.

I would agree with this for the consumer market but at the high end
market for sports and wildlife photographers it's clear that Canon is
ahead because of IS in the 500 and 600 f/4 lenses (Nikon hasn't been
able to migrate VR to this class lens yet) and because of the full
frame bodies.

To belittle either camera system for personal
bias is counter-productive

I don't have a personal bias (well, maybe a little) and I'm not
"belittling" Nikon. The D2x is a fine camera and the 200-400 f/4 VR is
a lens that Canon lacks, as I've said on many occasions. But I gave
facts to support what I said. Other than pointing out that
Brandenberg's defection was temporary until Nikon brought out higher
pixel count bodies you haven't provided any facts. The original poster
asked for opinions from "Users of Both Canon and Nikon DSLR" ... the
people I mention all have extensive experience with Nikons and ended up
switching to Canons.

Bill