Nikon made me buy Canon

I have been a Nikon SLR user for 20 years, using mainly FMs and occasionally
an F3.

Having tried digital compacts, I wanted to get a digital SLR. I'm quite keen
on manual focus lenses and see no reason why I should have to use autofocus
lenses. I was pleased to note that the Nikon bayonet had not changed.

I asked Nikon about using my existing lenses from my FM on a D70 and they
said:
"The D70 needs electronic contacts on the lens with which to communicate and
meter. Manual lenses (at least 99.9% of them)do not have these contacts and
therefore the camera would be unable to communicate with such lenses. You
would therefore be able to use the camera in manual mode only and would have
to use an external light meter to ascertain the correct exposure. YOu would
obviously also not get TTL flash exposure."

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!


--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

"Zebedee" writes:

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!

You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

"Zebedee" writes:

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!

You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.

The problem is that Nikon considers the D70 and the D100 consumer electronics
and not a professional dSLR. The D1 works great with manual focus Nikkors
and I assume that the D1H, D1X, and D2H work just as well.

The strange thing is that the D70/D100 buyers don't seem to care. It used to
be the case that every Nikon body would at least work in stop-down metering
mode. I can understand that nobody noticed that the F80 didn't work that way.

But at the original price of the D100, you expect at least that it can work
properly with old extension tubes, bellows, microscope adaptors, etc.

Anyhow, I have played with a D1 and it is a great camera for snapshots.
And eventually, the D1X will become affordable.



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...

You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Yes. They did BUT Nikon's F4 works with all Nikon MF lenses. So should the
D70 etc. They don't. I was forced to buy a new system so I voted with my
wallet and bought Canon.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.

Sure. you can use dAF lenses on an FM but NAI lenses won't work on a D70
which makes the whole exercise utterly pointless. Sure the lenses will fit
physically but with no metering, what's the point? The system's as near as
dammit incompatible and hence useless.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

Canon stopped making FD mount and non AF bodies more than just a few years
ago (Early eighties?? )
They stopped making one product line... manual focus cameras and lenses
and decided to only make AF cameras and lenses. (EOS)
Virtually all AF Canon lenses since then are 100% compatible and 100%
functional with all Canon EOS (AF) bodies made since this time. (Except for
that one 18-55 lens on the Rebel D)

There are numerous Nikon lenses that don't have 100% functionality with
Nikon bodies that were both made since then. Canon gained 100% through a
new lens mount. Nikon couldn't offer this because they believed they could
do it all AND retain their lens mount. Buyers of Nikon have to do careful
research to find out such facts that AFS lenses would AF on the older F4 but
not on the newer F90 (N90), or that a favorite old MF lens wouldn't meter
properly on their new AF body. Nikon was claiming backwards compatibility
but would introduce new products that were not 100% compatible with their
older products. For some, the lens mount was more important, but for others
the feature compatibility was more important.

It was a big issue in the mid eighties but hardly an argument for today...
either way...
Most people aren't pros and don't have more than 3 or 4 lenses.
(I said MOST... not all)

Nowadays... people interested in manual focus cameras can pick up incredible
Canon FD L lens optics for cheap, due to the fact that Canon changed their
mount. Cheaper than MF Nikon equipment but just as good and sometimes
better...

D.B.


"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"Zebedee" writes:

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all
migrating
to Canon!

You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/
http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

From: "Zebedee"

I have been a Nikon SLR user for 20 years, using mainly FMs and occasionally
an F3.

Having tried digital compacts, I wanted to get a digital SLR. I'm quite keen
on manual focus lenses and see no reason why I should have to use autofocus
lenses. I was pleased to note that the Nikon bayonet had not changed.

I asked Nikon about using my existing lenses from my FM on a D70

In all fairness to Nikon, if you were still using Canon FD mount manual focus
lenses then you wouldn't be able to mount those on the dSLR bodies either since
they require the EF mount. Nikon at least held out longer than Canon ...

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!

There is a lengthy list of big-name pros who've switched from Nikon to Canon
the past 10 years in the nature photography field (often for the super
telephoto IS lenses) and so far as I know almost no big-name guys who switched
the other way recently. So you are in good company, though their reasons for
switching were different than yours. Two recent examples are well-known bird
photographer Tom Vezo, who dumped two F5's, a 600 f/4, a 300 f/2.8 and
miscellaneous other Nikon gear after 30 years of Nikon-only photography to
switch to Canon, claiming the autofocus on the Canon's was much better, or
National Geographic ace Jim Brandenburg, who got the digital bug but was not
satisfied with the pixel count on the Nikon dSLR's and made the switch so he
could use the 11 Mpixel Canon 1Ds.

Bill

In article ,
David Bindle wrote:
Nowadays... people interested in manual focus cameras can pick up incredible
Canon FD L lens optics for cheap, due to the fact that Canon changed their
mount. Cheaper than MF Nikon equipment but just as good and sometimes
better...

That suggests that Nikon basically got the right strategy.



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

"Philip Homburg" wrote in message
.phicoh.net...
In article ,
David Bindle wrote:
Nowadays... people interested in manual focus cameras can pick up
incredible
Canon FD L lens optics for cheap, due to the fact that Canon changed
their
mount. Cheaper than MF Nikon equipment but just as good and sometimes
better...


That suggests that Nikon basically got the right strategy.

Huh? Once the EOS system proved itself there was an incredible flood of
professionals that moved to Canon. So much so that more professionals use
Canon 35mm and digital now than Nikon, whereas in the days of manual focus
FD's... Nikon enjoyed top choice with professionals

That suggests that Canon basically got the right strategy.

Frankly.... I don't really care... I can't afford more than a small number
of quality lenses anyways. Either Nikon or Canon create tools that I'll
never afford and tools that will do a great job that I can afford. It's
funny, the biggest impediment nowadays to me being able to produce the
pictures I want to is something that doesn't cost any money, but that I
can't afford...
.... time!

D.B.

(well... I guess some do believe that time=money)

As a mere novice to photography it seems a shame to see so much anti-support
from such big names.

Digital photography is a sea-change in taking images - it is a shame to see
a customer base being dumped so badly. Didn't N also charge their own
customers for proprietery software bundle too?

If so, that really does make my nipples hurt. A digital camera does need
good software.

I'd like to see one of the big brands team up with PSCS as a bundle. Then I
may (emphasis on may) part with my hard earned spondoolies to DSLR -

I mean DSLR + Lenses + software sorta makes sense in a bundle and to assist
conversion from 35mm to digital

Artie

"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
...
From: "Zebedee"

I have been a Nikon SLR user for 20 years, using mainly FMs and
occasionally
an F3.

Having tried digital compacts, I wanted to get a digital SLR. I'm quite
keen
on manual focus lenses and see no reason why I should have to use
autofocus
lenses. I was pleased to note that the Nikon bayonet had not changed.

I asked Nikon about using my existing lenses from my FM on a D70

In all fairness to Nikon, if you were still using Canon FD mount manual
focus
lenses then you wouldn't be able to mount those on the dSLR bodies either
since
they require the EF mount. Nikon at least held out longer than Canon ...

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all
migrating
to Canon!

There is a lengthy list of big-name pros who've switched from Nikon to
Canon
the past 10 years in the nature photography field (often for the super
telephoto IS lenses) and so far as I know almost no big-name guys who
switched
the other way recently. So you are in good company, though their reasons
for
switching were different than yours. Two recent examples are well-known
bird
photographer Tom Vezo, who dumped two F5's, a 600 f/4, a 300 f/2.8 and
miscellaneous other Nikon gear after 30 years of Nikon-only photography to
switch to Canon, claiming the autofocus on the Canon's was much better, or
National Geographic ace Jim Brandenburg, who got the digital bug but was
not
satisfied with the pixel count on the Nikon dSLR's and made the switch so
he
could use the 11 Mpixel Canon 1Ds.

Bill