Why Canon or Nikon?

There are some great under-rated cameras out there at far affordable prices than equivalent Canon or Nikon.

I have done a lot of research in cameras recently before ending up purchasing a Fujifilm Finepix S1500 - a surprisingly good bridge camera at the price I got it for - and I see no reason why I pay 3 or 4 times more for an equivalent Canon/Nikon camera.

Yes, I know a lot of photography enthusiasts demand on the highest picture quality possible, but on Canons/Nikons you pay a high price for the slight improvement. Most P & S cameras share similar characteristics and I think only difference is the brand of lens and the shooting features.

I am no expert, I genuinely want to know why other brands are less preferred to Canon or Nikon. Is it the brand name? I feel Canon/Nikon is highly priced in India (comparing dollar marked prices in Amazon with the equivalent price in India)

I'm a Nikon person, have been for close to 40 years. As with my Toyota trucks, I use them because over the years and years and miles and miles, they have performed flawlessly for me. I entered photography school in the late 70's, I could afford Nikon, so I bought Nikon. I have recently shot much with a Canon G-10, and have had exceptional results. Many professionals, and others, prefer Nikon and Canon because they are complete system cameras; as far as you want to take photography, it can be done with their systems.

For years in India and elsewhere in Asia and around the world, I shot with Nikon FM-2's - completely manual cameras; would expose film even if the batteries were dead, all I needed do was guestestimate exposure, and I was very good at it with the three films I carried with me. The only problem I ever had with a Nikon was getting out of my sea kayak and forgetting to take the Nikon FM-2 and the 70-300 Nikon lens attached to it out of my lap. Both took a swim, brief though it was. I was many miles and months away from a camera repair shop; the body died, electronics simply froze; but the lens, even after a multi-month wait for repair, continued to work, and is still working today.

On a side-note: I also buy $30 USD underwear; friends gasp; but they last ten years (do the math yourself).

While a name can sometimes only be a name, much of the time they have a name for a reason, for reasons, Nikons have never failed me.

@harishankar: In your example, Fuji was a film manufacturer that got into cameras because they saw the death of film. Canon and Nikon have been making Cameras and Optics for a long time and as Dharma has said are extremely reliable and complete systems. Choose either and you won't go wrong. However, for a beginner/amatuer witha point and shoot camera it won't make much of a big difference as long as it is among the big names.

I am an amateur and a hobbyist though not a beginner. I do own a Canon Powershot S50 bought in 2004. It is an excellent P & S camera and I know the quality of pixels it can generate though it is a humble 5 Megapixel. So I know Canon delivers high quality.

However, both Canon and Nikon are so expensive in India. What costs $250 - 300 or so in US costs Rs. 25000 - 30000 or even more here. That's converting $1 = Rs. 100 rate!

Yes, all brands are costlier in India, but I was stunned at the prices of Canons and Nikons here. I agree that quality and brand name matters but I am budget-conscious!

Interestingly, I agree with both of the above posts.

In the 60's and 70's Nikon established themselves as the premier camera that cornered the professional photographer market, if my memory is correct. We then had Pentax, Minolta and Olympus and Canon.

Since then as we know, there has been significant improvements in electronics and associated technology in software & hardware. all of this has increased the number of very good camera companies (Sony, Fuji, Samsung, Panasonic) and the competition is tight. Those who have been used to Nikon for years and have been very satisfied with the performance, the ruggedness will definitely be loyal -like Mercedes and BMW owners - the price is not the issue.

This does not mean that the new companies are of lower quality than the premier ones - IMO, the important thing is each person develops a certain comfort level. Each camera feels different and we are all different. Hence, there is place for each of these cameras in the market place. Even Kodak re-invented themselves from a "film" camera to "digital" camera and I believe are doing very well.

Cheers

Nattusbs

The high costs in India are a function of volume, high import duties and complete lack of any local competitor. Also pixel count is highly overrated and a hobby user will do fine with a 5MP camera. What is more important is optics.

hari ji,

I'm sorry to say but you are frankly missing two basic points:
a. Canon/Nikon are heavily advised in photography forums ONLY for the SLR market because of lens availability (try buying a fiat accessory vs a dzire part and you'll understand). In P&S, Fuji is very well respected and has brilliant IQ. The 6500fd (IIRC) was a fantastic camera, as is the HS10.
b. The pricing comparison is completely incorrect:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...WNMM712VH6PMYZ canon sx200is is 229 usd.
http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FineP...3121351&sr=1-1 is 170 USD.

The extra 60 USd gets HD movies, better LCD, 28mm on the wide end, more megapixels.

I'd love to see you backup the "3-4 times the S1500 price for the Nikon or Canon" assertion.

PS: Narendra ji, I'm sorry but your assertion on "The high costs in India are a function of volume, high import duties and complete lack of any local competitor." makes sense on no level in the context of the original post.
a. volume - it should make Fuji costlier than Canon esp given its volumes are a fraction
b. Import duties - same for the 3 brands mentioned here
c. lack of local competition - equally beneficial for the 3 brands mentioned here.

Agree. I made the point with Cameras in general and not in context of the OP's post.

Are you calling me a liar??? I have compared a few Canon models prices online at amazon.com and other international websites and also in regular shops and found the price higher by at least Rs. 5000 and in some cases Rs. 7000/8000 in some shops here in Chennai. Most dealers don't offer any discounts at all and it's impossible to bargain if you don't have specific pricing in mind.

E.g. Canon powershot s90 in amazon.com : $375.47
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho.../dp/B002LITT42

Canon powershot s90 in an Indian website (infibeam.com) : Rs. 24,514 (and infibeam generally offers cheaper prices than most regular shops)

http://infibeam.com/Cameras/i-Canon-...ershot+s95_1_8

I purchased a brand new Fujifilm S1500 for Rs. 9100 in infibeam.com some time back which is a little over $200.

I go by my own experience. I haven't saved the price links, but I have seen a lot of websites recently so I cannot remember a specific example. However, I will get back to you on the price issue soon though I have no need to prove any point here.

I can confidently assert that Fujifilm is generally priced lower than Canon for equivalent models.

I am not debating the additional quality (perceived or real) of Canikon (or Nikanon) here, but just that the extra price seems too high to pay for that.

Another example:

Canon G11: price in Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho.../dp/B002LITT56

$469.95

Price in Indian website: http://www.indiaplaza.in/canon-power...0581002-10.htm

Rs. 29,299

Rs. 9000+ more when you buy in India (probably higher if you purchase in regular store). With the mere difference in price I got a decent Fujifilm bridge camera with 12X zoom and nice manual controls as well. Agreed, picture quality might not be as high as in Canon, but so what? I don't print hi-res.

And it's not even a mega-zoom. Yes, I get it is a G-series high end P & S. But even so, the price (in India) is ridiculous considering that the basic dSLR Canon 1000d costs only Rs. 21000 or so.

How many more links do you need?

Note: I have so far only linked to online shops in India which are priced at least Rs. 1000 less than regular shops, so you can see how the regular shops prices go!

I don't want to dissuade Canon/Nikon users, but I feel we should also suggest alternatives when feasible.

All,

My 2 cents.

If it's a first camera anyone is buying and is likely not to add more accesories, then any point and shoot will do.

However, if you intend to take it seriously then you have to build your kit around only 1 manufacturer. In that case, Canon / Nikon have a wide accessroy range. Also you can get lens etc in used market for these 2 manuf's easily.

Anyways....it is not the camera but the person behind it who makes a good photo.

Happy clicking

I started with a Sony P&S and it got screwed up within 2 years, again I went for a Sony P&S (my bad) and expeienced the same in 2years though I couldn't find much difference in picture quality among similar products from the Canon/Nokon family. But if you are in to DSLR, IMO it's not just the body but lens too plays a big role. And believe me, noone can match Canon/Nikon in this respect.

LOL @ Are you calling me a liar???


Hitanshu probably meant to say cams in india do not cost double (the $1 = Rs.100 comparison) of what it costs in the US OR europe.

I kind of agree with that at least when it comes to an older model of a DSLR.

The older entry level DSLRs in India cost roughly 8% to 10% more than USA prices. At least i think so.
I got a Nikon D5000 for 34k (there are dealers who even sell it for 31k). It costs between $690 to $770 which is more or less what it sells for in India too. I am not sure if this is the case for digi cams too.

It might be different for newly launched cams. The Nikon D7000 is priced at around Rs75,000 (body only) and in the US it is around $1200 = Rs. 55,000

Harishankar ji,

I am a bit short on time but I compared with http://www.photographyblog.com/revie...review/rivals/
and then compared with amazon. two min process. It did not have a review on DPreview (none I could find in a total of 3 min i spent) else i would've compared prices with the relevant ones.

All I said was that you are "missing" information, NOT calling you a liar by any stretch of imagination.

Even you would appreciate in reverse that saying "why .. pay 3 or 4 times more for an equivalent Canon/Nikon camera." needs to be substantiated with accurate peers and relevant pricing and the complete logic. Its no fluke or pied piper that's responsible for these fellows capturing the P&S market (along with sony).

Manoj ji,

the example you gave realy applies to SLRs - in P&S, one hardly buys stuff - except the sheer enthusiast who soon moves to SLR