Why did you choose Canon?

[dave]

Because funnily enough when trying to buy my first camera and doing research Canon users tended to be more helpful and friendlier!

[serendipidy]

"But the BIG factor in all these years is CANON USA service center in Honolulu Hawaii.
The good people there over the years have efficiently serviced all my bobos and made it better.
I believe if it was not for the great service ... I would not have ... well I dont know what I would have done...
THANK YOU CANON USA - Mahalo! to Honolulu's service team.
Brad Goda"

+100

[RGF]

From 1977 until 1999 I was a Nikon shooter.  But it seemed that late last century Nikon had badly stumbled - Canon had

IS
Eye control
All lens had motors (faster focusing)
Wider range of lens
More stable product line up (in 6 years there were 3-4 version of the 70/80-200 F2.8.  Canon had one).

Now is a different story.  Nikon is more innovative and aggressive.

[Normalnorm]

I started in the 70's and used Pentax and Minolta. In high school my friends were divided between Nikon and Canon both of which I admired. I went with Nikon as someone had just acquired the 20mm lens so I figured I could borrow it.

Years later I had been without a serious camera for years and was getting back into professional shooting and Canon  introduced the 10D. It was a great camera for a great price and I bought two.

Canon has always had a great camera ready for me as I moved up the food chain photographically. Some may carp about being left behind by Nikon but I can say that my cameras still make me very good money and beautiful photographs and I am unafraid of the future.

[nicku]

It is interesting to hear stories why people choose Canon when there are a lot of other firms? Nikon, Pentax, Sony...

I personally was always interested in photography and was shooting quite a lot when I was young with analog cameras Smena and Zenit- E (Soviet type cameras). My first digital camera was P&S Sony bought in 2004, however, i was not satisfied with its quality (at that time analog cameras quality was much better than digital).

In 2007 I acquired Canon G7 which was able to produce better quality photos comparing to other P&S cameras. Finally in 2012 I decided to buy DSLR and definitely choose Canon as they had more attractive design comparing to Nikon and much bigger variety of lenses (I always admired L class white lenses, which in my mind was always associated with superb quality). I never Pentax, Sony or other firms. Currently I am happy with my EOS 7D, however, have plans to move to FF (of course, that would by 5D Mark III). That's why my almost all lenses (except for EF-S 18-135) are compatible with FF cameras.

It would be interesting to hear your stories why you choose Canon.

In 2007 i bought a Sony A100 DSLR my first digital SLR ( having 6 years experience with Canon 35mm film slr's). I bought a Sony because was at a good price and most important it has image stabilization incorporated in camera. The quality was way under Canon digital cameras at that moment. So.... i decided to sell the A100 and buy Canon.

I use Canon DSLR's since..... until March 2013 when i will buy a Nikon.

 

[K3nt]

Hmm.. having used Casio, Panasonic, Fuji etc etc small pocketcams or 'superzooms' for a number of years for the occasional snapshot photography wasn't really a big deal for me. Until 2011. I was getting fed up about missing shots of my dogs due to the slow responsiveness of the pocketcams.
I researched a little and found the Canon 7D matching what I was looking for pretty nicely. I had no experience with DSLR and didn't even know what the terms, aperture, focal length meant or, more importantly did.
I went to a store, tried Canons, Nikons, Sony, but the only one that felt right in my paws was the 7D, so I bought it.
My next thought was, ok, I now have a camera that I KNOW can take the shots I want, but I still really don't know how. Amazon, here I come. I ordered a whole bunch of books, about the camera, flash, post-processing and spent the next two months getting to grips with it. I figured as I invested so much in a camera, it'd be a bit embarrassing to use auto mode.
Then I went out and started taking pictures, first I did a day using only Av mode. Went back, checked the results and tried working out how and why something worked or didn't. Next stop, Tv-mode. And so on and so forth. Needless to say, my first shot in Bulb-mode was less than successful.
As I've come to realize, and many of you as well, nothing beats experience and experimenting.
This sort of then lead to trying one more thing, then another, then a third and pretty soon I found myself loving it. I'd made myself a hobby without ever setting out to do so.
One of the things I like most is... there's always something new to learn. And now I get a bit anxious if I can't get out shooting often enough.

This turned out longer than I thought and went a bit off topic too.
As for why Canon, it just felt right, at the time that was my only justification. And I am very happy with my choice.

[Faxon]

I shoot video news for a local television station. I see all the pro still news photogs shoot with Canons. Case closed. Plus, those wonderfully expensive white lenses are just lust-worthy.

[Ellen Schmidtee]

Because the white light and voices of an angels chorus coming out of the 450D's box made me open my wallet.


As a beginner it seemed my life would be easier with Canon, e.g. as all lenses have motors and pages in Wikipedia, and the shop employee said it doesn't really matter, though when he made the transition from film to digital, he chose Canon over Nikon.

[mfumbesi]

I bought my first digital P&S back in 2004, it a Korean made (can't remember the name probably Samsung).
I wasn't impressed with the image quality, I then bought another P&S in 2005 also Korean. The quality was better but nothing to write home about. The company I worked for at that time bought a Bridge camera, I think it was a Olympus. I was impressed with the image quality and discovered that it is all about the glass.
My search started around 2006 for a DSLR, at that time they were incredibly expensive. A colleague bought a 350D and was showing off at work. I downloaded a picture of me he had taken.............. the rest is history.
My first Canon was a 40D.

[Hillsilly]

My first Canon (AE-1 program) was a gift from my dad.  He was a Pentax shooter, and like most dads, probably wanted better for his children    In hindsight, it seems like a ill conceived idea as it would have made more sense for everyone to be using the same mount.  But at the time, brand snobbery was very big.  My dad always thought his competition entries were at a disadvantage when he listed a Pentax camera with Sigma lens.

That was a long time ago, and I've since owned a number of different systems.  Throughout most of the 90's, I predominantly used a Mamiya RB67 kit.  Recently, I've started playing with an Olympus m43 camera.  I've also owned Yashicas and Minoltas.  I'm constantly wondering if I should switch to Nikon, Sony or [insert brand of the month here].  But no matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Canon home.  Canon and Nikon are really the only two companies with the complete package.  Once you've bought into one system, there is rarely a compelling reason to switch sides.

[bratkinson]

Having moved to a 35mm Minolta viewfinder camera while I was in the US Air Force in 1970, by 1976, I desparately needed to stop taking pictures with the lens cap on!  So, I went to the local camera store in Milwaukee that I had moved to 1 year earlier and asked what to do.  He showed me a just on the market Canon AE-1, with a 50mm flat-fiield macro lens on it.  He didn't have to 'sell' me much at all.  It was mine a few minutes later!

I went out and ran 2-3 rolls of slides through it, and when I got them back, randomly, some frames were not exposed!  And I did all my shooting in about 2 hrs and never put the lens cap on during that period!  So, he sent the camera to Canon and they fixed it.  Off to my favorite rail yard to take more pictures...same results!  Back to the store again!  He offered me a full-value store credit on a then 'older model' Canon EF, which I instantly bought.  It was the predecessor of the AE-1 and had much the same electronics in a metal body with metal shutter, rather than cloth like the AE-1.  The pictures came out great!  Within a year, I got 'bit good' by the photography bug and ended up with a 2nd EF and 4-5 more lenses.  I think I ran at least 1000 rolls of film through each of those cameras.  Then I got married, and that was the end of my photography in 1988. 

12 years and an ex-wife later, I wanted to sell some stuff on ebay, so I bought a Canon (what else?) point and shoot G-3.  In addition to ebay stuff, I started taking pictures at church as well, and moved up to a G-5 a couple years later.  When I wore that one out (oddball exposures, etc), I figured it was time to move to the SLR mode again...so I bought a used 30D and a couple of kit lenses, Canon 18-135 and 55-250.  6 months later, I wanted sharper pictures and the ability to do more no-flash indoor work.  So it was time for a 60D and some L glass.  This past Thanksgiving, the 60D was replaced with a 5D3 for the drop dead focusing and incredible ISO capabilities.  My no flash work is a breeze with an 80-90% keeper rate these days! 

Needless to say, I'm very brand-loyal when I find good products.  I know I'll be a Canon shooter 'til I die.  Ditto for Chrysler products...I've bought nothing but Chrysler products since 1972.  Goodyear tires, the same. 

[Brock]

I started researching DSLRs when I was going to buy one as a gift for my aging parents.

It had to have excellent autofocus because their eyes were getting bad & they had to be able to depend on the camera choosing subjects wisely & focusing accurately.

The Canons had the autofocus motors built into the lenses & had more accurate autofocus, whereas half if not more of the Nikons didn't.

I also looked at examples of the pictures out of the Canons & Nikons; & found the more neutral & natural colors of the Canon more realistic than the more saturated & exaggerated colors of the Nikon (even though the Nikons appeared to have higher dynamic range).

Because of the same reasons I bought one for myself.

If I were in the same position now as I was then, now; it would be a harder decision.  Nikons seem to have more AF points in my price range (though Canons are more evenly spread out & I still think the Canons have slightly more stringent tolerances for AF accuracy). 

Nikons have also been advancing sensor technology faster than Canon, but I still prefer Canon's more realistic / natural colors to Nikons over-saturated colors.

I'm in the market for a couple new DSLRs atm, my 50D could use an upgrade.  I've been eying the D5200 & am curious about the D7000 successor, but I'm holding out hope that Canon can wow me with the 70D.

[viggen61]

Years ago, I was into Minolta SLRs.No particular reason, other than that's what my Father had, so that's what I bought.

Back in 2001, I took a trip to Europe and brought both my Minolta and an Olympus P&S Digital. While I liked the fact that there weren't any continual costs with the Olympus, it just couldn't do the things I'd become accustomed to doing with the SLR.

By 2007, I only brought a digital P&S with me on my next trip. This was largely ok, as it was a 5MP camera, and a lot of the photos I took were not worthy of spending money on film for!

By 2010, though, I wanted to get back into photography and persue it as a serious hobby. I looked a little at the superzooms, and other all-in-one digital cameras, but the lure of the SLR was too strong.

As for how I got into Canon, well, I wasn't invested in any current lens system, so I could look at them all. But I wanted to buy into a system that did it all. And that all but completely rules out everyone but Canon and Nikon. I went to a few stores to "test drive" the various models available from both. The bigger Canon (50D at the time) came out on top. The smaller Rebels didn't interest me, and that's purely on ergonomics. The Nikons, for whatever reason, didn't feel as solidly built as the Canons, and the Canon's controls, particularly the main dial and rear dial felt a lot sturdier than the same on the Nikons.

At that point, I was all set to buy the 50D, but the 60D was right around the corner, and I wanted to try that. But I made the wonderful mistake of asking to see a 7D at a shop, and the rest is history. I walked out with it that day, and have been a happy DSLR owner ever since.

[insanitybeard]

My Dad started me out with a fixed focus Fuji compact when I was about 13, though a little while after that he 'lent' me his Pentax MX with a 50mm standard lens. This gave me many good years of use (It was fully mechanical, the battery only powered the meter), and as my Dad had an ME-Super, I had access to all his K series lenses too. I used it for the last time in 2009 when he got me a Lumix TZ3 as a birthday present, which proved to be a nice little compact which took up very little space when hiking and going places, however, after a while I missed the functionality and control which you have with an SLR (plus my dad had finally replaced his old Pentax with a modern Pentax digital SLR)- eg, interchangeable lenses, filters, bulb, optical viewfinder etc so got saving. My partner had bought an EOS400D and I had always associated Canon (helped no doubt by the rows of Pros at sports events with big whites) as the manufacturer of choice for the professionals so decided to go for a Canon. I was going to get a 500D at the time but after pondering and reading about the various models it seemed that the 50D would be a better bet- more solid build (important to me), bigger- I find the controls cramped on the smaller bodies- and generally a more 'pro spec' body with less auto modes and more customisation. I decided on the 50D. Then the 7D came out..... it had rave reviews, and coupled with the option of video missing from the 50D, better AF, bigger viewfinder etc I was sold. I just had to save a bit longer!

[steliosk]

Never liked that contrasted fake colour?
Never liked those warm-yellowish skintones?

well , then change to a similar profile in the Nikon  as in your Canon if you think the results are to yellow.
I have change my Canons profiles, I do not like a red/ magenta  cast in the  skin tones .

Why bother? Canon's faithful profile gives me the richest skintones i've worked with.