I need help choosing a camera.

I need help with choosing a canon or a nikon for a new camera?

• I'm planning on getting a new camera for my birthday and for my photography class at school, (i have a regular canon camera now i forget the name of the model though at the moment) and i can't decide which brand to choose. when i go onto the camera finder on flickr, i first see Canon cameras then Nikon next to it, and me assuming the best brand is the most popular think that canon is more popular than nikon can i have some feedback on which brand is better, and from profesional photographers? i just need to know the basic info on like which take high quality photos, doesn't show too much grain on pics (if you zoom in) better special effects like double exposure and all that kind of stuff i'll learn about thje more detailed stuff and ask my photography teacher once my classes start :P thanks :D and if you want to recomend a camera, make sure it below $900, we can't afford the REALLY expensive cameras :)

• Answer:

  Honestly I think both Nikon and Canon are on par with each other. Asking which one is better is just like asking which is better coke or pepsi. The answer is going to depend on who you ask, everyone has their favorites. They both can get great quality pictures. No DSLR can give you double exposure images. Unless your getting film, the double exposure effects are done in photoshop. Professionals use both Canon and Nikon cameras. And the really high cost photographers use hassleblads. You can forget about a Hasselblad as they run in the $20,000 to $50,000 range. A $900 limit you could probably get a canon T3i or T2i kit on sale for that. Nikon you could get a D5100 kit also. any of those would give you great images. Either one you get would give you great pictures if you learn how to use them. EDIT: I myself have Always had canon's so i can't really speak from experience on the Nikon's. But i notice you had the canon t3 on your list. I know there is a T3 model. but if by some off chance you meant T3i. I would suggest getting the T2i instead. Th Only real difference between the T3i and the T2i is the T3i has a flip out LCD display and the T2i doesn't. The T3i costs $100 more in most cases too. But any of those cameras will work good. The higher MP cameras will give you a bit better resolution but the images on any will look really good. I also want to address your concerns about noise. Noise is determined by the ISO setting on the camera. A ISO setting of 100 is virtually noiseless. A ISO setting of 3200 is going to be noisy. As you ISO number goes up, your cameras sensor becomes more sensitive to light It allows you to shoot in lower levels of light without using a flash. But the downside is the noise. All those cameras can shoot with a ISO of 100. I personally never go above a ISO setting of 800. So when you see a camera advertising a ISO setting of 6400 you'll know what that means. But honestly if you want a good picture you will probably never shoot with a ISO that high. The noise will be hard to see on the camera's LCD screen, and I think each will be just as noisy as the next with high iso. But if you want to see the noise first hand. what I would suggest you do is get a SD HC card and go to best buy or a camera store and play with their display cameras. Ask them if you can use your memory card because you want to see how each camera handles noise at different ISO levels and the overall picture quality. Take your card home and look at the images on your screen so you can see how each camera handles it. You can tell what Camera took the picture by right clicking on the file and then choosing the details tab. The camera make and model, iso setting, shutter speed, etc will all be in there so you know what camera took which picture. Another thing you should know, is the memory Card. Make sure you get a Class 10 SD HC memory card when you get your camera. These are the fastest memory cards available. You may have a pay a little more but it's worth it if your shooting pictures fast. Hope this helps. If you have any other questions Feel free to message me.