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Newspaper switching over...

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Terry M

Terry M

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My newspaper is giving up on Nikons (too expensive to maintain, they say) and they asked me (a committed Canon shooter) where they should be looking to get the most bang for their buck.

I recommended the 1D Mark II to them but they are also looking at the 30D, which is what more than a few newspapers are using to outfit their staffs.

I would think they need the more durable 1-series bodies, but obviously cost is a concern.

What advice can you guys give?
 
Use a mix of both bodies. Get a couple of 1DII bodies for shooters who MUST shoot in all conditions, like sports shooters who have to shoot HS football games in all types of weather, and get 30Ds for shooters who handle events and aren't subjected to any physical or weather-related demands. The 30D is a very robust body, but not quite up to the 1DII.
--

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five dee and Yashica Mat 124
 
They also need to look at the server space used up by the various file sizes. I guess they can always shoot lower quality jpegs. As they're just upgrading now and given how most newspapers work, they're not always at the cutting edge of technology.
 
A couple reasons the Photo editor needs to contact Canon. depending on the size of the paper, Canon may authorize some sort of deal. Second, the rep may let the Photo editor sign an NDA and let that person in on the upcoming August announcements. For news work don't go cheap, get the 1D mark 2. A 30d is ok but will not last long in photojournalists hands. Plus the AF in the 1 series is much better. Spend less now and have big headaches later. Tell them to buy for value, not dollars. The paper I know that used a 1 series and a 20D/ as a backup all moved to using 2, 1 series. Definitely get a hold of the rep, that person can help facilitate this and maybe save enough money to go with a 1 series.
Terry M said:
My newspaper is giving up on Nikons (too expensive to maintain,
they say) and they asked me (a committed Canon shooter) where they
should be looking to get the most bang for their buck.

I recommended the 1D Mark II to them but they are also looking at
the 30D, which is what more than a few newspapers are using to
outfit their staffs.

I would think they need the more durable 1-series bodies, but
obviously cost is a concern.

What advice can you guys give?
Click to expand...
 
Terry, email me at [email protected] i you have any questions. We did this transition recently.
Terry M said:
My newspaper is giving up on Nikons (too expensive to maintain,
they say) and they asked me (a committed Canon shooter) where they
should be looking to get the most bang for their buck.

I recommended the 1D Mark II to them but they are also looking at
the 30D, which is what more than a few newspapers are using to
outfit their staffs.

I would think they need the more durable 1-series bodies, but
obviously cost is a concern.

What advice can you guys give?
Click to expand...
 
They say they may have to stick with Nikons for their long glass and use Canon for their wide to short telephoto work. Sheeesh!

This may not be the right forum, but does anyone have notes on how the 5D body compares to the 30D?
 
Terry M said:
They say they may have to stick with Nikons for their long glass
and use Canon for their wide to short telephoto work. Sheeesh!

This may not be the right forum, but does anyone have notes on how
the 5D body compares to the 30D?
Click to expand...
Just check out the reviews of the two cameras here at dpreview for notes on body comparisons - Phil is very thorough.

There really is not much in it on the two bodies - it's the IQ and DOF and so on that differ.
--
Regards,
DaveMart

'Just a wildebeast on the plain of life'
Please see profile for equipment
 
Have the editor call the Canon rep and see what deal they get before doing a split system. It's either that or a really screwy system mix where focus and zoom rings are opposite and they can screw your brain up right in the middle of a shoot and make you miss something crucial.
Terry M said:
They say they may have to stick with Nikons for their long glass
and use Canon for their wide to short telephoto work. Sheeesh!

This may not be the right forum, but does anyone have notes on how
the 5D body compares to the 30D?
Click to expand...
 
It would be unwise to mix cameras systems for many obvious reasons. Reliability of Canon and Nikon are approximately the same - so I am told by the local pro camera emporia who sell many of both brands.

In the same sense that others have suggested that contacting the Canon rep is a smart move, so is contacting Nikon - maybe a senior person in Nikon USA.
--
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca
 
He told us to go ahead and switch because we'd regret it. It's been a year and we have not looked back.
tony field said:
It would be unwise to mix cameras systems for many obvious reasons.
Reliability of Canon and Nikon are approximately the same - so I am
told by the local pro camera emporia who sell many of both brands.

In the same sense that others have suggested that contacting the
Canon rep is a smart move, so is contacting Nikon - maybe a senior
person in Nikon USA.
--
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca
Click to expand...
 
PismoBeach said:
He told us to go ahead and switch because we'd regret it. It's
been a year and we have not looked back.
Click to expand...
That is pathetic! I hope that Nikon rep is no longer working for Nikon.

Nikon cannot be all that bad - otherwise the would not be in business. Seems to me like a bit of a shakeup is needed in Nikon USA.

Although it is interesting, I switched from Nikon to Canon (complete system with 4 bodies and 11 lenses) only for service quality and support reasons - otherwise, my Nikon system was excellent for all of my work. I don't mind fixing cameras for legitimate reasons - I just want it fixed reliably.
--
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca
 
Well, Tony, that somewhat puts your previous post in this thread that the reliability of Nikon and Canon are about equal in perspective - if service stinks, that makes any failure much worse.

Not that I disagree with you - I originally went Canon when I saw how snooty Nikon were about people trying to clean their own sensors.

They still seem to have a bit of a syndrome left from the days when they were unquestionably the number one, and seem to want to test their users to find out if they are worthy to use their equipment, rather than trying to flog it to some punters.
tony field said:
PismoBeach said:
He told us to go ahead and switch because we'd regret it. It's
been a year and we have not looked back.
Click to expand...
That is pathetic! I hope that Nikon rep is no longer working for
Nikon.

Nikon cannot be all that bad - otherwise the would not be in
business. Seems to me like a bit of a shakeup is needed in Nikon
USA.

Although it is interesting, I switched from Nikon to Canon
(complete system with 4 bodies and 11 lenses) only for service
quality and support reasons - otherwise, my Nikon system was
excellent for all of my work. I don't mind fixing cameras for
legitimate reasons - I just want it fixed reliably.
--
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca
Click to expand...
--
Regards,
DaveMart

'Just a wildebeast on the plain of life'
Please see profile for equipment
 
I agree completely. I even thought of loaning my old D30 to the photo editor just to see if she thinks she can get comfortable working with that kind of body.
 
Service is a big problem in this case. They keep having to send the same bodies back for the same repairs over and over.
 
Disk space is very cheap, and it really should not be an issue. Given that the average size of a RAW file from even the 5D is about 12M, even a relatively cheap server with 2 500G drives mirrored can hold about 4,200 pix. And archiving pix is pretty cheap, too. The paper should just consider it the cost of shooting digital, and it should not be a major consideration.
--

------------------------------------------------------
five dee and Yashica Mat 124
 
couldn't care less about the system. I freelance but I see that nikons are growing fast around. 40-60 I'd say, and growing. Still I shoot 1D for fast and 1Ds for slow but honestly it doesn't really matter.
 
Not only did we have to send bodies and lenses for multiple fixes, they lost one body for 6 months and an 80-200 for 3 months. Only to turn around and charge us full price for repairs. When I told the the repair person that the recent repairs would weigh on our decision to switch, we got the "go ahead and switch" also. This was a mere 14 months ago and I doubt much has changed.

As for the rep., I suspect he didn't put up a fight since he probably lost too many people to the 1D mark 2 with 2x the mp and only $500 more. Then again, this was someone who was part of a crew that earlier told other colleagues of mine that the D2h was "The best pj camera out there, you guys just aren't using it right" during a show you how to really use it session. He was never able to make ISO 1600 and 3200 look decent even with the tweaks. Anyway, we switched and we are not looking back. Canon Pro services gets it, we have not had any lost items or multi repairs yet, knock on wood.
Terry M said:
Service is a big problem in this case. They keep having to send the
same bodies back for the same repairs over and over.
Click to expand...
 
Read this and you will understand why it does matter. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1032&message=19623870

Service matters, quality matters, support matters when a company such as my employer is looking to spend $300,000 in gear. You bet it matters.
MarkLe said:
couldn't care less about the system. I freelance but I see that
nikons are growing fast around. 40-60 I'd say, and growing. Still I
shoot 1D for fast and 1Ds for slow but honestly it doesn't really
matter.
Click to expand...
 
first of all: CPS may give you a loan but they still charge for the service on repairs. And that's also right (unless we want them to work for free because we go around press conferences with their cameras).

Second of all: the Nikon "attitude" is well known but their (pro) products are slightly better (in terms of durability)

Third of all: Canon has a better service right now but they too refuse to pre-fix well proven mistakes on certain lenses (24-70 filter ring and the IS on the 70-200 and 100-400). They wait until you brake it and then they start the action.

My "it doesn't really matter stands", maybe less "firm" now (thanks to your experience) but still stands :)
 
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