Nikon D60 or Canon Rebel XSi?
Written by steven on February 19, 2008 – 12:50 pm -
With the announcement of the Canon Eos Rebel XSi (e.g. the Canon 450D), one has to pause. Yes, the newly unveiled Nikon D60 is a great update to the D40 and D40x, but being resolution whores, its hard to miss that the Rebel XSi is 12 megapixels to Nikon D60’s 10 megapixels. Despite Nikon fanboy assertions otherwise, Canon is not a toy company, 12 megapixels is not just a number. Canon has their sites set on killing the megapixel race (24 megapixels on their top camera, the Mark III). Even hardcore Nikon man Ken Rockwell has given Canon props for their superior resolving ability when he compared the Canon 5D to Nikon D3. We also noticed that Canon has a much more generous 3″ LCD “Live View” display, as compared to Nikon D60’s 2.5″. That’s a huge difference if you want to enjoy the photo you just snagged. 2.5″ sucks.
Nikon D60 does have one very sweet feature - its called Active-D Lighting. Basically it compensates for all of those blown highlights that make digital photography and cinematography so challenging. According to Senor Ken Rockwell, “This feature automatically identifies highlight areas that will be lost, and does its best to bring them under control. It works, and it works automatically.”
So which do we get for our entry level DSLR? Well the Nikon D60 is slightly more affordable then the Rebel XSi, (about $750 with lense kit at Adorama vs Canon Rebel’s $799 at J&R).
This reminds us of the battle between Sony and Panasonic camcorders. The Panasonic HVX200 never had the resolution of the Sony FX-1 or Z1 (they’re both HD camcorders). The Panasonic was always given credit for producing better looking, more filmic images - probably because of the way they handled dynamic range and highlights, while Sony always resolved better, which matters when you’re considering blow-up to theatrical size screens.
Therein lies your answer. Are you planning on printing your pics to enormous gallery size displays? If so, all the way to the high end, Canon is a better choice. If the D3 can’t resolve as well as the Canon 5D, which is half the price, then resolution whores should stick to Canon. If however, glorious photos without too much photoshop work is what you’re after, the Nikons are better choices, all the way down to the Nikon D40 (which is what the D60 essentially replaces). Us? We’re resolution whores, because we can do whatever the hell we want with the pic in Photoshop, except pretend we shot it in 12 megapixels!
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Tags: canon, canon 450d, canon 5d, canon eos, canon eos rebel, canon rebel xsi, canon xsi, CES, HD camcorder, LCD, LED, nikon, nikon d3, Nikon D40, Nikon D40x, Nikon D60, panasonic, sony
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