Nikon D4 with 500mm OR Canon 5d mark iii with 500mm II

[Abhishek Mehta]

Friends,

I have decided to buy Full Frame body and 500mm lens. I am debating for sometime now to buy Canon 5d mark III with 500mm f4 IS II OR Nikon D4 with 500mm f4 VRII. I am considering these options as my budget is approximately same as the price of these sets.

Please suggest which gear to buy in this price range. I am open for any other suggestion (in the same price range).

Thanks
Abhishek

[van bogaert erik]

Friends,

I have decided to buy Full Frame body and 500mm lens. I am debating for sometime now to buy Canon 5d mark III with 500mm f4 IS II OR Nikon D4 with 500mm f4 VRII. I am considering these options as my budget is approximately same as the price of these sets.

Please suggest which gear to buy in this price range. I am open for any other suggestion (in the same price range).

Thanks
Abhishek

when you consider the Nikon D4, why don't you consider the canon 1DX instead of the 5d mark III ?? , i don't think that the 5D mark III is in the same level as the nikon 4D .

[Abhishek Mehta]

Van,

Canon 1dx if I consider the Canon set price will not be in my reach, hence 5d mark iii...

[Miguel Palaviccini]

That's a tough question, especially since you are asking which system to buy into! I own Nikon equipment, and really couldn't see myself switching to Canon for many reasons. I'm young and in relatively good shape, so I can HH my Nikon 500. If you want to hand hold for the majority of your shots (and I highly recommend doing so for BIF), then I would jump on the Canon 500 II and 5D III. If handholding isn't a big issue, then I'm partial to the ridiculous dynamic range of the D4. To me, the HH question alone would push me one way or another. Also know that you will probably own the lens for a decade, but the body may go after 3 or so years. So it's not just the initial investment, so think about the long term as well!

[van bogaert erik]

but the body may go after 3 or so years.

A pro body you can hold on for a lot longer than 3 years if you are not a pro i reckon .

[SteveYoung]

What system are you currently using? Are you making a switch from Sony or Pentax or something? My suggestion would be to rent the two setups independently and see which suits you better; spending a couple hundred on rental fees seems worth it to find out where you want to drop $15 grand. The controls are wildly different and that would be a deciding factor to me. I use Canon and every time I've played around with Nikon stuff it feels like everything was designed backwards. It would also be good to find out how the AF compares between Nikon's top pro body and the Canon 5DIII.

One other thing to consider is that Canon has a much larger market share. This is important to people like me who are on very tight budgets and rely a lot on building our kit from used equipment. There is much much more Canon equipment out there in the second hand market than there is Nikon. This may or may not be a concern for you, but it is one of those things that people don't often think about until they're looking for a used lens or speedlight on ebay or something.

[Abhishek Mehta]

I use canon 100-400. But to upgrade my consideration is not the old equipment but to buy which is good between canon 500mm ii with 5d mark iii or Nikon 500mm with D4