Nikon versus Canon Shutter Speeds ?

[John Deakin]

Firstly, please forgive me if this topic has been covered elsewhere.

Three of us South African members have been discussing the apparent difference between the shutter speeds of similar Canon and Nikon set ups in the same lighting conditions and at the same settings.

I used to shoot Canon before switching to Nikon a short while ago. I noticed that the SS's seemed slower on the Nikon but never thought any more about it. By coincidence I then discussed this again recently with Peter Delaney and Chris van Rooyen, who also feel that Nikon SS's are slower than Canons when using exactly the same set up and in identical shooting conditions.

Have any other members had experience of this, and if so, can anyone please give some sort of explanation ?

Thanks in advance.

john

[George DeCamp]

Do you mean if both are set to Aperture Priority for instance, the Nikon will show a slower shutter speed? If so that is because Nikon and Canon use slightly different grey card readings for their metering systems. I forget which is which but I think Nikon uses 12% and Canon 18%...I probably got that backwards though, long day! ;)

I think it has changed recently though and both are pretty similar on the D300/D700/D3 vs the Canon equivalent cameras.

[John Deakin]

Thanks for your response George. I have both the D3 and D300 and both seem to slower than my ex Canon MK111 and 40D. Chris's experience is comparing a clients D300 to his MK111 too.

John

[George DeCamp]

Thanks John, then I am not sure. I do know for instance if you set both on Manual and use an incident meter to set both the Canon is closer to the incident meter reading then the Nikons. I did hear this was much closer with the D3 and D300 but had not tried it. I read it was a grey card difference as noted above.

Would love to find out more on this topic myself.

[John Chardine]

Still confused John- Do you mean that say 1/1000s on a Canon is somehow faster than 1/1000s on the Nikon?

[John Deakin]

Sorry John, I am not explaining myself very well me thinks.

The scenario is this: If using identical settings on equivalent Nikon and Canon gear set ups, the Canon set up with give higher shutter speeds.

Chris will correct me if I am wrong, however, I recall him saying that a client of his was using a D300 and 500 lens next to him using a 1D MK111 and 500 lens, shooting at identical settings. His MK 111 was giving significantly higher SS than his clients D300, hope this is clearer now. George may have answered the question, I am interested to hear if other members have experienced similar.

John

[Fabs Forns]

Sorry John, I am not explaining myself very well me thinks.

The scenario is this: If using identical settings on equivalent Nikon and Canon gear set ups, the Canon set up with give higher shutter speeds.

Chris will correct me if I am wrong, however, I recall him saying that a client of his was using a D300 and 500 lens next to him using a 1D MK111 and 500 lens, shooting at identical settings. His MK 111 was giving significantly higher SS than his clients D300, hope this is clearer now. George may have answered the question, I am interested to hear if other members have experienced similar.

John

Identical settings meaning f stop and ISO, I suppose. If there were shooting manual mode, the whole thing would not make sense, right?

I've read about the inconsistency in ISO ratings. That would also make a difference.

[John Deakin]

Hi Fabs, correct, both shooting AV, same ISO, f/stop etc. etc.

I am in no way complaining by the way, I just love the D3 and D300, and with their high ISO capabilities SS are not a problem. I am just interested in the technical reasons this differential exists as I was certainly not expecting it.

John

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This is most likely due to different ISO sensitivities. ISO 200 for example doesn't need to be the same sensitivity in different camera models even though there are standards.

[Fabs Forns]

I ermeber someone reporting the same phenomenon regarding Canon's Mark II N and Mark III.