In between the Canon EOS R, the Nikon Z Series, and the Fujifilm X-T3, it's been a crazy and exciting few weeks for camera announcements, and you might be thinking of switching brands. This helpful video will give you three questions to ask yourself before you do that.
Coming to you from Mark Denney, this great video talks about what you should ask yourself before you switch camera brands. Doing so is not particularly easy, especially if you're heavily invested in various lenses, and you should carefully consider if both the financial cost and the headache of selling off all your gear is worth what you'll gain or if it's more a case of gear lust. Personally, I switched to a Sony a7R III for the majority of my work, but I retained most of my Canon glass simply because some of it doesn't exist in the Sony ecosystem and because I can afford to manually focus for the work I use it for, which gives me the best of both worlds (for my work). Of course, your individual needs and workflow may differ from mine. Check out the video above for the full rundown,
I've had the same thoughts. Honestly thought of switching from Nikon to canon about & year back and decided the upgrade in quality wasn't worth it from a business stand point. Now I'm looking at switching to mirrorless for set stills work. Not sure if I will switch to Fuji or stay with Canon. If i book the right jobs to pay for what i want mostly with cash then I will probably just decide in the moment.
I only ask one thing, does this new product have any features that have any value to me. If yes, I switch. If no, I don’t switch.
I have zero brand loyalty.
What I don’t do is believe my chosen camera manufacturer cares about me or blindly stick with them while totally ignoring facts about other manufacturers features.
I've never understood brand loyalty. Convenience from not learning a different way to do the same thing, yes. Loyalty though? Why? Why is one company more deserving of your money than any other?
I wonder how many photographers who've been shooting for a while stay with their brand due to loyalty, or concerns about learning a new system (slows you down for a few hours) or concerns around cost...
Brand loyalty ? It is only for flamewar forumers and GAS.
Many photographers keep going with this or that lens mount because it cost money. And when invested in some or tons of accessories, it is again a pain to change everything, loosing time and energy to find replacement.
If you are able to swap system every 2, 3 or 5 years, it is just a nice indicator you are really a healthy photographer. Maybe even too much, and don't really care about the final pics but more about tech.
My only issue with brand loyalty is that once you are so invested in glass on one system switching to another can be a pain on the check book. Photography is how I pay my bills and since I'm looking at switching brands I'm trying to budget it into planned upgraded to cameras and lenses I'll have over the next few years (example: I've got a Canon 300mm 2.8 IS I've had for almost 14 years. Works fine now but Canon won't work on it anymore. I've been trying to plan to buy an upgrade in the next few years and since Fuji came out with a comparable lens this year I can just budget the switch in systems with that).
is it going to make me happier? if yes, go. :)
If my budget allowed it, I wouldn't switch, but I would probably add another brand. I really like Canon because of what they offer beyond DR and all those other things gear heads argue about.
But if I had the extra dinars, my other camera would be Fuji's terrific GFXs and a few of the purpose built lenses. It would be my landscape and portrait camera. Canon stuff would be for sport and wildlife.
It's funny how each brand "feels" so different to use! I find Canon intuitive, Nikon a little inconvenient (my fault, lack of familiarity) and Panasonic fun to shoot with. Played with a Leica, came away underwhelmed with the usability vs cost and weight.
One thing that's a deal breaker for me is size. I can't get past the smallish size of the FF offerings from Sony. While they take great pictures, I don't like Sony's ergonomics, ie, the way it feels in hand.
And that's where the Fuji GFXs does well. It's very much like a Canon/Nikon (5DIV/D850) in hand. And the Fuji engineers really did a great job with the battery grip, well thought out. It would take time to get used to the menu and buttons, but it feels very much like a FF from Nikon/Canon, not to mention the really terrific images it can produce.
I shoot Sony and one of my friends had a Nikon d300 which I found very easy to use. The same for the Nikon 90d which I used for school.The same goes for Fuji. Two friend own the X-t1 and I found that camera easy to use.
No trouble shooting with it.
Some guys I know own a Canon 80d and 6d and I found Canon wildly frustrating to use. Especially the 6d seemed incomprehensible.
The wonders of people all thinking differently, I guess! :-)
It is just what you are used to.
I'm kind of in the same boat with Canon/ Fuji. I really like both systems for different reasons. Don't know now much I want to live between both.
I switched a year ago from Pentax to Canon. I loved the K1 but they just don't have the lenses and auto focus for wildlife and I didn't see any chance for them to put out what I wanted in the near future. Canon lens line up is what made me decide on them over Nikon.
So I bought all my Canon gear then sold off the Pentax stuff over a few months and didn't lose a huge amount, I couldn't have rented it for what I lost for the time I owned it so I was happy.
A year later and and I'm so happy with the decision to switch.