After 13 years with Canon, we've moved to Nikon. Here's why.

Roughly 15 months ago, we were approached by a Nikon UK rep. She wanted to know if we fancied transferring over with a degree of assistance from the company? At the time, the economics of the deal didn’t really work, so the answer was no. But then three weeks ago the opportunity arose again. The upshot is that just under a week ago our entire Canon and Phase One / Contax equipment inventory left and the brand new Nikon kit arrived. In the end it cost absolutely nothing to shift, as a Nikon appointed dealer took the old stuff away and delivered the new. Simple.

Having the opportunity to design a brand new kit list from the ground was also a major plus point. After much debate, we went for two D3x’s, a D3s, five new FX-format lenses (all with VR) and three SB900 flashguns. Having everything on one common platform will also speed up the workflow process. You only realise how completely different camera systems work against you when you’ve been up most of the night trying to match the contrast, saturation and colour of two image files from the exact same job.

Why three bodies? Well there’s two D3x’s and one D3s. Carrying more than one camera (of any description) is never a bad thing; all you need is a shutter jam and the shoot’s over (not funny if you’re thousands of miles away from home and the nearest pro dealer’s in another country and the client’s standing next to you). At 24.5 megapixel, the D3x’s will be the cameras of choice for almost all situations. Someone on an internet forum recently criticised me for the vast outlay, sighting a £2K kit, comprising of one body and three amateur lenses would have done the same job. Not true. Picture editors and designers frequently want to crop into individual parts of the image. You’d also find it difficult to produce a 4-sheet poster at 300 dpi with a lower resolution (Nikon’s D300 and D700 use chips in the 12-13 megapixel range). So why didn’t we keep Phase One’s P45? It’s true, the old P45 back was capable of almost double the resolution of the D3x. But technology has moved on since the P45 was built, coupled to the fact the new Nikons can be used in every single situation. Action is a breeze - a big no-no for the Contax 645. In short, it’s a compromise of resolution verses flexibility. The lower resolution D3s will come in handy for all high ISO, low light situations (shooting in tunnels would be one), where the previous Canon cameras struggled a little.

The simple truth is new stuff always makes the job easier, faster and thus more productive. Tracking shots can be achieved at 30th/sec with a 20 year old manual focus Pentax, but it’s a damn sight easier with a 10 fps burst rate and a Vibration Reduction lens. That said, we should all remember the famous quote: “Buying a Nikon doesn't make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner.”