And if you think the D40 is inferior, or cannot compete otherwise with any Canon camera. That’s a shame because you don’t even see what its got.

I love my Nikon, and I wouldn’t trade the reliability I have in my system. Canon users claim that it boils down to handling and taking care of it. And I am not. It has never been in the service center since.

So, let users be happy with whatever he/she prefers. I’m not gonna promote any gear as the maker doesn’t pay me for that.

I’m a hobbyist and wanna remain so. When I decided to use DSLRs for my missions, it was Nikon all the way in my mind. Subsequently, as I examined/studied bodies and lens to suit my type of photography that is nature including wildlife and birds; it became clear that I should go Canon. Complied with the desire about a year ago. Encounter some problems with my gears from time to time as I go about my missions. Nevertheless, have not yet discovered enough reasons for a switch. Also read some great professional nature/sports photographers’ articles re their switch to Canon mainly due to lenses.

Certainly many great action pros are turning out excellent products with Nikon gears as well.

Canon and Nikon dominate the market and that’s a reality. I had been to 2 local stadiums last Saturday (06Feb10) to watch the 11th South Asian Games. As I watched from high up in the stands, majority of the photo journalists’ (local and foreign) lenses were white. Needless to mention, I also shot quite a bit from my seat with my own white gear EF 400mm f/5.6L USM mounted on my EOS 450D. Nikon probably (I didn’t use them) makes great bodies and general purpose lenses however; when it comes to professional action photography – the observations should not go wrong.

If common viewers are happy with images, it never matters what gears were used.

http://www.radiantlite.com/2009/09/canon-lenses-vs-nikon-lenses-2009.html

Canon has a good selection of f/4 zooms, f/4 & f/5.6 telephoto primes and fast wide angle primes, but that’s about all the advantage as Canon has. You made a point of mentioning particular Canon lenses without regard to the Nikon equivalents (like 135mm f/2 L vs. 135mm f/2 DC), nor did you pick out any of the Nikon lenses that Canon has no answer to – the 14-24mm and 200-400mm in particular, as Steve mentioned. Again, as Steve said the Nikon lenses are more expensive because in general they are better in both image quality and (yes) build quality too. Oh, one more thing – Nikon cameras are compatible with nearly every Nikon lens made since the 1960s, and as far back as 1959 with slight modifications.

I’m chuckling a little at Quazi’s comment, too. He seems to have forgotten the D3’s performance versus the AF-problem ridden 1D Mk III, and the superior D3X versus the 1Ds Mk III. Even now the merely updated D3s competes well with the brand new (and still 1.3x crop) 1D Mk IV. Let’s take a look at the so-called “all-around” 5D Mk II – where’s the autofocus performance or frame rate? It looks like a pretty specific body designed for high resolution and video and not much else. The D700 is a very different, true all-around camera. Now, they both have their place targeting different users, and both companies make excellent cameras. In most cases (everything except the pro bodies), the N and C offerings are offset in target market so an even comparison isn’t even possible. I don’t mean to sound like a Nikon fanboy but your comparison doesn’t do Nikon justice.