Canon and Nikon are both optical companies first. Canon formed in the United States in 1965, while Nikon formed as the merger of three optical companies in Japan, in 1917.
Both companies make ultra high quality optics. Both companies make medical and industrial products. Canon makes a wide range of consumer products, such as printers, copiers and calculators; Nikon's "consumer" lineup includes sport optics, such as high-end binoculars and telescopes.
Canon and Nikon provide lenses for single lens reflex (SLR) cameras. SLR typically refers to film cameras, and "DSLR" refers to digital cameras.
Types of Lenses
SLR and DSLR lenses fall into a few distinct classes. They include:
* Wide-angle lenses, sometimes called "fisheye" because of the extreme lateral expanse of view;
* Standard, or "prime" lenses, which are almost all fixed at a focal length of 50mm (millimeters), the distance from the film plane or digital sensor to the front of the lens glass;
* Telephoto lenses, generally longer than 50mm up to 200mm;
* Super Telephoto, with a general range between 200mm and 600mm;
* Wide-Angle Zoom, ranging from some 10-24mm to 18-35mm;
* Standard Zoom, where longer reaches can be 16-85mm to perhaps 24-120mm;
* High Power Zoom, where the reach can be 55-200mm to 200-400mm; and
* Close-Up lenses, which professionals and very advanced amateurs use for micro-photography.
In all, Canon makes about 61 lenses and Nikon (Nikon markets its lenses as "Nikkor") makes 62, though model availability and new releases render those numbers "current," as of September 2009.
Compatibility
Generally, Canon and Nikon mounts on camera bodies are incompatible. You may be able to purchase an "after-market" or "third party" adapter that will let you mount one maker's lens on the other's body, but you will very likely lose many or all of the features either company intended.
Every Nikkor SLR lens ever made will mount on any Nikon camera body. Older lenses that lack the auto-focus mechanics will mount on newer DSLR bodies; however, they will focus only at the smallest aperture at which the lens will open.
Canon has newer lenses that will not mount on older camera bodies.
The huge images you see on building walls, in galleries and studios, are made with medium and large format cameras and film, not 35mm cameras or their digital equivalents.
Image Quality
New cameras typically come with a "kit lens" option. You can buy the camera body only if you need a specific lens and have no need for the "kit lens." Canon and Nikon sell consumer and "prosumer" cameras as a kit, and the kit lens is an 18-55mm zoom. Some reviewers will give one or the other higher or lower scores for focus speed, edge blur, coatings, weight, smoothness of transfer, the contribution the lens may make to "noise," which is the digital equivalent of "grain" in a film camera, and other factors.
Canon and Nikon make excellent lenses across their product lineup and price range. Photographers must know their specific needs for different situations in order to get the best results. A prime lens at 50mm, for example, will not yield good detail on a subject 150' away. Nor will an 80-200mm zoom lens focus "down" enough to yield a high quality image of a small flower.
For many amateur or experienced serious amateur (the "prosumer"), the available kit lens may satisfy 90% or more of that photographer's needs.
The Sensor Factor
The general discussion usually centers on 35mm film and its digital equivalent sensor as they apply to cameras of that general size, weight and intended use.
In 35mm film, negatives of 1" x 1.5" were presented, thus a 1:1.5 ratio. The sensor on many DSLR cameras is 2/3 that size, which has two consequences. First, for instance, for 12.3Mpx (megapixels) to fit on a DX (the 2/3 size sensor above) sensor, they have to be half the size of those found on a 6Mpx camera*. The sensor is in the camera, but the consequence of the 1:1.5 ratio on a 2/3 size sensor is that the lens will have a narrower width of view and a longer depth of field. In other words, an 18-200mm zoom lens will yield the same width and depth of field as a 27-300mm lens on a film camera.
Both Canon and Nikon also make camera bodies with full frame (FF for Canon and FX for Nikon) sensors. Those camera bodies are at the high end of either company's professional equipment catalog.
*There is a great deal more technology to the relationship the lens bears to the camera sensor than can be discussed here. See a camera professional.
Image Stabilization vs. Vibration Reduction
Both Canon and Nikon make lenses with features that reduce shake, thus allowing slower shutter speeds or wider apertures without blur.
Canon calls its anti-shake "Image Stabilization," while Nikon's name for the feature is "Vibration Reduction. You'll see IS or VR on lenses that have the feature.
Other manufacturers may put the anti-shake feature in the camera body, and couple it with a feature that intends to shake dust off of the sensor.
Significance
Canon is the "official" camera of the National Football League, and you may notice photographers at those games using huge lenses with off-white barrels. That's marketing, not technology. Similarly, Nikon contracts with National Geographic photographers to use its equipment on assignment.
Both companies make state-of-the-art lenses for a wide array of uses. Make your buying decision on your needs and budget.
Finally, cameras and lenses do not make great photographs. Photographers do.
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