Working in the photographic retail industry, I do get some interesting insights into customer trends and, more importantly, product performance.

I spend a lot of time talking with our customers. I get a very good feel for their needs and also how consumers interpret the oooodles of information that is available online.

From the multi-page reviews at DPReview through to local forums and ecommerce sites, there is a lot of information to digest.

We can see from our statistics that an online buyer can spend 1 month researching before buying. Armed with all this information, consumers then have to choose the product that is right for them. This means they often need a helping hand deciphering this information and making a decision.

Let me help you…

LENSES

As a photographer, you know already that it is the LENS that has the biggest influence on the quality of your images – GOOD GLASS is what we all seek.

So which lenses should you buy? Or more importantly, which brand?

Now I must qualify my comments at this point — they are my thoughts only. Though I believe them to be correct, they are by no means gospel.

• If you use Nikon DSLR bodies – then buy Nikon lenses.
• If you use Canon DSLR bodies – then buy Canon lenses.

That’s it! Simple really.

OK, I’ll give you my reasoning.

Nikon and Canon are lens specialists. They make stuff we don’t even know about for NASA, the Military, and Medical Industries. They are, without doubt, at the cutting edge of lens technology.

Canon and Nikon also make their own DSLR bodies. They make them to work perfectly with their lenses.

Third party manufacturers like Sigma, Tamron and Tokina DO NOT pop over to Nikon and Canon for tea everyday and share their blueprints. They simply take the technology and backward engineer it.

Note: There is rarely a quality benefit in buying a 3rd party lens, there is only ever a monetary saving.

Now before you jump on my back saying, “Hang on, I have a Sigma 10-20mm on my Nikon and it’s simply great”, I say that this simply highlights a bigger issue — inconsistency.

Nikon and Canon can repeatedly make a lens to the same specification (of course, there are the odd duds but, considering the huge volumes they produce, the % is minuscule).

Third party manufacturers have varying grades — they can be great, pretty good, average, pretty poor, and really bad.

So when you are out in Web Land, reading reviews, keep this info in the back of your mind.

To translate this in commercial terms, I would simply say to you: “If your photography is commercial — i.e. if you make money from it, then insist on Canon on Canon, or Nikon on Nikon.

Hope this helps

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