What is the difference between Nikon and Canon?
What would make someone who has no lens investment in either company choose a Nikon over a Canon or a Canon over a Nikon.
Nikon has MUCH better lenses, but more trouble.
A Canon will last you a lifetime, but the lens' aren't as good.
The way they handle. Or an eye towards a certain lens.
Both are excellent brands - both have a great range of cameras and lenses - toss a coin - or which ever one you can get a great deal on camera and lens. The lenses are really what you should worry about get the best and they will be with you a lot longer than the camera.
Both companies have excellent cameras and lenses, and either system will serve you well. The deciding factor should really be which camera feels more comfortable to you.
I see from your other questions you're considering the Canon 7D and the Nikon D7000. They're both excellent choices. Have you had the chance to try both of them out in store? If not, I very strongly recommend it. There really is no substitute for hands-on experience when choosing between two great camera models. Spend a bit of time getting familiar with each of them (including menu systems), and you will very likely find that one stands out above the other. The deciding factor for me was simply the fact that Canon's cameras weren't comfortable to shoot with.
Nikons are famous for durability. They have a much sturdier construction and Nikon makes better lenses IMO.
Bad ones seem to think the brand makes a difference
- read between the lines my answer is there…
One has Nik and one has Can at the start of the name.
Apart from that it is totally down to personal choice which a person chooses.
The difference is the individual design of each individual piece of equipment. Apart from that the employees swap between companies and the equipment quite often comes out the same factories. Each design is designed to a spec and a cost decided by a committee, for the next project the committee and designers could all be working for the other company.
This explanation has been over-simplified on purpose.
They are both good and the camera bodies are going to be similar when you compare one to another (I'm assuming you are talking about digital SLR). The camera lens is what is most important. From my experience, I find Nikon to have better quality when it comes to the camera lens.
No difference in quality.
What would make someone choose toyota over honda? A hotdog over a cheeseburger? A dell over an HP?
it is what it is. I don't think there's anything specific (if there was, marketing executives would pay a pretty penny for that valuable information).
The biggest difference is what they offer for the price range and the design of the body. For example, one brand may offer more frames per second FPS or maybe better video recording for the same price. I think Nikon's lower MP count gives them an advantage over Canon but Canon has better, more economical lenses.
Nikon gives you much better pictures when compared to cannon