The History of the Nikon vs. Canon Battle [Infographic]

The Canon vs. Nikon argument is up there with the best of them: Pepsi vs. Coke, Mac vs. PC, iOS vs. Android, Xbox vs. PS3 and the list goes on. Photographers are fiercely loyal to their gear and rightly so, considering the investment most photographers have in bodies, lenses and accessories.

But is one really better than the other? As with most brand battles, the answer is unclear. Photography blogger Ken Rockwell puts it into perspective:

Nikon and Canon are different, but just as good. Anyone who tries to tell you that one or the other is garbage isn't paying attention, and most likely doesn't have the other to sell you. Nikon and Canon compete so heavily against each other that if one really were better or worse they would have gone out of business long ago.

Read his article on Nikon vs. Canon here.

Regardless of your affiliation or your fixation, these two brands each offer incredible equipment. The infographic below examines their history, their recent sales and one camera comparison. While a matchup of the Canon Rebel T3i and a Nikon D3100 is hardly a representation of these two photographic behemoths, it does offer insight into the technology behind their success.

Click the infographic to view a larger version:

Canon vs. Nikon Infographic

Thanks to Digital Photography School for creating this infographic.

5 Comments

  1. Market share tables need some standardization for millions vs. billions and qtr vs. year. When was Canon’s first digital?

  2. That is really a comparison without the sense of history. Until reason years there were a lot more than Canon or Nikon. Minolta made the first camera with TTL in 1966, the Pentax K1000 was manufactured for almost 20 years (!) and sold over 3 million units, the Olympus original PEN changed the form factor for cameras in 1959 and so on. Making photographic history to a story about Canon and Nikon is really dumbing things down.

  3. Rule #1, if you want to lose credibility to any article quote Ken Rockwell.
    Having as most photojournalists shot both these systems over the years it somewhat interesting, but very shallow look at these to companies.

    In some ways I think leaving out Minolta and Pentex is like try to Apple’s and Microsoft’s story without Xerox Parc.
    Minolta had the first working and practical AF system. In many ways we all should be shooting Minolta now.

    Both these companies have a rich history in fact Nikon used to sell shutters to Canon. What I think is missing is some of the early history as well as some of the accomplishments of companies.

    In fact the comparison between the Canon T3 and Nikon D5100 could have been dumped. The concept was good but the article was just to shallow.