Switching from Canon to Nikon

I am going to make the switch from Canon to Nikon for my DSLR in the coming months. The Nikon D300 has captured my interest and envy.

I have been thinking about upgrading my Canon EOS 30D for quite some time. The Canon EOS 40D has some really nice features that I would like, but the improvements just aren't enough to justify the cost to upgrade.

So I have been holding out for the mythical Canon EOS 5D replacement to be announced to see what that brings to the table. Every few months you see an uproar of posts on the Flickr forums about the imminent release of the 5D replacement. We're all still waiting... and waiting.

Recently I started evaluating whether Canon was the best choice for *me*. I am certainly not saying that Canon is a bad product. Quite the contrary... I have been extremely happy with my camera. You can't go wrong with either Canon or Nikon for DSLRs. Those are the only two DSLR brands that I would recommend to my friends.

However, my friends and family (that have a DSLR) all use Nikon cameras. Most of the pro/semi-pro photographers that I follow use Nikon cameras. If they all had Canon cameras I wouldn't be questioning which brand is right for me.

One of the things that influenced me to choose Canon was the famous white professional lenses that you see at football games. I have one of those lenses: the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. It's my favorite lens, but it draws a lot of attention. So much so that it's turned me off of the 'white' lens envy. I wish now that it were black. I will definitely be purchasing the Nikon equivalent of this lens.

I have to recover from a recent home repair, so I've got some time to think it through. But that Nikon D300 is drawing me in like a moth to a flame.