Instead of reading my article as a whole, you take one statement out of context: I claimed that the design principle of the two companies comes from opposite direction to create “both great cameras with very negligible differences in performance.” You then engage in ad hominem because you feel that the truth of my argument makes you feel bad about your purchasing decision.

I have a better tactic for you. Why don’t you take more photos and blow me away with them.

Then again, that won’t work because I said that they’re both great cameras throughout my blog.

Idiot.

I reread this article I wrote expecting to take things back, but I won’t. I still think my statements about the company approaches are correct.

If they weren’t the Rebel wouldn’t have been released with crippled firmware from the 20D and it wouldn’t have been hackable in that manner.

If they weren’t there would have been a D100 sequel long before the D200.

If they weren’t the D70 would have had the single dial like in the D50 (and Canon would not have replaced their rear dial with a set of push-buttons).

If I wrote it again, I’d tame down the last paragraph where I said “just take snapshots” (I agree with the retraining issues with the Canon Rebel -> 20D upgrade, but I think the term “just take snapshots” implies something derogatory about purists. My point was I think the Nikon program modes are really limited, it seems that they really only made a token gesture in this regard.) If you go to an electronics store, they will steer you to the Canon simply based on megapixels. I know this because I pretend to be a buyer a lot just for fun at Best Buy, Frys, MicroCenter and the like. (Yes, I actually had one instance where I innocently asked what why pay more for the D70 and the “big hands” argument was regurgitated back at me.)

In fact, the only thing I want to take back is where I argue against the “small hands” thing by saying the size and weight differences are negligable. I don’t think it’s a small hands issue per-se, but the more compact layout of controls in the Canon Digital Rebel, which is evident to anyone who picks it up. Personally, I like how the Digital Rebel is so compact, though I dislike the lack of the top LCD readout—this bothers me about the Konica-Minolta Dynax series too. IMO, people who want a compact design will be attracted to the Rebel and people who prefer a more traditional design with more “heft” might like the D70 more. C|Net translates this into a “big hands/small hands” meme (probably from the days when notebook keyboards weren’t full-sized), which I still disagree with. Especially when I see it repeated everywhere.

Things are getting interesting. It looks like the odd man out is the 4-3 “standard” of Olympus. Sucks to be them.

dSLRs are bulky and hard to use. Also, people who are debating on saving a couple hundred on a “kit” are probably never going to swap out the lens anyway. If that is the case, why get a bulky, hard-to-use camera with a crappy lens in the first place?

Take the Olympus C-7070 for instance, in the review linked: “The Olympus C-7070 is quite simply one of the best semi-pro cameras available, and a real alternative to a digital SLR for the enthusiast photographer. Performance, build quality, photographic versatility and image quality are all of the very highest order. It is quite expensive, but it offers features and performance that you won’t find anywhere else for the price.”

And an article on how usability trumps specification and why we’re all guilty of a little “magical thinking” now and then.