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The s/w is about equal between the two, and the wide-angle options are also now the same between the two. Canon's have *always* been better at high ISO, so no gain there. The buffering/frame rate of the 20D blows away *anything* from Nikon below the D2H, so no advantage there.


Having using both Canon and Nikon software, it's my opinion that Nikon's software blows Canon's away. Nikon View is just far more flexible in every way than Canon ZoomBrowser, although Canon's new software may be better. These days, I mostly use Adobe Photoshop's Camera Raw, which blows both of those out of the water.

When you talk about Canon vs. Nikon parity, it's important to consider gear that's actually for sale. Canon has pre-announced the gear they'll have on sale for Christmas. Nikon will probably do its announcements next month prior to Photokina (which starts September 28). All the gear will probably be on sale at the same time. Likewise, I qualified my satements about buffering and frame rate with "at a given price point". For the ~$1000 body (Canon 300D vs. Nikon D70), Nikon blew Canon out of the water. For the ~$1500 body, the Canon 10D has some advantages over the Nikon D100, but it's unclear how the Canon 20D will stack up against the rumored forthcoming Nikon D200. At the pro end (1D Mark II vs. D2H), both cameras do an amazing 8fps, but I don't really follow those cameras too closely. Sports photographers seem to be mostly Canon users, but I've seen lots of other press shooting with Nikon.

For lenses, again, we don't know what Nikon will announce for Photokina. In recent years, Canon has had an advantage with longer lenses, but Nikon has had an advantage with wide angles and both are catching up to each other in the areas that they're weak. Canon has finally announced some new EF-S lenses, but they still lack a competitor to the Nikon 10.55mm DX fisheye. Conversely, Nikon lacks the ultrasonic motors and image stabilization that Canon has in more of its product line, although Nikon has shipped several of these sorts of lenses in the past year and may well have new ones up their sleeve.

All of this is picking nits. The high-level bit is that Nikon and Canon are far, far ahead of the rest of the D-SLR market. For some tasks, Canon is the camera of choice. For others, it's Nikon. I don't disagree that Canon is the one to beat, particularly for pro sports photography, but I also think that Nikon is very much in the game and an investment in Nikon gear is just as reasonable as an investment in Canon gear for most people's needs.