Hi there
I am a 30 year Canon user - which was never really a conscious decision on my part; more due to the fact I "inherited" gear from my father. I have owned a string of Canon film and digital SLRs, and currently a modest collection of high quality glass. I am pausing just for a moment before I buy a full-frame Canon - because on some level I perceive this will be my last chance to switch to Nikon, before I invest heavily in a new body and probably expand my lens collection too.
I don't think I have even shot a single frame on a Nikon SLR. But I have read extensively on them over the years, and I have always warmed to the feature set they offer as well as the ergonomic "look", and brand image. A case in point would be the recently announced D600. It almost seems to have been built with me personally in mind. (The D800 I think has too many megapixels, and too slow a frame rate. Good for landscapes and HD video, not much else IMHO).
That said, I still believe Canon's lens lineup is superior. Nikon's is complicated, and doesn't clearly identify its "professional" lineup - in the way that Canon's L-series does. The lenses also seem to be a heterogenous bunch ergonomically too. I know for a fact that if I switched brands, I would miss my Canon glass - at least initially... At any sports event, in the pro photographer's box, you see about 5 times as many white lenses as black ones. That must mean something.
So I guess my question is - can anyone who has extensively used both systems advise? And is there anything I may not have thought of? Regards