Here's some food for thought: According to my highly unscientific poll Canon gear is prefered by the railfan public. Fair enough. But in my experience Nikon gear has been overwhelmingly dominant. Don't believe me? On a recent trek to Chicago there were four photogs toting Nikon SLRs, one with a Nikon digital, and one with a Nikon P&S (along with another without a camera). Just this past weekend another gathering had five photogs toting Nikon SLRs. Any comments on this phenomenon?
I don't know what the sales numbers bear out. I think it is kind of like the great Ford vs. Chevy debate. A lot of folks grow up with an inherent bias towards certain brands due to family history. I initially picked Canon SLR's due to their simplicity, and just moved up the line. However, when I got serious about digital, I looked at both Nikon and Canon. I tried both out and the Canon won due to some significant feature difference (namely storage... at the time I was buying, the biggest affordable CF card was 64-96 woo woo woo.... The Canon also could take an IBM Micro-Drive that the Nikon could not.... a significant advantage, since I got a 340 woo woo woo Micro-Drive). In the current SLR AF world, I think Canon may sell more, due to having a broader range of products, especially low end. Harold