Canon or Nikon? Which is best for portrait and wedding photography and why?

If you are careful about taking your lenses off in areas of blowing dust you will still not have to have the sensor cleaned very often, I would still say get eh D3X and keep the D300 as a backup you will do great with that

Here is the benchmark comparison on sensor RAW data from DXO for the D300, D3 and Canon 1Ds Mark III they do not have the D3X on here yet but it will have better marks than the D3

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Image-Quality...

Canon and Nikon both make good cameras and lenses so alot of it is personal preference but remember the controls on the D3X will be very similar to your D300 so there will not be a large learning curve

The answer to this question doesn't matter. I'll write that again for emphasis. The answer to this question doesn't matter.

Canon owners prefer Canon. Nikon owners prefer Nikon. Both companies make incredible cameras and amazing lenses. Trying to decide which is better is impossible and pointless. Neither is better. They're both fantastic companies who make top-performance, professional cameras and gear.

One company will announce a super camera and be king of the hill ... for a few months. Then the other company will announce an even more advanced camera ... and on and on and on ...

What matters is the camera and lenses that you have in your hands. Not the newest camera in the store. If you think that all you need to do is buy the magic camera and that will make you into a wedding photographer, pack your things and go home now.

The camera doesn't matter. The photographer is what matters. Chose what camera you most like using - Nikon or Canon. Rent both a Nikon and Canon model of the camera you considering and try them side-by-side over a weekend. Ignore spec sheets and data charts and other meaningless nonsense. Which one do you most enjoy using? Which one most works the way you like to work? Buy that one.

Disclosure: I am the owner of http://www.lenslenders.com/ in Canada.

It's not the camera, its the photographer and lighting. I wouldn't worry, the D300 is a fine camera. So are Canon's Your D300 will work for 99.9999% of the shots for a wedding. Since its DX sensor camera, you might consider getting a backup (like a D80 or D90) body as a backup that will fit your DX lens. People get all caught up in equipment, when in reality unless you are making billboard size prints, your D300's sensor is completely adequate for your needs. A "professional" camera is whatever you make money with and what makes your clients happy. You have to remember it is a business, and this is a tool. Why spend more money on a tool if it doesn't return you any more money in the end? Do your clients really care if you shoot with a D700 or D3? Or Canon 1D for that matter? They care about getting those moments and getting it right. Spend your money on lighting a couple lenses, and a backup body. Don't get caught up reviews or opinions. Shoot what works and what makes you money. Most "artists" starve.

there is no compare possible between a D3 and a 1DSmk3. The 1DS mk 3 takes it over at the per pixel resolution and sharpness anyway. A D3 has same resolution as a D40 and a 1DSmk3 has same as a rebel 400.

Compare a lDSmk3 to a D3X and you're closer cause the D3X uses same per pixel resolution as the D200. If you go that way, get a 5Dmk2, Canon says themselves that it beats the 1DSmk3 in picture quqliry qnd it's normal, there are a few more years of evolution in between the 2.

Now, for weddings you need color dynamic, large shots and prints are obsolete and before you waist money with expensive things that do no better shot anyway, just a bigger one, get a Fuji S5Pro.

The body sells at moment less the 800$. Even the new 24 mpix can not reach it's color dynamic. Nothing draws smoother and closer to film and you have the advantage that you never lose or burn any detail in a white wedding dress. Other advantage, it had the D200 body, so nothing more to buy then a body and a card.

First of all, there is no general consensus. Some of the best shots I've seen were not even taken on full-frame bodies. I am talking about XTi, 40D, and D200 shots. You might want to find out if apprenticing with the D300 you already have makes sense.

A full frame camera will give you a wider angle and more megapixels; but going above 12 megapixels is often irrelevant unless you require prints larger than a two-page spread - 11"x17". You can obtain a wider angle on a crop sensor with a shorter focal length lens anyway.

The D300 is not holding you back, and neither would a 50D. Heck an XTi or D60 takes great shots and is lightweight; but just because they are smaller they are regarded as less pro by newbies.

Canon and Nikon have been leap-frogging each other in technology for ages. The only things I can say are that all the cameras you have named are great and maybe even overkill.

Canon standard and neutral presets produce colours that are accurate and representative of 'real' colours. There are presets that can exaggerate colours in JPEG output, just the same way that a Nikon does by default. Slight over-saturation and a little extra sharpening on nearly every shot is usually pleasing to the eye. Nikons also offer additional features above Canon cameras in terms of the ability to make on-camera edits to shots.

My only qualm with this is, why would I ever want to edit a photo on a tiny LCD screen..... and why if I were being professional, would I ever shoot in JPEG mode? Personally, I do all my editing through Lightroom or Adobe RAW Importer for Photoshop, on a screen big enough to see what I'm actually doing.

Canon lenses are great, and there are a lot more different lenses available through Canon and the third parties than there are for Nikon; but the lenses you need for wedding portraits are available on both systems.

So we are effectively back to even.

I would suggest that you do the following:

1) Favour Nikon because you already have one and can keep the D300 as a backup

2) Go to the store to hold and play with the other cameras you fancy... one of the most important factors will be how fast and comfortable the controls are to access in a hurry between shots

3) Do not mix systems with a Canon backup and Nikon main... because you want to be able to swap extensions if one body breaks down or one battery dies (and it is ideal to have two bodies with you so that you don't have to do lens changes)

4) Consider what your employer is using... because you'll probably want to be able to trigger his/her off-camera flashes - in portraiture, lighting is very important

5) Ignore the very brief, partisan, irrational answers others have given you and trust yourself

6) Consider your budget and maybe grow with time (you can invest in lenses now and get the upgraded body later, cheaper). If you are going to carry two camera bodies, make sure you have one long zoomer (maybe 75-300 with IS) and a medium-tele prime (85mm or 135mm with f/2.8 or wider)

7) Budget for tripod, memory card, external flash, diffuser, remote flash trigger, extra battery, polariser (if you plan to do any outdoor shots)

8) Read more than one review on an item

9) 24+ megapixels would be great if I needed to print portraits off of people in full scale (cardboard cutouts?).

I shoot mostly with a 450D/XSi (with 50mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2.8 macro, 24-105mm f/4L IS, speedlite 580 EXII with gary fong lightsphere II diffuser, off-camera slave speedlite 430 EX, tripod, and remote shutter cable).

you know your talking big big bucks for what you want and that's not including the lens, if you plan to spend 5 grand on a camera body and buy a 200.00 buck lens, then your wasting your time, better use the owners equipment to get familiar with what is good and what is not before you invest in equipment, Canon and Nikon are still making improvements to their digital products and it would be a good idea to visit other studios to see what they are using

Seriously. Either one will be fine. I've done many weddings and I'd never pay the $$$$ your talking about for a camera.

If you don't believe me. Take it from another professional

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/pro-camera.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/what-is-a-pro.htm

Unfortunately there is no image stabilization built-into-the-body of any Nikon D-series nor in the Canon D-Series DSLRs so you have to spend lots of money on special image stabilized lenses which means, that you still have to continue buying more telephotos which adds to your original camera investment.

A far better solution, which should have been considered at the onset, is to look into a long zoom digi-cam which provides the necesssary focal length lenses which is controled by built-in-the-body image stabilization. And the issue of whether which image stabilization is best [built-in-the-body vs. in the lense] is a mute subject since the final generated photos are no more than 8X10" prints/images.

The issue of a self-cleaning sensor should not be the major issue on deciding whether ot not to go with any other DSLRs just because such a cleaning device is offered. You can easily and simply do-it-yourself clean the sensor by bringing along a can of pressurized air and store the camera in a dust free camera case whenever you do not use it.

In wedding photography, you need a lot of close-ups which you cannot get with medium range focal length lenses. A singular 30mm to 400mm+ long zoom lense would easily capture these shots.

So returning to your question, on which brand of DSLR either a Canon or Nikon would I recommend, I would not go with either the Canon or Nikon DSLRs but look ino going with a digicam such as the new Panasonic Lumix Z28 [with a "Leica" lense] which has a long zoom all-in-one, built-in-the-body image stabilization, and of course, HD720 quality video with sound capability which supplements the need for video coverage of a wedding.

Good luck!

canons suck. they make everyone look washed out and shitty. use a nikon