Originally posted by Topsy Very interesting actually. I never really researched them but I always thought that picture quality wise Nikon was better than Canon?
You'd hope that that's what people would look out for..
My friend, a Canon 7D (not the mark II, the original) shooter, has 4 beautiful 20" x 30" metallic prints hanging on her wall which she took. I doubt that if I took it with my K-1 the prints would be that much better, if at all. Perhaps i could get away with less aggressive noise reduction, but even then I don't think it would make hardly any difference.
My point is that yes Nikon and Pentax do have sensors which have higher signal to noise ratios and also have higher dynamic range. But in real life prints, with post processing software as advanced as it is today, it rarely comes into play.
A more important factor is that any newbie can walk into any Best Buy, Target, Walmart Etc and buy a Canon.
And even if that newbie didn't buy it there at a brick and mortar store, he would go home and buy it on Amazon because he knew what a Canon looked like because he saw one at a store...or his other friends had one...or one of the salesman tried to sell him one etc.
And for the small percentage of newbies that progress and buy more than the kit lens, it will be from then on Canon gear.