Great links. Thank you, Bernard. I was curious about the differences between the equivalent lenses from Nikon and Canon. My initial interest in Canon came from reading about how many landscape photographers were using the Metabones Smart Adapter to mount Canon L glass on their A7R bodies.
Nick,
Those are typically Canon users looking for higher res/higher DR body compared to what's availbale in Canon's line up who bought a a7r and continue to use their excellent existing Canon lenses. There are quite a few here at LL.
Few Nikon users do that, not because nobody is doing landacape with Nikon cameras (on the contrary), but because they have those sensors natively available in F mount. The only value of the a7r for landscape compared at a D810 is pretty much weight.
When comparing Nikon vs Canon lenses, the reality is that there are overall very close. With Nikon winning in some focal lenghts and Canon in others, always typically within a few % of each others. Two notable exceptions are the 17mm T/S that only exists in Canon mount and the 14-24 f2.8 only existing in Nikon mount, but both companies have been rumored for months to close these gaps with patents published last year on both sides. Some Nikon lenses are clearly due for a replacement soon, such as the 135mm f2.0 and 300mm f4.0, the same could be said of the Canon 100-400mm zoom lens,...
Then you have lenses that are unique because of their look. The Canon 85mm f1.2 II renders beautifully, but is a bit behind its Nikon equivalent in technical qualities. The Nikon 58mm f1.4 may be the best environmental portraiture lens with a very beautiful bokeh, but isn't as sharp wide open than other lenses,...
When you go beyond the typical over simplifications, you start to realize that either brand will do from a lens standpoint, but that there are some strong/weak points relative to some specific applications.
The fact that you can use Nikon lenses on Canon bodies but not the opposite makes buying Nikon lenses a very sound long term investment regardless of possible changes in sensor performance. Owning Nikon lenses makes you pretty much brand agnostic in terms of body because Nikon lenses can be mounted on pretty much anything.
But at the end of the day, the camera you have the best feel shooting with is probably the right one for hand held photography. When shooting landscape, I tend to think that "feel" is pretty much irrelevant since the camera is most of the time sitting on a tripod anyway.
Cheers,
Bernard
