I tried both 3ds max and Cinema 4d and liked C4D more. 3ds max has good modeling tools, but it's very complicated. It's often used by game devs that export the models to the game engine. I think Cinema 4d is better for scenes and animations, and it's fairly simple to use. It also has modules such as thinking particles and hair (I used hair for the grass in the golf picture). All the modules are included in the studio bundle.
You can create great renders with both, but I work better with C4D.