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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

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Canon EOS-D60 Review, Phil Askey, March 2002

Review based on a production EOS-D60, Firmware Version 1.0.0

Canon announced the EOS-D60 two days before PMA 2002. That's exactly two years since the EOS-D30 was first announced, although that seems like a long time ago the D30 didn't hit the streets until the end of 2000 (early 2001 in some countries) and so remained a tempting enigma for most of 2000. The D60's launch was mostly anticipated by D30 owners (and those who follow sites like ours) and most appear to be relatively happy with the majority of improvements made.

The biggest and most obvious difference of course being the new six megapixel sensor, and that drags the D30 'system' into the major league as far as digital SLR resolution is concerned (at the time of writing this review). Although the D60 made an impact at PMA it wasn't the only new kid on the block, just a day before Canon's announcement of the EOS-D60 Nikon announced their consumer level D100 six megapixel digital SLR, with a slightly better feature set and otherwise a similar market target the D100 and EOS-D60 are set to go head to head this year.

The battle started early, with neither manufacturer announcing an official price for the cameras at

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PMA, instead began a game of poker with many rumours and price changes for almost two weeks after the show. Things, though have both calmed down and taken a very attractive turn. Canon announced that the new EOS-D60 would be priced (in the US) at US$2,199 for the full kit (includes battery, charger, DC kit) and just US$1,999 for the basic body (no battery etc.). This appears to have undercut the rumoured US$2,500 for the D100. Nikon haven't as yet announced their official pricing.

At this stage we don't have a D100, it looks like it will definitely be more than a month away and thus at this time I'm not in a position to use it for comparison in this review. HOWEVER, when I review the D100 I'll definitely use a D60 for comparison purposes, and that will serve to be the head to head between the two cameras.

Please support this site if you decide to buy

If you make a decision to order the EOS-D60 you can help to support this site and future articles / reviews by buying directly from one of our official retail partners:

Order the Canon EOS-D60 Kit (battery, charger, DC coupler) online from ourapproved retailer partner State Street Direct - $2,199

Order the Canon EOS-D60 Body only (no battery or charger etc.) online from ourapproved retailer partner State Street Direct - $1,999

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions.

Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window.

To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top.

DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2002 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.


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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 2. Specifications: Digital Photography Review

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Canon EOS-D60 Specifications

Type

Type Digital AF SLR (Single plate CMOS sensor /Direct Imaging)

Price US: US$2,199 (Full Kit) or US$1,999 (Body only, no battery, charger etc.)

Recording medium Type I and II CF card

Image format 22.7 x 15.1 mm

Compatible lenses Canon EF lenses (all) (due to max. aperture metering, stopped-down shooting not possible)

Lens mount Canon EF mount

FOV crop Approx. 1.6x (also known as focal length multiplier)

Imaging Element

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Type High-sensitivity, high-resolution, large single-plate CMOS sensor

Pixels Effective pixels: Approx. 6.3 megapixelsTotal pixels: Approx. 6.52 megapixels (3152 x 2068)

Sensor size 24.9 x 18.1 mm

Effective size 22.7 x 15.1 mm

Pixel size 7.4 x 7.4 µm

Aspect ratio 2:3

Color filter system RGB primary colors

Low-pass filter Built-in, fixed, in front of the sensor

Recording System

Recording format Design rule for Camera File system

Image format RAW and JPEG

RAW+JPEG Simultaneous recording; a JPEG-Middle/Fine file is also simultaneously recorded within the (.crw) file. The JPEG-Middle/Fine file can be extracted from the RAW file and saved (.jpg) with the dedicated driver (provided).

Provided File size • Large/Fine: approx. 2.5MB (3072x2048 pixels) • Large/Normal: approx. 1.3MB (3072x2048 pixels) • Middle/Fine: approx. 1.4MB (2048x1360 pixels) • Middle/Normal: approx. 0.7MB (2048x1360 pixels) • Small/Fine: approx. 0.9MB (1536x1024 pixels) • Small/Normal: approx. 0.5MB (1536x1024 pixels) • RAW: approx. 7.4MB (3072x2048 pixels) Exact file sizes depend on the subject and ISO speed.

Folders setting Automatic

File numbering • Consecutive numbering • Auto reset

Image-processing Besides the standard processing parameters applied by the camera automatically during the image recording, the user can create and register up to three sets of parameters (contrast, sharpness, color saturation, color tone).* The parameters can be set with the on-screen menu (not with the dedicated software).

External interface

Digital terminal USB Ver. 1.1

Video output terminal NTSC/PAL

Remote control terminal N3-type terminal



PC termninal Provided

Color temperature

White Balance • Auto • Daylight • Cloudy • Tungsten light • Fluorescent light • Flash • Manual

Auto white balance Auto white balance with the CMOS sensor

Custom white balance 1 custom white balance settings can be registered

White balance bracketing

Not provided

Viewfinder

Type SLR type, eye-level type with eyesight correction (fixed pentaprism and no condenser lens)

Coverage Approx. 95% vertically and horizontally with respect to the effective pixels

Magnification 0.88x (-1 diopter with 50mm lens at infinity)

Eyepoint 20 mm

Built-in dioptric correction

-3.0 - +1.0 diopter

Focusing screen Fixed, New Laser Matte screen

Mirror Quick-return half mirror (Transmission: reflection ratio of 40:60 (no mirror cut-off with EF 600mm f4 or shorter lens)

Viewfinder information • On the screen • AF points • Partial metering circle (6.1 mm dia., approx. 9.5%) • Below the screen • Numerals and letters displayed by 7-segment LCD (yellowish-green) • Shutter speed (If unsuitable, it blinks at 2 Hz as a warning.), bulb, FEL indicator • Aperture (If unsuitable, it blinks at 2 Hz as a warning.) • Max. burst during continuous shooting: Max. 8 • Shots remaining (Displayed when the CF card has room for 8 or fewer images) • Busy (buSY) • CF card full warning (FuLL CF) • CF card error warning (Err CF) • No CF card warning (with C.Fn-15-1/CF) • LCD mask (yellowish-green) display • AE lock/FE lock icon, AEB in-progress indicator (blinks at 2 Hz) • Exposure level (+/-2 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments) • 1: AE exposure compensation amount • 2: Manual exposure level • 3: AEB level • 4: Red-eye reduction lamp on time display • 5: Flash exposure compensation amount • Flash exposure compensation icon • Flash icon on: Flash ready • Flash icon blinking: Flash exposure beyond range warning during FE lock • High-speed sync (FP flash) • AF focus confirmation light (blinks at 2 Hz when focus cannot be achieved), MF focus confirmation light



* Not possible to turn off the viewfinder information display.

Depth-of-field preview Enabled with depth-of-field preview button

Eyepiece shutter None

Autofocus

Type Multi-Basis, TTL-CT-SIR (TTL secondary phase difference detection)

AF points 3

AF working range EV 0.5-18 (at normal temperature and ISO 100, with the standard chart)

Focusing modes • One-Shot AF • Predictive AI Servo AF • One-Shot/Predictive AI Servo AF switching • Manual focusing (MF)

AF point selection • Automatic selection • Manual selection

Selected AF point display

Superimposed in viewfinder and indicated on top LCD panel

AF-assist beam • Beam emission: LampEffective range: Approx. 3.8 m (at center), beam coverage: 28mm (135 equivalent) lens angle covered • Conditions for emission: Emitted automatically under low light (EV 4 or lower at ISO 100) • Emitted in shooting modes except Landscape and Sports. • Emission can be disabled with C.Fn-5 (including external Speedlite). • Emissions: 6 times in three bursts • Emission stops when focus is achieved. • Light source: Halogen krypton lamp • With EX-, EZ-, and E-series Speedlites • With 550EX, 540EZ, and ST-E2: The external Speedlite's AF-assist light will be emitted regardless of AF point selection mode (automatic or manual). • With other EOS-dedicated Speedlites: When the center AF point has been selected, the external Speedlite's AF-assist light will be emitted. If a peripheral AF point is selected, the camera's AF-assist light will be emitted.

Exposure

Exposure Control TTL full aperture metering with 35-zone SPC. Three metering modes provided:1) Evaluative metering 2) Partial metering at center (approx. 9.5% of viewfinder) 3) Centerweighted average metering * In Full Auto and Programmed Image Control modes: 1) is set automatically. (1) and 2) cannot be set) * In the Creative Zone modes, 1), 2), or 3) can be set.



Shooting modes • Intelligent Program AE (shiftable) • Shutter-priority AE (No safety shift) • Aperture-priority AE (No safety shift) • Depth-of-field AE (A-DEP, shiftable) • Full Auto (Intelligent Program AE/non-shiftable) • Programmed Image Control modes (5) • Portrait • Landscape • Close-up • Sports • Night Scene • Manual • E-TTL autoflash program AE • High-speed flash (FP flash), FE lock • No A-TTL/TTL autoflash program AE

ISO speed range The following ISO speeds are selectable with the on-screen menu: • ISO 100 (Default) • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 • ISO 1000

Exposure compensation • AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) +/- 2 stops in 1/2- or 1/3-stop increments • Manual exposure compensation • Flash exposure compensation

Bracketing methods Shutter speed or aperture

AE lock • Auto AE lock – works in One-Shot AF mode with evaluative metering. AE lock takes affect when focus is achieved. • Manual – By AE lock button • Sets AE lock at any time. • AE lock button does not work in the Full Auto and Programmed Image Control modes. • Regardless of the metering mode, center partial metering will be used. • During AE lock, pressing the AE lock button again renews the AE lock. • When the built-in flash or an external Speedlite is used, the AE lock button works as an FE lock button.

Shutter

Type Vertical-travel, mechanical, focal-plane shutter with all speeds electronically controlled

Shutter speeds • 1/4000 to 30 sec. (1/3- and 1/2-stop increments), • Bulb • X-sync at 1/200 sec

Shutter release Soft-touch electromagnetic release (No cable-release socket)

Noise reduction None

Self-timer Electronically-controlled 10-sec. delay

Remote control Remote Switch N3-type terminal provided.

Flash (built-in)

Type Auto pop-up, retractable, built-in flash in the pentaprism with serial control, E-TTL autoflash

Guide No. Guide No. 12 (at ISO 100 in meters)



Recycling time Approx. 3 sec.

Flash ready indicator Flash-ready icon lights on in viewfinder • When the flash is not ready, the flash-ready icon is off and the shutter release is locked.

Flash coverage Up to 18mm lens angle (equivalent to 28mm in 135 format)

Flash button Provided

Firing conditions • In P, Tv, Av, A-DEP, M modes: • Press the flash button to pop-up and fire the flash for all shots. • In Full Auto, Portrait, Close-up, and Night Scene modes: • Pops up and fires automatically in low light or backlit conditions.

Flash sync speed Max. X-sync speed 1/200 sec.

Flash metering system E-TTL autoflash (preflash metering and linked to AF points)

Flash exposure compen. Up to +/-2 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments.

* Flash exposure compensation can be set with the camera for built-in and external Speedlite.

Red-eye reduction With the built-in flash, the flash is fired after the red-eye reduction lamp lights.

External Speedlite

Flash sync contacts • Hot shoe: X-sync contacts • Lower side terminal: PC terminal (JIS B-type socket) • Screw lock and shock protection feature provided on the hot shoe.

Flash auto Enabled with the camera's Program AE mode • With EX-series Speedlites: E-TTL autoflash • With built-in flash: E-TTL autoflash • With EZ-, E-, EG-, ML-, and TL-series Speedlites: Autoflash not possible.

Wireless flash Enabled with the 550EX, 420EX, MR-14EX, MT-24EX, or ST-E2

Flash exposure compen. Settable with the camera or external Speedlite

FEB Settable with the 550EX, MR-14EX, or MT-24EX.

Modeling flash With the 550EX, 420EX, MR-14EX, or MT-24EX, press the depth-of-field preview button (fires at 70 Hz for 1 sec.).

PC terminal Provided

Drive System

Drive modes • Single frame • Continuous • Self-timer (10 sec)

Continuous Approx. 3 fps (at 1/250 sec or faster shutter speed)

Max burst 8 shots

LCD Monitor

Type TFT Color, liquid-crystal monitor

Monitor size 1.8 in

Pixels Approx. 114,000 pixels

Coverage Approx. 100% (effective pixels)

Brightness control 2-level adjustment provided

Image Playback



Image display format • Single image • Single image (with info) • 9-image index • Magnified • Auto play

Highlight alert In the single image (Info.) display mode, the highlight portions which do not contain image information will blink.

Image Protection and Erase

Protection A single image can be protected or unprotected

Erase One image or all images in the CF card can be erased (except protected images) at one time.

Menus

Menu categories 24 menus (8 shooting menus, 4 playback menus, 12 setup menus)

LCD monitor language Japanese, English, French or German can be selected.

Firmware update Updating by the user is not possible (??)

Custom functions 14 Custom Functions with 38 settings settable with the camera.

Personal functions None

Power source

Battery One Battery Pack BP-511 (lithium ion rechargeable battery)

Number of shots At 20°C/68F: Approx. 620 (When a fully charged battery pack, EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, image review ON, image review time of 2 sec., and Large/Fine recording format

Battery check Automatic battery check when the main switch is turned on. The batterylevel is indicated by one of three levels on the LCD panel.

Dimensions and Weight

Dimensions 150 x 107 x 75 mm (5.9 x 4.2 x 3.0 in)

Weight (inc. battery) 855 g (1.9 lb) - body only

Operating Conditions

Operating Conditions Working Temperature range 0°C to 40°C

Operating Humidity 85% or less

Major accessories • Battery Pack BP-511 • Compact Power Adapter CA-PS400 • DC Coupler DR-400 • Interface Cable IFC-200PCU • Video Cable VC-100 • Battery Grip BG-ED3 • Dedicated strap











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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 3. What's New: Digital Photography Review

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Canon EOS-D60 - What's New

Below you'll find a quick reference to what's new and what has been improved since the EOS-D30. This page is really intended for existing EOS-D30 owners.

6.3 megapixel CMOS sensor (3072 x 2048 final image size)Canon are fairly unique in the D-SLR arena (apart from Fujifilm) in that they design and produce their own sensors. The D30 and now D60 are unique in being the only D-SLR's to use a CMOS sensor (although Sigma's SD9 will soon be using a Foveon X3 CMOS sensor).

Maintained 3 fps, 8 images maxAssuming a 12-bit ADC the D30 produced 4.64 MB of data every time you pressed the shutter release. The D60 takes that to 9.32 MB for each shot, so it's impressive that (at this price point) Canon has managed to maintain a three frames per second shooting speed and a buffer large enough to hold a maximum of eight frames.

Improved bufferThe D60 now displays the status of the buffer on the viewfinder status bar. It also uses it more smartly and allows you to take photos as quickly as you can press the shutter release, even in single shot drive mode.

Improved low-light auto-focusCanon described this as "AF performance in low light environments has been improved". This, it turns out actually relates to the way the AF lamp operates in conjunction with the camera's AF system.





















Shorter shutter release lagThis is noticeable, the camera seems more 'keen' immediately after the click of the shutter release button. It's interesting because it's not something I'd particularly noticed with the D30 but the D60 does feel faster.

Highlighted AF points in viewfinder view (works for AF and MF and point selection)This feature was delivered inside the pentaprism below the flash unit and can be seen as a small rectangular bump below the Canon logo on the front of the camera. When selecting AF points the selected point glows in red. When auto-focusing the selected (or automatically selected) AF point glows and when manually focusing the point glows when manual focus matches the detected AF distance.

Reduced maximum sensitivity - ISO 1000 (D30 supports ISO 1600) - It does seem a shame that we've lost the ISO 1600 of the D30. Looking at ISO 1000 images from the D60 I see no image quality reason for not having ISO 1600 so this must be a technical limitation.

New laser matte focusing screenJust slightly noticeable as the viewfinder seems a little brighter.



Parameters can be set in-camera (contrast, sharpness, saturation, color tone)This was one of the complaints from my D30 review and it's a welcome addition, it makes setting and experimenting with the cameras internal processing parameters far easier. It's a shame though that in doing so Canon didn't expand the range by which you can adjust each parameter, still only +/-1 level (which is hardly noticeable).

New 'Color tone' parameterThe color tone option enables you to make a subtle adjustment to the default white balance. The EOS-D60 manual describes -1 as shifting towards red and +1 as shifting towards yellow. This appears to be intended at producing a more natural skin tone for models with different coloured skin.

Top LCD panel has LED illuminatorI can hear the sighs of relief on the Canon SLR Talk forum already. When enabled the top panel illuminates when ever the SET button on the rear of the camera is pressed. Illumination is provided via bluish green LED's. (Shot above taken in complete darkness)

Improved LCD monitorAlthough the same physical unit as last year Canon has applied a new surface and improved the overall brightness of the screen, it's easier to see off-axis and appears to be overall much brighter.

Tweaked image display gammaThis makes it easier to see the darker areas of the image and helps to show a more representative view of the image (sometimes the D30 playback looks a little dark).

Tweaked daylight white balanceThe cameras daylight (sunny) white balance has been shifted slightly (from 5500 K on the D30 to 5200K on the D60). This, apparently after Canon's own analysis of images shot by owners.



New long exposure noise reductionInstead of having to wait double the length of time of the original exposure (as with the D30) the D60 has cleaned the image in just a second or so. Gone also is the long exposure custom function, it's now permanently enabled.

Firmware version displayed on menuA small tweak but one which could be useful where several D60's are in use it quickly allows you to see what firmware version is loaded on the camera.

New Medium image sizeLarge: 3072 x 2048Medium: 2048 x 1360Small: 1536 x 1024

Shooting RAW (3072 x 2048) also captures a 2048 x 1360 which is embedded WITHIN the RAW file.

New RAW conversion softwareImproved workflow, faster RAW conversion times "and about time to", gone is the woefully inadequate RAW converter from the D30 to be replaced with the improved application we first saw on the EOS-1D. You can now also extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG's from RAW files at very high speed.



Attached rubber covers for flash sync terminal and remote terminalYou won't lose these because they're attached to the camera.

Silver mode dialI personally don't like this, it detracts from the rest of the camera and simply looks odd. I suppose it makes the D60 easier to recognize from a distance (?).

Improved power switchThe D30's power switch was always criticized for its difficult operation. The new switch is similar but the simple extension of the center ridge of the switch makes it a lot easier to operate.

'Digital' logo on camera frontCanon's new standard D-SLR logo the 'Digital' label we first saw on the EOS-1D now appears on the EOS-D60.









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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 4. Body & Design: Digital Photography Review

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Design

Canon EOS-D30 owners will immediately feel at home looking at the pictures above. That's because very little has changed on the exterior. Indeed the only visible changes are the new 'Digital' logo on the front, an additional bump under the flash unit (contains the LED's for the illuminated AF points), the silver mode dial, improved power switch and new rubber covers on the side of the camera. Everything else (on the exterior) stays the same.

For those who don't own or haven't handled a D30, the D60 is designed to look and feel like a traditional 35 mm EOS. About the only noticeable difference is the stubbier right hand side of the camera (from the back) because there's no film. The D60 has a completely metal chassis with a plastic outer skin. The camera feels robust, despite not having a solid metal body and has no creaks or flex. Experience of the D30 (and the many knocks it's taken) have proven that it's pretty tough for a 'consumer' camera.




















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As you can see in this shot the D60 without the optional battery grip is fairly small and compact (for a digital SLR), indeed this is the configuration most people will use. However, add the optional battery grip and you can see how the position of my grip changes. The base of the battery grip rests against the palm of your hand and makes holding the camera even more comfortable. Of course the battery grip does much more than this, it provides an additional battery slot (run two batteries together) and a portrait (vertical) grip, controls and shutter release.

Rear LCD Display

The D60's 1.8" LCD is a standard 114,000 pixel type with a protective screen covering it. With the D60 Canon has tweaked the image brightness and increased the display gamma up a little. This has the effect of making shadow detail more visible and overall review brightness higher. This helps to avoid making images look underexposed when reviewing in well lit situations. Unfortunately there's still no anti-reflective coating.

For those who are new to digital SLR's you have to understand that they don't provide a live preview image like consumer digital cameras. This is because of the reflex mirror, mechanical shutter and design of the sensor (which can't be used to provide a video feed). The LCD is only "On" if you have image review enabled (after taking the shot either 2, 4, 8 seconds or hold on the shutter release), when you're navigating menus or reviewing images in playback. The only exception to this is Olympus's E-10/E-20 which uses a semitransparent prism to send an image both up into the viewfinder and back into the CCD.

Notable improvement: Display gamma is now much lighter, improves visual exposure checking.

Top Information LCD

The information LCD on the top of the D60 provides a wide array of information, notably different to other D-SLR's the D60 provides both digital and photographic information on the one LCD panel. Here you get everything from the exposure, white balance, image size / quality, drive mode, exposure remaining, battery status, etc. Plenty of information to operate the camera without having to dig



through the menu.

New to the D60 is that this panel is now backlit (if you enable it). The blue backlight comes on whenever you press the SET button (center of the rear 'quick control dial'). Typically the SET button isn't programmed to perform any function in record mode but you can set it (via a custom function) to change image quality, ISO speed (my preference) or parameter set. The new backlight is a godsend and existing D30 owners will wonder how they ever coped without it.

It's probably worth noting that this isn't ALL the information the LCD displays, when changing settings the LCD changes mode, for example the exposure meter doubles up to display bracketing information, the shutter speed can display ISO when it's being changed etc.

Notable improvement: Information LCD Backlight.











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Viewfinder

The D60's viewfinder is clear and accurate, it has a comfortable removable rubber eye piece and a dioptre adjustment wheel. Although the view is good anyone who's used an EOS-1D will tell you that the D30/D60's view size isn't as big. With the D60 Canon has used a new laser matte focusing screen which is a little brighter and a little easier to use when manually focusing.

The rubber surround can be removed and the supplied eyepiece cover (on the shoulder strap) can be slipped over to stop stray light from entering the chamber during long exposures. The eyepiece will also take E-series dioptric adjustment lenses to further expand the dioptric correction range.

Viewfinder view

Through the viewfinder you'll see the partial metering circle and three focus points, unlike the D30 the D60 now highlights the selected / in use focus point with a red outline. This also means that the previous three-dot AF point indicator has gone from the status bar LCD which has left some space for a buffer space indicator (number of frames which can be shot in a single burst), this indicator also doubles as the number of frames remaining on the CF card once you get down to just eight frames of space.




















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Again, as with the top information LCD the status bar also changes its view to show other information such as data being processed, Redeye countdown, errors and "Busy" warnings. Below is an example of what you would see through the viewfinder (shutter release half-pressed). Note the highlighted AF point, displayed exposure, remaining burst frames (8) and focus confirmation.

Notable improvements: New laser matte focusing screen, highlighted AF points and modified status bar LCD display.

Battery Compartment

The battery compartment on the D60 is in the base of the hand grip, behind a simple clip locked door. The door itself is removable (to make way for the optional battery grip). The D60 takes Canon's powerful BP-511 Lithium-Ion battery packs (7.4V 1100mAh, 8.1 Wh). There's a tiny door on the inside edge of the hand grip where the cable from the supplied dummy battery exits (for running the D60 off the AC adapter). There's also the backup battery (CR2025) (circular compartment in the camera base) which keeps the clock running and camera settings when the camera is without a main battery.



Battery Charger / AC Adapter

The supplied CA-PS400 battery charger (100 - 240 V AC) has slots for two batteries and can charge one battery at a time, automatically switching to charging the second battery once the first is charged. A red LED above each battery indicates the current charge status; either one, two, three blinks or steady light to indicate a full charge. A full charge (from completely flat) takes approximately 90 minutes. Also supplied is a dummy battery on a 2 m cable which fits into the battery compartment of the D60 to provide a tethered power supply. Note that when the battery charger is providing DC power for the camera it can not simultaneously charge batteries.

Battery Grip (optional)

The optional BG-ED3 battery grip (the same as for the D30) provides the D60 the capacity to take two BP-511 batteries (the camera automatically switches to the second battery when the first is flat). The grip also provides a portrait (vertical) grip, shutter release, command wheel on the front and AE/AF-lock and focus point buttons on the back. It's attached to the D60 by removing the battery compartment door (simple push of a sprung clip on the hinge), insert the connector into the battery compartment and screw the grip into the cameras tripod mount.


http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/battcompartment01.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/battcompartment02.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/battcharger01.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/battcharger02.jpg


It's worth noting that the grip makes it considerably easier and quicker to change batteries (unless the camera is on a tripod in which case the door won't open fully). One slight oddity is that the tripod mount on the base of the grip doesn't exactly line up with the tripod screw on the top of the grip which means that the lens will be offset on a tripod when using the battery grip.

Adding the grip gives the D60 a more professional look and makes it easy to switch from landscape to portrait shooting. The added bonus is that the normal grip becomes extended and makes that more comfortable. It's well built with a metal (yet lightweight) substructure, a metal tripod mount and a hand strap attachment in the base. The grip and two batteries adds 380 g (13 oz) to the weight of the D60 with one battery.

CompactFlash Compartment

The CompactFlash compartment on the D60 is one the rear corner of the hand grip, the door itself has a small hole at the top through which the red CF activity light shines. Opening the door (pull back and flip open) you immediately notice the metal hinge structure and the fact that there's plenty of room around the CF card once it's ejected (easy to insert and remove). The D60 takes either Type I or Type II CompactFlash cards and supports the IBM Microdrive.

Something nice about the door is how easy it is to close. Pop a new card in, put your hand on the grip as though you're about to hold the camera and the door will clip shut then slide securely to it's fully closed position.



I was disappointed to see that Canon hadn't addressed what is a potentially serious flaw with the operation of the CF door. That is if the camera is still writing to the card (as it may be after a burst of images, especially RAW's) when you open the door the camera will power down the instant you open the door and any images remaining in the cameras internal buffer are lost. I still don't understand why opening the door immediately powers the camera off, better design would be to hold the camera power on until all images have been stored (this is what happens if you turn the power dial to OFF).









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Connections

On the left side of the camera you'll find all of the camera's connections. Canon have done away with the individual screw caps over the flash sync and remote terminals (I know most D30 owners lost them within the first month). They have instead simply extended and remoulded the existing USB / Video rubber cover to also cover the flash sync and remote terminals. Behind all this rubber you'll find the custom USB terminal (cable supplied), Video Out (cable supplied), flash sync and remote terminal (N3).

Notable improvement: Improved connector covers.

Tripod Mount

On the bottom of the camera you'll find the metal tripod socket which is aligned exactly with the center line of the lens.

While there are no major complaints about the base of the D60 it would have been nice to see a rubberized foot plate (D1 style) which is always useful for firm tripod mounting and steadying the camera against lamp posts....

Internal Flash





















The D60 has a built-in powered pop-up flash with approx. ranges as defined below (Wide / Tele refer to recommended EF 28 - 85 mm lens):

ISO speed Wide-angle: 24 mm Telephoto: 85 mm

100 1 - 3.4 m (3.3 - 11.2 ft) 1 - 2.6 m (3.3 - 8.5 ft)

200 1 - 4.8 m (3.3 - 15.7 ft) 1 - 3.7 m (3.3 - 12.1 ft)

400 1 - 6.8 m (3.3 - 22.3 ft) 1 - 5.3 m (3.3 - 17.4 ft)

800 1 - 9.6 m (3.3 - 31.5 ft) 1 - 7.5 m (3.3 - 24.6 ft)

1000 1 - 10.8 m (3.3 - 35.4 ft) 1 - 8.4 m (3.3 - 27.6 ft)

The built-in flash unit uses Canon's E-TTL system to meter flash output. It does this by firing a low power pre-flash just milliseconds before the main flash. The built-in flash can sync up to 1/200s. The flash pop-up is motorized, that is pressing the flash button pops the flash up using a motorized release mechanism. In AUTO exposure the flash will automatically pop-up when required. The redeye reduction system is attached to the AF assist lamp (below).

The D60 also allows for FE-Lock (Flash Exposure Lock) which can be used to take a meter reading of the subject using the flash before taking the shot. This can be useful for recomposing the scene, with the flash up (or an EX flash attached) simply aim the center of the frame at the subject to be metered, press the * button and the camera will fire the flash and take a meter reading, the next shot you take will use this locked exposure.

AF Assist Lamp



The AF assist lamp on the D60 will automatically illuminate the subject if light levels are too low for the AF system to make a good focus. It has an approximate range of 3.8m (12.5ft).

The lamp also doubles as a redeye reduction system, when redeye reduction is enabled the lamp will light for up to 1.5 seconds while you half-press the shutter release (countdown is displayed in the viewfinder).

Flash Hot-shoe

The D60's hot-shoe can be used with Canon and third party flash units (although features are limited with third party units).

It features Canon's latest flash technology, E-TTL (Evaluative TTL metering, a pre-flash just before the main flash). Supported E-TTL flash units: 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 550EX. Autoflash (E-TTL) is not supported by EZ, E, EG, ML or TL-series speedlights.

Additional features enabled by the 550EX Speedlight: E-TTL (as described above), High Speed Sync (sync from 1/200 sec to 1/4000 sec), Flash Exposure Compensation (+/-2EV in 0.5 EV steps), Flash Exposure Bracketing (bracket three shots +/-3EV in 0.5 EV steps), Modelling Flash (a 70hz strobe of light for checking shadows - press the DOF preview button), Wireless Multi-Light E-TTL Autoflash.

Lens Mount

The D60 has a metal EF mount and thus supports all Canon EF group lenses (plus some older as manual focus and compatible third party lenses), remember that because the sensor is smaller than a 35 mm frame all lenses are subject to a field of view crop (focal length multiplier) of 1.6x, thus a 28 mm lens provides the same field of view of a 44.8 mm.

Supplied In the Box



Note that the EOS-D60 will be available in two different options: the standard 'kit' which is described below and a body-only deal which won't include the battery, charger or DC coupler. Note this time there is no CompactFlash card included with the camera.

The contents of the retail box (full kit) are:

■ Canon EOS-D60 SLR Digital Camera■ BP-511 Lithium-Ion battery■ CA-PS400 AC adapter/charger (110-240V)■ DC Coupler DR-400■ Strap (with eyepiece cover)■ USB cable (IFC-200 PCU)■ Video cable (VC-100)■ Canon Solutions CD-ROM (PC/Mac)

❍ Zoom Browser / ImageBrowser❍ Photo Stitch❍ Photo Record (PC only)❍ Remote Capture❍ TWAIN / WIA drivers / USB mounter / Photoshop plug-in❍ RAW Image Converter

■ Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE■ User Manual (which is excellent)





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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 7. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

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Top of camera controls (left) - Exposure Modes

Top of the camera on the left hand side is situated the exposure mode dial. This dial controls the manner of exposure operation be it fully automatic, a pre-programmed scene composition, flexible program or a range of manual and semiautomatic options.

In the user manual Canon breaks these exposure modes into groups. Each of these exposure modes are described below.

The first six modes (referred to as "Easy Photography") below are all based on Full Auto exposure where the following options are disabled: Image size/Quality selection (locked to Large/Fine JPEG), Custom Functions, AE-lock, Focus Point selection, White Balance (locked to Auto), Exposure Compensation, Flash Compensation, Metering Mode (locked to evaluative). If blur will occur because of camera shake the shutter speed will blink on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD.

Icon

Mode AF mode Drive mode Flash

Fully Automatic Exposure

Camera has complete control over exposure, point-and-shoot operation.

• AI Focus • Single• Self-Timer

• Automatic pop-up

Portrait

Apertures are kept as large as possible (small F number) to produce a shallow Depth of Field (blurred background).

• One Shot • Continuous• Self-Timer

• Automatic pop-up

Landscape

Apertures are kept as small as possible (large F numbers) to produce the largest possible depth of field.

• One Shot • Single• Self-Timer

• Disabled

Close-up (Macro)

Aperture is kept to a medium setting to ensure the subject DOF is deep enough but the background is blurred.

• One Shot • Single • Self-Timer

• Disabled





















Sports

Shutter speed is kept as high as possible to ensure capture of fast moving objects.

• AI Servo • Continuous• Self-Timer

• Disabled

Night Scene

Allows for slow shutter speeds combined with flash to illuminate foreground and background.

• One Shot • Single • Self-Timer

• Manual

The five exposure modes will be more familiar (and preferred) by most prosumer / professionals. All menu functions and settings are available in these modes and can be used in any combination.

Icon

Mode

P

Program Auto Exposure (Flexible)

Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, can set the ISO, exposure compensation, use AE lock, bracketing etc. The Program AE on the D60 is flexible, that means that you can select one of a variety of equal exposures by rolling the main dial (top of camera).

Example: • 1/30 F2.8 (metered) • 1/20 F3.2 (roll left one click) • 1/15 F4.0 (roll left two clicks) etc.

Tv

Shutter Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will attempt to select the best aperture for a proper exposure (based on the current metering mode). Shutter speed is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, roll the main dial to select different shutter speeds. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the aperture, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range (for instance trying to take a shot at 1/500s in darkness) the aperture will blink. Available shutter speeds below represent 1/3 stop increments (52 total), 1/2 stop increments can be selected through custom function 4.

1/4000, 1/3200, 1/2500, 1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1250, 1/1000, 1/800, 1/640, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40, 1/30, 1/25, 1/20, 1/15, 1/13, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.3, 1.6, 2, 2.5, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 20, 25, 30 sec

Av

Aperture Priority Auto Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will attempt to select the best shutter speed for a proper exposure (based on the current metering mode). Aperture is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, roll the main dial to select different apertures. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the shutter speed, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will blink. Available apertures will differ depending on the lens used, the list below represent 1/3 stop increments (40 total), 1/2 stop increments can be selected through custom function 4.

F1.0, F1.1, F1.2, F1.4, F1.6, F1.8, F2.0, F2.2, F2.5, F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0, F9.0, F10, F11, F13, F14, F16, F18, F20, F22, F25, F29, F32, F36, F40, F45, F51, F57, F64, F72, F81, F91 (exact range depends on lens used)



M

Full Manual Exposure

In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above (plus BULB for shutter speed, apertures limited by the lens used). Top dial selects shutter speed, rear dial selects aperture. Half-press the shutter release and the meter on the viewfinder status bar and top LCD will reflect the exposure level compared to the calculated ideal exposure, if it's outside of +/- 2EV the indicator bar will blink either + or -.

A-DEP

Automatic Depth-Of-Field AE

This mode, seen before on other Canon EOS cameras automatically controls the depth of field to ensure that all the subjects covered by the focusing points, from those close to the camera to those far away from the camera remain sharply defined (are within the depth of field).

Top of camera controls (right)

Top of the camera on the right side is the main information LCD, directly above it the "main dial" and shutter release. To the left of the LCD are three buttons, top is metering / flash compensation, middle drive mode and bottom AF mode / white balance.

These settings buttons are press once (you don't have to hold them), roll a dial to change setting value and then half-press the shutter release to return to shooting mode.

The table below shows the relationship between each of the three buttons and the parameters changed by either rolling the main dial (top) or quick control dial (rear).

Button

Main Dial

Quick Control Dial

Metering Mode

• Evaluative (35 zone) • Partial (9.5% of screen) • Center Weighted Average

Flash Compensation

+/-2 EV in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps

Drive Mode

• Single shot • Continuous (approx. 3 fps max 8 images @ Large/Fine JPEG) • Self-Timer



Auto Focus Mode

• One Shot (focus lock on half-press) • AI Servo (continuous predictive focus)

AI Focus mode (camera will automatically choose between One Shot and AI Servo) is only available in Full Auto.

White Balance Mode

• Auto (3000 - 7000 K) • Daylight (approx. 5200 K) • Cloudy (approx. 6000 K) • Tungsten (approx. 3200 K) • Fluorescent (approx. 4000 K) • Flash (approx. 6000 K) • Custom (2000 - 10000 K)

It's worth commenting that both the main dial and quick control dial have a very definite click and quality feel to them, stiff enough not to be accidentally knocked (you can disable the quick control dial too). Note also that from the D30 to the D60 Canon has tweaked automatic daylight white balance to be a little cooler.









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Under your thumb

On the right side of the camera "under your thumb" are two buttons. The first (*) by default acts as an AE or FE lock button, it can however can be reprogrammed through custom function 2 (table below). The second button is for selecting AF focus area, a single press of this button then roll either the main dial or quick command dial to select automatic focus point selection or a particular focus point. On the D60 the selected AF point(s) are highlighted on the focus screen.

Shutter button / AE lock button function (custom function 2), most sports photographers will prefer to use setting 1 or 3 where you can control WHEN the camera AF kicks in, a simple press of your thumb will start AF, then you can fire off as many shots as you like (more quickly obviously) without the camera refocusing, plus you can manual focus once the AF has completed.

Custom Function 2

Setting Shutter button half-press AE Lock button

0 AE, AF AE lock

1 AE lock * AE, AF

2 AE, AF AF lock (no AE lock)

3 AE * AE, AF (no AE lock)

* With these settings the shutter release button takes on a shooting priority rather than focus priority, it will fire even without a good focus lock.

Rear of camera controls





















On there rear of the D60 we'll find an array of controls, slightly confusing there are two On/Off switches. The second On/Off switch (above the quick control dial) is actually a lock for the dial, I suggest it should have been labelled 'Lock'. The top On/Off switch is the main power switch for the camera, on the D60 it's been slightly tweaked by extending the protruding part, this actually makes it far easier to turn the camera on and off.

The large wheel with the button in the center of it is called the Quick Control Dial. By default in shooting mode the dial is used to set exposure compensation (which will only work when there's an exposure reading on the viewfinder status bar or top LCD). Compensation can be made in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps (custom function 4).

By default the SET button has no action (other than lighting the top information LCD backlight). However it is possible to reprogram the SET button to enable you to quickly change other camera settings (your preference):

Custom Function 12

Setting SET button function when shooting

0 Not assigned

1 Change quality

2 Change ISO (my preference)

3 Select parameters

Otherwise the Quick Control Dial and SET button are used in conjunction with the LCD menu system for navigation and selecting options. The rest of the buttons on the rear of the camera are associated more with playback and the LCD. One disappointment is that when changing the ISO the currently selected ISO is not displayed on the viewfinder status LCD (a logical way to do it), instead you have to take your eye away from the viewfinder, look at the top status LCD panel and then change ISO.



Button Operation

MENUEnter / Leave the Record Menu

Record menu is described on the following pages of this review.

INFO

Information

With no playback image displayed the INFO button displays camera information (example on the next page). With an image displayed INFO switches between full LCD view of the image and a quarter sized image with histogram and exposure information.

JUMPJump

Jump through playback images by 9 frames forward or backward.

Thumbnail / Zoom

With an image displayed (PLAY pressed first) toggles between: • Full image display • 3 x 3 thumbnail images (9) • 2 x zoomed image playback (use Quick Command Dial to scroll around zoomed image)

Play

Displays the last image shot (the last image on the card). The D60 is a "shooting priority" camera, that means that no matter what is displayed on the rear LCD this will be cancelled if any of the cameras photographic functions (example half-pressing the shutter release) are accessed.

Erase

• Image preview (immediately after taking the shot): Erases the currently displayed image, requires a confirmation OK / Cancel. • Image review (Play pressed first): Displays the option to delete the current image or all images.

Notable improvement: Improved power On/Off switch.

Lens mount controls

On the side of the lens mount are the final set of camera controls. First is the flash open button, a press of this (assuming the exposure mode allows flash) will pop-up the onboard flash (this is motorized).

Below the lens release button is the depth of field preview button (positioned just right for a tap from your thumb when supporting the lens), press this and the lens stops down to the indicated aperture to give a preview of the depth of field through the viewfinder.

Sensor Cleaning



The D60 has a dedicated "Sensor Cleaning" mode (custom function 13) which must be used in conjunction with the provided dummy battery / AC adapter (you can't do this on the battery). When enabled the mirror flips up and shutter opens. Canon recommend using a non compressed-air blower (the normal lens cleaning pump type without a brush).

Here's what the manual warns about sensor cleaning:

■ Never disconnect the camera power during cleaning. If the power is cut off, the shutter will close and possibly damage the shutter curtain.

■ Use a blower without a brush attached. Using a brush to remove dust from the image element can damage the element.

■ Do not insert a dust blower into the camera beyond the lens mount. If the power shuts off and the shutter closes, this may damage the shutter curtains.

■ Never use cleaning sprays or blower sprays. The pressure and freezing action of the spray gas may damage the surface of the imaging element.

Why do the D30 and D60 have far less of a dust problem?

It's worth noting that both the D30 and D60 don't have as much of a problem with dust spots on the sensor as some of their counterparts. In almost 18 months use of our own D30 I've only ever cleaned it five times, and never with a swab.

It turns out that the reason for this is in the distance between the sensor and the low pass / dichroic mirror filter. If dust / dirt collect on the sensor surface or near to it they are 'in focus' when the image is captured, further away and dust is less visible. In addition to the low pass filter (indicated by the red arrow on the left hand image below) the D60 also has an infrared filter which is sandwiched with the low pass filter.

This from Canon marketing material:

"and to maximize image quality in the EOS D60,a hybrid infrared filter was added to absorb and effectively suppress the digital phenomena of red ghosting that can occur from bright light sources.This,combined with an RGB primary color filter for highly accurate and vivid colors,delivers truly superior digital imaging."







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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 9. Displays: Digital Photography Review

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Camera INFO display

Camera information, pressing the INFO button with no reviewed image displays a quick view of current camera configuration. In this example:

Auto power off (8 mins), Review mode & time (On, 8 secs), Parameters (Standard), Custom functions (4:1, 5:2, 6:1, 11:2, 12:2), Flash compensation (0), Bracketing mode / Exposure compensation (+1.0 EV), Frames available at current quality/size setting (67), Remaining CF space (220 MB), current sensitivity (ISO 1000).

Review after shutter release

If enabled the D60 will provide an instant review of the image taken immediately after the shutter release. This can be either a single full screen image or a smaller image with histogram and exposure information (as described below). As the D60 is a 'shooting priority' camera a half or full press of the shutter release will immediately cancel this display and the camera is ready to shoot.

If you have the Review option set to On this is the kind of display you'll get after taking a shot, a simple full screen image with no information.

If you have the Review option set to On (Info) then this is what you'll see. A smaller version of the image with overexposed areas highlighted (blinking), a histogram and exposure information.





















During this instant review you can choose to delete the image before it's "saved" by pressing the erase button ( ) directly below the LCD monitor.

Play mode

The play button ( ) is used to enter the D60's play mode, from here you can browse through your images (roll the quick control dial), examine under magnification or organize (delete) your images. As with record review a half or full press of the shutter release immediately cancels play mode and the camera is ready to shoot.

Press the play button ( ) to display the last image taken (or the last image on the CF card). The D60 uses a 'rough image' technique to provide you with a very quick impression of the image, it then takes approximately two seconds to replace this with a finer detailed image.

Press the info button (INFO.) to switch to the detailed histogram and exposure information view. Note that overexposed areas of the image are highlighted (blinking).



Press the thumbnail / mag button ( ) once to switch to a 3 x 3 thumbnail index view of the images.

Press the thumbnail / mag button ( ) once more to switch to a magnified view, use the quick control dial to flip around the image (nine positions).

In single view or thumbnail view modes pressing the jump button (INFO.) allows you to scroll quickly through a page (9 images) at a time.

Again, in either view mode press the erase button ( ) to display the erase options, select Erase to delete the selected image or All... to display an OK / Cancel dialog to erase all images on the CF card (apart from those with a protect flag).











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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 10. Menus: Digital Photography Review

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Camera Menus

The D60's menu takes on the same form as we first saw on the D30, menu options are split into three coloured sections (Red, Blue and Yellow), your location within the camera menu is indicated on the right hand scroll bar by the highlighted dot.

Shooting Section (Red)

Option Values / Actions Notes

Quality • Large / Fine * • Large / Normal • Medium / Fine • Medium / Normal • Small / Fine • Small / Normal • RAW

3072 x 2048 JPEG approx. 2.5 MB3072 x 2048 JPEG approx. 1.3 MB2048 x 1360 JPEG approx. 1.4 MB2048 x 1360 JPEG approx. 0.7 MB1536 x 1024 JPEG approx. 0.9 MB1536 x 1024 JPEG approx. 0.5 MB3072 x 2048 RAW approx. 7.4 MB

Red-eye on/off • Off * • On

Enables the use of the AF / red-eye lamp just before a flash shot.

Auto Exposure Bracket

• 0 EV * • Up to +/-2.0 EV in 0.5 or 0.3 EV steps

Configures auto exposure bracketing steps

ISO speed • ISO 100 * • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 • ISO 1000

Set sensor sensitivity.

This setting can also be programmed onto the SET button via custom function 12.

LCD illumination • Off * • On

Enables the new top information panel blue illumination LED's.

Beep • On * • Off

Enables auto focus confirmation beep. Also used for self timer.





















Custom WB • Set custom WB Select image for custom WB. [clip]

Parameters • Standard * • Set 1 • Set 2 • Set 3 • Set up

Configure and select up to three sets of image process parameters (contrast, sharpness, saturation and colour tone). [clip of Set up menu]

* Default setting

Notable improvement: Ability to set image processing parameters in-camera. Although, my personal opinion is that there should be more latitude of change for each parameter, one step of change seldom makes a noticeable difference.

Playback Section (Blue)


Protect Enter protect mode, allows you to browse images either in a single image or thumbnail view and mark each image as protected (or un-protect). This simply sets the read-only flag on the CF card filesystem.

[clip of protect in thumbnail view]

Rotate Enter rotate mode, again, this can be performed in either single image or thumbnail index view. This option allows you to rotate an image on-screen by 90 or 270 degrees. Doesn't actually rotate the JPEG file, but marks its orientation.

[clip of rotate in single image view]

Print Order Allows you to create a DPOF print order file, this defines which images will be printed, how many copies of each, what format etc. For use with compatible printers or photo finishers.

[clip of print order set up][clip of print order selection]

Auto playback Start an automated slideshow of images on the CF card, delay between each image is preset at four seconds.

Setup Section (Yellow)


http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/Captures/d60_050.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/Captures/d60_053.gif







Auto power off • 1 min * • 2 min • 4 min • 8 min • 15 min • 30 min • Off

Sets camera power off time, this is the amount of "idle time" before the camera powers itself off. In the power off state the camera can be woken by half or fully depressing the shutter release (or turning the power switch to Off and back to On).

Review • Off • On * • On (Info)

Enables or disables instant record review (image shown immediately after taking a shot). Info adds histogram, highlight and exposure information.

Review time • 2 sec * • 4 sec • 8 sec • Hold

Defines the amount of time that the review image (described above) is shown on the LCD monitor. If this option is set to Hold then the image is displayed until the shutter release is half-pressed.

LCD Brightness • Normal * • Bright

Sets the LCD backlight strength.

Date/Time • Set Date & Time • Set Date format

[clip of set date & time screen]

File numbering • Continuous * • Auto reset

Controls the numbering method used for filenames.

Language • English * • Deutsch • Francais • Japanese

Select menu language.

Video system • NTSC • PAL

Select video system for video out connector.

Format Format the CF card [clip of format CF card screen]

C.Fn Set up custom functions (See below)

C.Fn default setting

Reset all custom functions to factory default settings

Firmware ver. Displays current firmware version

* Default setting

Notable improvement: Display of firmware version on menu.





Custom Functions

The D60's menu takes on the same form as we first saw on the D30, menu options are split into three coloured sections (Red, Blue and Yellow), your location within the camera menu is indicated on the right hand scroll bar by the highlighted dot.

Option Values

02: Shutter button / AE lock button 0: Shutter half-press: AE, AF. <*>: AE lock1: <*>: AE, AF. Shutter half-press: AE lock2: Shutter half-press: AE, AF. <*>: AF lock (no AE lock)3: <*>: AE, AF (no AE lock). Shutter half-press: AE

03: Mirror lockup 0: Disable (normal)1: Enable (first press of shutter release flips mirror up, second press takes exposure - reduces vibration) ** When enabled camera's self-timer reduces to 3 secs

04: Tv/Av and exposure level 0: 1/2 stop increments1: 1/3 stop increments

05: AF-assist beam / Flash firing 0: Emits / Fires1: Does not emit / Fires2: Only ext. flash emits / Fires3: Emits / Does not fire

06: Shutter speed in AV mode with flash

0: Automatic (slow sync)1: Fixed at 1/200 sec (when using flash)

07: AEB sequence / auto cancel 0: 0 - + / Enable1: 0 - + / Disable2: - 0 + / Enable3: - 0 + / Disable

08: Shutter curtain sync 0: 1st curtain sync (flash fires after shutter opens)1: 2nd curtain sync (flash fires before shutter closes)

09: Lens AF stop button(Only certain lenses)

0: Stop AF while button is pressed1: Operate AF while button is pressed2: Press button to start AE lock

10: Auto reduction of fill flash 0: Enable1: Disable (best for strong backlight situations)

11: Menu button return position 0: Always show first menu item1: Previous (top if camera is powered off)2: Previous (memorized)



12: SET button func when shooting 0: Default (no function)1: Change quality2: Change ISO speed3: Select parameters

13: Sensor cleaning 0: Disable1: Enable (must be connected to DC coupler)

14: Superimposed display 0: On (highlight AF points on focusing screen) 1: Off

15: Shutter release w/o CF card 0: Possible to take a shot without the CF card1: Not possible

Notable improvement: Custom function 01 (enable long exposure noise reduction) has been removed, this is handled differently on the D60. Custom function 05: Updated to also control internal flash or external flash (allows you to use external flash just for AF assist beam). Custom function 14 - enables highlighting of AF point on focusing screen. Custom function 15 - stop shutter release if no CF card is inserted.









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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 11. Timings & Sizes: Digital Photography Review

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Timings & File Sizes

Overall the EOS-D60 is a fast digital SLR, especially considering the additional data (six megapixels) it's having to deal with. Review timings, the area where I thought the camera would suffer are either the same or just slightly slower. About the only times I found myself urging the camera to hurry up were during buffered writes of multiple images which clearly took longer than the D30 and at startup where two seconds can sometimes feel like an eternity. The D60's use of its internal buffer has been significantly improved, read 'Smart buffering' below.

Timing Notes: All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 3072 x 2048 Large / Fine JPEG image (approx. 2,500 KB per image).

The media used for these tests were:

■ 512 MB SimpleTech Type II Compact Flash card■ 512 MB Lexar 16x Pro Type I Compact Flash card■ 1 GB IBM Microdrive Type II Compact Flash card

Action Details Time, seconds (SimpleTech

CF)

Time, seconds(Lexar 16x CF)

Time, seconds(Microdrive)

Power: Off to On 2.1 2.3 2.0

Power: On to Off *1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1

Record: Review *2 JPEG 1.6 1.6 1.6

Record: Review *2 RAW 1.7 1.8 1.8

Record: Review (Info) *2 JPEG 1.8 1.8 1.8

Record: Review (Info) *2 RAW 2.0 2.1 2.0

Play: Image to Image *3 JPEG 1.8 2.0 2.7

Play: Image to Image *3 RAW 1.3 1.3 2.2

Play: Thumbnail view 3 x 3

0.9 1.0 2.1

Play: Magnify to x3.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

*1 Assuming all buffered images have been written out to storage card, otherwise camera displays a "count down" bar on the top information LCD panel to indicate the buffer being emptied to the CF card. Once complete the camera will power off fully.

*2 Time taken from the shutter release being pressed to the review image being displayed on the LCD monitor.





















*3 This timing is the amount of time it takes the camera to load the 'finer' image, this is required for a histogram or for magnification. However, browsing quickly through the images using the quick control dial is virtually instant.

Smart buffering

With the advent of the D60 comes a larger internal buffer, it's large enough to hold up to eight six megapixel unprocessed images. The amount of free space in the buffer is displayed on the far right side of the viewfinder status bar as a single numeric digit (buffer space indicator).

But that's not the end of the story, Canon have done something very clever with the D60's buffer and that has improved both continuous and single shot drive modes. The D60 uses its internal buffer for two purposes: buffer data is it comes from the CMOS sensor (call this the unprocessed data) and buffer converted image files before they are written to the CF card.

Image processing sequence:

1. Record data as it comes off the CMOS sensor, unprocessed data (approx. 9.3 MB per shot)2. Store this unprocessed data in the SDRAM buffer3. Process this data into image files (JPEG or compressed RAW)4. Buffer these converted image files (JPEG approx. 2.5 MB or RAW approx. 7.0 MB)5. Write JPEG / RAW image files to CF card

This means that although the buffer can be filled with a continuous burst of eight shots it quickly regains buffer space as the unprocessed images are converted into the JPEG or RAW image files. In a real life situation it's easy to believe that the stage 2 runs concurrently to new unprocessed data being buffered.

I discovered this when I noticed that the camera will not write to the CF card while the shutter release was half-pressed but that the buffer space counter would count back up to eight after a burst of shots.

Take eight shots in a continuous burst, keep your finger half-pressed on the shutter release and despite the fact that nothing is being written to the CF card you will see the buffer space indicator fairly quickly count back up again. Remove your finger from the shutter release and the counter doesn't change but you can observe data being written to the CF card (indicator light on the CF compartment door flickers).

Repeating this test for both JPEG Large/Fine and RAW I discovered that the buffer has space for:

■ 8 x JPEG Large/Fine images and approx. 6 seconds later indicates space to shoot 8 more■ 8 x RAW images and approx. 8 seconds later indicates space to shoot 5 more

This means that the D60 takes just approx. 640 ms to turn the unprocessed data a JPEG Large / Fine



file and approx. 1600 ms for a compressed RAW file.

Low Light Auto Focus

This test is designed to measure the minimum amount of light under which the camera can still focus. The focus target is our lens distortion test chart (shown here on the right), camera is positioned exactly 2 m (6.6 ft) away.

Light levels are gradually dropped until the camera can no longer focus. Before the shutter release is half pressed the lens is manually focused to the closest subject distance (typically 0.5 m) to "throw the focus out". This test target is the optimum type of subject for most AF systems (as it has a vertical line at its center).

Lens Focallen.

Apertureat focal len.

AFlamp?

Lowest light focus Time to focusfrom near *1

EF 28 - 70 mm F2.8 L 70 mm F2.8 Yes Complete darkness 2.8 sec

EF 28 - 70 mm F2.8 L 70 mm F2.8 No 1.7 EV 3.3 sec

EF 28 - 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 28 mm F3.5 Yes Complete darkness 2.9 sec

EF 28 - 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 28 mm F3.5 No 2.2 EV*2 4.5 sec

EF 28 - 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 135 mm F5.6 Yes Complete darkness 6.2 sec

EF 28 - 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 135 mm F5.6 No 2.5 EV 4.5 sec

*1 Lens was manually focused to closest subject distance before AF was started. This is the time for the camera to focus from its closest subject distance to a solid AF lock. If the lens focus position is already near to the final focus position then focusing is much faster (almost instant in most cases)

*2 First attempt camera hunted and after 10 seconds gave up, lens was reset to closest subject distance and second attempt locked.

Light intensity (Lux) = 2.5 x 2^EV (@ ISO 100), 10.76391 Lux = 1 foot-candle (fc)

For reference purposes the 28 - 70 mm L took around 1.5 seconds to do this test in medium light (about 5.0 EV) and the 28 - 135 mm took between 1.8 and 2.2 seconds. As you can see the more light that gets to the AF system (the wider the maximum aperture) the better, this is simply common sense but is backed up by our results. Other factors are the contrast of the subject, clearly our subject has good contrast but a human face for instance will have a lot less contrast.

With the professional 'L' lens the camera manages to focus down to light levels of 2.7 EV without the AF assist lamp and complete darkness with it. Either way maximum focus time was just over 3 seconds. With the consumer level 28 - 135 mm results were more mixed, leave AF assist switched on and you'll be able to focus in darkness, switch it off and you'll need around 3.5 EV of light before you'll get a solid focus lock and that may takeup to 6 seconds.

Compared to the EOS-D30

The following test was carried out to test the D60's "improved low light auto focus", tests carried out



without the AF assist lamp. Light levels were dimmed until the D60 could not focus and then very slightly increased until it could AF lock. This process was repeated for the D30. I measured a very slight improvement of around 0.5 EV in low light auto focus between the D30 and D60.

■ D30 & 28 - 70 F2.8 L: 2.2 EV (lock < 3 sec)■ D60 & 28 - 70 F2.8 L: 1.7 EV (lock < 3 sec)

AF Assist Lamp

The D60's AF Assist Lamp now fires up to six times (compared to three times for the D30) which can improve the cameras abilities of 'catching' the focus in darkness or near darkness. Another improvement is that Custom Function 5 now allows you to use the AF lamp on an external flash (such as the 550EX) to assist auto focus (better low light range, speed and accuracy) without actually firing the flash at the time of exposure.

Single-shot drive mode

There was a problem with the D30 in the way that it used its buffer in Single Shot drive mode, you couldn't take the next shot until the currently buffered image had been processed (converted into the JPEG / RAW output file). This meant that after taking a single shot the camera displayed a 'Busy' warning on the viewfinder LCD (approx. 1.5 seconds) and you couldn't take the next shot until it had gone.

This limitation has now been removed, with the D60 you can take shots as quickly as either you can press the shutter release or the camera can auto focus. And because of the way the D60 uses its buffer (see above) it means that in Single-shot drive mode you will almost NEVER find yourself in a situation where you can't take the next shot.

Continuous drive mode

To test continuous mode the camera had the following settings: Manual Focus, Manual Exposure (1/250s, F3.5), ISO 400. It was soon discovered that no matter what image output setting the shooting rate was always 3.3 fps (+/-0.1 fps). So, instead of testing the shooting rate I instead measured three different times:

■ Next shot - How soon after a burst of eight shots you can take the next■ Next burst - How soon after a burst of eight shots you can take another eight■ Full write - How long a burst of eight shots takes to be processed and written to the CF



Burst of eight JPEG images

Timing 512 MB SimpleTech 512 MB Lexar 16x 1 GB Microdrive

Next shot 1.1 sec 1.0 sec 1.1 sec

Next burst 6.0 sec 6.2 sec 6.5 sec



Full write 16.8 sec 18.1 sec 21.5 sec

Burst of eight RAW images

Timing 512 MB SimpleTech 512 MB Lexar 16x 1 GB Microdrive

Next shot 1.7 sec 1.8 sec 1.8 sec

Next burst 23.8 sec 22.8 sec 27.0 sec

Full write 45.9 sec 44.5 sec 55.9 sec

It's fair to say that six seconds isn't a long time to wait before taking the next burst of eight frames. Clearly once you've done that you're then going to have to wait until the first burst have been fully written (16 seconds best case) before taking another eight but it's still an impressive performance when you consider each image has six megapixels of data and weighs in as a 2.5 MB JPEG. From the results above you can see that the flash storage devices managed to outperform the Microdrive, although not by huge margins.

File Flush Timing

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the storage media. The D60 continues to process images in the buffer and write data out to the storage media in parallel to you composing (and taking) the next shot. It only pauses this writing if you half-press the shutter release.



Store Time, secs(SimpleTech)

Time, secs(Lexar 16x)

Time, secs (Microdrive)

Approx. *2File size

Approx. *2 512 MB card

L 3072 x 2048 RAW 6.4 6.0 7.4 7.4 MB 66

L 3072 x 2048 Fine 2.2 2.2 3.3 2.5 MB 197

L 3072 x 2048 Normal 1.4 1.3 2.3 1.3 MB 375

M 2048 x 1360 Fine 1.4 1.3 2.3 1.4 MB 360

S 1536 x 1024 Fine 0.8 0.8 1.5 0.9 MB 557

*1 Timer was started as soon as the storage compartment light came on and stopped when this light went off. This was seen as the ACTUAL recording time. Add approximately 1.2 seconds to these times to get the amount of time from moment of shutter release to image flushed away to the storage card.

*2 At ISO 100. Note that the D60 changes its estimated remaining frame count based on the current ISO sensitivity (due to the fact that higher ISO images have more noise and will therefore make larger JPEG files).

These timings are mostly a factor of the media used and the speed of the D60's CF interface. For the SimpleTech and Lexar 16x cards we approximate a throughput of 1.2 MB/sec. For the Microdrive this drops to 1.0 MB/sec (probably because of the initial 'spin up' delay). These speeds are virtually identical to the D30 (except for the Microdrive write speed which does seem to have been improved



slightly).

Battery life

I raved about the little BP-511 battery pack in my D30 review. Thankfully the D60 maintains the same power source, it too uses the BP-511 (7.4V, 1100mAh, 8.1 Wh). This small, lightweight Lithium-Ion battery provides enough power for at least 500 shots, this would last most people all day long. The great thing about the battery is that it is so small it's no trouble to carry a spare, just in case.

Canon supplied battery life data

TemperatureShooting conditions

No flash use 50% flash use

Normal (20°C / 68°F) Approx. 620 Approx. 490

Low (0°C / 32°F) Approx. 480 Approx. 400









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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 12. Features: Digital Photography Review

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Image Size / File Quality Options

The D60 provides seven different image size / quality combinations. You can choose from image sizes of 3072 x 2048 (Large), 2048 x 1360 (Medium) or 1536 x 1024 (Small) in combination with either Fine JPEG or Normal JPEG quality settings. In addition there is of course RAW image format, this contains a RAW 'dump' of the data directly from the sensor (12-bits per pixel), a RAW file can not be viewed natively and but must first be converted. Most people consider the RAW format to be the 'digital negative' because it is lossless and has had no image processing applied to it (white balance, sharpening etc.) all of which can be adjusted at a later date before outputing the final image.

Standard Test Scene

To give an impression of what some of the combinations of image size and quality produce the table below is a cross reference of some of them:

■ 3024 x 2048 RAW (to TIFF using Canon RAW converter 2)■ 3024 x 2048 JPEG Fine■ 3024 x 2048 JPEG Normal■ 2048 x 1360 JPEG Fine■ 1536 x 1024 JPEG Fine

Crops below are of the same 240 x 120 area of each image nearest neighbour magnified 200%.

Settings: ISO 100, Parameters: Normal, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L @ F8.0

3024 x 2048

RAW

As a 2,151 KB JPEG or original 7,832 KB .CRW & .THM (Canon RAW)




















http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/QualityRes/CRW_9871.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/QualityRes/CRW_9871.CRW

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/QualityRes/CRW_9871.THM


JPEGFINE

2,893 KB

JPEGNORM

1,412 KB

2048 x 1360

JPEGFINE


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/QualityRes/IMG_9872.jpg



1,437 KB

1536 x 1024

JPEGFINE

882 KB

It's difficult to see very much difference between RAW and JPEG Fine, clearly RAW offers much more flexibility and for purists would be seen as the absolute 'digital negative', but there is visually very little difference between the two. JPEG Normal does introduce some visual artifacts, for most purposes I would recommend people stick to JPEG Fine (at any image size). There is a more detailed examiniation of the RAW format later in this review.

Obviously having all those additional pixels at your disposal means that smaller size images either straight out of the camera (Medium / Small sizes) or 'down sampling' Large images at a later date produces very sharp and very clean images. This is one of the big advantages of having such a large (pixel count) image.

Parameters

As with the D30 the D60 provides up to three sets of image processing parameters which can be set





to change the output of the final image, these settings are applied in-camera to JPEG files and are recorded in the header of RAW files. On the D30 these parameters were programmed (into one of three sets) via the TWAIN driver and a USB connection, on the D60 the parameters can be programmed in-camera - a much better solution.

The D60 also adds a new parameter called 'color tone' which the manual describes as "adjusts the color balance... makes skin tones more red or yellow". In summary the four parameters which may be adjusted are: Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation and Color Tone.

What the D60 still doesn't have and I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like it is the ability to shoot in (and select) defined colour spaces. The new EOS-1D allows you to select between sRGB and Adobe RGB. It would have been nice to have seen this in the D60 (although perhaps that would bring the D60 a little too close to the 'professional' level).

Parameter: Contrast

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L @ F8.0, Small/Fine

Contrast: -1 Contrast: 0 Contrast: +1

As you can see there is a visible difference between the three contrast levels. Contrast -1 produces a very flat low contrast image which maintains shadow and highlight and boosts mid range grey. Contrast +1 produces a much punchier image which has much blacker blacks and whiter highlights.

Parameter: Sharpness

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L @ F8.0, Large/Fine


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/contrast-1.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/normal.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/contrast%2B1.jpg


Sharpness: -1 Sharpness: 0 Sharpness: +1

Adjust the sharpness does seem to have a more visible effect than it did on the D30. I noticed when I first started shooting with the D60 that its images appeared to need less sharpening straight out of the camera than the D30 does. The Sharpness +1 setting works well and introduces very few artifacts, details are more visible and edges are sharper but for me it loses some of that silky photographic quality we see from the default sharpness setting.

Parameter: Saturation

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L @ F11.0, Small/Fine, Studio Flash

Saturation: -1 Saturation: 0 Saturation: +1

1 Dark skin 2 Light skin 13 Blue 14 Green 15 Red 16 Yellow 17 Magenta

-1

0

+1

You can see that the differences between each saturation level is very subtle. Compared to the D30 the D60's colours have been tweaked, red is stronger and other colours have been 'tuned down', thus it by default produces a more neutral balance. This is one setting where I would have liked to have seen at least a +/-2 level latitude of adjustment, the difference between -1, 0 and +1 is simply too


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/sharpness-1.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/sharpness%2B0.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/sharpness%2B1.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/saturation-1.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/normal-ck.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/saturation%2B1.jpg


subtle to be very useful.

Parameter: Color tone

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L @ F11.0, Small/Fine, Studio Flash

Color tone: -1 (More red) Color tone: 0 Color tone: +1 (More yellow)

1 Dark skin 2 Light skin 13 Blue 14 Green 15 Red 16 Yellow 17 Magenta

-1

0

+1

The color tone parameter is new to the D60, it allows you to preset the processing of reds (specifically those around skin tone levels) to have either slightly more red or slightly more yellow. There is no specific explanation of the use of this parameter but I'll make a guess that it's designed to satisfy the use of the camera in different parts of the world where the 'look' of regional models skin could look better in either modes -1 or +1.





http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/colortone-1.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/normal-ck.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Parameters/colortone%2B1.jpg





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Flash

The D60 provides plenty of options for flash photography. For casual snapping you have the cameras built-in E-TTL flash unit, there's also an E-TTL compatible hotshoe for flash units such as the Canon 420EX or 550EX as well as a standard PC Sync terminal for use with studio strobe systems. The samples below were shot within a few seconds of each other to give a (rough) impression of the differences between each and to check colour accuracy.

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L, Large/Fine

Studio strobes (1/200 sec, F10) Built-in flash (1/200 sec, F5)




















http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Flash/0_studio.JPG

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Flash/1_inbuilt.JPG


Canon 550EX Direct (1/200 sec, F5) Canon 550EX Bounced (1/200 sec, F5)

Studio setup: 2 x Elinchrom 300W strobes (1 x 70 cm softbox).

Long Exposure noise reduction / Night shots

Gone is custom function 1. What's the significance of that I here you cry? Well, on the D30 custom function 1 controlled the dark frame long exposure noise reduction system. When enabled the D30 would take a second 'dark frame' exposure immediately after the main exposure and subtract detected noise from the original shot. This would mean that a 5 second exposure took 10 seconds.

On the D60 Canon are handling long exposure noise reduction differently. There's no dark frame shot, as soon as the exposure has finished it's displayed on the LCD monitor which kind of hints that some how the CMOS sensor itself is detecting / removing noise as the shot progresses. What's even more remarkable is that the D60 produces far cleaner long exposures that the D30 ever could.

Typical night exposure

The (not particularly level) exposure of Tower Bridge below was taken with a fairly conservative four second exposure at ISO 100. As you can see the D60 manages to capture good detail and cope well with the bright lights on the bridge. Best of all there's no noise in sight, and certainly no 'stuck pixels'.

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L, Large/Fine, 4 sec, F8.0


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Flash/2_550exdirect.JPG

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Flash/3_550exbounced.JPG

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Night/020321-1927-22.jpg



The four minute exposure

This isn't a particularly interesting subject, however it was a quick test shot I performed using a remote release the D60 in Bulb mode. The exposure below was for an amazing 243 seconds (4 minutes and 3 seconds). This was long enough for the London skyline to turn into daylight (thanks to light pollution) and for the terrace opposite which was impossible to see with the naked eye to suddenly spring out of the image. What's fundamentally more impressive about this shot however is when you zoom in and look around the image. There is simply no visible noise, and this is a four minute exposure! There are a couple of stuck pixels, but nothing I'd get worried about. An absolutely stunning performance. Amateur astronomy look out, here comes the D60.

Settings: ISO 100, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L, Large/Fine, 243 sec, F8.0

The moon

This probably doesn't belong in this category as it was a 1/15 sec exposure, but I did shoot it at night and I was so happy with the shot that I just had to include it. The image below is a crop of the center of a D60 shot taken from a tripod using the EF 100-400 mm L lens @ 400 mm, no additional extenders. Click on the image below for the full size crop.





400 mm, ISO 100, 1/15 sec, F10





http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Night/moon.jpg





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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 14. Software: Digital Photography Review

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Software

Note: this page is based on pre-production software, I should be receiving full production software soon and will update this page shortly after that.

Remote Capture

The D60 is supplied with the latest version of Canon's Remote Capture software. This allows you to control the camera remotely via a PC, you can shoot, review and even take time-lapse shots all through a USB connection. At the time of writing this review the copy of Remote Capture in early software pack I had with the D60 wasn't working reliably. For more detail on Remote Capture read my extensive look at this application in my EOS-1D review.

RAW Image Converter

The D60 is now provided with both a TWAIN module for image transfer and conversion from RAW format as well as the latest version of the Canon RAW Image Converter. Both applications now have a virtually identical interface and both support advanced features such as digital exposure compensation and multiple image adjustment in thumbnail mode. The new RAW Image Converter also allows you to extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG's from RAW files at high speed, this is an excellent way to get a very fast overview of your RAW files before selecting those to be used for the final shot.

TWAIN / RAW Image Converter features summary

Direct connection to the EOS-D60 (TWAIN via USB)

■ Set camera owners name, date & time, format CF card■ Program camera parameter sets *■ Browse, modify, erase and transfer images from CF card in camera

* Unconfirmed as the pre-release software I had wasn't working properly

Browsing images (on camera or local folder - TWAIN or RAW converter)

■ View as a thumbnail index (three sizes of thumbnail)■ View as full window preview■ Check / Un-check images■ Protect / Un-protect images■ Transfer images from CF card to local hard disk■ Re-save images into different formats (RAW to RAW, JPEG or TIFF)■ Acquire images (convert / transfer back to host application - TWAIN only)■ Display detailed exposure and camera settings information for each image ■ Erase image(s)




















http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1d/page16.asp


■ Set RAW parameters ❍ Exposure compensation (digital - +/-2.0 EV in 0.1 EV steps)❍ White balance❍ Contrast❍ Saturation❍ Color Tone❍ Sharpening (on a global basis)

■ Convert RAW image ❍ Acquire back to host application (8 or 16 bit or Linear - TWAIN only)❍ Save as JPEG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit)

■ JPEG extraction (extract a 2048 x 1360 JPEG from RAW header)

RAW Image Converter interface

The Canon RAW Image Converter application associates itself with the '.CRW' file extension (Windows). To start the converter simply select one or more CRW files and press ENTER (or double-click) or select the RAW Image Converter icon (it's now also a standalone application). A window as above will be displayed showing a list of images to be converted along with several options. You can select and remove images from the conversion list (Clear button) or add more images (Add RAW Image). The Preferences option is the same as for the main interface (below). Click on 'List for Development Condition Settings'* to enter the Main window and perform more advanced RAW conversion (see below).

* Pre-production label



The dialog on the left is the 'Save File' which allows you to convert and save the selected RAW files as either JPEG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit). You can choose to keep the original filename or create new unique filenames based on a numeric sequence. The dialog on the right is for the new 'JPEG Extract' feature which allows you to extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG files from the RAW file (these are stored in the file header by the camera), again you can output these with the same filename or a new filename. JPEG Extraction is very fast, on my PC it took just 4 seconds to extract 40 JPEG's.

Main window

The description below is worded to describe the RAW Image Converter but all the same functionality also exists through the TWAIN interface.

Thumbnail mode

This is the main RAW conversion window. Here we are browsing a folder of RAW (.CRW) as you can see it is possible to check mark images for conversion, set digital exposure compensation, alter white balance, contrast, saturation and color tone. All of these settings can be applied to a single image or multiple images.



Bug or by design?

What's VERY unfortunate is that the settings made (such as white balance, check marking, digital exposure compensation etc.) are NOT stored in the CRW file. This means that whatever settings changes you make in one session are lost as soon as you close the RAW Image Converter. I'm not sure if this is a bug or it's designed to work this way, whichever it's mightily inconvenient and reduces the usefulness of the RAW Image Converter considerably. The only setting which is stored is the image orientation.

Preview mode (three possible zoom levels, this is the closest)

Change the view mode to 'Preview' and you get up to 100% zoom, 'JPEG Preview' allows you to preview the 2048 x 1360 JPEG which is embedded within the RAW file.

Preferences

The preferences dialog is spread across two tabs (as shown below). It allows you to set various preferences and settings: Display Last Image, Display Filename/Date & Time, Set camera model name, Set sharpening setting, Choose Linear output, Enable/Disable False Color (moiré) filter, by default use the JPEG for preview image.



I find it a little odd and slightly disappointing that you can't set the sharpness on a per-image basis, sharpness is a global setting and is applied here in the preferences dialog rather than being attached to the selected RAW file.

RAW file manipulation

You can manipulate one image or a multiple selection of images, RAW images can have their white balance, contrast, saturation, color tone and digital exposure compensation set via a row of drop-down list boxes and the +/- button on the left side of the toolbar.

Digital Exposure Compensation

Digital Exposure Compensation is the ability to change the output exposure of the image +/-2.0 EV on 0.1 EV steps. The RAW Image Converter can do this because the RAW data from the camera is stored as linear 12-bit values, there is a degree of latitude possible to adjust images. My tests showed that the D60 provided approximately 1 stop (1.0 EV) of latitude for negative exposure compensation (detail which would have been 'blown out' at the original exposure level).



0.0 EV compen. (Original) -0.7 EV digital exposure compensation

0.0 EV compen. (Original) +0.8 EV digital exposure compensation





http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020316-1136-21_RJ.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020316-1136-21_RJ-07.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020316-1151-24_RJ.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020316-1151-24_RJ%2B08.jpg





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Software (contd.)

False color filter

The 'False color filter' automatically removes the moire effect which are a consequence of the Bayer interpolation which is carried out on the image data. As you can see from the samples below with the false color filter disabled moiré patterns are clearly visible, when enabled these are virtually invisible. The side effect is that colour saturation of non-artifact elements can be effected (see the colour of the yellow rope in the sample below. The false color filter also increases conversion time for RAW images (it's on by default).

False color filter disabled False color filter enabled (default)

Save File

With one or more image selected you can save the images as either JPEG, 8-bit TIFF or 16-bit TIFF. These images can be saved with the same filename (suffixed with either _RJ, _RT8 or _RT16) or with new filenames based on a pattern and numeric sequence.





















JPEG Extract

A little known (at least at first) secret about the D30's RAW files is that they contained a small JPEG file. The same is true of the D60's RAW files, except that these are notably larger, 2048 x 1360 to be exact. The new RAW Image Converter allows you to extract JPEG's from a single or selection of RAW files (.CRW). This function is VERY fast and enables you to in effect shoot 'RAW + JPEG' at the same time (although different resolutions). Extracting JPEG's from 40 images took just 4 seconds on my PC. Note that settings changes such as white balance, digital exposure compensation etc. do not apply to extracted JPEG's.

Sample JPEG's extracted from RAW files

Image file information (from file header)

The text below is an example of the information available in the bottom right hand pane of the main TWAIN / RAW converter window. As you can see it covers a wide range of exposure and camera


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020321-1152-28_JFR.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/020321-1153-16_JFR.jpg


setting information as well as a complete set of the custom function settings.

File Name 020321-1152-28.crwCamera Model Name Canon EOS D60Shooting Date/Time 21 Mar 2002 11:52:26Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AETv( Shutter Speed ) 1/50Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6Metering Mode EvaluativeExposure Compensation +2/3ISO Speed 200Lens 28.0 - 70.0 mmFocal Length 47.0 mmImage Size 3072x2048Image Quality RAWFlash OffWhite Balance CustomAF Mode One-Shot AFActive AF Points [ Center ]Parameters Contrast Normal Sharpness Normal Color saturation Normal Color tone Normal

File Size 7353KBCustom Function Settings 02:Shutter button/AE lock button 0:AF/AE lock 03:Mirror lockup 0:Disable 04:TV,AV and exposure level 1:1/3-stop 05:AF-assist beam/Flash firing 2:Only ext. flash emits/Fires 06:Shutter speed in Av mode 1:1/200(fixed) 07:AEB sequence/auto cancellation 0:0 => - => +/Enabled 08:Shutter curtain sync 0:1st-curtain sync 09:Lens AF stop button Fn, switch 0:AF stop 10:Auto reduction of fill flash 0:Enable 11:Menu button return position 2:Previous 12:SET button func, when shooting 2:Change ISO speed 13:Sensor cleaning 0:Disable 14:Superimposed display 0:On 15:Shutter release without CF card 0:Possible without CF cardDrive Mode Continuous shootingOwner's Name dpreview.comCamera Body No. 0130101038

RAW Conversion Performance

The test machine used was a desktop PC with dual Athlon 1592 Mhz (1900+) CPU's 1 GB of RAM running Windows XP. Software used was Canon RAW Image Converter 2.0. A group five of RAW images were selected from the thumbnail window and then the 'Save File' option was used to convert images directly to the destination format. The conversion process was timed and divided by the number of images converted.

Conversion Settings Time taken per image

Time for 5 images

RAW -> JPEG (4) Normal, False Color Filter, No Rotate 22.8 sec 1 mins 54 sec

RAW -> JPEG (4) Normal, No False Color Filter, No Rotate 19.6 sec 1 mins 38 sec

RAW -> JPEG (4) Normal, False Color Filter, Rotate 90° 27.2 sec 2 mins 16 sec

RAW -> TIFF Normal, False Color Filter, No Rotate 18.0 sec 1 mins 30 sec



RAW -> TIFF 16-bit Normal, False Color Filter, No Rotate 19.6 sec 1 mins 38 sec

After the vast speed improvements we saw with the EOS-1D I was a little disappointed to find the D60's RAW files take around 20 seconds a piece to convert. That said the improvements in the RAW Image Converter interface and the ability to extract JPEG's is very welcome and can make it easier to identify the image you want without converting everything.

RAW vs. JPEG resolution

Below you can see two 100% crops taken from images shot within seconds of each other. The first crop is from a Large/FINE JPEG, the second from a TIFF created from a RAW (.CRW) file using Canon RAW Image Converter. You can click on either image or the links below the image to download a TIFF version of the crops. As you can see there is no resolution gain between JPEG and RAW using Canon's standard software. I expect third party RAW conversion packages to appear later which may be able to produce little more resolution. Lens: 50 mm F1.4 @ F9.0

JPEG RAW

Click here for TIFF version of crop Click here for TIFF version of crop





http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/res_jpeg_crop.tif

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/res_raw_crop.tif

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/res_jpeg_crop.tif

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/RAW/res_raw_crop.tif







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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 16. Photographic tests: Digital Photography Review

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ISO Sensitivity / Noise levels

ISO equivalence on a digital camera is the ability to increase the sensitivity of the sensor to enable faster shutter speeds and/or better performance in low light. The way this works in a digital camera is by "turning up the volume" on the CCD's signal amplifiers, nothing is without its price however and doing so also amplifies any noise that may be present and often affects colour saturation.

Just like the EOS-D30 the EOS-D60 provides four selectable ISO sensitivity equivalence's from ISO 100. Unlike the EOS-D30 however the D60 doesn't have ISO 1600, instead it has ISO 1000.

I decided to use the same system created for our EOS-1D review. This involves shooting a colour patch chart (a GretagMacBeth ColorChecker) at the full range of ISO sensitivities. To expand this test a little the patches were shot at both normal daylight levels (10.6 EV) as well as low light levels (6.3 EV).

Each of the comparison crops below are made up of a 90 x 80 crop of patches 19, 22 and 24 of the ColorChcker chart (as indicated above). This helps to give a better impression of noise at different light levels within an image. Directly below this you will find the average standard deviation of these three patches, this is a quantifiable measurement of noise.

Test Notes

■ We are now using the GretagMacBeth ColorChecker instead of Kodak Colour patches for a couple of reasons: (a) The grey patches are larger and are therefore easier to crop / measure (b) The patches are made from a matte non-reflective material and are therefore easier to shoot without accidental reflection.

■ Measurements were taken at normal room temperature of 21°C (~70°F), you should expect noise to reduce in lower temperatures and increase in higher temperatures.

■ Performance comparison carried out in RAW mode to remove the effects of JPEG artifacts skewing the higher ISO results. RAW images were converted to 8-bit TIFF's using Canon RAW Image Converter v2.0 (default settings).

■ Camera settings were defaulted before tests carried out (thus default parameters, sharpening etc.). The visibility of noise will be reduced by decreasing sharpening.

■ The 'standard deviation' was measured using the histogram feature in Photoshop on 8-bit





















TIFF or JPEG files (later comparison). Lower figures mean there is less 'deviation' from the average luminance level, and thus less noise.

Performance of EOS-D60 vs. EOS-D30 in normal and low light

Settings: Parameters: Normal, EF 50 mm F1.4 @ F9.0

Normal light (10.6 EV)

Low light (6.3 EV)

Camera Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Sensitivity ISO 100 ISO 100

Exposure 1/10 s, F9.0 1.0 s, F9.0

Patch crops ISO 100 RAW

Standard dev. avg. 0.64 0.93 0.68 0.98


Exposure 1/20 s, F9.0 0.5 s, F9.0




Standard dev. avg. 0.94 1.20 0.95 1.20


Exposure 1/40 s, F9.0 1/4 s, F9.0


Standard dev. avg. 1.37 1.74 1.36 1.78


Exposure 1/80 s, F9.0 1/8 s, F9.0


Standard dev. avg. 2.30 2.74 2.31 2.76

Camera Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Sensitivity ISO 1000 n/a ISO 1000 n/a

Exposure 1/100 s, F9.0 n/a 1/10 s, F9.0 n/a




Standard dev. avg. 2.84 n/a 2.86 n/a

Camera Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Canon EOS-D60 Canon EOS-D30 Sensitivity n/a ISO 1600 n/a ISO 1600

Exposure n/a 1/160 s, F9.0 n/a 1/15 s, F9.0


Standard dev. avg. n/a 4.38 n/a 4.44

Having now removed the element of JPEG artifacts from the test we can see that both the D30 and D60 manage to maintain relatively low noise levels all the way through the available ISO sensitivities. Our measurements reveal the D60 to have lower noise levels compared to the D30, however a visual comparison shows that in effect the differences are hardly noticeable. The fact that Canon's engineers have managed to slightly reduce noise levels while effectively halving the photosite size is an impressive achievement. One thing I'm still curious about however is why the D60 doesn't support ISO 1600, it's clear that noise levels wouldn't have been too bad at that setting. Below is a summary graph of these results.



The other thing this comparison shows is that there is also very little difference in noise between fast and slow shutter speeds. For example, at ISO 800 1/80 sec the D60 measures 2.30 std. dev. average and almost identically 2.31 at a much slower 1/8 sec. There isn't much point measuring noise levels at shutter speeds beyond 1 second because here the camera's inbuilt long exposure noise reduction systems take over and thus results will be skewed.

Performance of RAW vs. JPEG in normal light (EOS-D60)

Finally to confirm what we know of JPEG compression. Below is a graph of noise levels from JPEG files versus noise levels from the RAW files above. As you can see the JPEG compression algorithm introduces its own artifacts which can in effect amplify noise at higher sensitivities. Having said that the trade off between a little more noise (a hardly a visible difference) and the extra storage / write time expense of a 9 MB RAW file depends totally on the priorities of the photographer.











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White balance

Overall the D60's white balance performed as we'd expected it to, but certainly no better than the D30. As is fairly typical with most digital cameras auto white balance worked best under natural light (sunlight, shade, partial cloud etc.) and less well under artificial light. The D60's pre-programmed white balance settings are useful for getting 'somewhere near' to artificial light but of course because of the variety of bulb types it's never possible to be exact with these. I was however very impressed with manual white balance preset which measures white balance from a white / grey card shot (only uses the area of the image within partial metering circle in the center of the viewfinder).

Settings: ISO 100, EF 50 mm F1.4, Small/Fine

Daylight: Auto Daylight: Cloudy Daylight: Manual

Incandescent: Auto Incandescent: Incandescent Incandescent: Manual

Fluorescent: Auto Fluorescent: Fluorescent Fluorescent: Manual

Manual preset white balance example




















http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/day_auto.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/day_cloudy.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/day_manual.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/incan_auto.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/incan_incan.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/incan_manual.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/fluor_auto.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/fluor_fluor.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/fluor_manual.jpg


Shooting for the samples gallery (at the Victoria & Albert museum, London) many of the exhibits were behind glass, in particular the Japan section used very dim incandescent lighting. It was almost impossible for the D60 to automatically measure this. The example below shows the kind of shot used to first get a 'white sample' which can be used for manual white balance and then the results of then re-shooting using this manual preset.

Settings: ISO 1000, EF 28-70 mm F2.8L, Large/Fine

Image used for manual white balance measurement, red circle drawn onto the image later to indicate the area used by the D60 for white balance preset measurement.

The result, a perfect white balance under very difficult lighting. (ISO 1000, F5.0, 1/15 sec)

Overall Image Quality / Specifics

What can I say, when I first got my hands on the D30 back in August 1999 I was stunned at the superb image quality from this digital SLR. Its excellent resolution, silky smooth noise free images and colour reproduction were immediately associated with the fact that the camera uses a unique Canon designed CMOS sensor. Here we are eighteen months after that with twice the number of pixels and I'm happy to report that the D60 continues the tradition for excellent resolution, silky smooth noise free images and even better colour reproduction.

Colour

Canon has clearly tweaked colour since the D30 (more of this in the compared to section later), most notably slightly less saturated blues and greens and stronger reds. One thing notable about the D30 is its preference for blue skies, the D60 can still produce nice blue skies but treats them with a little more neutrality. Reds are better, more saturated but still handled carefully. Red is the first colour to become over-saturated (thanks to the sRGB colour space) and Canon appear to have got the balance just right with the D60. If you want more colour you can simply create a parameter set with a 'saturation +1' setting.


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/020321-1219-44.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/WhiteBalance/020321-1220-04.jpg


Less saturated blues but the D60 can still produce very nice blue skies

Better red saturation but carefully under the point at which the red channel is 'blown out'

Smooth yet detailed

This is something I first noted with the D30. The D60 has an uncanny smoothness to its images. Where there should be a smooth panel of colour, there is, not a hint of noise at all. And yet despite this ability to create beautiful smooth areas of colour / shade there is absolutely no loss in detail. This smoothness is summed up in the ISO noise level tests earlier in this review, the D60 has very low noise all the way up to ISO 400, beyond that noise is visible at 100% zoom but is still certainly lower than most other digital SLR's.


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Colour/020316-1149-51.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Colour/020315-1747-03.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Smooth/020316-1205-56.jpg





Diagonal Jaggies

Here's something I only noticed about the D30 after I'd published my review, however I also caught it in my PowerShot G2 review. This is clearly something to do with the Bayer interpolation algorithm Canon is using across some of their digital cameras. It occurs like this: if a line of detail is at a certain angle (within about 10 degrees of a perfect 45 degree line) the line becomes jagged and made up of multiple 45 degree diagonal lines.

I wouldn't flag this as an 'issue' per-se, it appears only in a certain set of circumstances (quite seldom in a normal shoot) and typically isn't visible at normal viewing magnifications or in print.

Strange Dots

Just like the D30 the D60 also exhibits the strange 'drop out' pixels sprinkled between high frequency lines. We're sure this is a CMOS artifact and doesn't seem to occur any more than it did in the D30. I looked long and hard through our few thousand D60 photos and couldn't find a good example of this occurring in a 'real life' shot.


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Smooth/IMG_0660.jpg




http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Jaggies/020316-1149-44.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Jaggies/020316-1149-44.jpg






http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samples/rescharts/canon_eosd60.jpg







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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 18. Compared to...: Digital Photography Review

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Compared to the Canon EOS-D30

Canon EOS-D30 (left), Canon EOS-D60 (right)

The EOS-D60 replaces last years EOS-D30, a camera which managed to achieved critical acclaim (not least of which right here) for its great resolution, low noise and colour and breakthrough pricing. The following comparison is split into two areas: Colour - specifically the difference in colour reproduction between the D30 and D60, Scene - the same scene shot within seconds. A summary comparison of resolution (based on standard ISO resolution charts) can be found in the 'Compared to summary' section of this review.

Colour

The samples below of a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker Chart were taken in normal daylight with manual white balance taken from the neutral 6.5 patch (no. 21). Roll your mouse over the image to see the differences between the D60 and D30.

As you can see Canon has altered the saturation response of reds (more saturated) as well as making greens slightly more neutral. The overall result (in my eyes) is a more balanced yet more neutral colour response.




















http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/d60vsd30.jpg


(Roll your mouse over image to see EOS-D30 sample)

Download originals: EOS-D60 795 KB / EOS-D30 896 KB

Studio scene comparison

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within about a minute of each other. Clearly we're not comparing these cameras from a competition point of view but simply to illustrate the additional resolution and the tweaks made to colour reproduction. Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. Crops magnified 200%.

■ Canon EOS-D30: Parameters: Standard, Self-Timer, Mirror-Lockup Enabled,White balance: Manual Preset, Manual Exposure, Manual Focus, Canon EF 50 mm F1.4 lens,Large/Fine JPEG

■ Canon EOS-D60: Parameters: Standard, Self-Timer, Mirror-Lockup Enabled, White balance: Manual Preset, Manual Exposure, Manual Focus, Canon EF 50 mm F1.4 lens,Large/Fine JPEG

Canon EOS-D30 Canon EOS-D60

ISO 100, F10, 1 sec ISO 100, F10, 1 sec


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/Colour/colour_d60.JPG


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/D30.JPG



It's fairly clear to see that (a) the EOS-D60 delivers on its promise of a full six megapixels of resolution compared to the three megapixel EOS-D30 and (b) the tweaks to colour reproduction has noticeably improved the colours in the D60 image. There's no doubt that there is a very large increment in resolution between the D30 and D60.









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Compared to the Nikon D1x

Nikon D1x (left), Canon EOS-D60 (right) shown with optional BG-ED3 battery pack / portrait grip

On February 21st Nikon announced its D100 six megapixel digital SLR, the very next day Canon announced the D60. This has set the scene for the biggest Canon vs Nikon showdown for quite some time. During PMA this showdown took the form of a mini price war, not long after PMA Canon made its $2199/$1999 price official.

At the time of writing this review Nikon has still not revealed its price for the D100, but we expect it to be competitive with the D60. Also at the time of writing this review there are no 'reviewable' D100's available and so I've chosen to compare the D60 to the D100's "bigger brother" the $5000 D1x. I will of also course be using the D60 for direct comparison in my upcoming Nikon D100 review.

Bear in mind that the D1x is a much more robust, professional camera than the D60 (if you want the ultimate in robust and waterproof bodies look no further than the EOS-1D). The D1x's auto focus alone is much better than the D60 as well as the additional features and custom functions such as: third-stop ISO sensitivity (which can be boosted up to ISO 3200), Nikon matrix metering, fine-tunable white balance, selectable colour space, adjustable metering system etc. Some people may say I'm comparing apples to oranges, but without a D100 both of these cameras are the current 'top megapixel' from their respective manufacturers.

Square vs. Rectangular pixel layout

What makes this comparison even more interesting is the way that the D1x captures its six megapixel image. The D1x has sensor whose pixel layout is rectangular rather than the traditional square, the




















http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Images/d60vsd1x.jpg


sensor captures 4028 horizontal and 1324 vertical RAW pixels which are then 'translated' into the final 3008 x 1960 pixel image. This gives the D1x a horizontal resolution advantage of around 900 (raw) pixels over the D60 but a vertical deficit of over 700 pixels. More about the D1x sensor on the first page of my review.

Colour

The samples below of a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker Chart were taken in normal daylight with manual white balance taken from the neutral 6.5 patch (no. 21). Roll your mouse over the image to see the differences between the D60 and the D1x.

The D1x image was shot in sRGB colour space, as you can see it produces far more saturated looking image, most notably reds. Although the D1x does allow you to adjust tone and sharpening you can not alter colour saturation. That said the D1x has a definite advantage in being able to shoot in either sRGB or Adobe RGB colour spaces.

(Roll your mouse over image to see D1x sample)

Download originals: EOS-D60 795 KB / D1x 1,141 KB

Outdoor scene comparison

The following shots of Tower Bridge, London were taken on a typically hazy Spring day. I had to shoot the D60 first and then walk forward before taking the D1x shot to compensate in the difference between the D60's 1.6x multiplier and the D1x's 1.5x. Crops magnified 200%.

■ Nikon D1x: Tone: Normal, Sharpening: Normal, Colour space: sRGB, White Balance: Sunny,Manual Exposure, Auto Focus, Nikkor 50 mm F1.4D lens, Large/Fine JPEG

■ Canon EOS-D60: Parameters: Standard, White Balance: Sunny, Manual Exposure,Auto Focus, Canon EF 50 mm F1.4 lens, Large/Fine JPEG

Nikon D1x Canon EOS-D60

ISO 125, F9.0, 1/250 sec ISO 100, F9.0, 1/250 sec


http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond1x/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond1x/


http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/Colour/colour_d1x.JPG



http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/D1x/outdoor_d1x.JPG

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/D1x/outdoor_d60.JPG


A careful examination of the crops above (and the entire images) shows that although the D1x can occasionally pull out more horizontal detail, overall the D60 appears to have the advantage. The extra vertical pixels and the fact that the pixels are in a square orientation means that the D60 simply has a greater ability to resolve detail at a particular pixel location.

Indeed, taking time to look over the D1x image and you can see areas where its lack of vertical resolution becomes apparent (diagonal wires, curves, finer details). Considering the price difference between these two cameras the results from the D60 are even more impressive.











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Compared to the Nikon D1x (contd.)

Studio scene comparison

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod within about a minute of each other (tripod was moved closer to the subject to compensate for the difference in multiplier between the D60 and D1x). Lighting: 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white ceiling reflector. Crops magnified 200%.

■ Canon EOS-D60: Parameters: Standard, Self-Timer, Mirror-Lockup Enabled, White balance: Manual Preset, Manual Exposure, Manual Focus, Canon EF 50 mm F1.4 lens,Large/Fine JPEG

■ Nikon D1x: Tone: Normal, Sharpening: Normal, Colour space: sRGB, Self-Timer,Anti Mirror Shock Mode: On, White Balance: Manual Preset, Manual Exposure, Manual Focus,Nikkor 50 mm F1.4D lens, Large/Fine JPEG

Canon EOS-D60 Nikon D1x

ISO 100, F10, 1 sec ISO 125, F10, 1 sec





















http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Compared/D1x.JPG


Both cameras do an excellent job of pulling the detail out of the image, there are several areas of fine detail where the D1x's additional horizontal resolution is able to better define horizontal elements. However, the overall conclusion must be that the D60 with it's superior vertical resolution is better able to resolve the full six megapixels of resolution. Colour balance is more interesting, the D1x producing a brighter and more vivid image, the D60's image looking more neutral (of course you could get a more vivid D60 image by creating a parameter set with the 'saturation +1' setting).









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Compared to the Nikon D1x (contd.)

ISO Sensitivity / Noise levels

As with the previous noise comparison between the EOS-D30 and D60 we simply shoot a colour patch chart (a GretagMacBeth ColorChecker) at the full range of ISO sensitivities. These set of tests were carried out in normal light levels (10.6 EV).

Each of the comparison crops below are made up of a 90 x 80 crop of patches 19, 22 and 24 of the ColorChcker chart (as indicated above). This helps to give a better impression of noise at different light levels within an image. Directly below this you will find the average standard deviation of these three patches, this is a quantifiable measurement of noise.

Test Notes

■ Measurements were taken at normal room temperature of 21°C (~70°F), you should expect noise to reduce in lower temperatures and increase in higher temperatures.

■ Performance comparison carried out in RAW mode to remove the effects of JPEG artifacts skewing the higher ISO results. RAW images were converted to 8-bit TIFF's using Canon RAW Image Converter v2.0 (default settings) and Nikon Capture 2.0 (default settings).

■ Camera settings were defaulted before tests carried out (thus default parameters, sharpening etc.). The visibility of noise will be reduced by decreasing sharpening.

■ The 'standard deviation' was measured using the histogram feature in Photoshop on 8-bit TIFF or JPEG files (later comparison). Lower figures mean there is less 'deviation' from the average luminance level, and thus less noise.

■ The D1x's lowest sensitivity is ISO 125, so bear this in mind when looking at the first crop. The D1x's highest normal sensitivity is ISO 800 although it can be boosted to ISO 1600 or 3200 via a custom function.

Performance of Nikon D1x vs. EOS-D60 vs. in normal light

Camera Nikon D1x Canon EOS-D60 Sensitivity ISO 125 ISO 100 Exposure 1/13 s, F9.0 1/10, F9.0





















Patch crops ISO 125 / 100 RAW

Standard dev. avg. 1.21 0.64












As you can clearly see Canon's CMOS sensor technology appears work very well at keeping noise levels low. Looking at the graph below you can see that the two noise curves are almost identical in shape (they're both roughly exponential) but that the D60 always has an approximately 30% lower standard deviation average.











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Resolution Chart Comparison

Shots here are of the PIMA/ISO 12233 standard resolution test chart (more of which are available in our comparison database). This resolution chart allows us to measure the actual performance of the lens and sensor system. It measures the ability of the camera to resolve lines at gradually higher resolutions and enables us to provide a definitive value for comparison purposes. Values on the chart are 1/100th lines per picture height. So a value of 8 equates to 800 lines per picture height.

Studio light, cameras set to auto, all settings factory default. Aperture selected for optimum sharpness. Exposure compensation +0.7 EV or +1.0 EV.


Canon EOS-1D Canon EOS-D30






















http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/orig.asp?/reviews/samples/rescharts/nikon_d1x.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samples/rescharts/canon_eos1d.jpg

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/orig.asp?/reviews/samples/rescharts/canon_eosd30.jpg




Measurable findings (three measurements taken for each camera):

Camera Measurement Absolute Res.

Extinction Res.

Canon EOS-D60Horiz LPH 1600 * 1800 Vert LPH 1400 1800 5° Diagonal LPH 1000 n/a

Nikon D1xHoriz LPH 1600 >2000 Vert LPH * 1150 1250 5° Diagonal LPH 900 n/a

Canon EOS-1DHoriz LPH 1400 * 1700 Vert LPH 1200 * 1700 5° Diagonal LPH n/a n/a

CanonEOS-D30

Horiz LPH 1100 1350 Vert LPH 1150 1300 5° Diagonal LPH 1000 n/a

* Visible moiré artifacts

Definition of terms:







LPH Lines per Picture Height (to allow for different aspect ratios the measurement is the same for horizontal and vertical)

5° Diagonal Lines set at 5° diagonalAbsolute Resolution Still defined detail (below Nyquist frequency*)Extinction Resolution Detail beyond camera's definition (becomes a solid gray alias)n/a Not Available (above the capability of the test chart)n/v Not Visible (not visible on test results)

* Nyquist frequency defined as the highest spatial frequency where the CCD can still faithfully recordimage detail. Beyond the Nyquist frequency aliasing occurs

As we derived from our comparison tests the D60 makes full use of its six megapixel potential, delivering excellent horizontal and vertical resolution. The D1x is capable of the same horizontal resolution and produces visible detail well beyond 2000 lines/picture height, however its lower vertical resolution lets it down.

Resolution at other image sizes

The crops (and downloadable samples) below are provided to give an impression of visible resolution at the other selectable image sizes.

Large (3072 x 2048) Medium (2048 x 1360) Small (1536 x 1024)





http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/samples/rescharts/canon_eosd60.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Resolution/IMG_8840.jpg

http://img.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOSD60/Samples/Resolution/IMG_8841.jpg







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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 23. Lenses: Digital Photography Review

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Lenses

For this review I was fortunate enough to have a good selection of Canon EF lenses, everything from the wide angle zoom of the 17 - 35 mm F2.8 L to the super telephoto 100 - 400 mm F4.5-5.6 L IS. Those who already know their Canon lenses will know that the 'L' indicates a professional lens which uses higher quality glass (often made of special materials), special coatings and full metal bodies.

This section of the review is a very quick look at each lens and a measurement of its resolution performance at different apertures. Below you will find a description of each lens followed by three crops taken from the horizontal resolution portion of our standard resolution chart. The first crop is at the lenses maximum aperture, the second at F8.0 and the last at F16.0 (to check for resolution loss due to refraction).

This is not intended as a detailed review of each lens, I didn't have the time or the testing procedures to do that properly. There are lots of other factors such as colour response, tone, geometry (distortion), flare and chromatic aberrations which haven't been tested. For a more detailed review of lenses I recommend checking the photodo.com website.

To L or not to L?

What can be gleaned from the samples below is that even the non-professional lenses (such as the 28 - 135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 IS) are more than capable of resolving six megapixels. The difference between them and the professional lenses comes in build quality, maximum aperture, sharpness at maximum aperture, distortion, contrast, colour response etc. etc.

I would recommend first time Canon lens buyers (looking at the D60) get a good non-professional lens such as the 28 - 135 mm F4.5 - 5.6 IS or the 24 - 85 mm F3.5 - 4.5. Also don't ignore prime (non-zoom) lenses, they offer as much sharpness as an L lenses but at a much lower price. If you can afford it then definitely go for the L zoom lenses, the 16 - 35 mm F2.8 L and 28 - 70 mm F2.8 L are both excellent lenses.

Equiv. FOV

Because the D60's sensor is smaller than a 35 mm negative it effectively crops a smaller area from the center of the image projected by the lens. This cropping effect is often referred to as 'focal length multiplier', on the D60 this is 1.6x. This is a term I really don't like. What is really happening is that a 28 mm lens on a D60 has its field of view cropped to an equivalent focal length of 44.8 mm. In the descriptions below you'll see me use the notation "Equiv. FOV on D60" (rounded to the nearest equiv. mm).

Canon EF 17-35 mm F2.8 L USM




















http://www.photodo.com/nav/prodindex.html


The 17-35 mm has recently been updated to a new model, the 16-35 mm. I personally found this lens to be a little on the soft side, especially at apertures larger than F5.0. My experience of the 16-35 mm on an EOS-1D was much more satisfying. Because of the D60's FOV crop you'll need these super-wide angle lenses to get anywhere near a normal 35 mm wide angle field of view.

Equiv. FOV on D60: 27 - 56 mmWeight: 0.9 kg (1.2 lb)

@ 35 mm, F2.8 @ 35 mm, F8.0 @ 35 mm, F16.0

Note: due to the size of the resolution chart it was not possible to test this lens at 17 mm.

Canon EF 28-70 mm F2.8 L USM

The 28-70 mm F2.8 L is heavy for an 'every day' lens. The weight goes some way to convincing you that it's a quality piece of equipment. This lens is very sharp, fast and makes a good professional quality all round lens on the D60.




@ 28 mm, F2.8 @ 28 mm, F8.0 @ 28 mm, F16.0

@ 70 mm, F2.8 @ 70 mm, F8.0 @ 70 mm, F16.0

Canon EF 28-135 mm F3.5 - 5.6 IS USM

The 28 - 135 mm is probably the most popular lens among D30 owners, it's not heavy, provides a good usable (almost) 5 x zoom, has image stabilization and provides good sharp images. Excellent value for money.




@ 28 mm, F3.5 @ 28 mm, F8.0 @ 28 mm, F16.0

@ 135 mm, F5.6 @ 135 mm, F8.0 @ 135 mm, F16.0

Canon EF 50 mm F1.4 USM

The 50 mm F1.4 is probably the sharpest "non-L" lenses you can buy. It provides superb low light AF (because if its F1.4 max aperture) as well as excellent sharpness from about F2.2 upwards (it's relatively soft at F1.4). Focusing is fast and with the 1.6x FOV crop it works out well as a light weight portrait lens on the D60. This is one of my favourite lenses.

Equiv. FOV on D60: 80 mmWeight: 289 g (10.2 oz)

F1.4 F8.0 F16.0

Canon EF 70-200 mm F2.8 L IS USM



This big lens offers superb sharpness right across its zoom range. It has a waterproof seal at the lens mount (for use with more robust cameras such as the 1V and 1D) as well as internal zoom and internal focusing. The 70-200 has dual mode image stabilization and a ball bearing rotating tripod collar (for quick switches from landscape to portrait). This is a superb, if very expensive lens.


@ 70 mm, F2.8 @ 70 mm, F8.0 @ 70 mm, F16.0

Note: due to the size of our studio it was not possible to test this lens at 200 mm.

Canon EF 100-400 mm F4.5-5.6 L IS USM

I'm amazed as to how many people on our Canon SLR Talk forum own this lens, it's definetly not a cheap option. However on the D60 it does provide an amazing 160 to 640 mm FOV equiv. The 100-400 also has dual mode image stabilization and a ball bearing rotating tripod collar. Its zoom is the push-pull type and extended to 400 mm this is no small lens. Very sharp (a stop down from max. aperture) and a huge zoom range.




@ 100 mm, F4.5 @ 100 mm, F8.0 @ 100 mm, F16.0

Note: due to the size of our studio it was not possible to test this lens at 400 mm.









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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 24. Conclusion: Digital Photography Review

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Conclusion - Pros

■ Excellent resolution, lives up to the six megapixel label■ Improved colour, reds are stronger other colours toned down a little■ Noise free 'silky smooth' images (still has the "D30 look")■ Noise very low all the way up to ISO 400, manageable noise levels at ISO 800 and 1000■ Images not 'over sharpened' or damaged by visible sharpening artifacts■ Unrivalled long exposure capability, no more waiting double the exposure time ■ Reduced shutter release LAG■ Very clever 'smart buffering' means you can almost always take the next shot■ Good metering■ Good manual preset white balance, average automatic white balance■ Much less of a 'dust problem' than other competitive cameras (special filter?) ■ Better low light AF if you enable the AF assist lamp■ In-camera programmable 'parameter sets' to control image processing algorithms■ RAW mode provides the 'digital negative', about 1 stop of latitude in over exposed images■ New RAW Image Converter software provides far more flexibility (digital exp. compen. etc.)■ Extraction of 2048 x 1360 JPEG from RAW file provides 'virtual' RAW+JPEG shooting ■ Remote capture software for studio setups■ Full Canon EF lens compatible■ Good IBM Microdrive performance (less of a penalty than we have seen on other cameras)■ Built as a Digital SLR from the ground up■ Easy to use, integrated digital / photographic controls and displays■ Good combination of both full auto, scene and manual exposure controls■ Highlighted AF points■ Top panel LCD illuminated■ Improved power switch■ Double battery charger (although can only charge one battery at a time) ■ Custom functions to control camera operation■ Excellent battery life, light weight and small batteries■ Superb value for money

Conclusion - Cons

■ Strange dots ('drop out' pixels) which can appear between high frequency lines■ Opening the CF compartment door shuts camera down, loses any buffered images■ Overall auto focus performance virtually identical to D30■ Viewfinder view is smaller than 'higher end' D-SLR's (such as the EOS-1D)■ Not selectable colour space (stuck with sRGB)■ Not enough latitude of control over image processing parameters (currently only +/-1 step)■ White balance not fine-tunable■ Image playback magnification only at one level■ ISO sensitivity not displayed on viewfinder status bar while being changed ■ Slow RAW conversion (20+ seconds per image on a high performance desktop PC)





















Overall conclusion

When Canon came along at the end of 2000 with the EOS-D30 it took the market by storm, superb image quality in a digital SLR built as such from the ground up and all for $3,000. But let us not forget Nikon's contribution, before the D1 it wasn't possible to buy a D-SLR for under $5000.

Here we are a year (and a few months) after the first D30's hit the streets looking at an improved D30 with a six megapixel sensor which can deliver the same silky smooth noise free images. Best of all this camera is priced at just $2,200 for the kit. As recently as August 2000 Kodak were selling the six megapixel Canon SLR based DCS 560 (also known as the D6000) for $16,000 (before that it had been $25,000). It's amazing to think that eighteen months later we're looking at a six megapixel Canon D-SLR for a little over $2,000.

For me the D60 outperformed many of my expectations, I didn't expect resolution to be as good as it is and I didn't expect Canon to be able to keep noise levels down in the way they have. In almost every respect the D60 has performed flawlessly. There are the diagonal jaggies and 'strange dots' but these occur very infrequently in every day shots and even then they are hardly visible.

Colour has been tweaked and improved so that reds are stronger but other colours are more equally balanced, there's no chance of over-exposure of any particular colour before another. If you want the extra colour 'zing' you have control over the camera's internal processing algorithms. I still would have liked to have seen a colour space output option (that's still there for third party RAW conversion tools).

Little touches like the reduced shutter release LAG, illuminated AF points, illuminated top status LCD, in-camera parameter programming are all welcome improvements and go to show that Canon are well aware of, and act upon user requests. One area I think a lot of people expected to be improved is auto focus, and this may be the D60's only achilles heel.

This is the first of the new big four D-SLR's we've had the pleasure to review (Nikon D100, Sigma SD9, Fujifilm S2 Pro, Canon EOS-D60). I'm looking forward to comparing the EOS-D60 to the other cameras (especially Nikon's D100).

Highly Recommended

So which one should I buy? A question I get asked several times a day, and I wouldn't like to say. In a new addition to my reviews (after the amount of feedback I normally get) I've added a link to a specific forum in which you can discuss the review or ask me specific questions which I've not answered in these pages.

Want to make sure you don't miss out on any future articles?Sign up for our free weekly newsletter!

Enter the 'Canon SLR Talk' Discussion Forum

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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 25. Samples: Digital Photography Review



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Canon EOS-D60 Review: 25. Samples: Digital Photography Review

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Samples Galleries

There are 29 images in the samples gallery. Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission. I make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), I do so in good faith, please don't abuse it.

Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at 3072 x 2048 resolution. A reduced size image (720 x 480) is provided to be more easily viewed in your browser. As always the original untouched image is available by clicking on this reduced image.

Click here for the Canon EOS-D60 Gallery - Posted 25th March 2002























http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canoneosd60_samples1/

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/canoneosd60_samples1/




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