This is a brief review of the Nikon D60 digital SLR by someone who is new to digital photography!
Build Qualtiy – good for an entry-level DSLR
The D60 seems well built, better than its direct Canon and Sony competitors.
Responsiveness – excellent
One of the biggest improvements of the D60 over my wife’s Powershot A80 is that when you press the shutter release, the photograph is taken virtually immediately. This makes it much easier to capture a fleeting moment than with many compact cameras, where there is a noticable lag between pressing the shutter release and the photograph being taken. In general the D60 feels very responsive. I have set the sensor cleaning so that it only happens when you turn the camera off (the default is both when yuo turn it on and whaen you turn it off) so I can turn the camera on and press the shutter release in a single almost fluid motion.
Auto ISO – great
Auto ISO allows the user to set a minimum (slowest) shutter speed. When the camera is controlling the shutter speed (for example, in programmed-auto or apperture-priority modes), if the default ISO setting would result in the shutter speed becoming slower than the pre-set minimum, then the camera will increase the ISO as required to get the shutter speed back to the minimum. The user is able to set the slowest shutter speed, and the maximum ISO that the camera will use. I set the minimum shutter speed to 1/60th second and the maximum ISO to 1600. Ths is function is great as it allows you to take a reasonably exposed shot in almost any light condition without having to adjust the controls (provided the camera is set to an automatic exposure mode). Of course there are times when the camera does not make the same exposure choices that I would have – but in these situations, you can use one of the semi-automatic exposure settings. I leave the camera set to programmed auto with auto-ISO and auto white balance enabled so that I can get a “fair” shot under almost any lighting conditions. Then if the situation allows, I manually set the shutter speed or apperture if I want to.
Internal flash – great for fill-in but not as the main light source
The built-in flash is great for fill-in use (reducing the contrast of a subject when for example their face is in shade). Simply pop the flash out, and the camera’s iTTL (intelligent through the lens) flash metering calculates the flash setting and adjusts the exposure automatically with generally good results.Of course you can also adjust it manually if you wish to, but I haven’t had reason to do this yet. For taking photographs in dark locations, I recommend an external flash such as the SB400 which can be bounce since like all camera-mounted direct flashes the D60’s internal flash results in very “flat” protographs. The main suject is usually correctly exposed though.
Auto focus – good within its limitations
The auto focus works well in AF single area mode, which is what I usually use (a hang-over from older film cameras which only offered this mode). Due to the limited number of AF points (3) , I wouldn’t trust it in “closest subject” mode since the closest subject may not be under one of the AF sensor areas. The number of AF sensors is one of the main differences between the D60 and the more expensive Nikon DLSRs, so if you plan to do much action shooting then I suggest a D90 which has 11 autofocus points.
Lens Limitations – a bit of a pain
The dpreview.com review of the D60 says that being restricted to AF-S and AF-I lenses probably won’t matter to most users. Well it does to me! The reason is simply that this means you can’t use cheaper second-hand or new lenses with the camera, but have to buy brand new, recently released AF-S lenses at a substantial price premium. I’m wanting a fast 50mm prime for indoor portraits, but befause the D60 does not have an internal auto-focus motor, the only Nikon prime that will auto-focus on this camera is the brand new AF-S 50mm F/1.4G lens. This sells for aboutu 50% more than the AF 50mm F/1.4D lens, which would also be perfect for what I want; and about twice the price of the AFÂ 50mm F/1.8D, which would also be great! And this is new prices – I’m sure I could get either of the non-AF-S alternatives a good deal cheaper on the used market. Oh well…
Exposure Metering – matrix mode not great
The matrix metering often clips highlights. Not good. For hig-contrast scenes either dial in some negative exposure compensation (about -0.7 is about average but it does vary according to the lighting) or spot-meter the highlights on +2 EV. Don’t get me wrong, the matrix metering works OK for casual shots, with the principal subject usually properly exposed. If you shoot to JPG without any post-processing, it may suit you since the alternatives I’m proposing require some post-processing to restore the shadow detail (“expose for the highlights, post-process for the shadow detail”).
AF-Assist Illuinator – a welcome feature
The D60 is the only entry-level DSLR I am aware of that has a dedicated auto-focust assist illuminator lamp on the camera body. Other entry-level DSLRs use the flash to auto-focus in low light. However since I greatly prefer natural light to flash (especially the flat images from on-camera flashes), this is a very welcome feature!
Active D-Lighting
I don’t use this since it relies on in-camera post-processing or Capture NX2 to complete the effect. I use Bibble Light for raw conversion and post-processing, since it costs only about a third of what Capture NX2 or Lightroom 2 cost. However I did shoot a couple of JPGs of a high-contrast scene with active D-Lighting, and it still clipped the highlights!
