Nikon D60

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Features

Given that Nikon prices the D60 higher than some competitors, notably Olympus's E-510, Pentax's K200D, and the aforementioned Sony's A200, you'd think that they would include more than this camera's three autofocus points. Even more so since the Pentax and Sony offer 11- and 9-AF points, respectively. The Olympus offer sensor-shift image stabilization systems that work with all lenses for their respective mounts. Of course, the big benefit of optical image stabilization is that you'll see the stabilizing effect while you frame your shot, which becomes more useful when your lens' focal length becomes longer. However, this shouldn't be a major issue until you reach focal lengths in the range of 300mm and higher. If you don't plan to get a very long lens, the edge provided by lens-based stabilization may be moot compared with the sensor-shift alternatives.

There is no top LCD panel on the D60. Instead, you can access the menus from the LCD display.
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Nikon's menu system in the D60 hasn't changed much from the D40x, but it now includes a retouch menu, so you can tweak your images in the camera after you shoot them. In addition to the tweaks included in the D40x, such as D-Lighting (to fix minor exposure issues and bring detail out of shadow areas all in one-step), red-eye reduction, and cropping, Nikon has added a couple of new filter effects with the D60. Red, green, and blue Intensifiers let you add some saturation to those colors, while the Cross Screen filter mimics a traditional Cross Star lens filter, adding a twinkle to small light sources and highlights in an image. The Cross Screen can look cool, and Nikon includes controls for the angle, length, and number (4, 6, or 8) of points, as well as the intensity of the effect. Be careful to use this filter in moderation though--it can have a digitally enhanced look to it if taken too far.

Nikon has also built an NEF (Nikon's RAW image file type) to JPEG converter. While this makes up a little bit for the fact that you're limited to shooting basic (highly compressed) JPEGs when shooting RAW+JPEG with the D60, we'd rather Nikon include this and let us shoot fine (lowest compression) JPEGs in RAW+JPEG mode. Still, it's nice to be able to do a basic conversion on the fly if needed.

More fun than the RAW conversion is the D60's Stop Motion Movie mode, which lets you convert a series of JPEG files into an AVI movie up to 640 x 480 pixels at a frame rate of up to 15 frames per second. The process is really easy, and you can even change the start and end points, remove specific frames from the middle, and change the frame rate before finalizing. A preview option lets you confirm you've got it right before committing. We made a short clip of a couple of subway trains moving through Penn Station, but we got conversion errors whenever we tried to upload it to YouTube.

Another nifty new feature is the Rangefinder function. The feature converts the exposure/exposure compensation scale to a distance-based focus assist when you're in manual focus mode and not shooting in full manual exposure mode. Like the D40 and D40x before it, the D60can only autofocus with Nikon's AF-S and AF-I lenses. The Rangefinder feature offers a nice bit of help when focusing with a non-AF-S or AF-I lens, such as Nikon's relatively inexpensive AF Nikkor 50mm F1.4D prime lens. That 50mm Nikkor lens uses a coupling pin to rely on the AF motor built into Nikon's more expensive SLR bodies. Be warned though, in low light, the Rangefinder function may get a bit confused, just as the camera's AF system tends to.

The D60 flash-sync speed is only 1/200 second.
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We're not entirely certain why, but while the D40 had a flash-sync speed of 1/500 second, the D40x and now the D60 have a sync speed of 1/200 second, as does the Canon EOS 450D. Both the Pentax K200D and the Olympus E-510 sync at 1/180 second, while the Sony A200 and Panasonic Lumix L10 have sync speeds of 1/160 second. If you don't know what a sync speed is, it's the fastest shutter speed you can use with the camera's built-in flash. Since there are times when you need a fast shutter speed to stop the motion of a subject, but still might need to use the flash as fill flash (perhaps for a backlit subject in motion, such as a soccer player running toward you down the field), the general rule is that a faster sync speed is better. As such, the Nikons' and Canon's sync of 1/200 second is the best of the budget bunch, but it would've been even nicer if Nikon would've kept the 1/500 second speed of the D40.

The D60 includes Nikon's 3D Matrix Metering II to determine exposure when not using center-weighted, or spot metering. Nikon's Matrix mode does a very good job of determining the best exposure for a given scene. Generally, it seems to make the most logical compromise between preserving highlight/shadow detail. For example, if faced with a high-contrast scene and the brighter area is significantly smaller than the darker region, the camera will likely sacrifice the highlights to hold onto the shadows. However, since the system also compares the given scene with a database of images, the camera should notice if you're shooting a portrait, or other scene, in which a simple compromise wouldn't be best. We have to say that we are impressed with the camera's metering.

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