I have used Nikon SLR cameras, including the film Nikon N55 as well as digital Nikon D50 and have liked them a lot. Once the new Nikon D60 came out, I decided to give it a try. I purchased Nikon D60 with its ¡°kit¡± 18-55mm VR lens. The D60 is available as a camera body or as a kit with a new 18-55mm lens with vibration reduction technology (optical image stabilization). Unlike the previous 18-55mm ED lens shipped with some previous Nikon digital SLR cameras, the new lens lacks ED glass, but includes vibration reduction.

If you have leftover lenses from Nikon SLR cameras or just want to get a lens that is better or cheaper than the one supplied in a kit, you can get a Nikon D60 body only. But keep in mind that unlike other digital and film SLR cameras from Nikon, the D60 (and D40 or D40x for that matter) do not support focusing if the lens does not have its own motor. In other words, with D60 or D40/D40x, you will either have to focus older-style lenses yourself or use newer focus motor-equipped lenses.

I have a very decent leftover Nikon AF Zoom Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G Autofocus Lens from the file Nikon N55 and filers for it, but rarely used its autofocus ability anyway, I decided to get the kit with the new VR lens. The 18-55 VR autofocusing lens and the aforementioned 28-80mm G-type lens will be the lenses I will most likely use. The latter lens that I have is inexpensive (I had it for at least 5 years) and not the most solid, yet it is sharp and rather versatile. So in case I somehow manage to damage it, I will not be too sad.

What is Nikon D60?

The Nikon D60 is a digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera with 10.2-Megapixel maximum resolution, 2.5-inch high-resolution LCD screen and a focus-assist light. It stores images on the widely available Secure Digital (SD) cards, including SDHC and is powered by a long-lasting rechargeable 7.4V 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery.

The camera is compatible with numerous Nikon SLR lenses (both designed for digital SLRs and for film) with a conversion/magnification factor of 1.5. This means that a 28-mm lens designed for film becomes a 42-mm (equivalent) lens, 80mm turns into 120mm.

The above-mentioned caveat still applies. The body has no internal focusing motor and therefore will not focus non-motor equipped lenses. But you can still focus manually and the camera will indicate the focus once it is obtained.

The newer AF-S and AF-I lenses (e.g. included 18-55mm lens) contain internal focus motors and will auto-focus.

The camera has an ISO range of 100-3,200 and the shutter speed range of 1/4,000-30 sec. The camera has a built-in pop-up flash as well as an external flash hot shoe.

The D60 includes automatic sensor cleaning system to combat dust and features up to 3 fps shooting.

Kit Lens

The camera kit included a new Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-S DX lens with Silent Wave Motor, which is equivalent to 27-83mm in 35-mm terms. The focusing is very quiet and VR stands for Vibration Reduction (optical image stabilization).

The lens is more solid than my old 28-80mm lens as well as the 18-55mm lens of the Canon Digital Rebel XT that I also currently have for comparison purposes.

Just as many other newer dSLR lenses, the new Nikon lens has no aperture ring (aperture is set one the body) and uses outer rotating barrel for focusing. If you use filters (52mm supported), e.g. polarizers, be prepared that the outer barrel (and your filter) will rotate while focusing.

The lens has two switches: VR on/off and focusing Manual/Auto. The zoom ring is large and rubberized. Both zoom and focusing rings have solid feel and require well-calibrated amount of effort to rotate.

The lens is versatile at 18-55mm (27-83mm equivalent), including useful wide angle capability. It is not fast at f/3.5 wide, f/5.6 telephoto, but VR makes the situation better and for extra $100 or so (when included as a part of the kit) it is an excellent deal. It is difficult to expect more for this price. And if you use it at its ¡°sweet spot¡±, the results are truly remarkable.

Getting Started

Once the camera arrived, I removed the camera body from the box, charged the battery pack using the supplied charger, inserted the battery and a SD card that I had and attached the lens. I also attached the supplied shoulder strap.

The charger uses a separate power cord, which is good and bad. Good because you do not obstruct nearby power outlets and if you go to another country you just need to get a different cord. Bad because I do not like dealing with extra cables.

The immediate difference with a compact digicam you notice is that the camera is somewhat large and heavier than most of them, including mega-zoom models. It feels very solid and professional and looks the part with its black body and numerous buttons and controls. Unlike the D50 or Canon Rebel XT, there is no separate small "always on" LCD for parameters and space left on the memory card.

When you turn the camera on for the first time, it offers you to set date, time and time zone (by showing you the map of the world). Cool feature.

My camera came pre-set to standard color mode, in which the colors are slightly too saturated. Most consumers will probably find vivid colors more appealing and therefore the camera (targeted at consumer market) tries to please them. I went to Custom menu and made colors less vibrant and more natural.

The camera is very similar to D50 and even to my film Nikon N55 SLR in terms of control placement. But it is heavier and has more buttons and a 2.5-inch LCD screen on the rear panel. The on/of switch turns the camera on instantaneously with no wait that people associate with turning the compact digital camera on. Just flip the switch and you are ready to shoot.

The camera has separate doors for the battery (bottom) and memory card (side), which is convenient.

Controls

The camera has a typical SLR shape with a convenient handgrip, well-placed control and balanced weight. The front of the camera has a focus-assist light, flash release and timer/Fn buttons and a lens release button. The switch between auto and manual focus moved from the body (D50 or N55) to the lens.

The Top deck has a mode wheel that lets you select between full auto (point-and-shoot) mode, scene modes, Program, Aperture and Shutter Priority as well as full manual mode. Unlike the D50 (or N55) it has no B&W LCD that displays the selected camera modes and parameters using numbers and pictograms.

The front part of the top deck (on the handgrip) has a on/off switch with the shutter release button in the middle, the timer button and the aperture/exposure compensation button.

The bottom has a tripod mount and a battery compartment lid. The right side has a small lid of the memory card compartment, the left side - a rubberized lid that covers the USB, A/V and DC power inputs/outs.

The rear houses a large 2.5-inch LCD screen for menus, shooting parameters and image review, the menu control buttons, the optical viewfinder with diopter adjustment and sensors that detect when you are looking into it underneath (turns LCD off) and a bunch of control buttons. There is an adjustment thumb wheel in the rear as well.

The LCD shows you shooting parameters, including graphical representation of the aperture. The viewfinder has parameters below the screen/glass also. When the camera obtains focus, one of the three focusing brackets on the screen/focusing glass blinks red. There is also a green dot in the lower left portion that illuminates when the selected focus bracket is in focus.

Differences with a Compact Digital Camera

If you are have used a compact digital camera (also known as point-and-shoot) before, you will notice several key differences. First of all, the camera turns on and off instantaneously, whereas with a compact camera you have to wait, sometimes several seconds.

Also, with a digital SLR, the lens focal distance (magnification) depends on the lens used. With zoom lenses, you zoom by rotating the ring around the lens instead of using buttons. With any digital SLR, you do not see the image on the LCD screen until the image is actually captured, This means that you have to use the viewfinder to compose the image and confirm focus. Only after the image is taken can you see it on the LCD screen.

The LCD screen is also used to display menus. You simply hold the appropriate button (e.g. ISO) and rotate the adjustment thumb wheel to scroll through the settings (e.g. ISO 100-200-400-600-1200-3200).

Thus, many adjustments can be performed through a menu or on the fly by holding an appropriate button and rotating the wheel.

The less apparent difference is performance. Whereas vast majority of compact digital cameras have sensitivity range of ISO 100-1,600 and have high levels of noise at ISO 400 or above, the D600 starts at ISO 100 (with no noise) and goes as high as ISO 3,200. This means that you can have a faster shutter speed than the one you would have to use on a compact digicam resulting in less blurry pictures, especially in poor light conditions or when shooting fast moving objects.

Also, the supplied lens features vibration reduction and allows you to use slower shutter speeds than you normally would be able when shooting handheld without blur. The end result is sharper photos in dim light and or at high zoom levels.

Also, the D60 has much better dynamic range capturing detail in both shadows and highlights better than the compact digicams. And there is huge amount of adjustments from color space to sharpness and hue, from JPEG compression to shooting RAW or JPEG.

The camera also has a burst rate of 30 frames per second and shutter speed as fast as 1/4,000 sec. The supplied lens has a wide range of aperture settings allowing you to either keep everything (from near to far) in focus or keep what you want in focus and make the rest blurry. Compact digicams cannot do that die to their shorter focal lengths and smaller range of apertures.

Usage

Aside from using auto modes, the camera is not as easy to use as the vast majority of compact digital cameras, but I figured out how to use all of its features I needed in no time. If you have used a compact digital camera before, you will have to learn that the LCD cannot be used to confirm composition and focus and you have to look into the viewfinder. The LCD stays blank until the picture is taken.

The menu system of the camera is somewhat easy to use, but some (less frequently used) functions are buried within it. The number of customizable options does not help either.

In comparison with Canon Digital Rebel XT, this Nikon is less easy to use, partly due to number of features and options, but partly to controls and some missed opportunities. For example, if you want to change ISO, on Canon you would press the "arrow up" button (marked "ISO") and the ISo selection menu appears instantly.

On D60, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to get to ISO setting. You have to switch from one disply mode to another and then use arrow buttons to get to the ISO field. Even though you can get to other settings in the same manner (e.g. metering or file format), I find this arrangement not as intuitive as Canon's.

The camera has fewer buttons on the back panel and the "arrow"/menu control pad does not have fixed secondary functions, which I feel is a missed opportunity to some degree. The menu pad is used to do things, but not in very intuitive way.

The camera has a ? button that you can use to get help with the menus. Just push and hold it and you will get information on the currently selected item.

The camera has a metering system that stays on for several seconds after you half-press the shutter release button and then turns off, unless you are adjusting some settings. The half-press of the shutter release button makes the camera focus (if the automatic focus is selected) and calculate the aperture/shutter speed combination for the selected scene.

Depending on the degree of control you requested by selecting Auto, Scene or manual modes, the camera calculates several of the following parameters: ISO, white balance, shutter speed, aperture, flash output, focus, etc.

If you choose to focus manually, just flip the switch on the lens mount to M from AF and use the ring around the lens. The camera will show you a green circle when the proper focus in the selected area is obtained.

In auto mode, you just point and shoot. The camera takes care of the rest. The scene modes give you more control and the manual modes give you full control over all creative aspects. If you are using the G-type lenses with no aperture ring (most recent ones, including the kit lens), the camera lets you adjust the aperture value of the lens by rotating the thumb wheel - the same system used on the film Nikon N55 camera. Canon Digital Rebel XT/XTi/XSi also use the same approach.

The built-in flash pops up automatically when needed in auto and scene modes. Or you can select its mode of operation in other modes.

Performance

The camera is very fast, comparing to the compact digital cameras. The startup and shutdown and instantaneous, the focusing, depending on the lens, is also very fast (almost instantaneous, much less than a second). There is no shutter lag - once the button is depressed, the photo is taken immediately.

The camera can take picture as fast as you can press the shutter release button. The pictures can be taken less than a second apart in single-frame mode (even in RAW mode). In burst mode, the camera takes pictures at about 3 frames per second (with enough light, of course; slower shutter speeds will slow the camera down).

Overall, the camera is extremely fast in operation.

The camera is also among the quietest SLRs I have seen in both focusing sounds and the shutter sound.

Picture Quality

Obviously, since the camera can be paired with different lenses, the sharpness, presence or absence of vignetting, chromatic aberrations and coma/blurriness in corners will depend on the lens you are using.

I have used both the inexpensive, yet capable lens that I am using on my film SLR: Nikon AF Zoom Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G Autofocus Lens and the kit VR lens. The 28-80 lens, when attached to the D50 turns into 42-120-mm equivalent lens. When attached to the D80, only the central part of the image produced by a lens designed for a full-frame imaging is used, therefore I had no vignetting problems at all. The images were very sharp and geometrically-correct.

The supplied 18-55mm kit lens is very good. I compared it with Canon EF-S II 18-55mm lens on Canon Digital Rebel XT body. Not a very direct comparison, but still very revealing.

The Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX lens is amazingly good for its price. Not only its optical image stabilization was very effective, allowing me to shoot 1-2 stops slower than normal, its optical qualities were also impressive. It is generally sharper than Canon's lens, especially in teh center at wide angle. And stopped down to f/8 it is also sharper in the corners than Canon.

The image was generally sharp from corner to corner from wide angle to telephoto, unless apertures narrower than f/22 or widest available were used. There was some chromatic aberration at 18mm at f/3.5 to f/5.6, but it disappeared by f/8 or when zooming in.

Vignetting was virtually nonexistent; the corners of the frame were very slightly darker at full wide angle and widest aperture, but it was barely visible and the corners are usually cut of when printing photos.

The sharpest photos were obtained at f/8-f/11 from wide angle to telephoto. They were sharp from corner to corner and very sharp in the center.

Since the above described characteristics depend on the lens, let's move to the qualities that depend on the camera itself.

The default settings for the D60 produce richly-saturated, contrasty and noise-free images (ISO 100-400). The saturation might be too high for some tastes. Most consumers like colorful, highly-saturated images and will have no problem with the default. If you do, you can go to Custom Settings, then to Color Mode and select the lower-saturation sRGB version or even Adobe RGB.

The camera also lets you adjust the saturation separately as well as sharpening and contrast. You can also shoot RAW (Nikon NEF format) and adjust parameters in your image editing software.

There are several good qualities of the D60. The images are noise-free at lower ISO and noise is very low even at ISO 1600. In fact, the ISO 1600 is so good, you can print sharp 8x10 enlargements with no visible noise. And if you only print 4x6 and 5x7, the noise is no concern at all, even at ISO 3200.

This is a stark contrast with most compact digital cameras, where the ISO 400 is barely usable at 5x7 (with the exception of Fuji cameras with SuperCCD sensors). What does it mean for you? The D60 will provide sharp, blur-free and noise-free pictures in difficult lighting conditions, including indoors.

Another distinguishing part of the D60 (and to be fair, of digital SLRs in general) is how smooth the images look. They are sharp, yet the tonal range so well defined that there is no harsh transition between tonalities you can sometimes see in compact digital cameras.

The colors are pleasing and true to life. The camera also has RAW mode that lets you take the information as it was recorded by the CCD and adjust it in your computer to produce a better JPEG file than the camera would be able to produce.

Overall, the image quality turned out to be excellent and superior to what I have seen from the compact digital cameras and on par with other digital SLR cameras I tested before.

Resolution and Compression Settings

The camera has a 10.2-megapixel sensor and can take photos at up to 10.2-MP resolution (for enlargements or cropping). Unlike most compact digital cameras that have a sensor with 3x4 aspect ratio and as a result cause the sides of the image to be cut of when printing the 6x4-inch and other popular formats, the D60 has 3x2 aspect ratio, perfect for 6x4 and good for other formats.

The 10MP images enlarge well up to 13x19 inches and probably beyond (I cannot print larger with the printer I use). There are three compression settings for JPEG files that the D50 produces: Basic, Normal and Fine. You can also shoot RAW or RAW + Basic JPEG. Unfortunately, you cannot shoot RAW in conjunction with Normal or Fine JPEG. And that was the case with the earlier D50.

The camera also offers you file optimizations for direct print, portrait, landscape, etc.

Computer Connectivity

I have not connected the camera to my computer with a supplied USB cable, but rather removed the SD cards and used a card reader.

Battery Life

Nikon claims about 500 shots on one battery charge, depending on conditions and file sizes as well as flash and VR use. I have not tried to determine the battery life, but took about 200 pictures with no sign of battery depletion.

Storage

The camera uses newest and most widespread SD and SDHC memory cards. I also bought two 2GB SDHC memory cards, camera bag, tripod, wide angle converter and other accessories for a little over $700.

Post Processing

After the picture is taken, you can apply effects, remove red eye, apply D-Lighting, etc. This feature is pretty easy to use.

Comparing Apples and Oranges

I currently have both the Nikon D60 with its kit lens and the Canon Digital Rebel XT with its kit lens and deciding which one to sell and which one to keep. The XT is cheaper, and has its advantages, but it has no image stabilization, slightly lower resolution, no sensor cleaning, slightly inferior lens and uses CF cards. Plus, I have leftover Nikon 28-80G lens...

Also, Nikon D60 has features like D-Lighting, in-camera prost processing (including red eye removal, RAW conversion, filter application, B&W conversion, etc.) Decisions, decisions...

Reliability

Based on my experience with other Nikon cameras and the D60's percieved build quality, I expect good reliability from this model.

Bottom Line

If you want an inexpensive digital SLR camera, the Nikon D60 is a great choice. It uses compact and widely available SD memory cards, compatible with a wide variety of Nikon lenses and has excellent features set. It produces excellent pictures and is fast in operation. I highly recommend it and the lens it comes with.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 721 w/extras
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional