After years putting up with crappy 35mm point-and-shoots I came to the decision that I was ready for a "real" camera. Computer guy that I am, I wanted a digital camera. The problem was that back then $500 would buy me nothing higher than 320x200 resolution, and the memory cards were ridiculously expensive. I also noticed that for less than that money I could buy me a real camera, and blow the rest of the money on a nice scanner.
My initial choices were just like everybody else: Nikon vs. Canon. I tried a few cameras, maybe different Canon Rebel models and Nikon's N50/60/70. All the Canons and the Nikon N50 felt like plastic toys. There is no way I am going to part of $400+ of my hard earned cash for a toy. The N60 and N70 felt heftier, like tools instead of toys.
Being on a budget, the one argument that won me to give Nikon a try was that generally Nikon cameras and lenses are backwards compatible. You can find loads of cheap lenses for Nikon cameras, and most will fit on your N60 (two days ago I checked a 50mm lens that was almost as old as me, and it fit like a glove). Canon does not carry compatibility as far. You can buy a N60, keep it for 2 or 3 years and buy a lens or two a year. After the 2 or 3 years you can buy a better Nikon and you can keep your bag full of lenses.
This camera is a dream. I can switch it to full auto and hand it to virtually anybody and that person will shoot a decent picture. The very first roll that I developed from this camera left me speechless for a few minutes. The level of sharpness was incredible. I never thought I could take photos like that!
The camera was so expensive that the salesman did not have too much trouble scaring me into buying an extended service plan. It was about $20 and covered everything except fire and theft. And I got to use it about 6 months after I purchased the camera! The camera basically died. I sent it to the shop and they left it just like when I got it out of the box.
I am a learning amateur. This camera lets me shoot completely manual, and it has progressive levels of automation. The integrated flash is pretty effective, and I use it more than the external flash I purchased a bit later. Like I said before, fully auto mode turns it into a PhD camera (push here, dummy). The auto mode is pretty good for a normal situation that does not have tricky lightning conditions.
My N60 came with a house brand 28-80mm zoom lens as part of the package. It is not a top of the line lens, but it still takes beautiful shots. I cannot imagine hoe much better my photos will look with a Nikkor lens.
The weight of the camera is ideal for a firm grip, and the camera itself is sculpted for ease of operation. All the controls can be reached by your fingers without problem. A dial on the left of the camera controls the exposure modes. The power button is mounted with the shutter on the right side. The one button that I hate is the rewind button under the camera, which is only used if you don't want to finish a roll. Otherwise the camera will rewind at the end of the film. Film loading is automatic too, but the camera only takes DX-coded film (there's no way to set the speed of the film).
It should be noted that this camera does not have dept of field preview.
The 30-second timer is effective, but there's no way to add a cable release for the shutter, so you are stuck with setting your camera on a tripod and use the timer for panoramic shots and other slow speed photos.
This is one great camera. I went through separation anxiety for the whole time it was in the shop. Once I got it back it was like Xmas all over :-)
Update: 1/7/2000
My N60 is about 13 months old and still feels like new. I have experimented a little bit more with slide film and it has made me respect the 3D matrix metering system. My Elitechrome slides are just beautiful, much ore satisfying that any black and white or color prints that I shoot. Since I wrote this review I taught myself how to develop black and white film, and I have shot an average of 15-20 rolls of Tri-X and Tmax a month, plus the usual Kodak Gold and Elitechrome. After all this shooting I have found two things that I would like Nikon to change if they ever issue an upgraded N60:
1) The N60 does not have a dept-of-field preview button.
2) The N60 does not allow you to override the DX-coding of the film cassette.
(1) is a must of you shoot any camera in manual or program mode. You just want to see what the background is going to look like if you open or close the aperture.
(2) is a nice thing to have. I want to play around with push processing, but my camera won't let me override the DX encoding. I guess I'll have to wait until I can afford a used N90 body.
I also bought my second lens, a new Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF for about $100. This lens is much nicer than my 28-80 zoom. It is not a "D" lens, so the matrix metering works but without taking into account distance data. There is a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D, but it is more than twice as expensive.
This is close to the perfect lens to use with this camera.
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