As I mentioned a while ago, I switched back to using Canon in the form of an EOS 60D. I’ve been a Canon user for about 4 years when I tried micro four-thirds earlier this year but sadly, it’s just not for me. I don’t want to put a bad light on the M4/3 system. Panasonic and Olympus’ micro four-thirds is a great advancement technology-wise but for some reasons, I believe I’ll do better with going back to Canon equipment. I might probably get a micro four-third again in the future, but I’ll definitely choose Panasonic over Olympus.
So, this is a personal review of the Canon 60D. I will not go through the complete list of technical details; instead, I’ll mention things that I thought would be more interesting to a common user.
The 60D is a 17.90-megapixel CMOS Sensor DSLR with an aspect ratio of 3:2 and a 3″ LCD. As a standard Canon, it uses Canon EF mount and has a focal multiplier (to 35mm-equivalent) of 1.6. Image type can be taken in JPEG or RAW, or both at the same time. My previous Canon camera is the obsolete Canon 400D, so I’m not very certain how DSLRs evolved in between these 2, but it’s nice that creation and selection of folders on the fly is possible in 60D.
Of course, there’s the standard image processing like the Picture Style (Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, and some user customizable slots), where you can set the sharpness, or add a little more contrast or saturation. There’s the option for white balance setting (including white balance correction and bracketing). Noise reduction feature can be enabled to long exposure and high ISO speed shots (Again, not in 400D).
To be using the viewfinder once again is a nice welcome for me. I’m not just a fan of using the LCD to take stills. Holding the camera close to my face gives me better stability, and it avoids the distraction that bright LCD viewfinder gives. The camera features 9-AF points, all of these are cross-type. For comparison, the Canon 550D uses 9-AF point, but only the center point is a cross-type. The 7D has 19-point AF system, all cross-type.
Metering uses 63-zone TTL full-aperture metering, and mode dial features several extra exposure modes like for the Creative Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, etc., but of course if you use these, it defeats the purpose of having an SLR in the first place. ISO can be set between values 100-6400. Because my old 400D has a range of 100-1800 only, this is a very huge leap for me. High ISO mode can even enable the camera to reach a level of 12,800 rating. I tried it but I think the result will not be useful.
Exposure compensation is +-5 stops in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments. Shutter speed range is 1/8000 sec to 30 seconds, and a bulb mode. I’m not into flash photography (yet) so I haven’t tried the built-in flash. Most likely, I just don’t know how to use the flash properly so it always destroy the ambiance. I’ll try to find time to study flash photography but that’s another topic. It’s also the reason why I just bought the 60D body only and partnered it with a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 lens, which I will probably give a separate review.
Back to 60D, the drive system can be set to single, high-speed continuous, low-speed continuous, timer (10-sec or 2-sec delay) or remote control. For photographers who look for actions the maximum continuous shooting speed is 5.3 shots/sec, which is not really bad UNTIL you compare it with the 60D’s older brother 50D, which can shoot at 6.3 fps, the 7D at a speed of 8 fps.
60D, just like more recent DSLRs, offers live view shooting. My old Canon only uses the LCD for previewing the pictures taken. I guess beginning with the 450D or 500D, Canon started having live view shooting. There might be users who prefer to use the LCD for shooting stills. However, there are several drawbacks to this approach. First, shooting using the LCD is more prone to handheld shakes giving unwanted image blurs. Second, and of greater importance, auto focusing in live view mode is way way slower (and at times the camera seems to have a harder time to focus if not impossible to focus at all) compared to using the optical viewfinder when shooting. Because of this slow-focus problem, the camera has an option of Quick Mode in AF mode selection. Quick Mode uses the live view mode in LCD, and upon half-pressing the shutter for focusing, it turns the LCD live view momentarily off to focus using the dedicated AF sensor similar to focusing when using the optical viewfinder, and then turns the LCD back on. Neat stuff, but I guess I’ll have to stick with the optical mode.
The biggest reason why I chose 60D is for it’s movie shooting potential. The camera can shoot Full HD (1080p) up to 30 fps, HD(720p) at 60 fps, and standard definition at 60 fps as well. Focusing is mediocre though as there is no continuous focusing, but this limitation is shared among all DSLRs that shoot video (as far as I know). It’s good to note that micro four-thirds allows continuous focusing in video mode. With the 60D, I guess I have to practice focusing in manual mode. There is a full manual control for video record (shutter, aperture), including setting the ISO. A dedicated button for recording the video is also present (but the dial mode has to be in movie mode for this to work).
Video capabilities among Canon DSLRs: 550D, 60D, and 7D are arguably the same, but the notable advantage of 60D comes in 2 things. First, the audio levels can be manually controlled. Although the built-in is monaural mic only, external stereo mic is available for upgrade. Wind filter can also be set. In 7D and 550D, audio recording can ONLY be either set to on or off. The second advantage of 60D, as many have probably noticed already, is its swivel-type screen. My initial thoughts on the screen is that it’s overworked, unoriginal, and well, corny. But then I thought about it again and the times when I shoot (even pictures) at very low angles (just like the Petronas tower or HK’s IFC, when I even have to lie flat on the ground). This seems to be also useful in taking videos when holding the camera from above the operator’s head. To be quite honest, I haven’t used the swiveling screen as much as I thought I would it YET, but for as long as the hardware doesn’t appear to be flimsy, it’s always nice to have it handy (rhyme not intended).
For a bit of fun, Canon decided to include creative filters in 60D. Several artistic filters can be applied to pictures taken in the camera. These include Grainy B/W, Soft Focus, Toy Camera effect, and Miniature effect (Tilt-shift/Diorama). Pictures in the memory card but NOT taken by the 60D can still be previewed from the camera picture playback, but applying filters to them doesn’t work. In-camera RAW image processing is also available and the settings apart from the basic brightness adjustment, white balance, etc, include peripheral illumination correction, distortion correction and chromatic aberration correction. It is possible to resize the image, and even provide ratings (the star thingy) on-the-fly!
The Extra Vibes. There are other nifty features in the camera like the battery meter shows in percentage remaining, the shutter count from the last battery charge (it resets to zero every time the battery is charged), and battery recharge performance, which indicates when it is advisable to replace a new battery pack. Moreover, you can register up to 6 battery packs in the camera and see the information for each battery even when they are NOT installed. It also displays when was the last time the specific battery was used. This is quite useful, apparently, for people on the go and with more than 1 battery pack. The charger that comes with the camera is designed as a direct plug-in (without wires) which is a better industrial design imho. Just by looking at the charger, you can also see it the battery is half-charged already, about 75%-charged, or full (through the blinking lights).
The Bad Vibes. It’s not all praises for the 60D. Trust me, I always try to be as unbiased as possible. First, the mode dial. Albeit shifting in between modes is something I don’t do as often as clicking the shutter, it’s a bit of annoyance having to press the mode dial first before turning the wheel. I’m not exactly sure what Canon was thinking when they changed it to this mechanism, perhaps to avoid accidentally switching in between modes, but still, I’d rather not have this press-me-first modus operandi. To add more to the inconvenience, the video mode is the very last mode in the wheel of fortune, and of course, the manual-aperture-shutter combo appears on opposite end of the wheel (it doesn’t rotate freely). There is no one-touch video record mode.
The layout and control could have been better.
Another bad is the deletion of files. In my old 400D, from the playback, I can both delete one at a time, or mark files and delete them all together. In 60D, you can only delete one at a time from the normal playback. To mark multiple files and delete them, it is necessary to go in the Menu, look for the playback tab -> Erase pictures.
The Good Vibes. The body looks rigid, the grip is very nice (but this is case-to-case basis), and the extra battery features (in the Extra Vibes section) is a good add. The swivel screen is something useful at times, and the manual audio levels control in movie mode is something not your ordinary DSLR has, even the 7D doesn’t have it (but I heard of some firmware patches that enables this manual audio in 550D, can’t confirm though).
Who Should Get It? First, ask yourself what you need it for? If you are looking for a camera that takes stills and video equally excellent, this is the model for you, or just look within the Canon range of DSLRS. I’m not a Canon die-hard fan, in fact I mentioned that I switched to Olympus M4/3 and abandoned Canon completely, I even looked for alternatives from Pentax and Nikon before finally deciding to get the 60D. All the other DSLRs out there at the time of this writing (22nd Dec 2010) although in FullHD, records at a slower rate of frames per second. Second question, what camera you have if you are upgrading. If you own a Canon 50D, don’t expect the 60D to be better in all aspects considering it sounds like it is its successor judging by the model number. To give you an idea the max continuous speed of 50D is 6.3 fps vs 5.3 shots/sec of the 60D. The body of 50D is made of magnesium alloy (just like the 7D) compared to 60D’s polycarbonate plastic. But of course, the 50D can’t record any video at all. So just like the golden rule for all gadgets out there, it highly depends on what you need, and where you are coming from.
Canon 60D
$ 1599.00 SGD (body)
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