Software

Note: this page is based on pre-production software, I should be receiving full production software soon and will update this page shortly after that.

Remote Capture

The D60 is supplied with the latest version of Canon's Remote Capture software. This allows you to control the camera remotely via a PC, you can shoot, review and even take time-lapse shots all through a USB connection. At the time of writing this review the copy of Remote Capture in early software pack I had with the D60 wasn't working reliably. For more detail on Remote Capture read my extensive look at this application in my EOS-1D review.

RAW Image Converter

The D60 is now provided with both a TWAIN module for image transfer and conversion from RAW format as well as the latest version of the Canon RAW Image Converter. Both applications now have a virtually identical interface and both support advanced features such as digital exposure compensation and multiple image adjustment in thumbnail mode. The new RAW Image Converter also allows you to extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG's from RAW files at high speed, this is an excellent way to get a very fast overview of your RAW files before selecting those to be used for the final shot.

TWAIN / RAW Image Converter features summary

Direct connection to the EOS-D60 (TWAIN via USB)

• Set camera owners name, date & time, format CF card
• Program camera parameter sets *
• Browse, modify, erase and transfer images from CF card in camera

* Unconfirmed as the pre-release software I had wasn't working properly

Browsing images (on camera or local folder - TWAIN or RAW converter)

• View as a thumbnail index (three sizes of thumbnail)
• View as full window preview
• Check / Un-check images
• Protect / Un-protect images
• Transfer images from CF card to local hard disk
• Re-save images into different formats (RAW to RAW, JPEG or TIFF)
• Acquire images (convert / transfer back to host application - TWAIN only)
• Display detailed exposure and camera settings information for each image
• Erase image(s)
• Set RAW parameters
  • Exposure compensation (digital - +/-2.0 EV in 0.1 EV steps)
  • White balance
  • Contrast
  • Saturation
  • Color Tone
  • Sharpening (on a global basis)
• Convert RAW image
  • Acquire back to host application (8 or 16 bit or Linear - TWAIN only)
  • Save as JPEG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit)
• JPEG extraction (extract a 2048 x 1360 JPEG from RAW header)

RAW Image Converter interface

The Canon RAW Image Converter application associates itself with the '.CRW' file extension (Windows). To start the converter simply select one or more CRW files and press ENTER (or double-click) or select the RAW Image Converter icon (it's now also a standalone application). A window as above will be displayed showing a list of images to be converted along with several options. You can select and remove images from the conversion list (Clear button) or add more images (Add RAW Image). The Preferences option is the same as for the main interface (below). Click on 'List for Development Condition Settings'* to enter the Main window and perform more advanced RAW conversion (see below).

* Pre-production label

The dialog on the left is the 'Save File' which allows you to convert and save the selected RAW files as either JPEG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit). You can choose to keep the original filename or create new unique filenames based on a numeric sequence. The dialog on the right is for the new 'JPEG Extract' feature which allows you to extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG files from the RAW file (these are stored in the file header by the camera), again you can output these with the same filename or a new filename. JPEG Extraction is very fast, on my PC it took just 4 seconds to extract 40 JPEG's.

Main window

The description below is worded to describe the RAW Image Converter but all the same functionality also exists through the TWAIN interface.

Thumbnail mode

This is the main RAW conversion window. Here we are browsing a folder of RAW (.CRW) as you can see it is possible to check mark images for conversion, set digital exposure compensation, alter white balance, contrast, saturation and color tone. All of these settings can be applied to a single image or multiple images.

Bug or by design?

What's VERY unfortunate is that the settings made (such as white balance, check marking, digital exposure compensation etc.) are NOT stored in the CRW file. This means that whatever settings changes you make in one session are lost as soon as you close the RAW Image Converter. I'm not sure if this is a bug or it's designed to work this way, whichever it's mightily inconvenient and reduces the usefulness of the RAW Image Converter considerably. The only setting which is stored is the image orientation.

Preview mode (three possible zoom levels, this is the closest)

Change the view mode to 'Preview' and you get up to 100% zoom, 'JPEG Preview' allows you to preview the 2048 x 1360 JPEG which is embedded within the RAW file.

Preferences

The preferences dialog is spread across two tabs (as shown below). It allows you to set various preferences and settings: Display Last Image, Display Filename/Date & Time, Set camera model name, Set sharpening setting, Choose Linear output, Enable/Disable False Color (moiré) filter, by default use the JPEG for preview image.

I find it a little odd and slightly disappointing that you can't set the sharpness on a per-image basis, sharpness is a global setting and is applied here in the preferences dialog rather than being attached to the selected RAW file.

RAW file manipulation

You can manipulate one image or a multiple selection of images, RAW images can have their white balance, contrast, saturation, color tone and digital exposure compensation set via a row of drop-down list boxes and the +/- button on the left side of the toolbar.

Digital Exposure Compensation

Digital Exposure Compensation is the ability to change the output exposure of the image +/-2.0 EV on 0.1 EV steps. The RAW Image Converter can do this because the RAW data from the camera is stored as linear 12-bit values, there is a degree of latitude possible to adjust images. My tests showed that the D60 provided approximately 1 stop (1.0 EV) of latitude for negative exposure compensation (detail which would have been 'blown out' at the original exposure level).

0.0 EV compen. (Original)	-0.7 EV digital exposure compensation
0.0 EV compen. (Original)	+0.8 EV digital exposure compensation