Canon PowerShot S60 Review
Phil Askey, August 2004

Review based on a production PowerShot S60
On May 19th of this year Canon announced the PowerShot S60, the replacement to the fifteen month old PowerShot S50. Despite the '60' in its name the S60 has the same five megapixel CCD as the S50, this will no doubt be the cause of some confusion for buyers who will assume that it is a six megapixel compact. There are a wide range of differences and improvements with the S60 compared to the older 'S' cameras, here's a summary of changes since the S50:
- New body design, smaller and lighter (with a much improved sliding cover mechanism)
- New wide angle lens: 28 - 100 mm equiv. (3.6x), F2.8 - F5.3
- New image size option: 2048 x 1536
- New movie clip size: 640 x 480, 10 fps, up to 30 sec
- Max shutter speed up to 1/2000 sec from 1/1500 sec
- PictBridge support
- Higher capacity NB-L2H battery
UA lens technology
Canon are keen to point out that the S60 has a lens which utilizes 'UA lens technology'. This has lens elements which have 'ultra high refraction index glass' which allows the entire lens system to be thinner (yet maintaining the same image quality).
Key specifications
| Street price |
US: $499
UK: £399 |
| Body Material |
Magnesium alloy |
| Sensor |
1/1.8" CCD, 5.2 million total pixels
5.0 million effective pixels |
| Image sizes |
2592 x 1944
2048 x 1536
1600 x 1200
1024 x 768
640 x 480 |
| Movie clips |
640 x 480, 10 fps, up to 30 sec
320 x 240, 15 fps, up to 3 mins
160 x 120, 15 fps, up to 3 mins |
| Lens |
28 - 100 mm equiv. (3.6x optical zoom)
F2.8 - F5.3 |
| Focus |
9-point AiAF
Manual focus
AF assist beam
Minimum focus: 50 cm (Normal), 4 cm (Macro) |
| Shooting mode |
Auto
Program AE
Shutter priority AE
Aperture priority AE
Manual
Custom
Portrait
Landscape
Night Scene
Fast Shutter
Slow Shutter
Stitch Assist
Movie (with sound) |
| Sensitivity |
Auto
ISO 50 - 400 |
| White Balance |
Auto
7 presets
Manual |
| Image parameters |
Contrast (3 levels)
Sharpness (3 levels)
Saturation (3 levels) |
| Continuous |
High: 2.0 fps, up to 8 frames
Normal: 1.5 fps, up to 8 frames |
| Flash |
Modes: Auto, Flash On, Flash Off, Manual (3 levels)
Slow Sync: On, Off (1st or 2nd curtain selectable)
Red-Eye Reduction: On, Off
Range, Wide: 4.2 m, Tele: 2.0 m |
| Storage |
Compact Flash Type I or Type II
FAT32 supported (cards >2 GB)
32 MB CF card supplied |
| Viewfinder |
Optical |
| LCD monitor |
1.8" TFT LCD
118,000 pixels |
| Connectivity |
USB 1.1 (inc PTP)
A/V out |
| Power |
Lithium-Ion NB-2LH rechargeable battery (supplied & charger) *n
Optional AC adapter |
| Other features |
Orientation sensor
Wireless remote
Interval shooting
Histogram in playback
Movie editting
Sound memo
Direct print (Canon & PictBridge) |
| Weight (no batt) |
230 g (8.1 oz) |
| Dimensions |
114 x 57 x 39 mm (4.4 x 2.2 x 1.5 in) |

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).
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