Canon EOS-D60 - What's New

Below you'll find a quick reference to what's new and what has been improved since the EOS-D30. This page is really intended for existing EOS-D30 owners.

6.3 megapixel CMOS sensor (3072 x 2048 final image size)
Canon are fairly unique in the D-SLR arena (apart from Fujifilm) in that they design and produce their own sensors. The D30 and now D60 are unique in being the only D-SLR's to use a CMOS sensor (although Sigma's SD9 will soon be using a Foveon X3 CMOS sensor).		 Maintained 3 fps, 8 images max
Assuming a 12-bit ADC the D30 produced 4.64 MB of data every time you pressed the shutter release. The D60 takes that to 9.32 MB for each shot, so it's impressive that (at this price point) Canon has managed to maintain a three frames per second shooting speed and a buffer large enough to hold a maximum of eight frames.
Improved buffer
The D60 now displays the status of the buffer on the viewfinder status bar. It also uses it more smartly and allows you to take photos as quickly as you can press the shutter release, even in single shot drive mode.		 Improved low-light auto-focus
Canon described this as "AF performance in low light environments has been improved". This, it turns out actually relates to the way the AF lamp operates in conjunction with the camera's AF system.
Shorter shutter release lag
This is noticeable, the camera seems more 'keen' immediately after the click of the shutter release button. It's interesting because it's not something I'd particularly noticed with the D30 but the D60 does feel faster.		 Highlighted AF points in viewfinder view (works for AF and MF and point selection)
This feature was delivered inside the pentaprism below the flash unit and can be seen as a small rectangular bump below the Canon logo on the front of the camera. When selecting AF points the selected point glows in red. When auto-focusing the selected (or automatically selected) AF point glows and when manually focusing the point glows when manual focus matches the detected AF distance.
Reduced maximum sensitivity - ISO 1000 (D30 supports ISO 1600) - It does seem a shame that we've lost the ISO 1600 of the D30. Looking at ISO 1000 images from the D60 I see no image quality reason for not having ISO 1600 so this must be a technical limitation. New laser matte focusing screen
Just slightly noticeable as the viewfinder seems a little brighter.
Parameters can be set in-camera (contrast, sharpness, saturation, color tone)
This was one of the complaints from my D30 review and it's a welcome addition, it makes setting and experimenting with the cameras internal processing parameters far easier. It's a shame though that in doing so Canon didn't expand the range by which you can adjust each parameter, still only +/-1 level (which is hardly noticeable).		 New 'Color tone' parameter
The color tone option enables you to make a subtle adjustment to the default white balance. The EOS-D60 manual describes -1 as shifting towards red and +1 as shifting towards yellow. This appears to be intended at producing a more natural skin tone for models with different coloured skin.
Top LCD panel has LED illuminator
I can hear the sighs of relief on the Canon SLR Talk forum already. When enabled the top panel illuminates when ever the SET button on the rear of the camera is pressed. Illumination is provided via bluish green LED's. (Shot above taken in complete darkness)		 Improved LCD monitor
Although the same physical unit as last year Canon has applied a new surface and improved the overall brightness of the screen, it's easier to see off-axis and appears to be overall much brighter.
Tweaked image display gamma
This makes it easier to see the darker areas of the image and helps to show a more representative view of the image (sometimes the D30 playback looks a little dark).		 Tweaked daylight white balance
The cameras daylight (sunny) white balance has been shifted slightly (from 5500 K on the D30 to 5200K on the D60). This, apparently after Canon's own analysis of images shot by owners.
New long exposure noise reduction
Instead of having to wait double the length of time of the original exposure (as with the D30) the D60 has cleaned the image in just a second or so. Gone also is the long exposure custom function, it's now permanently enabled.		 Firmware version displayed on menu
A small tweak but one which could be useful where several D60's are in use it quickly allows you to see what firmware version is loaded on the camera.
New Medium image size
Large: 3072 x 2048
Medium: 2048 x 1360
Small: 1536 x 1024

Shooting RAW (3072 x 2048) also captures a 2048 x 1360 which is embedded WITHIN the RAW file.		 New RAW conversion software
Improved workflow, faster RAW conversion times "and about time to", gone is the woefully inadequate RAW converter from the D30 to be replaced with the improved application we first saw on the EOS-1D. You can now also extract 2048 x 1360 JPEG's from RAW files at very high speed.
Attached rubber covers for flash sync terminal and remote terminal
You won't lose these because they're attached to the camera.		 Silver mode dial
I personally don't like this, it detracts from the rest of the camera and simply looks odd. I suppose it makes the D60 easier to recognize from a distance (?).
Improved power switch
The D30's power switch was always criticized for its difficult operation. The new switch is similar but the simple extension of the center ridge of the switch makes it a lot easier to operate.		 'Digital' logo on camera front
Canon's new standard D-SLR logo the 'Digital' label we first saw on the EOS-1D now appears on the EOS-D60.