The Nikon D60 with Nikon 18-55mm VR lens is Nikon’s higher end DLSR in their “Essential DSLR” lineup – just one step up from the Nikon D40 and seven models down the Nikon DSLR lineup ladder from the top. MSRP on this kit is 749,but that’s more than the street price which at time of writing is about $519.00.
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The Nikon D60 is a a 10.2 megapixel digital SLR with some features that in my opinion range from really neat – to I couldn’t care less
Image Sensor Cleaning. You either need this or you don’t care. I’m in the don’t care and I doubt you should too. If you’re buying this KIT chances are it’s your only lens you’ve got. Which means you won’t be changing lenses as you don’t have any others. Thus, if you don’t change lenses, there’s only a small chance of dust getting on the sensor. All that said, it’s kindof a neat system: The “Airflow Control System” blows air so there’s no dust in the camera and if there is any dust that gets near it the Image Sensor Cleaning system shakes it off. You can see the little air holes just inside the camera for the “Air Control System” :
Eye Sensor. This feature senses that you have the camera to your eye and turns off the LCD display and turns on the viewfinder info. A neat feature for two reasons. One, when there’s not much space between the eyepiece and the LCD display, and that LCD display is bright – you don’t want your eyeball up to the LCD display when it’s turned on. (at least I don’t). And this means you can shoot a bit quicker as the viewfinder info is on and ready to roll by the time you’ve got the camera to your eye. My Nikon D300 doesn’t do this.
In Camera Image Editing. I don’t use, or recommend this. You can do SO much better with Post Processing software such as Adobe Photoshop, or the like. I don’t see the need to edit in camera. You have a digital camera, in part so you can get the digital images to your computer for further editing/printing or sharing, and I recommend you use your computer for image editing and post processing work.
Active D-lighting. Despite the horrible name, this does a good job and what it’s supposed to do. When you turn this on the camera meters/compensates for brightly lit scenes so that there’s detail in ALL. This actually works well. An example would be a scene at the beach: what do you expose for? The sand, or the sun? Active D Lighting does its best to try and balance the two so both shadow and highlights offer the most detail possible. This one’s a keeper.
RAW In-camera development. I’m a JPEG guy and I’m going to guess you are too. I’m more interested in shooting than trying to save some underexposed image that should really hit the trash can. If you are a RAW shooter you’ve got the option to edit in camera. Bully for you. But this is a $500 DSLR with a lens included at that price. . It’s my opinion the market for this camera doesn’t care much about RAW. I just want to shoot, share, and shoot some more. The next great photo isn’t at the end of your computer mouse.
Electronic Rangefinder. My D300 doesnt’ have this one either. This is great for us old skool guys that like the challenge of turning off the manual focus stuff and focusing manually. Rather than the silly green dot to indicate focus you’ve got a rangefinder display to help you get the precise focus. It’s a nice touch, and much nicer than that silly green dot, and much more accurate and precise.
Look and Feel.
The first thing I thought when I saw the D60 was oooh, it’s tiny. And it is. It has the same footprint (body only) as my computer mouse. And, there’s not much going on as far buttons and switches. The customization options are quite plenty for this Digital SLR but you’ll have to wade through menus to get at most options. But that’s OK, as you’ll see below that the buttons do most of the heavy lifting on this little DSLR
As far as buttons, there’s the command dial, the shutter release, a button for the Active D Lighting, another for exposure compensation, an AE-L and AF-L button. mode dial, multi selector dial, and a few buttons to the left of the LCD display to navigate menus/playback, and that’s it. Considering the market for this camera, that’s more than enough buttons.
One thing I did notice was the ‘OK’ button on the Multi Selector dial is an actual button, as opoosed to my Nikon D300 which is a toggle selector where you have to press the center of the toggle smack dab in the center to get the OK function.If you slip, you don’t get the OK. you get up/left/right/down instead. I much prefer the individual button. I think the Nikon D3 has a separate butt0n and I’m pretty sure the D70o does too so lucky me.
Real World Use.
In the short time I’ve had this, I really like it. It’s small, lightweight, and perhaps not pocket sized – but close. It’s light and easy to carry, which a lot of times is more than you need. I often am guilty of leaving my D300 home as it’s heavy. “I’m just going out for a minute. I can remember at least twice I wish I had my camera with me this week alone. with the D60 you’d be more apt to use it.
LCD Display
All the action happens on the LCD display. Turn it on and wait for the LCD cleaning to happen. I count about a second. You can turn this feature off in the menus if it bugs you. It shoots fast, but I found it took time to write to the SD Card. The good folks at Nikon were kind enough to include a card, so a faster memory card may solve this issue. But, I’m testing and writing about what’s supplied. I wish the write times were faster, I found myself shooting, then starting at the black LCD display instead of seeing the fantastic photo I just made. I’d prefer to see the image faster after I shoot it.
There’s no top LCD display on this model, and no Live View (which would be a nice touch) but all the info is on the LCD display. In playback mode, there’s a plethora of info such as histograms and white balance info, shutter speed, ISO speed etc. It’s there if you need it. just hit the down button on the multi selector. I didn’t have much use for all this. I use the LCD display and my eyes: If it looked good, great! I’m done. Too dark/blurry/overexposed? Shoot it again! (assuming you can).
But the LCD Display has all the information you need at a glance when preparing your photo. Battery Life, file size, ISO settings, white balance shutter/aperture speed and more. The best part is if you hit the info button again (which is handily in the bottom left hand corner) you can change most options easily. For my high ISO comparison photos, all I did was tap that info button and then using the multi selector, change the ISO speed. Easy and fast You only have to really wade through the menus for either one-time setup, or preferred settings for the most part. All the good stuff can be adjusted via the dials/buttons/info button and LCD display. As far as user interface, it’s easy to grasp and contol without wading through menus or manuals.
I’m not going to rhyme off every menu item available, but I should highlight a few: the menu system is divided into 5 sections:
Playback Menu.
Here you’ll find all about playback. You can select to print, display a slideshow, delete photos
Shooting Menu
Here you’ll choose image size/quality, white balance, ISO sensitivity, noise reduction and whether to turn on/off Active D-Lighting
Custom Setting Menu
Here’s the grunt of the menu selections. Focus Mode, AF mode, metering, ISO Auto Settings, Function Button Programming and AE Lock and AF Lock settings, flash settings, noise reduction’ all happen under this menu.
Setup Menu
Here you can setup menu options. You’ll need to turn on ‘full’ to get ‘em all. It took me a minute to find the rangefinder feature for the manual focus. As it ships from Nikon, it’s hidden in the ‘full’ setting. Also, there’s a MY menu you can create/customize for often used settings. I think between this, and tapping the info button twice, I don’t see much need to actually hit the MENU button once you’ve got this camera running to your preferences. Other items in this menu are pretty much standard. One worth a mention is the ‘Image Comment’ . This will allow you to put your name, or whatever you’d like into the IPTC data of all your photos instantly as they’re shot. I’ve got mine set as my copyright notice.
Program Modes.
This is a full DSLR, and offers the standard A, P, M, S program modes.
Manual- you set both shutter speed and aperature. If you really want, you can turn off the autofocus and pretend you’re back in the days of kodachrome.
Program. The camera picks a shutter speed and Aperture for you. You can ‘shift’ the program mode (called Program Shift) by spinning the command wheel to select another shutter speed/aperture that shoots your needs better, but the program mode will always keep the exposure balanced.
Aperture Mode. You pick the Aperture and the camera will pick the shutter speed that best suits the exposure.
Shutter Mode. The opposite of Aperture mode – you pick the shutter speed, and the camera will pick the Aperture.
And a bunch of modes: Sports, Portrait, etc. I’m not going to rhyme them all off .. there’s lots. Seven of ‘em.
And lastly: Auto. This is the mode where the camera says to you ” it’s OK, I’ll drive”. All you do is push the button. In this mode for example, if you need flash the little pop up flash will pop up automagically.
Lenses.
The Nikon D60 came with a 18-55mm VR lens and I highly recommend it. First, it’s got VR, which is Nikon’s moniker for Vibration Control. And, it works. Well. Want an example?
Without VR ON:
With VR ON.
Now both of these aren’t great photos. I’ve got my feet up, and cookies on the table. At least it shows I read the manual 
But it shows you that I got a useable photo with with the VR feature turned on. These are a little dark, but that’s the point. I was shooting in the dark at a low shutter speed, and the VR saved my bacon and got me a shot that would be unuseable otherwise. I’d rather have VR over a tripod. I can’t setup a tripod on my couch with my feet up.
The lens that is included is just fine. It’s sharp, lightweight and has a reasonable zoom level that will allow you both wide angles for group shots, or lanscape or the 55mm translates to about 80mm which is a great length of a lens for portraits. My only beef (actually, I have two). First, the lens mount is plastic instead of the metal mounts I’m used to:
As the camera itself isn’t an issue as far as weight , but I don’t think I would want to test the strength of the plastic Nikon mount. It’s a trade off I guess. Low cost and weight vs. High cost and strength, and at this price point Nikon went with the first. Shame, as the Camera has a metal mount. It would be nice to have the lens mount match.
My other beef is the manual focus is just a knurled design on the end of the ring. The zoom gets a big wide rubber grip to twist, but the manual focus feels light and hard to handle. Chances are this camera/lens combo will probably never see manual focus, so this probably only affects me anyway.
The Nikon D60 is a bit fussy on external lenses. Pretty much any Nikon lens will work with a F mount in manual mode, but to take advantage of autofocus you’ll need a modern lens with the focusing motor in the lens rather than the Camera body. But, most F mount lens will manual focus and meter just fine with this camera. My 20 year old AF 24mm 2.8 works just fine in Manual mode, but no auto focus with this camera body.
Summary.
This is a great little camera at a great price with a sharp lens that’s fast to focus and lightweight. Because it’s a small package you can carry it in your backpack or purse, or maybe a pocket but that would be a stretch. It’s a good camera for those starting with a DSLR and doesn’t cost more than some compact cameras but allows you many more options with lenses and flashes. The D60 will shoot with pretty much any lens made in the past 30+ years, and the it’s compatible with Nikon CLS system which allows you to grow into shooting with Speedlights other than the built in. Wireless flash is just so much fun.
I like the fact that I can be lazy with this camera and just leave it on auto, of if I’m working on my creative side I can shoot in manual mode, including focus. Both are available with just the flick of a few switches. I never had any issues with battery life whatsoever. I’ve connected it to the camera for downloads more than once, and shot with it over the past week and haven’t even noticed it came with a battery . I thought there might be an issue with the Auto White Balance, as the colors in my ISO tests are a little off, but overall I’m happy. The sample photos below were taken inside with mixed light of fluorescent and daylight and the Nikon D60 Auto White Balance handled this tricky lighting just fine.
Sample Photos
I’ll leave you with a few sample photos I made with this camera. It’s a really crummy time of the year for photowalks so I went inside at Heritage Place here in Moncton, NB. At one time this used to be the EATON’s warehouse and distribution building. Now, it’s offices but they’ve kept a few artifacts from days gone by. All of these photos are straight out of the camera. no processing.
Additional Reading.
Don’t miss my HIGH ISO testing on the Nikon D60 DSLR
Unboxing Photos of the Nikon DSLR
Promotional Brochure on the Nikon D60
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