Photofocus

I got my hands on one of the first production Canon EOS 60D camera bodies this week. It’s a big upgrade to the 50D which in my opinion, was always sort of an out of place camera. I am still not sure of the product positioning on this segment by Canon, but since it’s new – I know there’s going to be a great deal of interest in this camera.

The first thing I noticed about thr 60D was the vari-angle display. This is something I liked about the Panasonic 4/3 cameras and am glad to see Canon bringing it to the consumer-level DSLR. It’s a bright display and it’s lovely to look at. It eliminates the need for things like right angle viewfinders and gives you more flexibility when shooting in tight situations such as macro work.

The articulating displays are associated with consumer-level cameras and Tthe 60D is very much a consumer-level model. There is a funky joystick and some in-camera creative filters etc., that are features you’d find on some point and shoots. But for a consumer-level camera, there are also some PRO-sumer features, which I’ll get to in a minute.

The camera has an 18-megapixel sensor and one DIGIC 4 processor. There are only nine-autofocus points. I wish there were more, but at this price point I guess that I am wishing for too much. The autofocus seems to work well, but not as well as it does on the higher-end Canon cameras. In low-light, there is the typical hunt and seek activity associated with low price cameras. If there’s good contrasty light, the AF is snappy, responsive and accurate.

There are a couple of nice cool features like the built-in Speedlite transmitter (useful if you control off camera flash), the new iFCL metering system, first introduced with the EOS 7D, and there is also dedicated Eye-Fi support.

What’s amazing is the level of video support on this camera. Full HD (1920×1080) video at 24, 25 and 30 FPS with an HDMI port no less. The camera offers full manual control in video mode and even offers an external stereo mic jack. The 60D also supports high-capacity SDXC memory cards, providing up to 2TB of available space for storage.

The 60D is a smallish camera. It doesn’t have a magnesium body like some of the pro models but even though it’s just a plastic body, the camera feels good in the hand.

I’ve only shot a few still frames and more video. So far, I’d say this is an very nice camera for the money, particularly for those interested in shooting videos with their still camera. But I am not sure that given the differences between it and similarly priced models that the 60D will stand to gain the market share it would have had if it were $150-$200 cheaper.

I’ll do more tests later for now I’ll rate it Recommended.

________________
Need a Tripod? Scott Bourne Sold His Gitzo and Switched to Induro!