Canon EOS 60D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS UD Standard Zoom Lens -

I’ve taken photos and video most of my life, now I am the typical father paparazzi, my subjects are my family, with some nature landscapes and city architecture mixed in.

First this camera replaced my original capture the moment kit, which included a Nikon D80 DLSR and a Samsung HD-1010 Digital Video Camera. I sold them both after owning this for a week. They are simply not needed anymore. It’s very nice to be able to go to my kid’s soccer games and not look like I am bringing a production crew. One camera for killer photos and video. I use this camera 70/30 photos/video, and it is just a pleasure to work with.

What I like for photography:
Excellent pictures – Even with the stock 18-135 lens, solid photos, great details, and very very crop-able. Yes this is not an L Lens but it is still very good
Low light performance – The ISO high iso speeds work well when you can’t use a flash, there is still some noise but its manageable, the default setting for upper end iso is 3200, so that tells you how confident Canon is with its camera’s ability to handle noise.
Solid camera (my friend has the 7D, there is a difference when handling them, but not much, all the talk of metal vs. plastic frame I think is overrated)
Very fast focus, yes its not the 32 point next gen autofocus, but in all my tests when not using live view it does just fine transitioning between focus points.
Fast shooting speed almost 6 fps is very good, and thought 3 fps was good. (I also like the 2 settings for shooting speed, normal and high speed)
Built in Wireless flash control. I also bought the 430EX II, and 3 button pushes later I had the speed light firing while it sat off camera behind the subject, and that is very cool
Great Canon Software (I use a Mac, and I love the USB interface software, you can completely control the camera from your computer
Custom Shooting mode – Exact what it sounds like, its nice touch
The flip out rotating screen is very sharp, probably one of the best I’ve seen on a DSLR. I don’t shoot much live view though.
It uses SD, only because I had plenty of SD cards from my last two devices.

What I don’t like photography:
The lock button on the mode selector, it turns changing the shoot mode into a 2 handed operation
The lack of dedicated buttons – I know they had to save space when they added the vari-screen, but I liked having quick one touch access to bracketing on my Nikon
This isn’t a “don’t like” it’s more “I could do without” all the preset modes on the wheel. People who are going to spend $1000+ on a camera most likely don’t need a preset called landscape or portrait. Maybe they were trying to fill the space on the wheel?
Also all this hupla about in camera processing and special effects, it seems a bit gimmicky to me. I have a plenty of Macs with big beautiful screens to do this, heck I could do it with an iPad now if I really wanted to. I can’t see someone trying to color correct on the camera especially since it’s not like you could transmit the edited file directly from the camera, it still has to go through a computer somewhere along the line. These might be useful if my camera came with built-in 3G or something, otherwise not so much.

What I like video:
Video performance is excellent, head over to vimeo.com and look at all the sample footage, it is just astounding. I’ve experimented with the 50/1.8 lens and wow the DoF is crisp in the video. You would need some expensive lens adapters to get these results with a camcorder.
The flip out screen! This is main reason I bought this camera, It never made sense to me how I could shoot proper video without those expensive view finder liveview converter things. Plus I thought they looked silly. Now with this, I hold the camera at just above waist level close to my body with the screen flipped out and up, it makes for stable video and relatively easy manual focus if you want to use it.
Manual controls are also very useful for video, you can control everything from the image to the audio via manual controls

What I don’t like video:
Noise at high ISO – With the stock lens 18-135 IS I do not recommend low light shooting, it will work, but its very noisy – just like photography better lenes with lower F-stops = better output.
Autofocus is a bit slow (I try not use the autofocus when actually recording, I usually shoot video with manual focus, its not that hard when you get the hang of it)

So that’s it, a solid DSLR with a solid video camera built in, I would recommend this camera to people like me, who understand and love photography and also love shooting video. People who can use manual controls but you don’t mind throwing it in program mode for the quick shots and you can’t justify spending the extra money on a 7D. I am very very happy with…

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I’m in love with photography in general. I always have a camera with me and started shooting when I was seven years old. Nature, scenics, portraits, anything that is beautiful or touches me in some unexpected and magical way ends up in my camera. Along the way people noticed my pictures, asked me to take them for their special events, and since then I’ve been shooting portraits and weddings mostly for the sheer joy of it, having the good fortune of a day job that pays the bills.

For years I was committed to Olympus, and had a complete two camera, two wireless flash outfit with quite a few of their high grade lenses. But Olympus’ recent focus on micro four thirds, a form factor that I cannot stomach and will therefore never own, their continued mediocre low light performance compared to APS-C sensors, and their announcement to the effect that they will not pursue any more mid-level 4/3rds camera bodies, pushed me over the edge and I started looking elsewhere.

So I went to a few camera stores and handled many different models.

I do not buy pro bodies, since I don’t need anything that rugged and would rather buy the same sensor in a cheaper camera and spend the money an top-quality glass and flash units. I only had one pro body in my life, a Nikon F series back in ye olde film days, and it was also the ONLY camera that ever failed outright , something that dozens of cheaper Minolta, Pentax and Olympus cameras have not once done, even after having been handled rougher than the Nikon ever was. That was a lesson I haven’t forgotten, and I’ve since not bought a pro body OR a Nikon ever again.

I’m not going to let the AF select what to focus on, so even a 2,000 – point sensor won’t excite me. I just need one good, reliable, fast focus point in the middle, and then I do the old “lock focus and AE and recompose” routine which takes no time at all, certainly less than selecting an alternate focus point. The 60D has nicely lit, unobtrusive focus points, not the garish, semi-permanent black rectangles of the 7D. The focus is absolutely accurate and I have had hundreds of wonderful, sharp pictures in the month I’ve owned the camera.

I take the occasional picture and video from odd angles, so the articulating monitor – which is a thing of beauty, firm and solid and gorgeously clear – is wonderful for me. Again, a perfect “10″ for the 60D.

I don’t need 7 or 8 fps since I rarely shoot sporting events or wildlife that moves THAT fast. When I do, the 60D’s 5.3 fps have so far been more than enough.

The out-of-camera JPEG’s are great. I don’t for a moment deny the usefulness of RAW, but again, I’d rather be out shooting pictures than post processing in the computer. The 60D gives me consistently pleasing, well exposed photos IF I’ve taken the time to adjust the metering and white balance according to the situation at hand. Auto white balance is fairly accurate but manual tweaking always renders better results, regardless of which camera one uses.

The viewfinder, especially coming from the 4/3rd format, is brilliantly bright and clear and easy to compose shots in even with glasses. I can see all the information and all of the screen.

The top deck controls are much better, in my own humble opinion and for my own personal use, than the dual-function buttons of the more advanced 7D, which I was initially set on buying before those same buttons turned me off. I want one button to do one thing, period. I enjoy photography, not rote memorization of multiple button press functions.

The grip and the texture are wonderful, for someone who when shopping for gloves usually gets the XL sizes. The controls are grouped sensibly, the menu structure is instantly recognizable even though I’ve never owned a Canon DSLR before, and it just makes sense.

Battery life is so good that this may just be the first camera where I can make it through an average day/shoot without having to worry about spares. Mind you, I do 90% stills and 10% video, and of the stills less than 5% are live view. So far, the claimed battery life of 1,000 plus shots seems entirely realistic. I’ve shot for several days and taken hundreds of images and it’s not even half empty yet. WOW!

The built-in flash is excellent. It is more powerful and exposes subjects spot on at a much higher percentage of the time than I am used to seeing. Remember that if you’re shooting in P/Tv/Av/M , you need to manually adjust the metering area, or you’ll have some unexpected over or -underexposure. Which leads me to the intuitiveness of the Quick menu on the back panel, where things such as flash compensation can be quickly adjusted, a feature that I believe Olympus first introduced on the Evolt 500. I was very glad to find it here. Even so, next on my shopping list is one of the wonderful Speedlight units.

The thing I was…

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By 

J. Kirlin (Bangor, Maine USA) –

  

  

This review isn’t a listing of all the features of this camera. You’ve just scrolled past those. But it’s my impression of the ones that make the most difference and to compare it with my prior experiences. Anyone who knows Canon will know it’s better than the T2i and not as good as the 7D which is what the comparative reviews are saying.

This is my 1st XXD series camera so many of my comments are going to be based on my past experiences with the Canon Powershot S series (Of which this camera is a love child) and my experiences with my 3 Rebels (XTi, XSi, and T1i which I always carry). This product will not be purchase verified or whatever that is called because I have WAITED for Amazon.com to sell this kit but my local retailer came out with it first.

Why does it take this many years to get a camera with an articulated LCD? Nikon offered this a year or so ago on the entry level Nikon d5000 DSLR much the same way Nikon had to force Canon to give Canon users Image Stabilization on the entry level lenses only after Nikon started to offer it’s VR system on it’s entry level lenses. CANON! STOP LETTING NIKON DICTATE YOUR CAMERA DEVELOPMENT! DO IT FOR US! Like us! Please? Just a little?? The variangle LCD was the strength of the Canon point and shoots, particularly of the Canon PowerShot S series, whose users will possibly be this camera’s biggest fans. The best thing about this window is that you can protect the screen from scratches and although Canon claims it will help you get shots from other angels and enhance the live view, it’s still slightly more awkward to use than on the Powershot series because you could one zoom one handed with the switch, instead to having to manually twist the lens.

The electronic levels is REALLY great and though images can be straightened in post processing, it helps to have the level. Again, this will make a little more sense of the softball shaped rebels which are harder to FEEL level, this larger 60D almost feels self leveling with its nice size and great grip. I never minded the grip on the Rebels but now that I see the difference I’m slightly less satisfied with those and feel this is far superior. But all the XXD series have this.

This camera is also surprisingly light compared to the 50D which means its also surprisingly plastic. I don’t mind plastic. I don’t want to carry around a bunch of have metal framed cameras for the one time I need it to defelct a bullet. If I am finally getting shot at for taking photos someplace I’m not supposed to be, maybe it’s my time. I like the weight and feel of this.

In camera processing has already been mocked by my friends and as much as I like it, it seems like a silly thing to put on the XXD series. It will seem less so on the Canon T3i, as will the variangle window. Maybe one day I will be processing all my photos in camera, why, I have no idea, but why not just give us that software on a disk? Maybe they have. I haven’t checked the disk yet. If they have? Awesome. If not, Canon why do you still hate us so?? For that matter, why can’t Canon put some cool Hipstamatic-like software in there? It works on a damned phone and costs 99 cents.

It has a 49 shot buffer which I am BARELY able to big down even at the highest burst mode settings. NICELY DONE, Canon.

The battery life is spectacular and this kit lens, the Canon 18-135 1:3.5-5.6 IS is a REALLY, REALLY great lens which is going to be vilified because it’s the kit lens. I also really liked the 18-55 IS. (KIT SNOBS!) As anyone who has tried to replace the 18mm wide end of the range with a different lens, you will have seen that it isn’t cheap, Ringo. Do not let kit lens snobs, or Canon, ruin your love for this lens. It’s that same cheap plasticy built as the old kits and the 55-250 (another great lens). You can read the reviews for this lens on its own page and you can see how highly it is rated by other users if not by people who do nothing but photograph grids all day. This lens does not have a zoom lock but neither did that monstrous Canon 28-135 which slides open as soon as it falls below horizonal, but the 18-135 stays put.

The XXD series has the faster shutterspeed of 1/8000 which will allow me to use the Canon 50 1.8 outdoors without a ND filter (which works but makes it harder to see out the viewfinder) OR if you accidentally leave it in the nearly noise free iso1600 you can now still get great shots. Same as the 50D but stilla step up from the Rebel’s 1/4000 limit.

I can’t speak for the video because I have barely used it on my T1i or on this camera. I’m sure it may be great but I don’t use it. I found myself having the same difficult as using the variangle window, in that it takes the other hand to zoom and that shakes the camera and although Canon seemed to indicate someplace that it was for ‘moving stills’ or something…

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