Canon EOS D60 > Reviews (6)

Firstly a caveat. I love this camera. But if you are buying a digital SLR soon don't buy!! That's 'cos Canon have released the EOS 10D which has better specifications and is £500 cheaper! (Canon D60 had a recommended price of £1999, the EOS 10D should come in at £1499) - though you'll probably be able to get it at £1199 by shopping around on the internet)

I took a long time researching which digital SLR to buy. Much of my information came from www.dpreview.com which has a fantastically detailed review of the Canon D60 covering every single aspect of the camera. The website has great reviews of most digital cameras and has user forums also - very useful for deciding between cameras. www.imaging-resource.com also has a very detailed review.

I wish to limit my opinion on this camera to my experience of it as technical reviews are much better dealt with on those websites.

Firstly, if you already have a Nikon or Canon 35mm film camera I would recommend you consider looking at the same manufacturer's digital camera most closely - because you can use the same lens from your 35mm camera on your digital camera. The differences between the Nikon D100 and the Canon D60 are small enough that if you already have invested in Nikon or Canon lenses then it is a shame to waste them.

That said, if you are buying afresh then I personally would recommend the Canon. I tried both in the shop and the Canon felt most natural in my hands. The shutter button was in a more comfortable position. Canon's colour reproduction is very very nice indeed - very good on greens and reds. It is also somewhat sharper than the Nikon. The Canon really scores over the Nikon in night photography - with very good time exposure results. When I was comparing results, other cameras tend to produce halos around bright objects when long time exposures are used.

It is well worth investing in good quality Canon lenses. At first I was sourcing third party lenses like Sigma because they are so much cheaper. It took a trip to a good camera shop to see the difference in the glass quality between cheaper lenses and Canon's. Most digital SLRs narrow the field of view. In the case of the Canon D60 this 'multiplier' is 1.6. This means that a 20mm lens would behave like a 32mm lens when placed on the D60. For this reason, it is a good idea to get a good quality ultra-wide angle lens (make sure it isn't a fish-eye lens). The wider the angle of the lens, the more expensive it is - but I haven't regretted the investment I made in my lenses. It is a waste to put cheap lenses on such an expensive camera. Also, I thoroughly recommend Canon's Image Stabiliser zoom lenses. It is a totally remarkable improvement, and makes a big improvement in reducing camera shake when long distance lenses are used. Again, don't take my view on this, try the lenses out in a shop and you'll see what I mean.

The battery life of the camera is totally excellent. When I first got the camera I lasted about a fortnight before needing to recharge the camera.

I've used cheaper non-SLR digital cameras before and found the amount I was spending on batteries was exhorbitant. What is also great is that you can use the same batteries on Canon digital video cameras - making it much better if you have both systems ' cos you can interchange the batteries with ease.

One more thing - get the best memory storage system you can afford. I got an IBM 1GB microdrive which captures almost 400 pictures at best quality JPEG.

If the Canon EOS 10D is everything it is cracked up to be then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, on the back of my superb experience of its predecessor the D60.