Canon EOS 60D goes to Little India - Deepavali 2010

[Zeus]

Since the official annoucement of the Canon EOS 60D on 27th August 2010, the photographic community has been waiting for this latest addition to the xxD series of cameras.

The first xxD series was announced in March 2003 (the now classic Canon EOS 10D) was announced just before PMA to replace the D60, which was the first 6megapixel camera in that era. The EOS 10D was the start of a line cameras to bridge the pro series EOS 1-series and the budget xxxD series.

Eight years forward and five generations later, the 60D has a slew of new features and upgrades (as well as downgrades) to it's predecessors.




EOS 60D features at a glance:

• 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• Advanced creative features with Basic +
• Vari-angle 7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 ratio LCD
• Full HD movies with manual control
• DIGIC 4
• ISO 100-6400, H:12800
• 5.3fps shooting for up to 58 JPEGs
• 9-point cross type AF System
• iFCL metering with 63-zone Dual-layer Sensor
• Integrated Speedlite transmitter
• In-camera RAW processing

The more notable differences are:

• Plastic body instead of the usual magnesium-alloy body of the xxD series
• A 180degree swivel screen
• Streamlined buttons and control dials, moving it out of the 'semi-pro' series

Feel and look
The plastic body appears to be a change from the usual line of xxD series. With the recent addition of the 7D (a series closer to the high end EOS 1-series), the semi-pro range of xxD suffers from the identity crisis as Canon tries to squeeze more camera variety into their product line. In your hands, the 60D has a size somewhere between the 550D and the 7D although it seems closer to the 550D.



Controls
Buttons are now streamlined and somewhat flushed to make the body feel very sleek. The top row of buttons are now single-function unlike the older style which assigned two functions to each button; and one might fumble at a function button + main dial or function button + front dial.

The lack of a immediate control to change flash exposure compensation (FEC) is a definite issue as one need to go into the 'Q' function menu to change the FEC. This can probably be fixed by a custom function/button assignment.

Sample images from the 60D, taken at the Deepavali 2010- Festival of lights, at Little India, Singapore - Click on thumbnails to view full sized images.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens at 18mm, f/5.6, 1/20s, ISO400, + 1 stop. Creative filter grainy B+W applied in camera. No sharpening.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens at 18mm, f/5.0, 1/100s, + 2/3 stops, ISO400. No editing done. Colour saturation at default levels are decent. Details are can be further enhanced with post-processing. The kit lens is not the sharpest lens in the Canon line-up


Canon 60D, Samyang 8mm fisheye f/3.5 at f/8, 1/2s, ISO250. Details are well captured here with the shadow areas and highlights all pretty much well preserved.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, at 18mm, f/5.0, 1/40s, +1/3 stops, ISO500. Overexposed image here, not edited at all. The swivel screen helps to compose this image, though the focusing during live view is still slow and cumbersome, resulting in loss of shooting opportunity.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, 135mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, +2/3 stops, ISO400. Colours pretty well rendered here without any blown highlights.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, 113mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, +1/3 stops, ISO500. Shadow areas are well-preserved with a blown highlight (green traffic light!) in the background. Bokeh (blurrerd background), is decent with the kit lens at it's widest aperture (f/5.6) at the focal length of 113mm .

Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, 41mm, f/6.3, 1/25s, +2/3 stops, ISO250. A slow shutter at 1/25 shows no signs of handshake with the 2-3stops-capable Image Stabilization lens.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, 55mm, f/6.3, 1/80s, +2/3 stops, ISO250. Shooting against a white-blown sky, images tend to get generally dull. The Digic 4 sensor holds their ground here with good preservation of colours in the foreground.


Canon 60D, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, 21mm, f/6.3, 1/50, ISO250. Do click on the image for the full resolution. Decent dynamic range with the shadow areas well preserved.

Estimated prices of Canon EOS 550D, 60D, 7D
550D Kit I EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-f/5.6 IS SGD$1250
60D Kit EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-f/5.6 IS SGD$1800
7D body only SGD$2150

Conclusion
The xxD series from the Canon EOS line-up see its glory days ending soon, with ferocious brand wars and multiple camera categories within each brand.

The obvious removal of the previously 'pro' features such as the magnesium alloy body and change of the cable release jack puts the 60D in an awkward situation.

Besides the swivel screen, faster burst rate (5.3fps) compared to 550D (~3fps), and a few new 'art filters', in-camera raw processing and a few minor details, consumers are hard pressed to get the 60D over the 550D.

Overall, images from Digic 4 sensors, full HD videos, clean images at high ISO are the norms of modern DSLRs in the year of 2010 and the Canon EOS 60D is no exception. This camera is recommended for those who're starting photography with a little more budget that those in the 550D range.