EOS 60D product reviews

For someone still relatively fresh into the semi pro photography market, I had a hard road figuring out which camera to purchase to upgrade from my ageing Canon 500D.

With the Canon 60D sitting at well below the cost of the 7D and 5D it seemed more appropriate for my needs. The use of standard SD cards for memory over Compact flash in the 7D is another advantage due to the lower price pre GB of SD cards.

First impressions were great, because I had come from a previous canon DSLR the learning curve was not too large, also being able to use my current lenses made the transition cheaper.
For the SLR new comers the auto function still exists which is good if you are unsure of what the different settings do. The manual is very in depth and does teach you a lot about the different settings. The weight of the 60D may take a while to get used to for Point and Shoot convertors, It is twice the weight of the 500D so did take a bit of getting used to myself.

I tested the Auto function vs manual settings on a couple of occasions on both fixed tripod and at a sports game. On both occasions the auto setting gave very good results but not quite the same as full manual control. Whilst fine for basic photos, Auto mode is not that great at picking the right exposure setting in fast environments.

There is also extra presets for different conditions similar to Canon's Powershot cameras which again yield good results but not as good as the manual control modes.

In terms of features I was happy with the continuous shooting of 5.3fps, whilst not as good as the 7D's 8fps it was a trade off I considered with the price differences. With my main uses being Concerts and a small amount of sports photography I didn't need massive FPS rates and the 5.3 of the 60D seems to work well. Being able to utilise wireless flash system was a great advantage as well rather then having to rely on hot shoe flashes or flash sync sockets. Setting up a 430EX II Speedlite was extremely fast and easy and took no where near as long as I expected. The results of an off camera flash can be outstanding when taking portraits or still photography and the ease of use with the wireless Speedlites makes it simple. Live face detection seemed to work very well with no false readings and only once picking up a basketball as a face. This function is great for portraits as it helps focus exactly where you want it.

The biggest advantage of the 60D over the other options was the video capabilities along with the articulated lcd screen. Being able to record at 30fps in 1080P and a massive 60fps at 720p was a great advantage. This meant that I was able to forgo the necessity of buying a Cam corder as well. The 60D takes some amazing videos and the high frame rate has made for some amazingly crisp slow motion Ice Hockey footage.

They say that it is the lens that makes the photo and not the camera but I have found some great clarity differences with the same lenses between the 60D and my 500D. Where the 60D trumps the 500D is in low light conditions, even with the same ISO settings, the 60D seems to produce crisper results.

The 60D is a great mid entry level DSLR for anyone who is considering getting seriously good photos. If you don't currently have a Canon DSLR and you are looking between the likes of the 7D and the 60D My main recommendation would be buy the body only model of the 60D and spend the extra money saved over the 7D (about $700 currently) on a good quality fast lens. You can get a great setup with high speed lenses for the same price as the 7D twin lens kit and be taking better pictures with these better lenses.