The D60 is Nikon’s third generation of popular entry level series cameras. These cameras distinguished themselves from Nikon’s cameras that were more full featured with their diminutive size, ease of use, and low price point. This camera is designed for the SLR beginner. This might be a great camera for a beginner, but it also has plenty of room for growth, and many advanced photographers rely the Nikon 60.
One drawback to a camera like the Nikon D60 is that the auto focus doesn’t work with many of Nikon’s older lenses, and any of the third party lens providers. That’s because of its small size, which means that it does not have the lens focusing motor built in. That means the only lenses that you will have the auto focus on is the ones for the D60.
The Nikon D60 has 10.2 megapixels and shoots 3 photos per second, with an ISO ranging from 100 to 3200. It has a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second and a 1.6x crop factor. It comes with an e-point auto focus system, dust control system, and a 2.5″ LCD. It stores the photos to a SD memory card.
When comparing the Nikon D60 to what other camera manufacturers have that compete you would be looking at the Canon Rebel XS, Pentax K200D, Sony DSLR A200, and the Olympus E420. Every camera has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. One thing the Nikon D60 has over the competition is the ease of use.
Using the Nikon D60
With the battery in place, and the lens on the camera the Nikon D60 has a nice weight to it. It might be small, but it fits comfortably into your hand. It feels quite solid, and you don’t walk away feeling you spent your hard earned money on a flimsy toy like camera.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the camera isn’t covered with dials and buttons, which is nice for the beginner because you won’t feel overwhelmed. However, it can make setting the camera settings a bit more of a challenge. It’s not that they are difficult to initially set up using the menu screen. However, in the middle of a photo session making changes creates a degree of difficulty. That said, many have no interest in changing anything.
There’s a preset mode dial located on the top of the camera that’s extremely convenient – there are presets for portrait, action, landscape, macro, etc. You can also set the camera to full manual and use your own skills to take your photos. Settings like your ISO, drive mode, auto focus, color mode, and white balance, are all available to you. There are tons of settings that you can change if you want to have full control over your images. Lack of options is certainly not something that applies to the Nikon D60.
We should also mention that when using the high ISO range Nikon digital SLR cameras will almost never disappoint you. Utilizing this feature means you can take photos easily in low light areas. The quality never falters either. You can always rely on Nikon quality in your images. The Nikon D60 is certainly an excellent camera for those that want more than a point and click but still consider themselves an amateur photographer.