Manual Control Options
Manual controls are available for aperture and shutter speed, white balance, ISO, and focus. Full Manual control mode, along with Shutter and Aperture Priority modes allowing the user to set one parameter and have the camera set the other to achieve acceptable exposure, are available by turning the mode dial to M, S, or A respectively.
Focus
Auto Focus (6.00)
The D60 system provides just three autofocus points, arrayed along the central horizontal axis. This represents a serious performance limitation, especially when shooting moving subjects using continuous focus mode – the odds are small that a running athlete, for example, will follow a nice straight horizontal path across the frame. By way of contrast, both the Sony A200 ($600 with lens) and the Canon EOS Rebel XTi ($600, body only) provide nine autofocus points.
There is an autofocus assist lamp on the front of the camera, below the mode control dial, which is triggered automatically when needed.
Manual Focus (6.00)
A switch on the barrel of the kit lens enables Manual focus mode. The on-screen display is adequate for judging sharpness, though the lack of resistance while turning the focusing ring makes finding and keeping the right point twitchy. There is no electronic focus indicator in Manual mode, nor a depth of field preview button to stop down the lens and reveal the actual area in focus at a given aperture setting.
ISO (8.00)
Like the D40x, available ISO settings for the D60 range from 100 to 1600 in full-EV increments (i.e., 100, 200, 400, etc.) plus the coyly named Hi 1 setting, effectively a full stop more sensitive than ISO 1600 yet not called ISO 3200, presumably because the engineers don't want to promise full ISO 3200 performance when pushing the sensor to this level. It would be preferable to have ISO settings available in smaller increments.
Noise reduction is optional at ISO settings of 400 or higher. Even when this noise reduction function is turned off, some noise reduction processing is still performed when the ISO is set to 1600 or Hi 1. Using noise reduction slows shot-to-shot time due to the processing time required.
White Balance (6.50)
In addition to the default Auto white balance, manual setings for Incandescent, Fluorescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, and Shade are readily available via the Quick Settings display. You can also perform a manual white balance adjustment by photographing a gray or white card, or using an existing photo. Only one manual white balance setting can be stored at a time.
Exposure (9.00)
Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and fully Manual exposure settings are available via the top-of-camera mode dial. In Auto and Program mode, where the camera sets shutter speed and aperture, exposure compensation is still available, from -5 to +5 EV, in 1/3 EV steps, by holding down the exposure compensation button and turning the command dial.
Metering (7.50)
The default choice is matrix metering, which uses a 420-pixel RGB sensor to read a wide area of the frame. According to Nikon, "The D60's 3D Color Matrix Metering II evaluates each scene for brightness, color, contrast, size, and position of shadows and highlights, selected focus area and camera-to-subject distance, comparing that information against an onboard database of more than 30,000 actual photographic scenes. The result delivers instantly and precisely determined exposures for each scene, even in challenging lighting conditions." In practice, we found the metering works fine in well-lit scenes, but has difficulty finding a reasonable balance in high-contrast situations.
Alternatively, you can choose center-weighted metering, which reads the full frame but adjusts exposure to favor the middle area, or spot metering, which reads only the active focus point.
Shutter Speed (10.0)
Available shutter speeds range from 1/4000 to 30 seconds in 1/3 EV steps (i.e., 1/3-, 1/40, 1/50, etc.), a finer gradation than found on some midrange SLRs, plus "Bulb" for lengthy exposures.
Aperture
The D60 offers electronic aperture control with most CPU lenses. The kit lens, an 18-55mm zoom, offers an aperture range from f/3.5 – f/5.6.
