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Model Design / Appearance (7.00)
The look of the D60 reflects the professionalism and restraint typical of the entire Nikon line. Just because you spent $1000 less than the D300 buyer doesn't mean you get a camera that looks low-rent.
The plastic body inevitably has a less luxurious feel than a higher-priced camera – tapping on the handgrip with your fingernails results in a distinctly hollow rat-a-tat. Still, all the seams and joints are tight and secure enough for regular day-to-day shooting, and while the camera body is lightweight, it has a comforting heft in your hand.
Size / Portability (9.00)
Size is both a blessing and a curse with this camera, depending on the individual shooter. The D60 measures 5.0 x 3.7 x 2.5 inches (126 x 94 x 64mm) and weighs just 1 pound, 1 ounce (495 grams) without battery, memory card, or body cap. Add the 18-55mm kit lens and you're still tipping the scales at about 1 pound, 10 ounces (760 grams) – a very petite package. That's great when you're packing for a trip, or even want to stash an SLR in your shoulder bag or briefcase instead of a separate camera bag.
Handling Ability (5.50)
The highly-portable size of the D60 becomes a liability for those of us with large hands. Clutching the handgrip, there's really no room for your pinky – we found the most practical answer is to curl it up under the camera, as a sort of auxiliary support, but this is far from a perfect solution. The narrow grip leaves an uncomfortable gap between the left side of the camera and the palm, making for a cramped hand position and an insecure feel when shooting one-handed. Granted, paw sizes vary widely – a female office-mate was quite pleased with the way the camera fit her more modest grip. The moral: take the D60 for an in-person test-grab before making a purchase decision.
Coming to grips with the D60's small size can be problematic.
Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (8.50)
The button and control arrangement is clear, well marked, and easy to use. There's no mushiness or second-guessing when hitting a button – you know instantly when it's been successfully depressed. Beginners will also appreciate the availability of a help display when changing settings (it's brought up on the LCD screen by pressing the zoom out button, marked with a "?" to indicate this auxiliary function). It's no substitute for the manual, but much better than nothing.
The D60 has a single command dial, mounted on the back, while more sophisticated Nikons use a pair of dials (the second located on the front of the camera, below the shutter release). The use of two dials does speed certain setting adjustments. For example, shooting in Manual mode with the D60 requires the user to hold down the exposure compensation button while turning the dial to adjust aperture.
There is only one programmable button, located on the left side of the lens mount and assigned to turn on the self-timer by default (it's marked with an abstract clock logo). This button can be programmed to work in conjunction with the command dial to set release mode, image quality, ISO speed, or white balance.
It may seem like a small point, but Nikon's straightforward approach to getting rid of a bad photo deserves some praise here. There's a single button (located below the four-way control dial), emblazoned with a trash can icon. Press it once while reviewing your photos and you get an on-screen "Delete?" confirmation message. Press it again and the photo is gone. Other cameras require more elaborate button combinations to delete a picture, presumably slowing you down for your own good. A quick double-tap of a single, clearly-labeled button to send a crap shot to the digital graveyard is both faster and more efficient.
Controls are well marked and easy to use.
The menu structure is straightforward and well organized, with a combination of legible text and helpful on-screen icons. From top to bottom, the section menu choices include Playback, Shooting, Custom Settings, Setup, and Retouch. Using the four-way controller, you move the cursor to the far-left icon column to choose the appropriate menu section, then move right to choose a subcategory, then right again to open up your settings choices. It's an intutive and effective layout.
| Delete | Delete selected photos (chosen via thumbnail image display) or all photos |
| Playback folder | Select individual memory card folder for playback or all folders |
| Rotate Tall | Choose whether or not to automatically rotate display of portrait-orientation photos |
| Slide Show | Start slideshow; set interval |
| Print set (DPOF) | Select photos for direct printing from camera |
| Stop-motion movie | View stop-motion movie files stored on memory card |
Shooting Menu
| Optimize image | Choose image optimization settings (contrast, sharpening, etc.) between normal (default), softer, vivid, more vivid, portrait, black-and-white, custom |
| Image quality | NEF (RAW), JPEG fine, normal or basic, NEF (RAW) + JPEG (basic) |
| Image size | Large (3872 x 2592), Medium (2896 x 1944), Small (1936 x 1296) |
| White balance | Incandescent, fluorescent, direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shade, preset manual |
| ISO sensitivity | Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, Hi 1 |
| Noise reduction | Off or On |
| Active D-Lighting | Off or On |
Custom Settings Menu
| Reset | Restores defaults for all custom settings |
| Beep | Turns beep for focus confirmation, self-timer and remote control on or off |
| Focus mode | Select auto, single-shot, continuous or manual focus |
| AF-area mode | Closest subject, dynamic area or single point |
| Release mode | Single frame, continuous, self-timer or remote control |
| Metering | Matrix, center-weighted, spot |
| No memory card? | Lock or enable release when memory card missing |
| Image review | Turn on-screen image display after shooting on or off |
| Flash compensation | Set flash compensation value from -3.0 to +1.0 |
| AF-assist | Turn autofocus assist light on or off |
| ISO auto | Turn automatic ISO setting on or off, set maxmum ISO and minimum shutter speed acceptable for automatic setting |
| Fn button | Assign function to FN button (default: self-timer) |
| AE-L/AF-L | Control function of AE-L/AF-L button |
| AE Lock | Determine whether exposure settings lock when shutter held halfway down |
| Built-in flash/Optional flash unit | Choose between manual or metered control of built-in flash or optional SB-400 Speedlight |
| Auto off timers | Set automatic-off time for monitor and viewfinder when camera is idle |
| Self-timer | Set self-timer to 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds |
| Remote on duration | Set idle time for remote control before operation cancellation |
| Date imprint | Turn on and off, set format |
| Rangefinder | Set analog exposure display in viewfinder to function as rangefinder (indicating focal distance) |
Setup Menu
| CSM/Setup menu | Choose simple, full or custom menu display |
| Format memory card | Format SD card |
| Info display format | Classic, graphic or wallpaper mode |
| Auto shooting info | Set shooting info display after shutter release on or off |
| Shooting Info Auto | Turn eye sensor under viewfinder on or off |
| World time | Set clock, set date format |
| LCD Brightness | Set monitor display brightness to one of seven levels |
| Video Mode | NTSC or PAL output |
| Language | Choose from 15 possibilities |
| Image comment | Preset comment to attach to new photos (visible in Capture NX or ViewNX software) |
| Folders | Create or choose folders |
| File no. sequence | Choose whether to restart image numbering for new or formatted memory card |
| Clean image sensor | Control image sensor cleaning behavior |
| Mirror lock-up | For inspecting and cleaning low-pass filter |
| Firmware version | Current firmware version |
| Dust off ref photo | Acquire reference data to be used with RAW images in optional Capture NX software. |
| Auto image rotation | Choose whether or not to record camera orientation info with photos |
Retouch Menu
| Quick retouch | Automatically enhance lighting, color and saturation |
| D-Lighting | Brighten dark or backlit subjects, use artificial "flash" effect |
| Red-eye correction | Automatic red-eye removal |
| Trim | Create cropped copy |
| Monochrome | Black-and-white, sepia or cyanotype effect |
| Filter effects | Skylight, warm filter, red intensifier, green insensifier, blue intensifier, cross screen (star pattern) |
| Small picture | Create 640 x 480, 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 copy |
| Image overlay | Create "double exposure" from two NEF files |
| NEF (RAW) processing | Convert NEF files to JPEG |
| Stop-motion movie | Create stop-motion movie from still sequence |
| Before and after | Compare original and retouched images side by side |
Ease of Use (9.00)
The D60 makes a nice bridge camera for someone moving from a compact camera to the SLR format. The automated settings produce consistently good results under most shooting conditions and, even when the defaults lead to faults in the recorded image (off-white whites, for example), these are ordinarily a snap to repair using Quick Fix on an entry-level image editing program. The inclusion of compact-camera-like pre-programmed settings for common shooting situations is a useful step up from full-auto shooting to more controlled photography, and the onboard help system is a welcome feature for those learning to use the more sophisticated SLR control palette.
The D60 makes a nice bridge camera for someone moving from a compact camera to the SLR format.The automated settings produce consistently good results under most shooting conditions and, even when the defaults lead to faults in the recorded image (off-white whites, for example), these are ordinarily a snap to repair using Quick Fix on an entry-level image editing program.The inclusion of compact-camera-like pre-programmed settings for common shooting situations is a useful step up from full-auto shooting to more controlled photography, and the onboard help system is a welcome feature for those learning to use the more sophisticated SLR control palette.
The D60 makes a nice bridge camera for someone moving from a compact camera to the SLR format.The automated settings produce consistently good results under most shooting conditions and, even when the defaults lead to faults in the recorded image (off-white whites, for example), these are ordinarily a snap to repair using Quick Fix on an entry-level image editing program.The inclusion of compact-camera-like pre-programmed settings for common shooting situations is a useful step up from full-auto shooting to more controlled photography, and the onboard help system is a welcome feature for those learning to use the more sophisticated SLR control palette.
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