Canon D60
- Thread starter Lud
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I understand how to buy one. I am looking to talk to someone who actually owns one BEFORE I buy because I have some "real world use" questions about the camera based on the reviews I have read.
Thanks for the link to epinions, but I already checked there (I don't find that to be a very good resource but it was a last resort) and there are no reviews of the D60. I have read all the reviews anyway - I just need to ask some questions of someone who owns one and has done a fair amount of shooting with it.
[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 17 June 2002).]
Thanks for the link to epinions, but I already checked there (I don't find that to be a very good resource but it was a last resort) and there are no reviews of the D60. I have read all the reviews anyway - I just need to ask some questions of someone who owns one and has done a fair amount of shooting with it.
[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 17 June 2002).]
I DON'T have the model, but can recommend http://www.dpreview.com They have real world comments made by owners. I just bought the Canon S30...I'm very happy with it. The site helped me choose by reading reviwers/readers comments.
If you want to skip to d60 comments: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/read_opinions.asp?prodkey=canon_eosd60
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jack of all trades, master of some.
This guy has one: http://www.bill.lockhart.name/about.php
contact info is at the bottom of the page.
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Andrew Henderson
The NSX Model List Page
"We have long acknowledged that enthusiasm for things automotive is a sure
sign of emotional instability if not outright dementia" - Brock Yates
My boss has one...an awesome camera that takes monstrous 6 megapixel digital pics (better get one of those gigabyte harddrve smartcards). And I love the fact that is compatible with Canon lenses.
My boss has been showing me his various experiments with exposure and such...quite a bit more powerful than my wife's point-and-shoot digital camera...and much better quality thanks to the higher resolution and the higher quality lens. That said, the pics still don't look like film.
I'd consider the D60 if it wasn't so expensive (and if I wasn't such a pro-film snob).
I'm sticking to my 35mm Canon for now.
What do you want to know about it? Maybe I can talk my boss into letting me shoot some pics of my NSX with his so you can see how it looks!
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--akira3D
'00 Acura NSX-T (red/black), '97 Honda Civic HX (black), '01 Lexus IS300 (black/black)
"Reality is better than the dream..."
akira3d.com/nsx
[This message has been edited by akira3d (edited 17 June 2002).]
My boss has been showing me his various experiments with exposure and such...quite a bit more powerful than my wife's point-and-shoot digital camera...and much better quality thanks to the higher resolution and the higher quality lens. That said, the pics still don't look like film.
I'd consider the D60 if it wasn't so expensive (and if I wasn't such a pro-film snob).
I'm sticking to my 35mm Canon for now.
What do you want to know about it? Maybe I can talk my boss into letting me shoot some pics of my NSX with his so you can see how it looks!
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--akira3D
'00 Acura NSX-T (red/black), '97 Honda Civic HX (black), '01 Lexus IS300 (black/black)
"Reality is better than the dream..."
akira3d.com/nsx
[This message has been edited by akira3d (edited 17 June 2002).]
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Thanks lemans and akira. I will be in touch w/ both. Quick question akira - do you feel it is not comparable to 35mm or medium/large format? On a strictly technical level I believe 6MP is approaching the resolution of 35mm film, at least for 100 ISO. If you are shooting slower slide film or B&W through good lenses it's probably not quite there yet. It's certainly not to medium/large format yet, but I think that's a generation or two away at the rate things are going <g> Of course there are other factors than resolution too.
Disclaimer: I've been away from "serious" photography for a number of years and don't pretend to keep current on new equipment.
There is an interesting essay on this topic here.
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Andrew Henderson
The NSX Model List Page
"We have long acknowledged that enthusiasm for things automotive is a sure
sign of emotional instability if not outright dementia" - Brock Yates
In that case, I should add that, though I specialized in cinematography in film school, I haven't ever done any "serious" photography.
I personally own a Canon Rebel X which I use primarily as a glorified automatic point-and-shoot 35mm camera...I simply haven't had time to really focus on the art side of photography. But even in fully automatic mode, I tend to prefer the results I get from the prints to digital shots. I'm not sure how much of it has to do with resolution or color depth...I think it has more to do with the way the colors saturate a print, the richer contrast, and the way bright values bleed softly around their edges.
When scaled to similar resolutions and compressed for display on my websites, I still feel I can pick out the photos from the digital stills. Of course, my wife's Sony DSC-P1 is no D60. To get my prints into the computer, I use a cheap 24bit Canon flatbed scanner that I picked up for $27 new a couple of years ago...which means that many of the pictures I post on my websites have lost a significant amount of quality (I work hard in Photoshop to preserve whatever I can, but usually shots with deep shadows tend to lose the most detail).
That said, the results I've seen from the D60 clearly show how much benefit you get from shooting digital pics with quality lenses (of course, I'm comparing the results versus coworkers Nikon Cool Pix cameras and my wife's tiny Sony DSC-P1). It still may not look exactly like film, but you get a similar feeling and familiar range of expressiveness. Obviously, the need for quality optics increases as you start shooting higher resolution images.
What I'd like to do one of these days is take a golden hour shot of my NSX in a picturesque setting using the exact same lens, aperature setting, and shutter speeds using my boss' Canon D60 and 100 ASA film (to reduce the grain) on my Canon Rebel X.
Lemansnsx, I enjoyed that page you posted...definitely a good discussion about resolution and color of digital vs film.
A lot of this really boils down to personal preference and your target application.
What are your plans, Lud?
[This message has been edited by akira3d (edited 20 June 2002).]
My boss pointed me to one of the many pages that he went through before buying his D60
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/d60.htm
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/d60.htm
That's another one that I looked at since this thread got started...
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Andrew Henderson
The NSX Model List Page
"We have long acknowledged that enthusiasm for things automotive is a sure
sign of emotional instability if not outright dementia" - Brock Yates
Lud - Did you pick one up? I'm looking to buy the D60 kit before I head off to Italy for holiday but can't find one available in my area. Have you found one in stock anywhere? Private me.
- Joined
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None of the people I e-mailed have replied. I shopped it around a little and found that in general supply is very limited and expected to stay that way through the end of summer. Most places I checked were backordered 60-90 days.
My primary question/concern is with the autofocus. The autofocus on the D30 was not very good. The D60 is basically the same system to which they added illuminated focus points and better low-light sensitivity (I think I read 1.5 stops somewhere). The reviews say it is improved but still sub-par. Given that, I am not willing to throw that kind of $ at a camera if I can't either try it or talk to some people who have done some serious and varied shooting with it to get a better feel for it's weak points.
I have wanted a really good Canon digital SLR at a reasonable price for 8 years. I have a fair number of nice Canon lenses that I use with my Canon 35mm bodies and I would LOVE to be able to shoot digital using those lenses.
The only gripe I have had with all seven digital cameras I have owned to date is that, being consumer-level point-and-shoot cameras they (obviously) came with integrated point-and-shoot lenses. Almost every other issue has been addressed - there are good white balance options, spot metering, flash sync, fairly high resolution, etc. in almost all the decent point-and-shoot digitals these days.
The D60 is the first camera I think fits the bill of being a 35mm replacement, at least for my purposes. But between the autofocus issue and the fact that Canon is expected to introduce a new camera in the 9MP range around the end of the year, I think I may pass on the D60 and wait just a bit longer.
My primary question/concern is with the autofocus. The autofocus on the D30 was not very good. The D60 is basically the same system to which they added illuminated focus points and better low-light sensitivity (I think I read 1.5 stops somewhere). The reviews say it is improved but still sub-par. Given that, I am not willing to throw that kind of $ at a camera if I can't either try it or talk to some people who have done some serious and varied shooting with it to get a better feel for it's weak points.
I have wanted a really good Canon digital SLR at a reasonable price for 8 years. I have a fair number of nice Canon lenses that I use with my Canon 35mm bodies and I would LOVE to be able to shoot digital using those lenses.
The only gripe I have had with all seven digital cameras I have owned to date is that, being consumer-level point-and-shoot cameras they (obviously) came with integrated point-and-shoot lenses. Almost every other issue has been addressed - there are good white balance options, spot metering, flash sync, fairly high resolution, etc. in almost all the decent point-and-shoot digitals these days.
The D60 is the first camera I think fits the bill of being a 35mm replacement, at least for my purposes. But between the autofocus issue and the fact that Canon is expected to introduce a new camera in the 9MP range around the end of the year, I think I may pass on the D60 and wait just a bit longer.
Thanks Lud. Yes I have the same concerns about the autofocus. To be honest I'm not that happy with my Canon Elan II autofocus. I've been using the manual setting for some time now.
I was out looking again for a D60 and found a new D30 today for sale. They still wanted $2600 for it
I ask them if they were serious and the lady said yes Canon had not dropped the price yet. I told her I'd give her $2k for the the D30 and a 20mm lens. She took my name and # so we'll see. I played around with it using an external flash unit. It seemed to help the autofocus a lot. It also gave the images better color balance even though I couldn't see the flash impacting the setting.
If Canon is going to release 9MP later this year then maybe I should also wait and just keep having my 35mm scanned.
I was out looking again for a D60 and found a new D30 today for sale. They still wanted $2600 for it
If Canon is going to release 9MP later this year then maybe I should also wait and just keep having my 35mm scanned.
After using my friends Sony Mavica, I am thinking I would like a digital camera too. My brother has narrowed it down to three choices.
1) Sony DSC-S75
2) Canon S30
3) Nikon 995
Anyone have any experience with those?
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1993 White NSX, 70K miles and running STRONG!
1) Sony DSC-S75
2) Canon S30
3) Nikon 995
Anyone have any experience with those?
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1993 White NSX, 70K miles and running STRONG!
- Joined
- 3 February 2000
- Messages
- 3,942
They are all capable cameras with different characteristics. What do you want from the camera? Have you tried them all? The decision is really based on what YOU want from the camera and how well YOU like it.
For example I do not like the Sony S75 for the following reasons, all of which are personal: 1) I find the controls on the left side of the back of the camera inconvenient. You may like them there. 2) I don't like the tripod mount way off to the edge, but if you don't use a tripod in certain ways this wouldn't matter. 3) I hate the Sony memory sticks.
But the Sony is still a very good camera that takes good pictures, and if your likes and dislikes are not the same as mine, it may be the right camera for you. In the same form factor and feature range, I personally prefer the Olympus 3000 or 4000 series cameras.
If you want to shoot a lot of extreme closeups, the Nikon is unbeatable. It is an all-around good camera in most other ways as well. It's a bit big to carry in your pocket though if that matters to you.
If you want a small point-and-shoot camera, the Canon S30 is great (I have an S40). I'm not big on the way it selects its autofocus points in fully-automatic mode, but that's my only real gripe and it's easy to manually select the focus point. I rarely use fully-automatic mode anyway. Battery life could be better, but it's easy enough to carry a spare battery.
For example I do not like the Sony S75 for the following reasons, all of which are personal: 1) I find the controls on the left side of the back of the camera inconvenient. You may like them there. 2) I don't like the tripod mount way off to the edge, but if you don't use a tripod in certain ways this wouldn't matter. 3) I hate the Sony memory sticks.
But the Sony is still a very good camera that takes good pictures, and if your likes and dislikes are not the same as mine, it may be the right camera for you. In the same form factor and feature range, I personally prefer the Olympus 3000 or 4000 series cameras.
If you want to shoot a lot of extreme closeups, the Nikon is unbeatable. It is an all-around good camera in most other ways as well. It's a bit big to carry in your pocket though if that matters to you.
If you want a small point-and-shoot camera, the Canon S30 is great (I have an S40). I'm not big on the way it selects its autofocus points in fully-automatic mode, but that's my only real gripe and it's easy to manually select the focus point. I rarely use fully-automatic mode anyway. Battery life could be better, but it's easy enough to carry a spare battery.
Okay, here's something that could be really interesting.
www.imagek.com is advertising a plug-in 35mm film cartridge that stores images digitally.
discussion here --> http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0008BW
More here --> http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?category=imaging&ID=116
Demo launch --> http://www.dpreview.com/news/0102/01021201siliconfilmefs1.asp
Any news on this ?? Looks like they went under, but it sounds like a great idea.
Current vendor (Feb 2002) --> http://www.siliconfilm.com/
(e)film currently supports the following cameras: Canon EOS 1 / 1N / 1V / A2/E / 5; Nikon F5 / N90/N90s / F90/F90x
[This message has been edited by nsx1164 (edited 10 July 2002).]
www.imagek.com is advertising a plug-in 35mm film cartridge that stores images digitally.
discussion here --> http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0008BW
More here --> http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?category=imaging&ID=116
Demo launch --> http://www.dpreview.com/news/0102/01021201siliconfilmefs1.asp
Any news on this ?? Looks like they went under, but it sounds like a great idea.
Current vendor (Feb 2002) --> http://www.siliconfilm.com/
(e)film currently supports the following cameras: Canon EOS 1 / 1N / 1V / A2/E / 5; Nikon F5 / N90/N90s / F90/F90x
[This message has been edited by nsx1164 (edited 10 July 2002).]
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