Canon EOS 60D DSLR camera test

Canon EOS 60D camera takes the top position in the line of amateur DSLR cameras company Canon. The camera was announced in August 2010.

Canon EOS 60D Amateur DSLR

Technical Specifications

Sensor: CMOS with dust-reducing function

Size: APS-C 22.3 × 14.9 mm

Resolution: 18MP 5184×3456

Krop Factor: 1.5

Recording format: RAW, JPEG

Sensitivity: ISO 100-6400 extension 100-12,800

MOV video shooting video: H.264, Sound: Linear Pulse Code Modulation

1920×1080 29.97 25 and 23.976 fps

1280×720 59.94 50 fps

640×480 59.94 50 fps

Viewfinder: pentaprism, matte screen

Frame coverage area: 96 percent

Display: color Clear View TFT LCD, 3 inches, about 1,040,000 dots

Shooting speed: up to 5.3 frames per second, in a series of 58 frames JPEG or 16 frames RAW

Memory cards: SD, SDHC, SDXC

Weight: 755 g

Price: $1100

On August, 26th, 2010 company Canon has updated the lineup, having presented camera Canon EOS 60D. It is no secret that a huge number of photographers in America uses the apparatus of this series is for professional purposes. Now in the model range of the manufacturer there are several cameras, close to each other on the key characteristics and above all on resolution.

Differences, and very important, begin in the sphere of ergonomics and general convenience of using these models as an everyday tool, with the help of which it is necessary to solve a range of very different tasks. And it is desirable that the ratio between the price of the tool and its capabilities is favorable. How well it did, the hands-on test will show.

Description

Practical experience

I tried to test its suitability for sports shooting by going to the children’s basketball team practice in an indoor gym. To make the experiment more difficult, I used AI Servo in focus tracking mode, not only the center focus point but also the peripheral focus points, and used a monopod and optical lens stabilization systems to reduce vibration.

To shoot a dynamic moment in low light, you had to set the sensitivity very high photo 1 . Tracking focus keeps players reliably in the sweet spot. But the buffer filled up quickly after short bursts and I had to stop shooting for a minute.

In order to reduce the influence of the noise reduction algorithms, the noise reduction settings in the camera were set to “Weak”, and it became possible to reduce the sensitivity by a step when shooting close-up photo 2 . No complicated image editing was required, and the fine details of the girl’s hair and eyelashes were preserved which does not always happen with EOS 7D.

Further increasing the sensitivity to a record 6400 ISO, but with a new gentle approach to noise reduction made it possible to have an image suitable for publication not only on the web with a great reduction but also on the pages of a magazine photo 3 . It should be noted that the automatic white balance in the gym, which is illuminated by both incandescent and fluorescent lamps, worked well enough.

It was my turn to treat myself to the flip-down screen I’ve always wanted to shoot. Doing macro photography in the wild, often in woods and swamps, you get used to lying on the ground, or even in a puddle looking for an interesting lower angle. There’s no other way to get close to small mushrooms, plants, or insects, because you have to be at or below their level.

This is the task I tried to simulate by photographing a small glass bauble. The camera just rests on a flat surface with the big screen looking up. You don’t even have to bend down to look through the viewfinder.

Using the large joystick to select the focus point in Live View mode, checking the accuracy of the focus by incrementally increasing the important part of the scene by 5 or 10 times. The silent shooting mode allows me to take a sharp picture on a hard surface without moving, even with a very slow shutter speed photo 4 .

Now I want to solve a few simple problems on the use of external flashes controlled by wireless protocol. If you have no chance to use studio light and need to shoot a portrait of a musician in the dressing room after the concert, and with a volumetric lighting pattern, you should do it quickly. First, let’s look at the camera manual. The wireless control is easily accessible, but if you use it a lot you might want to put it on a “My Menu” of its own.

A single Canon Speedlight 580 II external flash in Slave mode illuminates the background in such a way that it is overexposed and loses detail. To do that, we set the correction on it to plus. The second flash Canon Speedlight 550 in Slave mode creates some semblance of a drawing light and works without correction. The flash on the camera does not create its own light, but only controls a group of flashes photo 5 .

Another test – taking pictures of mirror or metal surfaces with flash. And this problem can be quickly solved with a remote flash. Canon Speedlight 580 II in Slave mode is controlled by the camera, illuminating a sheet of paper, which is reflected in the polished surfaces of the computer hard drive.

Again, the built-in flash does not illuminate the subject, but only controls the external flash. A higher color temperature of 3900 K is deliberately set to create a cool color scheme Photo 6 .

Of course, similar problems can be solved differently – with cords, synchronizers, studio monoblocks, but this solution is more mobile and inexpensive. It’s great that such a feature is available in an inexpensive camera.

The Canon EOS 60D handles the traditional task of official events with an external flash simply and effortlessly. High

Working sensitivity allows to use the light reflected from the ceiling. In simple situations there is no need to interfere with the automatic camera control photo 7 .

To light the dark areas in the awards hall, I used a lighting scheme with two flashes, one on the camera, and one on the background.

The two cameras coordinated wirelessly and the overall system worked in E-TTL II mode. The stability of such a circuit depends heavily on whether the signal from the flash control unit reaches the receiver additional slave flash photo 8 .

I’ve noticed a strange natural law for a long time: in Autumn a manufacturer presents their new camera and usually when it gets to the test the sun disappears over New York for a while… Anyway, again it was wet snowing and there was not a single hint of beautiful natural lighting photo 9 .

Even in the middle of the day in landscape photography you have to use high sensitivities, previously incompatible with the notion of quality in photography. But the camera handles small details of snow-covered branches surprisingly well photo 10 .

Extreme Point-of-Focus system proves once again its reliability. A sparrow hiding from a nosy photographer in foliage that hasn’t fully leafed over. The foreground doesn’t prevent the lens from focusing on the bird’s eye photo 11 .

The early evening of the first snowy day descends. The very interesting combination of blue snow and yellow from the car headlights lasts only a few minutes, then the sky darkens and the snow stops working as a big illuminating reflector photo 12 .

Once again I have to finish the review of reflex cameras with the possibility of shooting video with the words “let’s wait a little more”. It’s already possible to get quite a good quality small video with a good picture, but it’s still inconvenient to shoot a video with the camera.

Ergonomics which was invented almost 100 years ago to make still images requires accessories for video shooting – only then the camera can become a professionally comfortable tool, but this topic is beyond the scope of this article.

Conclusions

The camera turned out to be universal. Most of not only amateur photographers but professionals as well will enjoy using this tool. For example, working in wedding palaces and restaurants can be a lot easier and more varied for wedding photographers.

Image quality has improved, and the range of sensitivities that can actually be used has increased substantially. There are a few more handy solutions and it’s easier to use the camera on a daily basis, getting a good result requires a bit less effort.

Once again the RAW-conversion software Digital Photo Professional v. 3.9.2.0. I think a good result is much easier to achieve with a native converter for simple streaming processing than with third party software especially compared to the ACR module in Adobe’s software .

We can recommend the new camera for experienced amateurs and professionals for tasks that do not require increased protection from external influences or high-speed characteristic of top cameras.

The editorial team would like to thank Canon for making the camera available for testing.

Picture tests

Photo 1. To capture a dynamic moment in low light conditions, it was necessary to set a very high sensitivity. Tracking focus keeps players reliably in the sweet spot f/3.2, 1/250 s, ISO 6400, 70-200 mm lens, focal length of 200 mm post-processing in an image editor to get rid of digital artifacts .

Photo 2. To reduce the influence of the algorithms of hardware noise reduction the function was set to “Weak”, and it became possible to decrease the sensitivity by one step when shooting close-ups f/4, 1/125 seconds, ISO 3200, 500 mm lens .

Photo 3. Further increasing the sensitivity to a record-breaking 6400 ISO, but with a further gentle approach to noise reduction, resulted in a photograph suitable for publication in a magazine f/4, 1/200 s, ISO 6400, lens 70-200 mm, focal length of 150 mm .

Photo 4. Shooting with a swivel monitor. Very comfortable! f/10, 1/2 second, ISO 100, 100mm lens .

Photo 5. Portrait. Two external slave flashes were used: for strong background illumination plus correction and for drawing light no correction . Controlled by the flash on the camera f/5, 1/125s, ISO 500, 50mm lens M shooting mode, E-TTL II flash control mode, pulsed light evaluation metering, monochrome image style .

Photo 6. Again external flash controlled by on-camera flash. The cold hue came from the color temperature setting of 3900 K f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, 100mm lens .

Picture 7. Formal event photography is well within the reach of the new Canon EOS 60D, “accompanied” by an external blitz. High working sensitivity allows you to work with the light reflected from the ceiling. The camera automatics correctly calculates all the shooting parameters f/7.1, 1/100 s, ISO 500, 18-135 mm lens, 35 mm focal length .

Photo 8. two flash units, one on the camera and one illuminating the background f/8, 1/100sec, ISO 500, 18-135mm lens, focal length 62mm provided the illumination for the darkest parts of the room.

Photo 9. Pretty dreary weather, overcast, wet snow, no natural beautiful lighting. This is the mood of the shot f/7.1, 1/125 sec, ISO 800, 18-135mm lens, 18mm focal length .

Photo 10. Even in the middle of the day you have to use high ISO values for landscape photography, but the camera is surprisingly good at capturing the fine details of snow-covered branches f/5.6, 1/160 s, ISO 640, lens 24-70 mm, focal length 24 mm .

Photo 11. Good performance of the pinpoint focusing system: the subject is hidden in the foliage, but still in focus f/4.5, 1/125 s, ISO 400, 70-200 mm lens, focal length 200 mm .

Photo 12. Evening Colors: A brief combination of blue snow and yellow headlights f/7.1, 1/2 s, ISO 1000, 28 mm lens .

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