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August 30th, 2008 by eyal | Filed under Uncategorized. |
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This was a useful review (as opposed to most useless ones on youtube), since I just found out from it about Canon's Liveview limitation. It could have been a really nice feature to have, imagine asking a waiteress or a friend who never shot in SLR to take a pic of you somewhere with the eyepiece vs. with the LCD screen.. However Canon decided the Live View on the LCD will only work in full Manual mode! And that's silly.
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Another huge one
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huge..
Eyal,
You have to actually go and play with some of these cameras for yourself. Two minutes using the Canon and you will see the live view there is useless.
The Sony live view is top notch though – shame that the viewfinder is so tiny that it can hardly be used as a proper DSLR.
Alan
Yeah I did go and check out the cameras in the store. I wasn’t really considering a Canon but came across this review when looking at the D60. Although I tried out the cameras just standing at the counter it’s not quite the same as someone who’s spent a few days with his new toy checking it inside out for hours.
I went with the D60 btw. Nice toy, doesn’t look at sturdy as my old F70 but takes very nice photos. Also the AF and viewfinder on the film cameras were better. I think it takes a D300 (or maybe the new D90) to be on a level playing field with the F70/F80, but then we’re talking 2-3 times the price of the D60 so..
D60 is nice. I am kind of outgrowing the D40x – as a first camera it was excellent but I am starting to see some of the limitations.
At the end of the day though, the quality of the photographs is down to the skill of the photographer rather than the camera.
What were you looking to do that the D40X won’t let you? Yep, you can see on Flickr some amazing shots with even the most basic cameras, the photographer is definitely the key.
My vote is for the Nikon, because it just feels right when you hold it. Had this when I picked up my SLR too and was comparing Canon vs. Nikon. Canon always felt a little plastic.
So you went with the D60? Why did you choose that over the D40 or D80?
I’m waiting for the D90 to play with before deciding.
I see you’ve answered this already on my blog!
Yeah, before you posted here.
D80 – older technology and I couldn’t find any good second hand deals.
D40/X – the D60 has slightly better picture quality because of the different chip, it uses the EXPEED that the D90, D300 etc. use. Also the Active D-Lighting is quite a bit better than D-Lighting (different function really). The D60 comes with a VR lens and finally, the D40X is discontinued and even where I found it it cost almost the same as the D60.
EXPEED is just a marketing term. It doesn’t refer to any single chip or piece of technology.
I thought the main difference between Active D-lighting and D-lighting is the time the d-lighting algorithm is applied. With Active the D-lighting is applied when taking the image so you don’t have a “no d-lighting applied” original. With D-lighting, the image is taken without any d-lighting processing and you choose what level of d-lighting you want after taking the image.
I’ve had cases where d-lighting has really rescued a photo – but I’ve had other cases where it has made the photo look artificial (it can increase halos, for example) so I don’t think I would want it on all the time.
Personally if I was buying now I would probably get the D90 for the vignetting control, higher ISO limit, larger number of focus points, and 720p video recording (I’ve been looking for that in a P&S but having it on a DSLR gives much more creative licence).
EXPEED is termed as a “concept” by Nikon in a marketing response to Canon’s DIGIC. Nevertheless the image processing unit in the D60 is both different from the D40/X and now called EXPEED. It produces marginally better results, particularly in high ISO. At least that’s what dpreview said.
D-Lighting is just applying curves in-camera, a 2 second job in Lightroom. Active D-Lighting on the other hand analyses the image before it is taken and applies some other type of adjustments to exposure and image processing. I tried both in my camera on the same scene, they produce different results. I don’t turn it on all the time, there’s a dedicated button so it’s easy to activate when needed.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d300/dynamic-range.htm
The D90 is sweet but unfortunately not in my price range as it is double what I paid. If I get serious enough in the future and really feel I need to upgrade then I’d get the D300 (or whatever equivalent is out at that time) and keep the D60 as backup.
I typed lovely detailed follow up reply. Unfortunately the security code was rejected and when I pressed “back”, the whole text had been lost. Interestingly the security code still showed and it matched the image so I don’t know what’s going on. Cant be bothered to retype though, so I’ll just say this:
“That’s an expensive pen you have, you must be a good writer”
All these cameras can take good photos. At the end of the day it comes down less to the features in the camera and more about the quality of your lenses, flash, filters, etc and your skill at using the tools.
Ah too bad.. anyways I was just explaining to Eshin the difference between the two and why I went for the D60. Given their price was almost identical it was really a no-brainer for me.
Ken’s comments on the D40x d-lighting are correct though – it does often leave halos. That annoys me.
Did you get a flash unit yet? I cannot recommend one enough to you. I mentioned the reasons why in a previous email.
I haven’t bought any accessories at all yet. I’ll need to do some shopping. I just picked up the camera 2 days ago, will add things slowly as I figure out how I’m going to use the camera.
What flash unit do you recommend?
General opinion recommends the SB-600.
The lower model is smaller but it doesn’t have much power, it only moves in one direction (hence not so useful in portrait mode), and it doesnt have the af assist lamp (essential since larger lenses block the built in af assist lamp of the camera).
The 700 and 800 are much bulkier and more expensive and provide power that most people never need.
Thanks Alan.
Still torn between a D40 and a D90. A flash unit was on the list of “to buy” for my F80 so I guess it will still be on there for a dslr.
D40, and plus a good lens plus a flash unit might more than make up for lack of features compared to a D90.
With Eyal mentioning a learning curve for DSLRs, I think I might be better of starting with a D40 or will I outgrow that and want a D90 soon enough? Questions, questions…