Got a D60

Hi,

I had to have something for christmas and as I usually get nothing labeled "Canon" from relatives I went to Rajala Pro Shop in Helsinki and came out with a D60. I still have the D30 but I suppose I'll soon sell it to highest bidder (in Finland) - the D60 seems to work just fine. Only gripe so far is that white balance in artificial lighting is way off, I knew that before I got it so it's not a big deal (I shoot RAW) but still annoying (D30 is better in that area).

D60's resolution is just great (it handles DoF boundaries smoothly), also noise is more pleasing - I was about to arrange a possibility to get a 1Ds but in reality D60 is enough for most purposes and managing and saving its files on a computer is reasonable fast and does not force me to buy a new 120GB disk every two weeks. I'll wait and see what is there after D60 - if they just put in 1D autofocus and lower the noise a bit still...

The buffering system is very good - a big improvement to D30.

I also have got a second hand 35/2 and 20GB X's Drive.

Hi Pekka,

welcome to the six megapixel club! When I “updated� my D 30 to the D 60, it was not only for the double resolution. I started my “filmless� photographer career in 1997 with a 1,3 megapixel Kodak/Canon EOS DCS 3. A well hand-made (in my eyes) and working “prototype� and fast enough to cover (indoor) basketballshootings with its EOS 1n body. But with poor colors and low res. But this old DCS 3 was still in use cause of the poor ISO 1600 D 30 Quality. The newspaper colleagues never used ISO 1600 on their D30-bodies. They stopped at ISO 800, using f/1,8 or f/2 Canon-lenses. At that time I had no f/2 lens. It helped a little bit to overexpose the D 30 shots with 1/3 or 2/3 EV. The D 60 is a huge step forward. I always use ISO 1000 with that camera for basketball. Even a slight -1/3 to -2/3 underexposing (= ISO 1250/1600) brings a printable (newspaper) result. From that view D 30 and D 60 have actually the same ISO speed! And I found the D 60 AF much more sensitive and quicker than the D 30 one! If you use the D 60 for normal landscape shooting with ISO 100/200 you will never miss the good old 35 mm Film.

Good luck and much pleasure with your new toy. Merry Cristmas and a Happy new Year.

Ralf

PS.: My D 30 had been changed to an "old"/brandnew Kodak/Canon EOS DCS 520/D 2000 some weeks ago. Less half the price of an 1D, it’s a great basketballshooter…

cool,,, you have great stuff with your g1 and d30 so it would be nice to see a d60 gallery

i got my d60 over 6 months ago and it paid for itself soon after i got it (im in event photography business)
it has helped me to have more pj style images and cover more good shots for a lower cost than film,,, im sure its the same with people buying full frame ccd camera's,,, it brings in business,,,
its still up to us to get the shots but nice toys are fun and they open up new opportunities,,,


farid
www.austinphotonet.com

>Only gripe so far is that white balance in artificial lighting is way off, I knew that before I got it so it's not a big deal (I shoot RAW) but still>annoying (D30 is better in that area).

Pekka can you expand on this info? I would like to get as much detailed as possible info about this issue of artifical lighting you are willing to share, since I have some plans to studio work starting early january and it would be great to run some tests going along your suggestions before entering into the shootings. Are yu suggesting Running custom WHite balance and if so how do you run it to REALLY overcome the D60's problems??

Thanks in advance.

Merry Christmas!

Does this mean you'll be doing a D60 version of LinearSharpen? If you do, I'm gonna have a problem. I've been avoiding the pull to upgrade to the D60 by reminding myself that there is not as good a linear conversion solution for the D60 as LS is for the D30.

Hello Pekka,

Congratulations on your new camera!
I am sure you will enjoy every moment with it.
Please continue sharing with us the fine photography you produce.

I wish you and all members of this fine board a Merry Christmas and a happy and generous New Year.

Persio.

Pekka, I have followed your excellent lead since day one and look forward to your gallery justifications for the D60! (I am getting harder to impress due to your tutilage).8)8)

Have fun and convince me to buy your D60 next year!

Chris

Well, I got my initial hands-on with a D60 when I met mr. "blacksun" here in Helsinki a couple of times and as we compared D30 and D60 in difficult lighting situations (night shots, indoors) it was clear that the cameras handle WB very differently. D60 seems to need either custom WB or manual preset to get it right. D30 got it almost right in many cases, but then again it also needed custom WB to be _correct_.

Seemed odd to me that D60 gets _never_ e.g. street lamp kelvin right - all shots came out very orange every time.

But, when you shoot RAW you have no worries. You may set the camera to manual WB or custom if you want to save time on "developing stage" but RAW saves the day if you're in hurry. Custom WB is very easy to set as long as you remember that you only need a center covered with some white on location. So in most cases no gray card is needed.

We also noted that it seems that D60 is more sensitive to light source changes accross frame, but I'll have to do some more shooting to see if that is indeed so.

pigasus wrote:
Merry Christmas!

Does this mean you'll be doing a D60 version of LinearSharpen? If you do, I'm gonna have a problem. I've been avoiding the pull to upgrade to the D60 by reminding myself that there is not as good a linear conversion solution for the D60 as LS is for the D30.

Hi Sally,

Yes Linearsharpen for D60 is definitely on its way. It will be technically very different to D30 version as D60 delivers quite different material (mostly softer than d30 as lens resolution and handholding problems are more visible).

PS. I'll mail you soon.

Take care,

Pekka

If the white balance is way off in artificial light then why buy the damned thing?!! GEEZE! Are people just SO hungry for the latest thing in photography that they'll buy any poorly made product that comes on the market? Canon must think that they've really got our number. They put out the EOS 3 with a defective metering system and then the D60 is so shot full of defects its unbelievable!! Fer crissake folks! They are putting out absolute crap and we're snatching it up and exclaiming how wonderful it is!! Madness.

I have never seen a perfect product. D60's "defects" are very minor compared to its benefits.

I'm an experienced photographer but I am having trouble getting consistent white balance on my D-60. I've read the manual on using custom white balance but I'm not getting it. A bit thick perhaps. Could someone please write to me and explain in detail (perhaps as to a child) just how to use the custom white balance feature. As it is, most of the time my photographs are excellent but sometimes they require loads of tinkering in photoshop and even then the results are not good. I hate depending on just good luck, especially when I'm being paid for the shots. I have best results when using either the auto wb or the cloudy wb on (call me crazy) cloudy days.

An aging darkroom worker seeking to spend less time in the dark.

jmark1949@yahoo.com

Thank you!