The Nikon D60 aims to hook point-and-shoot photography enthusiasts crossing over to the digital SLR dimension. The next step up from the Nikon D40x, this model adds advanced in-camera editing, including Nikon’s D-Lighting technology and an in-camera stop-action-animation mode. Costing £424 with the base kit lens, the D60 costs a bit more than its predecessor, the D40x, but is priced similarly to its competition.

The D60 retains Nikon’s familiar look and feel, though it is simpler for novices to navigate, and its small size makes it easier to tote than its chunky siblings, the D80 and D300. The D60 boasts 10-megapixel resolution, a bright 2.5-inch LCD, and solid body construction. The kit also includes the Nikkor 18mm-to-55mm AF-S lens (f/3.5-5.6), which provides a respectable 35mm focal length range of 29mm to 88mm.

We easily navigated the menus and changed settings using the camera’s four-way navigation pad; a sensor rotates the display to match the orientation (vertical or horizontal) of the camera. But don’t discard the manual: once you get the knack of navigating quickly to your favourite features, this camera offers plenty of custom controls, and you may need to dig into the manual to learn how to master them.

There are useful help dialogs, accessible through the LCD at the touch of a button. These describe each setting, often displaying a useful thumbnail to illustrate the point.

The Nikon D60 crams in many features, which is both a help and a hindrance. For example, it’s all too easy to obstruct the AF-assist lamp or bump the lens barrel with your fingers. The camera also lacks automatic bracketing functions for exposure or white balance – not a feature you’d use often, but one you’d expect to
see in a £400-plus model.

The D60’s shooting-mode dial is sturdy and its icons are highly readable, though you have to navigate through the menu system to reach some desirable custom options, which slows usage down a bit. Selecting standard scene modes using the dial on top of the camera is easy.

When shooting manually, we had to use the menu to select our ISO, and a dual-function button to change the aperture. The shutter-speed is easily controlled directly via a scroll wheel – unfortunately, the dual-function button is in close proximity to the scroll wheel, which you need to dial concurrently to change aperture. While shooting night skylines, this was cumbersome.

One omission on the D60 is the absence of a Live View mode for previewing and composing shots using the LCD viewfinder. This is surprising, given that many entry-level digital SLRs offer Live View now.




Though similar to the less expensive D40, the D60 has some interesting new features, including useful dynamic-range extension (Active D-Lighting), where the camera automatically compensates exposure in areas of lost detail in shadows and highlights. This function made an appreciable difference in informal tests under high-contrast lighting, and when shooting indoors under low light its noise reduction was effective.

Another neat feature of the D60 opens the door to stop-motion-movie creation. After you shoot JPEG images and then select the images in the menu, the camera will output those images together in a short AVI clip. In playback mode, you can also view filter presets (such as warm tone, skylight) on your images, and before-and-after comparisons.
The D60’s other settings and modes include burst (at up to 3fps), white balance, macro, exposure compensation, and black-and-white.

Overall the D60’s performance is pleasing. The bundled kit lens produced crisp images without a lot of noise; and the noise-control and dynamic-range features were useful and successfully addressed both noise and blown-out highlights. In our tests, this model performed competitively, although it ranked in the lower echelons for its exposures.
With the Nikon D60, you get a lot of functionality for your dollar. However, its compact design comes at the expense of its ergonomics, layout and some features.