Pixiq

Welcome to the world, Canon EOS 60D! (Well, almost, it goes on sale in September. But unlike Florence Rose Endellion Cameron, I doubt it’ll be premature.) This is the snazzy replacement for the 50D stalwart. So, what does it have to offer and is it as amazing as we might like to think?

Let’s start with the basics. It has an 18 megapixel APS-C sensor, can shoot 5.3fps in bursts of 58 full-res jpegs, has a standard ISO range of 100-6,400 that can be extended to 12,800, and a nine-point auto-focusing system. It also has the iFCL metering system that first saw the light of day in the 7D. And if you’re into Speedliting, there’s an integrated transmitter so that you can control your EX flash units in-camera.

That sounds like a good start. But there has to be more, yes?

Yes, there’s more. The screen is a vari-angle number measuring 7.7cm (3 inches), that can work in conjunction with live view so you can get that awkward crowd shot without having to invoke an entire pantheon. And the bit I like? The screen has an anti-reflective, water-repellent coating. For landscape shots, you’ve even a groovy horizontal level, visible in both the view finder and the live view.

With vari-angle screen!

In what seems to be a bit of nod to people who want to use a dSLR but aren’t really sure what they’re doing with one—odd for a camera that’s definitely not entry level, but who am I to judge—Canon has introduced the Basic+ function. It gives you a range of auto-modes suitable for portrait, landscape, close-up, sport, night snapshot, and creative pictures. There’s a range of ‘enhancements’, too: daylight, cloudy, or sunset; as well as preset ‘picture styles’: vivid, soft, warm, or monochrome. I think that I might reserve judgement on those.

I am excited by in-camera processing, though. There’s basic image manipulation—contrast, brightness, white balance and the like correction—that can be carried out in RAW and the image re-saved as a jpeg if you want; as well as a host of different filters to apply to your pictures.

Whilst they were at it, Canon gave the 60D an HD video mode that can be operated fully manually. And you can show your films directly an HD-ready TV via the HDMI port.

If you’re used to shooting on Canon cameras, it’s worth knowing that they’ve altered the layout of the controls slightly. They’ve grouped together the most frequently used functions; there’s a new multi-control dial; and it’s also possible to implement some degree of customisation, too. Huzzah!

Finally, the 60D will allow you to wirelessly transfer your images from the memory card in your camera via its Eye-Fi function. And you can turn off the WiFi to save on battery. Definitely useful if you’re like someone I know who has a habit of misplacing memory cards.

So, is it all-singing and all-dancing? It’s a camera; it can’t be! But it does seem to have a few delicious features and I wouldn’t mind having a play.

Fancy one? The 60D will be available from September and starts at £1,099.99, body only. (That’s inclusive of VAT here in the UK, and comes out at €1,309.99.) Wander over to Canon for even more info.