Nikon D60 review

Shutter lag measured an impressive 0.4 seconds in our high contrast test and 0.7 seconds in our low contrast test, which respectively mimic bright and dim shooting conditions. However, in our field tests, the camera did get confused on several occasions when shooting in dim light. Sometimes, it would fail to achieve focus in situations where a lot of other cameras could.

When it was able to focus in dim situations, it locks rather quickly, but it just isn't quite as reliable as some more expensive Nikons, or as reliable as we remember the D40x to be. In our continuous-shooting test, the D60 was able to capture an average of 2.8 frames per second (fps), putting it extremely close to Nikon's claim of 3fps.

Image quality
Image quality from the Nikon D60 is very nice, though our numerically based colour accuracy test, and close side-by-side scrutiny with images from other very accurate -- and more expensive -- models, showed that its images aren't quite as colour accurate as competitive cameras we have tested so far.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200

0.5

0.6

1.2

0.3

Nikon D60

0.4

0.5

0.7

0.4

Olympus E-510

1.3

0.8

1.3

0.4

Pentax K100D

1.2

0.5

1.3

0.4

Typical continuous-shooting speed (in frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Typical continuous-shooting speed

Pentax K100D

3.1

Olympus E-510

2.9

Nikon D60

2.8

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200

2.8

However, most people won't be able to tell a major difference in this area. Unless you're completely fanatical about colours being represented absolutely exactly as they exist -- something most consumer-oriented film rarely did back in the day -- then it shouldn't be a major issue for you. This is especially true since the D60 turned in pleasing, if slightly oversaturated, colours and in other ways its image quality is nice for a camera of its class.

The D60 includes Nikon's 3D Matrix Metering II to determine exposure when not using centre-weighted or spot metering. Nikon's Matrix mode does a very good job of determining the best exposure for a given scene. Generally, it seems to make the most logical compromise between preserving highlight or shadow detail.