A Reflex for beginners

Don't be fooled by the title. Reflex for beginners does not mean at all that handling this to a beginner you would get some results.

I was coming from a Fuji S6000Fd (or S6500Fd as we call it in euroland). The previous camera was a Bridge, intended that it sported decent optics and full manual zoom. In the process of upgrading I had to place a choice between the new S100F or a real reflex. I choose the latter.

Then chosing about brands when you consider buying a digital reflex you just have a couple of choices that summarize between Canon and Nikon. The features of the Canon line are more developed, for instance you get Bracketing. Whereas Nikon is recognized to be more robust than the competition.

So I was determined to get a Nikon. Then I had to decide between models. There are basically three on the market that I could afford. D40, D40x and D60. The difference between the first two is the pixel count while the last adds some postprocessing options and a cleaning system for the sensor. Also the D60 is shipping in a kit with stabilized optical kit (15-55). This is important to me as I am taking pictures at night and having one or more stops compensated by the motion system greatly helps me getting steady pictures even at 1/4s. I got the D60.

Camera Body and Operation
It looks rugged. It is built around a steel frame I think. Buttons are easy to operate, there is one weel for selecting the operating values (Aperture, exposition, flash mode, ISO) according to the program you selected. There is of course a program selector and enought buttons to make it useful to read the manual once or maybe twice.

The display, being a reflex, does not shows the liveview. You have to look into the viewfinder. On the other hand when you are looking at the display a series of technical parameters are displayed. You can switch it on either by pushing the appropriate button or by moving the camera having the display facing the sky (these a motion sensor inside). There is also a eyecup sensor that switches off the backlight when you are framing the picture.

After a picture is taken the display shows it for a couple of seconds. This could be a issue if you are planning to quickly alter some parameters by using the well because when showing the picure you're namely in play mode and by turning the weel you start a slideshow while your subject is of course getting out of the composition.

There are numerous display modes that can show you the results of the taking, some such "highlights" are useful in understanding if you need to tweak some setting and take another shot. Levels also is quite informative and the others quite unuseful...

The lens attach hood is made of metal. This camera does not have a internal motor. I couldn't care less but many website explain the reasons why this is a problem.

Image Quality
This depends seriously on your skills. I mean that the camera is good! up to ISO400 there is no noticeable noise, a few noise at ISO800 and considerable noise at iso 1600 and 3200. Note that noise levels are compared to other REFLEX cameras, where the nikon performs the best. Here I just state that noise is visible at 800 iso and maybe you couldn't get big prints from a 3200 iso picture. As a matter of fact this camera is superior to the S6000Fd wich in turn is a real performer when it comes to low light photografy.

There could be problems with the white balance. This is the most serious issue that I noticed. specially when shooting in closed places it's not unusual to get bluish pictures or strange Hues. I usually resort to put the white balance in manual mode.

Post Processing
In my experience the post processing level attainable with the D60 is on the disturbing scale. The first impression is that some of the functions are for "noobs" just like sepia, b/n and that stuff. Other funcions include the D-Lighning wich in turn is the "photoshop hilights&shadows filter" inside the camera, including advantages and disadvantages.

The exposure compensation has some problems (it's the photoshop gamma). It is not selfadjusting to the pictures and if you forget to set (or reset) it you're going to get real disappointment since the settings are preserved in the camera memory unless you change them!

I would suggest anyone to shoot in plain vanilla mode (Raw or Jpg) and then apply post processing at home, on a Pc and just if needed.

Flash performance
With ISO up to 3200 i find flash performance being up to the task. It can really bring up subjects up to 10 mteters away with wide apertures and that's sufficient. The camera has of course a hotshoe for adding a external flash. In this case it's almost mandatory to install a Nikon flash made up specially for it. I had very bad experiences using an old 35mm flash so that I won't racomend it.

Optics
The 15-55mm stabilized zoom is quite nice. The zoom operation is a bit stiff if compared to its predecessor (much smoother). Maybe this is due to the added electronics.

It still is somehow luminous and it still offers the possibility of manual focus. Talking about it i feel that the focus ring is a bit small and difficult to operate. The space between a closeup and infinity is too tight to achieve the perfect focus all the times. Also it rotates with the filter. If you happen to have a polariser this is a major inconvence! As you (or the AF) focuses you rotate the axis of polarizations.