Don’t be scared be inspired! The banner above is a frame grab from my new feature length Zombie movie shot on the 60D.
The Canon EOS 60D DSLR Camera is the best of all the DSLR Cameras, I’ll show you why in this Canon 60d review. Every Pro newspaper shooter I know uses the 60D, and swear by it. They love this camera. They shot both stills and video on it.
Canon 60d Review:
First off there are three things that make me love the Canon 60D:
Quality, Convenience, and Price. More on this in a minute. Watch what the 60D can do as the apocalypse approaches some cool raw footage, time lapse:
Basically the 60D has the same image quality as the 7D, but is way more versatile, its cheaper, and has an added sound feature: manual levels. Great!
Now I shoot video. I am a pro photographer. I’ve been in the business for over twenty years working in film and TV production in Berlin and Canada, and the Canon 60D is the best camera I have ever had in my hand, and believe me when I say I’ve used a lot of cameras in my time. That’s why Im writing this Canon 60d review. I remember the day when a video camera had to have the lens cap kept on it when not in use. Why? Because if unwanted bright spots, like a light, or even a reflection would enter the lens, and for a long enough time, it would burn a spot on the tube, and destroy the camera. Bad!
Let me say that video cameras have come a long way since those days, and now the Canon 60D produces the best image I have ever had the pleasure to work with, for its price and size. Wow, just trying to write this Canon 60d review makes me so excited and breathless that I can barely go on. So let me catch my breath…
Ok, the 60D is an interesting and dynamic model indeed. It combines the best elements of the T2i and the 7D in a rugged body, tougher than the T2i, and lighter than the 7D or 5D, this is an advantage. I have had it out in rain storms too, and it was fine. Although it is wise to keep cameras covered from the elements, even the pro cameras will eventually shut down after enough humidity gets inside. This happened to me when I was chasing a black bear through the streets of Calgary in the rain all day, my Panasonic just crashed.
Anyway, for the price, the photo quality of the 60D is incredible in my opinion. It can’t be beat. Why? It has a top notch cinematic look.
It is great in low light, but you need to have the right lens. It works great all the way up to ISO 800, which I rarely ever have to use. You probably don’t want to go over ISO 1,600 when shooting JPEGs.
Exposure and metering live up to my expectations. Canon’s 14-bit processing pipeline tends to deliver nice tonal range results, and the 60D seems to preserve detail in shadows and highlights well. And I love the ergonomics. The controls are quick and easy, and it is a snap to delete anything you don’t want, or manually change the white balance in a snap, something you can not do on the Pro Sony XDcam I’m shooting on right now for TV.
One big enhancement over the 50D is the video capture, and the 60D is perfect for this. The motion looks very smooth, and I couldn’t even get it to exhibit any rolling shutter at all, although the new Final Cut ProX will take care of this for you in a flash. Like all DSLR’s there was a bit of moire. And you can shoot 24p: frame rates and manual exposure controls that indie filmmakers love, and makes the 60D a great alternative to more higher end cameras for producing your indie films.
The best thing about this Canon EOS 60D DSLR Camera is the 3-inch articulated LCD monitor for shooting video. It is easy to focus with the LCD, which flips out, and can be turned in any direction making it easy to use this camera for extreme angles, and keep in focus. This is exceptionally great for Steadicam work, and the 60D is the only Canon camera suited for Steadicams without buying super expensive remote control gear!
So this is my take. Let me explain the greatness, in this Canon 60d review, of the camera, point for point:
Quality:
The photographic quality is simply breathtaking. The large sensor produces an image many times better the the Pro HD XDcam from Sony that I am shooting TV on right now, a camera worth many many thousands of dollars more to be sure.
The Canon 60D sensor size is actually the same size as 35 mm film. This means you get the same shallow depth of field as with 35 mm film, which means beautiful soft backgrounds, awesome portraits: easy to cerate the film look! It is almost impossible to reproduce this kind of cinematic beauty on the Sony XDcam, even though it has three sensors in the camera, one for each color, but they are all much smaller sensors.
Every time I upload something I have shot, or watch it on a full HD TV, or project it on my HD home theater system, it blows me away the awesome image you get for so little money. I have compared stuff shot on Red’s Epic with stuff shot on the 60D, and I can not see any big difference. Of course the comparison was done on a computer screen, the difference would be seen perhaps on a big cinema screen. However, I doubt if the average viewer would notice it even on the big screen?
Convenience:
So here I am after twenty years of professional camera work shooting 35mm cinematic quality, with a camera so lite I can hang it around my neck, or put on a feather lite tripod. Its a camera I can take into a park, or a bus, or pretty much anywhere without drawing attention to myself: try doing that with a film crew.
I just finished shooting the first few scenes of a new feature length zombie movie I am shooting on the Canon 60D, and I did it alone, even the Steadicam work. I shot all day, and I still had energy to shoot more. Let me tell you the pleasure it is to have such power in a camera that comparatively weighs almost nothing.
The 60D is lighter than the 7D or 5D, and works best on a Steadicam, or in my case, the flycam nano. Setups that would take an entire crew hours to create are done in minutes with the 60D. Just pick up the camera and move it in for close-ups, or out for wide shots. In a lot of cases you do not even need a light, maybe just a little battery powered fill, as the camera is so awesome with the ISO.
For a Pro who has been lugging around super heavy cameras for decades this is like paradise, a dream come true, especially because of the large cinematic image you get out of it, which would otherwise need a crew to move and set up to get the same results.
This Canon 60d review would like to point out the great Price
Now I paid $800 for The 60D body at B and H Christmas sale, that was it. How can you beat that price! You are getting a Hollywood sized sensor for $800 to 900. I would never have thought this even possible three years ago.
Important: you have to get a good lens. Why? No Camera, and its super sized sensor, in the world, is worth anything without the right glass. You need to have a good lens. Don’t get a kit lens. Get a prime lens, a fixed focal length, the fastest one you can get. 1:8 or less. This will help you to use less ISO when it is dark. I have a Sigma 28mm 1:8, which becomes a 50mm when taking the cropping of the sensor into consideration, and the lowest I go is ISO 600. At ISO 600 you will not see any noise, and I have actully lit a scene with a single cigarette lighter at ISO 600. AMAZING!
Yes, glass is very important! This Canon 60d review would not be complete without pointing out the impotence of a good lens.
Having 1k, 2k, 5k images means nothing if it looks terrible, vignetted, or soft! A good lens will make almost any sensor look good. But cheap glass will make any great DSLR look bad. Buy the Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens This is a full frame lens so if you buy the 5D later it will work on it too. Always buy full frame lenses so upgrading won’t be a problem. Plus the Sigma 28mm can do macro, and uses 9 blades to give you wonderful round soft cinema looking backgrounds. Go for it! get the Canon EOS 60D DSLR Camera now!
I love the 60d too. I got it last year, and it has not stopped impressing me. I’m an independent film maker, and since I have avery low budget the 60 d is a perfect fit for me. I love the fact that you can adjust the White Balance manually on the fly!
Cheers!
I agree!
You’ve got to love it. I still can’t believe the price of this thing. I mean its a super 35mm sensor for under a $1000? Who’d ever thought this possible, a couple of years ago. Nice blogging dude
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Hi Michael,
A very encouraging review amidst a host of reviews by pixel-peepers in favour of D 7000. Thank you very much. I bought 60 D with its 18-200 kit-lens; couldn’t help the package. Interested to shoot quality videos, though I am absolutely new to the field. Please advise me on what accessories I should buy (Minimum please; `cause I can’t invest more right now). Also, please give me some start-up tips.
Hi, I think you made the right decision to get the 60D. Before shooting this is how you should set the camera up, my start up tips:
Now you should get yourself Final Cut Pro X for color grading and to fix rolling shutter, etc. But you want to shoot a flat image, which is what I suggest you do. Why? So you can properly color grade it later, allowing more flexibility. Its like shooting RAW.
For this create a new user setting in your menu, and turn down the saturation, sharpness, and contrasts as far down as they will go.
But this is how the shutter should be set for the Canon 60d Camera:
24fps x 2= 1/48th shutter speed
30fps x 2= 1/60th shutter speed
60fps x 2= 1/120th shutter speed
Why? You need a 180 degree shutter. The way to do this is set it twice the amount of your fps.
I love the fact that you can adjust the white balance in real time with the wheel, and it goes fast with the Canon 60d Camera. If you want your shot to be warmer or colder just adjust it on the fly. The increments are big so it takes no time at all to do it, and you can see it happening before your eyes.
If you don’t have a tripod, get one. This will allow you to shot in lower light, and every little shaky movement seems that much worse with the 60D because of the huge sensor and cropping effect. So you need to have a study shot. The Fly-Cam Nano works great with it to steady movements, but if you can get the larger version of it, get it. Or get a shoulder brace.
One thing: you will need is a sun shade for the flip out LCD monitor, which helps you to see the screen outside. Ultimately you will want a bigger LCD monitor if you are serious about shooting video on the 60D. The funny thing about the 60D is most pros complain about the fact that its not a great camera for shooting stills, but all are unanimous about how great it shoots video. I agree!
Anyway, follow this link to all the cheapest accessories I could find that still work great, almost everything you will need is in this list: http://mycanon60dreview.com/canon-60d-accessories
Thanks, and good shooting!
Thank you very much for your advice. I value it and will act on that.
Nice to read your blog
The other day I saw this dude with a 60d attached to the front of his car on a suction mount. He was driving through down town. Obviously he was making a movie. Very cool. That camera is so small, it fits anywhere, and you hardly notice it. Now I would have maybe used a go pro, but he probably did not want to have the fish eye effect, and I can imagine that the 60d is a way better image quality. love this post.
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thanks for share!
Best review of the 60d I’ve read so far!
Very good opinion, cheers.
Thanks for your contribution and I will use it for my college research that I am doing for this website.
Nice post, thank you. Do you have a Xing account?
I love the look and price of the gear. The 60d does it right.
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cool presentation shared. keep it up.
That low-light That low-light sequence of shots has a great, ercepy feeling. I’m in Kyushu, Japan at the moment and I just got my 7D over here last month. Amazing camera. I shot 35mm stills in film on my F-1 and SVHS video back in the States for years but this is a brave new world! Your series has good advice. I’ll keep watching.
Awesome images!
Guys, if you own a Guys, if you own a 7D then you may want a 30MM from Sigma it’s only $479 and it’s fast and is really a 48mm cause you are ptuting it on a 7D. 50mm may be too much if you already have a zoom lens.I own a Canon 7D which I use mainly for video and was looking to invest in a great normal’ lens.
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Thanks for your review, we appreciate it. Small correction. The 60D is not a full-frame sensor like the 5D. It’s a 1.6X crop. Below are the specs from Canons website. Also, I have read that ISO 1,600 is very usable. Again, thanks for your time and effort.
Image Format
0.88 x 0.59 in. / 22.3 x 14.9mm (APS-C size)
Great comment, yes you can use high ISO on the 60d. But for my purposes, and experience in post, I find that the lower you go with the ISO the better, because of how the compression works. I don’t like noise, so I have Magic Lantern running on my 60d, which allows me to increase the bit rate, which means I can do a lot more with what I shot in post production. If you shot
high ISO it can get noisy in post. In a perfect world I would always shot 100 ISO, but you can go much higher than this with the 60d. Thanks