INTRODUCTION
I was really surprised by the price of the F60 (N60 in US) in the used market. I was hunting around the market a few weeks ago, both in used camera shops as well as Internet, for a budget AF SLR for a beginner photography student.
And to my surprise, I managed to get a great deal for paying just about $150 for a excellent condition F60 from a businessman who was a casual photographer who just go into digital photography. Initial price quoted was $200 (which is already quite low), but knowing the end user is just a student, he lower it to $150 to the benefit of the student.
The boy who get it was really thrilled by the price, as I had told him earlier that he might need to budget it about $250 for a SLR Body.
BUILD
As in the likes of its predecessor N50, the F60 is very plastic. It does look good and solid, but the fact is otherwise.
The handgrip of the F60 is very nicely designed, sharing the same design of the professional F5 as described by some magazines. But I don’t really think it can be compared to the higher end F5. Using the handgrip, you will realise it does provide a good hold of the body, both in horizontal and vertical shooting position.
Weighing about half a Kg or more, it is not the heaviest camera around. It is light enough in my opinion to carry around for any occasion.
FOCUSING
The F60 offers both Auto focus and Manual focus. It can be switched between the two modes very easily.
In the Manual Focus mode, focusing is done by turning the focusing ring on the lens till the image on the viewfinder look sharp.
In the Auto focus mode, it offers Auto Servo AF, which will choose automatically between Single Servo AF and Continuous Servo AF.
EXPOSURE
The F60 offers 3 types of metering systems, namely,
1) 3D Matrix - When used with a D Lens
2) 6 Segment Matrix - When used with Non-D Lens
3) Centre Weighted
It has an Exposure Metering Range of EV 1 to 20 at ISO 100, 50mm f1.4 lens, which is reasonable for such price range camera.
It offers 5 build in vari programs modes for casual users, as in
1) Portraits
2) Landscape
3) Close-up
4) Sports
5) Night Scene
As well as 5 Advance mode, as in
1) General Purpose Program
2) Auto-Multi Program
2) Shutter Priority
3) Aperture Priority
4) Manual
FEATURES
The F60 also provides the following features
1) Build in TTL Flash
2) Timer
3) Exposure Compensation
4) Auto Exposure Lock
5) Auto Exposure Bracketing
6) Diopter Adjustment from –1.5 to 1.0
LENS
The F60 accept a wide range of high quality AF lenses from the Nikkor range as well as good quality third party lenses maker like the popular low cost Sigma, Tokina, Tamron... etc.
IX-Nikkor lens cannot be used on the F60. Although the F60 is adopting the old Nikon F mount, which theoretically should accept older Nikkor Manual Lenses, but Nikon is not encouraging such practice. I have not idea why is it so.
To achieve high picture quality and most important sharpness, none of this cheap lenses maker is comparable to the original Nikkor lenses. I always believe that that extra cost spent on the optics is worthy.
QUALITY TEST
We tested the newly acquired F60 at an outdoor carnival, just before sunset. We stayed till night so we can test the capability at night too.
We used a roll of Kodak Gold 400 for the test.
For a start, the F60 is easy to use and figuring out every buttons and knobs is easy even without a manual. But for beginners, it is still best to go through the manual once to know more about the camera. For Nikon users, this is still another Nikon.
The F60 offers a range of shutter speed from 1/2000s to 30s, plus bulb. With such common range at this price, it is still useful for a wide range of photography opportunities. I have used a N70 in the past, which has a fast shutter speed of 1/4000s, and frankly I never got a chance to use such speed, let alone the shocking fast 1/8000s and 1/12000s offered by some higher end camera. You will need to decide the application of your camera when you consider the shutter speed. For most application, a range up to 1/2000s is good enough.
The build in flash, with an ISO guide number of 49 ft, is too weak for any good uses. The recycle time of the flash is about 4 seconds, which is too slow in my opinion. To get better flash effects, I would recommend an external unit like the cheap SB-22s. I have bought one off the used market for only $50. It offers bounced flash, which is very useful for indoor photography to eliminate the unwanted shadows caused by the flashes.
I am a bit disappointed with the Auto-Servo AF. It seems difficult to focus at times. It will take quite a while before it can achieve focuses. When it is properly focused, pictures taken was maintained sharp and clear.
Metering is accurate with the 3D Matrix. We tested with a Nikon AF-D 28-105mm f3.5-4.5. Pictures turn out to be accurately exposed, even for some night scene shots. When used with a Nikon AF 50mm f1.8, the Six Segments Matrix is equally capable, providing correct exposure.
It’s a pity that the F60 does not feature Multiple Exposure capability. It will provide more creativity to users who are interested in such photography.
SUMMARY
The F60 is a very user friendly SLR Camera, easy to learn and use. And at the price I got it for, I can’t possible find any complain about it.
For more serious photographer, this is definitely not going to be the right choice for you, as the functions and features are really limited for good creativity.
In short, the F60 is a capable camera for beginners and casual users.