Nikon D60 review

The D60 isn't Nikon's most affordable DSLR - the venerable 6 megapixel D40 is cheaper - but it's in direct competition with the other cameras here.

It has a lot in common with the D40x, which it replaces, but the lens now has image stabilisation built in. This worked exceptionally well in our tests, keeping most photos sharp at shutter speeds as slow as 1/8 second. We tested the 18-55 VR kit.

The controls and menus are well suited to casual users, with lots of information on screen to help you understand the role of each. However, more confident photographers may be frustrated by the lack of dedicated buttons. There's an excellent customisable auto ISO mode, but bizarrely it's accessed from a separate menu to the main ISO control. It's easy to think you're adjusting the ISO speed manually when the camera is actually set to auto. Most of the other options we'd expect to see are included, but exposure bracketing is regrettably absent. It's possible to process RAW images to an extent inside the camera, but the accompanying RAW processing software is under-powered.

An Active-D Lighting option boosts the brightness of shadows to reveal detail. The effect is more pronounced than Sony's DRO, but so too is the increase in noise (graininess). It also slows the camera down, reducing continuous shooting to just 0.3fps. (You can achieve quite similar results instead with the Shadows/Highlights function in the latest image editing programs.) With Active-D Lighting disabled, performance was fairly typical of this group, with continuous shooting at 2.61fps.

The D60 excelled in our image quality tests. It produced the most consistently flattering colours of all the cameras. Detail and noise levels were just a whisker behind the excellent Canon. Our only criticism was that chromatic aberrations were worse than average, giving a halo of discoloration to sharply contrasted lines towards the edges of photos, but this problem was rarely noticeable. The D60 has a few quirks and frustrations, but its superb image quality keeps it in the running for those who don't want to spend the extra for the Canon 450D or just prefer Nikon cameras.