Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which produces an average image size of 7Mb.

The Canon EOS 60D produced images of outstanding quality during the review period. This camera produces noise-free images at ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 1600, with some noise appearing at ISO 3200 and particularly the fastest settings of ISO 6400 and 12800. The 18 megapixel images were quite soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light in all situations. Picture Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images, while the Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority also help to get the most out of JPEGs. The new Creative Filters are a fun addition to the more consumer-friendly 60D.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Canon EOS 60D. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Canon EOS 60D has 2 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

18M Fine (6.32Mb) (100% Crop)	18M Normal (3.12Mb) (100% Crop)
18M RAW (23.5Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting are a little soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default results.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon EOS 60D are Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, and Red-Eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (29mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (29mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (320mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (320mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Flash On + Red-eye option caused any amount of red-eye.

Auto	Auto (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction	Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Canon EOS 60D's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 20 seconds, at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Creative Filters

The 60D offers a number of creative filters, as previously seen on Canon's range of compact cameras. Soft Focus dramatizes an image and smooths over any shiny reflections, Grainy Black and White creates that timeless look, Toy Camera adds vignetting and color shift, and Miniature Effect makes a scene appear like a small-scale model, simulating the look from a tilt-shift lens. All of these filters can be applied to both JPEG and RAW files either before or after taking the picture.

Grainy Black and White	Soft Focus
Toy Camera	Miniature

Picture Controls

Canon's Picture Controls, similar to Nikon's Picture Styles, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The six available Picture Controls are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. There are also three User Defined styes so that you can create your own look.

Standard	Portrait
Landscape	Neutral
Faithful	Monochrome

Highlight Tone Priority

This custom setting promises to improve the highlight detail of the image by expanding the dynamic range from 18% grey to bright highlights. Turning it On didn't make a great deal of difference in our test shot, as shown below.

Off	On

Auto Lighting Optimizer

This custom setting promises to automatically correct the brightness and contrast of an image, with four levels of varying intensity available. There was a slight difference between the weakest and strongest settings, as shown below. Note that the user guide warns that this setting might cause noise to increase.

Off	Low
Standard	Strong

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon EOS 60D camera, which were all taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Canon EOS 60D enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Canon RAW (CR2) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Flash Raised

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Quick Menu

Rear of the Camera / Live View

Rear of the Camera / Electronic Level

Rear of the Camera / Movie Mode

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Top LCD Screen

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The new 60D represents something of a rethink on Canon's part, now more clearly positioned as a prosumer SLR camera that sits halfway between the cheaper, more consumer-focused 550D / Rebel T2i and the more expensive, semi-pro 7D. Current 50D owners looking to upgrade may miss that camera's more durable metal body shell, slightly faster burst shooting, more intuitive joystick control, PC sync socket and support for Compact Flash cards - they'd be better advised to look at the 7D - but for the rest of us, especially those interested in video, the 60D is a compelling addition to the Canon EOS range.

The 60D shares many of the features offered by its little brother, the Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i - a 3 inch 1040k-dot LCD screen with 3:2 aspect ratio, 18 megapixel sensor, 63-zone metering, Full HD movie recording with user selectable frame rates, and similar build quality. We'd still recommend paying the extra cash, though, principally for the 60D's excellent vari-angle screen, better viewfinder, secondary LCD screen and control dial, speedier burst shooting, more refined movie mode, and much more intuitive control layout and handling.

The EOS 60D also shares the same image sensor as the 550D / Rebel T2i and 7D, and therefore the same outstanding image quality. You may think that bumping the megapixel count to 18 on such a comparatively small sensor would only degrade the resulting photos, but thankfully you'd be wrong. The 18 megapixel CMOS sensor and expanded ISO range produce virtually no visible noise at all from ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 1600, with even the three faster settings of 3200-12800 producing perfectly usable images. All other image quality aspects are up to Canon's usual high standards, so top marks go to the 60D in this department. Just make sure you buy something better than the EF-S 18-200mm lens that we were supplied with to get the best out of all those pixels.

Ultimately the 60D takes some of the best features of existing EOS models and blends them together to create a DSLR that challenges the likes of the Nikon D90 more directly than the previous 50D did. While there are few genuinely new features here, the EOS 60D is a joy to use, that irksome four-way controller aside, with one of the best movie modes on any EOS SLR. Ironically the 60D's biggest threat comes from a camera that isn't even in the shops yet - the Nikon D7000 - which on paper offers a number of advantages that crucially includes continuous autofocus during movie recording. For the moment, though, the Canon EOS 60D is a full-featured, intuitive and very capable DSLR that takes fantastic stills and video and which still hits the all-important £1000 / $1000 price point.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	5
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon EOS 60D from around the web.

Specifications

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