Canon PowerShot S60

Posted by T3 Online on Fri 24 Sep 2004

Another £400 camera? Yes, and it's pretty good too

Trying to keep up with Canon's digital camera range is like following the singles charts. Just when you think you know which boy band is number one, they break up and are replaced by suspiciously similar (though younger) clean-cut squealers. Canon has no fewer than four cameras selling for around £400 these days, from the pocketable IXUS 500 to the powerhouse PowerShot G5. The S60 slots in directly beneath the G5, with plenty of serious features but none of the tricky semi-pro stuff such as a hot shoe for an external fl ash. A bit like last year's S50, then, only a tad smaller and lighter.

The other upgrades from last year's model aren't so obvious. The S60 keeps the S50's sliding lens cover, all-metal silver housing and five-megapixel sensor. The 1.8-inch LCD hasn't grown at all, and even the chunky lithium-ion battery pack is the one that powers the majority of Canon's grown-up shooters. But there are some changes. First off, the 3.6x zoom lens now starts at a respectable 28mm- equivalent wide-angle setting, making it ideal for large group portraits and landscape photography.

The memory card you get has doubled in size to 32MB, although you should still invest in a 128MB CompactFlash or larger, especially if you intend making use of the RAW recording function to capture the best possible images. Other sophisticated features include full control over digital settings, exposure and focusing, with a smart magnified view on the LCD to help you focus manually. If you find yourself using the more exotic functions regularly, such as fl ash power compensation or focus bracketing, you might consider moving up to a budget digital SLR.

Despite its mature specification, this model still handles like a compact, pausing a moment between shots and taking a second or so to find focus points. The burst mode maxes out at two frames per second and the movie mode is average, jerking around at ten frames per second and freezing zoom and exposure settings at the start of the clip. But the sensible users this is aimed at will be more interested in still-image quality, and here the S60 excels. Colours are strong and natural, the focusing is accurate (when it finally gets there) and the exposure is spot on. So who cares if it looks a bit like last year's number one? And who cares if it's not going to rewrite design history? This is another extremely reliable camera designed by, and made for, photo enthusiasts.

FEATURES
5 megapixels. 3.6x optical zoom. 320 x 240, 10fps movie mode. 32MB CompactFlash card. Battery lasts 550 shots. Weighs 285g.