Hands on with the Canon EOS 60D

The Canon 60D has just been announced, and we got a chance to take it for a test around town to see what it was really like to use.

For more information on the 60D, check out our preview. The last four images in this gallery were taken on a preproduction model of the 60D.

Stylistically, the 60D shares more in common with the newer 7D than it does with its line-mate, the 50D. Here, the camera is pictured with the 18-135mm lens. Kit configurations include a standard 18-55mm, a twin-lens kit with the 18-55mm and 55-250mm, a premium kit with an 18-200mm lens or a platinum kit with a 15-85mm lens. All prices are yet to be announced, but the camera is due to be available in September.

One of the biggest changes to the Canon line comes in the form of this variable-angle LCD screen. And while it doesn't look like that much in the picture, the screen is packed with 1.04 million dots, one of the highest resolution screens on a digital SLR.

Controls are standard Canon fare, with the notable exception of the mode dial. Instead of freely rotating when turned, it now hosts a button that needs to be depressed before allowing the wheel to turn.

Buttons have been given a softer feel to those found on the 50D, and the control wheel has been re-imagined as this double control pad and wheel around the Set button.

Like most prosumer digital SLRs, the 60D has moved to SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card compatibility, instead of Compact Flash.

Creative art filters feature on the 60D, with four to choose from. This is called grainy black-and-white. The effect can only be applied to an image after it has been shot, in-camera. The black-and-white effect has three intensity levels to choose from — this image was processed on the highest, or strongest, setting.

There's also soft focus, toy camera and miniature effect to choose from. No prizes for guessing which setting this one was taken on, with the final effect looking like something that a Lomo camera, or plastic camera, could potentially deliver.

The 60D can hit a native maximum ISO of 6400, though it can be pushed to 12,800 in the settings. Here, at ISO 6400, the 60D seems to cope well with noise reduction, at this reduced resolution.

The same image from the 60D, with no filter applied (top) and the soft focus filter (bottom). This was the least favourite of our filters, with the effect appearing more blurry than anything. The effect looks better when applied to people, as seen from Canon's sample image.