New Nikon D60

gammarid

Just bought a new Nikon D60, followed the threads in recent months – was between a D40 and D60, but eventually the lure of 10 MP and VR for the extra few quid won out – not sure if I will ever see the benefit of either…!

I have two questions for anyone who has a D60, firstly will I ever be able to achieve a shutter speed of 1/4000 with the kit lens (the light has been poor today and the best I can do is 1/500).

Also, there seems to be a sound like a spring or something that is just about audible around the grip (right hand side of the camera) when I rotate the camera – I reckon it is the switch to do with the screen flip function but I want to make sure there is no issue with the camera before I return home (bought the camera in Derry – on hols for a few days – substantial saving on best Dublin prices at least €150)

Anyway heres to it – this is my first SLR and I am looking forward to the opportunities!!

quilmore

well done, congratulations!

don't worry about getting to 1/4000, as you said, the kit lens doesn't help, but you can always up your ISO if you need to (or move to a sunnier place!:))

PonderStibbons

Can I ask why you want a shutter speed of 1/4000? 1/500 should be enough to stop most action. I have a Nikon D50, and I'll also hear what sounds like a spring or something rattling on that side of the camera. I've never had any problems with the camera, so I assume it's ok. My guess is that it's something to do with the battery spring.

Thirdfox

Question 1:
Yes 1/4000 is possible - freezing individual droplets of water splashing out from a fountain (in sunny China mind you) 1/4000 sec, iso 200 and f8 is achievable. If you're not in sunny China...shoot directlying into a bright light source - say your lamp (with spot metering) and you'll get a 1/4000th sec exposure too.

Ceist a do:
That little noise comes from the rolling ball that is the orientation sensor - basically it tells the camera if you're holding it vertically or horizontally. So it can rotate the LCD screen to match and also imprint this data to your files so they open correctly in programmes like Photoshop or Picasa. There's nothing wrong with your camera

Hope that answers your queries sufficiently! Looking forward to seeing some photos soon. (I own the D40).

Just to make sure you understand - the D60 does not inherently have VR technology but is paired with a 18-55vr lens usually. But you can also buy a D40 body only and get the 18-55vr separately if you so wish...

gammarid

Cheers for the responses, first off – I would like to shoot at 1/4000 of a sec just because the camera reckons it can do so; and when you think about it 1/4000 of a sec is a seriously short length of time! I also want to get an ultra crisp picture of my dog in action (Springer – lost of flailing ears etc!!)

I have say I am very impressed with the camera so far – I would have loved one of the 6fps cameras – again because that is awesome when you just think about it – but I am surprisingly pleased with the burst rate that I am getting with the D60 – both in quality of pics and just the noise that it makes, class !!

All in all happy with the camera, I am aware that the stabilisation is just in the lens, like I say I don’t know if I will ever get the value – I was going to go with the D40 and then get a 2nd lense further down the road with VR (it seems to be of more use to me to have this on a bigger zoom in any case).

One of the biggest gripes that a lot of reviewers have with both the D40 and the D60 is only one control wheel, and having had a play around with it – I really don’t see the issue, one wheel plus a button to shift the function of that wheel is to all intensive purposes two wheels. That said, I would have liked to go for the D80, purely because of the physicality of it – it has a great feel to it, although the D60 I feel has plenty of bulk (when you don’t see it next to its bigger brother).

Hope to put some pics up on one of those sites in the weeks and months to come, I have to say again I did find this site v useful re the discussions on various cameras pros and cons – it is just so hard to choose………I would have hated not shelling out the extra few quid; regretting it and looking to buy again too soon, bit I had to draw the line somewhere!!

Thirdfox

Hmm - I would advise against doing something just because "it is there" - often a fast shutter speed isn't necessay - a picture of a chair will not need 1/50th sec often. A running dog will be captured quite well from 1/500th I'd guess. And experimenting with slow shutter speeds can lead to interesting effects too.

And funnily photographers would prefer cameras to be as quiet as possible - noise distracts subjects/surrounding people - one reason why I chose Nikon over Canon, didn't like their shutter sound at all. Try listening to the D3 at 11fps - but I'll never need something like that (or be willing to fork out that much cash for one!)

A good speedlight would help shots a lot too - the SB400/600 would be good options.