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Nikon D60 Performance


Timing and Performance

Good speed for a consumer digital SLR.

Startup/Shutdown

Power on
to first shot
0.5 second

Time it takes for camera to turn on and take a shot.

Shutdown
0.3 second

How long it takes to turn off.

Buffer clearing time
Large Fine JPEG
3 seconds
(after 20 LF JPEGs)

Worst case buffer clearing time*. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't shut down until the buffer is cleared. Pretty fast overall, as long as a fast memory card is used.

Buffer clearing time
Small Basic JPEG
1 second
(after 20 SB JPEGs)

Buffer clearing time
RAW
7 seconds
(after 6 RAW frames)

Buffer clearing time
RAW + JPEG
10 seconds
(after 6 RAW + JPEG frames)

The Nikon D60's start-up and shutdown times were quite fast. Buffer clearing time depends on the image size and quality, burst length and how fast the card can be written to.

 

Mode switching

Play to Record,
first shot
0.3 second

Time until first shot is captured.

Record to Play
1.3 seconds

Time to display a large/fine file immediately after capture.

Display
recorded image
0.5 second

Time to display a large/fine file already on the memory card.

Mode switching is about average for an SLR, though switching from Record to Play was a bit on the slow side.

 

Shutter response (Lag Time)

Full Autofocus
0.26 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture in Single-servo AF mode with Nikkor 18-55mm VR kit lens at either wide angle or telephoto zoom position.

Full Autofocus with flash enabled
0.32 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture with built-in flash enabled in iTTL Auto mode.

Pre-focused
0.093 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Continuous AF
0.145 second

Continuous-servo AF mode on the D60 doesn't force release priority, so you'll only get numbers this fast if the subject is relatively stationary and the camera has already set the focal distance. If the subject moves, the lag will increase, depending on how fast-acting the lens you're using is.

Manual focus
0.095 second

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "pre-focused."

Full autofocus shutter response is about average these days, at 0.26 second with the kit lens at both wide angle and full telephoto. "Pre-focus" time was quite fast, at 0.093 second (pre-focusing means half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure). Continuous mode was quite a bit faster than Single-servo autofocus at 0.145 second, but note that continuous-servo AF does not force release priority on the D60, as it does on many other Nikon SLRs - So if the subject moves closer or farther away, the shutter lag will increase as the camera has to shift the lens elements. Manual focus was almost as fast as pre-focused at 0.095 second.

 

Cycle time (shot-to-shot)

Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.48 second

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 1.5 seconds to clear.

Single Shot mode
640 x 480 JPEG
0.51 second

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 1.2 seconds to clear.

Single Shot mode
RAW
0.48 second

0.48 second for 7 shots, then 1.21 seconds for the next 13 shots, 7 seconds to clear.

Early shutter
penalty?
No

Some cameras refuse to snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.33 second (3.00 frames per second);
>20 frames total;
3 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots. In manual focus mode and with shutter speeds above 1/250 second, and ISOs of 400 or below, camera can shoot up to 100 frames without pausing for buffer emptying.

Continuous mode
640 x 480 JPEG
0.34 second (2.97 frames per second);
>20 frames total;
1 second to clear

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.

Continuous mode
RAW
0.33 second (2.99 frames per second);
6 frames total;
7 seconds to clear

0.33 seconds for the first 6 frames, then 1.15 seconds (0.87 fps) for the remaining 14 shots.

Continuous mode
RAW + JPEG
0.33 second (3.01 frames per second);
6 frames total;
10 seconds to clear

0.33 seconds for the first 6 frames, then 1.58 seconds (0.63 fps) for the remaining 14 shots.

Flash recycling
3.2 seconds

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Kingston Ultimate 133x SD memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and other settings such as D-Lighting or NR can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are also very good, at about 0.48 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and the camera was able to capture more than the 20 frames we checked for without slowing down. RAW mode was also 0.48 seconds per shot, but the D60 had to slow down after 7 frames to flush to the card. Still, not a bad performance. Continuous speed is also very good, at about 3 fps for more than 20 large/fine JPEGs or about 6 RAW files. (Nikon claims up to 100 shots before stopping, and we have no reason to argue with that. NOTE though, that ISOs above 800 slow the camera, causing the buffer to fill quite quickly, although the camera continues shooting continuously, just a bit slower.) The flash takes 3.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is good considering its power.

 

Download speed

Windows Computer, USB 2.0
4,889 KBytes/sec

Typical Values:
Less than 600=USB 1.1;
600-769=USB 2.0 Low;
Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are quite speedy as well.


Bottom line, the Nikon D60 is a very responsive camera, able to handle average family shots as well as faster action.

Battery and Storage Capacity

Battery
Average battery life for a lithium-ion SLR design.

Operating Mode Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard)
500
(520 with lens VR off)

The Nikon D60 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is only about average for an SLR (and drops slightly when using Vibration Reduction on the kit lens), so we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Nikon D60 accepts SD/SDHC cards, though no card is included.

Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
1GB Memory Card
 Fine Normal
Basic
RAW
RAW+
JPG
3872 x 2592
Images
(Avg size)
 129
7.9 MB		 252
4.1MB 		488
2.1 MB		 79
13.0 MB		 70
14.6 MB
Approx.
Compression
4:1 7:1 14:1 1.2:1 -
2896 x 1944
Images
(Avg size)
 226
4.5 MB		 432
2.4 MB		 841
1.2 MB		 - -
Approx.
Compression
4:1 7:1 14:1 - -
1936 x 1296
Images
(Avg size)
 488
2.1 MB		 890
1.2 MB		 1,500
683 KB		 - -
Approx.
Compression
4:1 7:1 11:1 - -

The table above shows the approximate capacity of a 1GB card, file sizes and compression ratios at each image size/quality setting. We strongly recommend buying a large capacity SD/SDHC memory card at least a 1GB card, preferably a 2 or 4GB or larger one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (Check the shopping link above. Cards are really cheap these days, so there's no reason to skimp.)

 

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