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Canon EOS 60D |
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Nikon D7000 |  |
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differences
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recommendations
Relative to the best recent DSLRs, and ignoring price
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Canon EOS 60D |
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Nikon D7000 | |
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Snapsort recommends the Nikon D7000. This recommendation, however, should be taken with a grain of salt since it doesn't always make sense to compare a pro DSLR with a entry-level DSLR. |
similarities
Compared to recent DSLRs
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dxomark
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competitors
Shared Competitors |
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Nikon D7100Entry-level DSLR $1,197 body only $1,497 with 18-105mm lens |
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Canon EOS 7DPro DSLR $1,299 - $1,725 body only $1,499 with 28-135mm lens |
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Nikon D5200Entry-level DSLR $697 body only $797 with 18-55mm lens |
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Canon Rebel T4iEntry-level DSLR $580 - $799 body only $731 - $899 with 18-55mm lens |
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Canon Rebel T5iEntry-level DSLR $749 - $871 body only $899 with 18-55mm lens |
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Canon Rebel T3iEntry-level DSLR $549 body only $595 - $599 with 18-55mm lens |
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Nikon D90Entry-level DSLR $600 - $899 body only $739 - $1,099 with 18-105mm lens |
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Canon EOS 60D Competitors |
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No significant competitors found that are specific to the Canon EOS 60D. |
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Nikon D7000 Competitors |
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Nikon D300SPro DSLR $1,300 - $1,697 body only $2,227 with 85mm lens |
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appearance
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Showing 25 comments
probably want to see how the Nikon D7000 compared to the 60D. I wanted
to make a comparison that compares Canon and Nikon's latest offering, even though that the D7000 is more expensive than the 60D.
Resolution
The first thing that I look when I read a review about a specific
digital camera is the sensor type and resolution. I have pretty good
experience with high-megapixel sensor resolutions. From my experience
(and some of you will agree), it is better to have a lower amount of
pixels on the sensor than having more of them. Even so, the resolution
is very important when you want to make large prints or make crops using
photo editing software.
Canon 60D: 18.0 MP (effective resolution); Sensor size: 22.3 x 14.9 mm (1.6x crop factor); Pixel density: 5.4 MP/cm²
Nikon D7000: 16.2 MP (effective resolution); Sensor size: 23.1 x 15.4 mm (1.5x crop factor); Pixel density: 4.6 MP/cm²
As you can see from the information above, not just that the resolution
of the Nikon D7000 is higher, but the sensor is larger. All that leads
to a lower pixel density on the D7000. Bigger pixels (photo diodes)
means better light gathering capabilities. That means, theoretically,
that the Nikon D7000 should produce better low noise images in high-ISO
when compared to the Canon 60D.
Buying guide tip:
So now you have to look at those specs and think if a higher resolution
is useful and profitable for your own shooting habits and business
needs.
The difference in 18MP and 16.2MP is very small. The Canon EOS 60D
captures 5184 x 3456 pixel images at 18MP and the Nikon D7000 captures
4928 x 3264 pixel images at 16.2MP. You gain only 256 pixel width
advantage and 192 pixel height pixel advantage on the 60D. It is not
such a big difference that will help you have more room for cropping or
allows you to make much larger prints, not at all.
For now, don't assume that the Nikon D7000 has better low noise
capabilities than the 60D only because it has less pixels and the sensor
it a bit larger.
ISO
Higher sensor sensitivity usually means gaining from one or more stops.
Having a higher maximum ISO sensitivity level is very important for
several aspects:
Flexible exposure settings
- Exposure Gaining more stops can be used either to increase shutter
speed and stop motion, or you can decrease the aperture opening (larger
f-number) to get longer depth of field. So with higher ISO you gain more
flexibility to play with other of the exposure related settings
(considering the same correct exposure is intended). Very useful for
sports and indoor action photography.Better low light capabilities
- One stop advantages means that the camera can capture twice the
amount of light. It is very important for low-light shooting. It means
that you can bump up the ISO to get a correct exposure when inside a dim
room or shooting with available light.Long exposure shooting- When you shoot long exposure photos, you can get away with shorter exposures, if that's what you are after.Leave the tripod at home
- inherited from the above, having a higher maximum ISO sensitivity
means that you can shoot at faster shutter speeds. In some cases, you
might not need taking a tripod at all. Tripod are very important if you
shoot pictures slower than 1/60s (in some cases). Considering the fact
that you can purchase lenses with image stabilization, a tripod becomes
necessary only for specific shooting settings.
So high maximum
ISO is very important, but it has its price. The problem is that when
you bump up the ISO, more noise starts to kick in. Some cameras like the
Nikon D3s (Full Frame) can handle it very well, but ASP-C sensors have
smaller pixels. That means that you shouldn't expect ISO200 clean images
at ISO12800.
Having said that, you can find excellent noise removal (reduction)
software that does make miracles when it comes to removing contrast and
color noise from digital images (i.e., PictureCode Noise ninja, ABSoft
Neat image, Nik software Dfine 2.0 and many others). You will find that
ISO12800 can turn out to be perfectly usable for small prints or even
larger prints.
Canon 60D: ISO 100-12800
Nikon D7000: ISO 100-25600
JPEG High ISO Comparison
At ISO 3200: Nikon D7000 looks cleaner, but at a price of fine details.
At ISO 6400: Nikon D7000 has a slight advantage here.
At ISO 12800: Nikon D7000 has a clear advantage, while maintaining much more details than the 60D.
So the Canon 60D has somewhat the same high ISO performance as the Nikon
D7000 up to 6400. From ISO 6400 and ISO 12800, The Nikon proved to
provide the goods better than the 60D. You can take a look for yourself
by visiting the link I have provided above.
RAW High ISO Comparison
At ISO 3200: Nikon D7000 looks cleaner, but at a price of fine details.
At ISO 6400: Nikon D7000 and Canon 60D looks almost the same, maybe the
D7000 has a very slight advantage in terms of noise - Even so, that's
canceled by the details which are well preserved on the 60D than on the
D7000.
At ISO 12800: Nikon D7000 and 60D images looks the same to me. The
Canon has a slight advantage in terms of detail's preservation.
In RAW, the differences between the two cameras are less obvious. More
than that, it seems that the Canon has a slight advantage when it comes
to details.
Buying guide tip:
The Nikon D7000 has a maximum ISO of 25,6000, while the Canon 60D has a maximum ISO of 12,8000. I've used dpreview's comparison tool
to test the high ISO performance on the Nikon D7000 vs Canon 60D (read
the above for details). If you shoot JPEG, the Nikon D7000 has a slight
to moderate advantage over the 60D in higher ISO settings. In RAW, the
differences are not that obvious. More than that, the Canon seems to
have a slight edge when it comes to preserving details.
Light Metering System
Probably one of the most talked about subjects on photography forums in
the last couple of months. Generally speaking, Canon DSLRs has the
tendency to underexpose and Nikon has the tendency to overexpose.
The talkbacks are so intense that many photographers pointed out that
the Nikon D7000 probably has an issue with its Matrix metering sensor.
Other professional photographers stood against that rumor, saying that
photographers should get used to the new metering system. All in all, we
still don't get a definitive answer for that one.
I can tell you that. Many what called Professional photographers have
reviewed the Nikon D7000 and negatively raised the overexposure issue.
You even see sample images taken by the reviewers who clearly point to
overexposure. With the Nikon D7000 it's was recommended to use -1EV
exposure compensation to get a correct exposure. I had the Canon 60D for
a few days and didn't experience this issue using the default exposure
settings.
Buying guide tip:
I can't give you a really good tip here because I didn't have the D7000
to make my own conclusion. I suggest that you search for "Nikon D7000
exposure issue" or "Nikon D7000 overexposure" phrases to read more
opinions about that. For those of you who are very worried about it, I
can just tell you that pro photographers say that this is not a problem
with the camera at all, and photographers need to get adjusted to the
new metering system.
Continuous Shooting
No doubt that faster continuous shooting can be a huge factor in
deciding what camera to buy, especially if you shoot fast moving
subjects (e.g., Surfing, Soccer, Football, Basketball, Baseball, Boxing,
K1, etc.). When you compare two cameras one versus the other, the
continuous shooting fps is not the only number that you should be
looking for. Yes, continuous shooting (i.e., burst) will tell you how
many frames you can capture each second (aka fps or frames-per-second).
Even so, you also want to ask yourself: "How many pictures can the
buffer store before it halts the camera?". That means that the internal
memory (buffer) can only store X amount of data until it needs to empty
the buffer (electrical storage) to the memory card (physical storage).
Canon 60D: 5.3 frames per second
Canon D7000: 6.0 frames per second
Let's look at the buffer capacity for the Nikon D7000, when used a 8GB SanDisk Extreme SDHC card:
JPEG fine / Image Size "L": 31 images
JPEG fine / Image Size "M": 100 images
(Other JPEG below that specifications support 100 frames buffer capacity)
RAW Lossless / 12-bit: 11 images
RAW Lossless / 14-bit: 10 images
RAW Compressed / 12-bit: 15 images
RAW Compressed / 14-bit: 12 images
What it means in practice is that the buffer limits the amount of frames
you can capture in burst mode. So in order to capture up to 100
sequence images in bust mode, you will have to lower the resolution to
JPEG / M. Pretty limiting isn't it?
The 60D on the other hand has less continuous shooting speed, but it has
the advantage of being able to shoot more sequence images, MUCH MORE
when compared to the D7000.
This information were reported by a photographer with a 60D and a class 10 card:
JPEG (Large/Fine): approx. 58
RAW: approx. 16
RAW+JPEG (Large/Fine): approx. 7
So the 60D can achieve almost twice the amount of frames at a slightly slower burst speed.
Buying guide tip:
No doubt that the FPS number is not the only thing to consider when
buying a new DSLR. You should also pay attention to the buffer capacity
and even how much times it takes for the camera to empty (recover) the
buffer, so you can continue shooting at the same fast burst speed again.
According to what I've read and viewed, the Canon 60D has a clear
advantage here. If you are a sports photographer or you are taking shots
of fast moving subjects, don't forget to take that into account.
Articulating Screen - How Useful is it?
The Canon EOS 60D has an tilt and swivel (articulating) back LCD
display. Many photographers has decided to get the 60D over other DSLRs
just because of that feature. The Nikon D7000 doesn't have and
articulating screen. When it comes to choosing between them and this is
the only thing that catches your eye, you mind want to read about the
advantages of it.
Advantages of Articulating LCD Screen:
Shoot images and videos in various shooting angles that aren't comfortable or possible without an articulating screenUseful
when shooting videos when you want to explore the surrounding scene
without loosing the focus on the subject. Alternatively if you take your
eyes out of the viewfinder, you will probably lose the focus on the
subject - When shooting handheld of course.Can be usable when you mount your DSLR on a DSLR RigYou can take still images or videos of yourself or a part of a group of people
Having a swivel/tilt LCD screen will give you some advantage. How useful they are? - You will decide.
I had a chance to play around with it when I bought my Canon EOS 60D.
For me, it helped me shoot images at angles, that without an
articulating screen, I would have needed to lay down on a muddy ground
to get it. For my shooting habits, it is very useful. It helps me get
creative shots, that otherwise I wouldn't take.
Buying guide tip:
Having an articulating screen can be helpful for both stills and videos.
Many people might point out that having an articulating screen can be
very useful when you record movie, especially if you are recording
videos or shooting stills of yourself. I should also add that the Canon
60D has a 1040K-dot screen resolution while the Nikon D7000 has a
921K-dot resolution. Is it important? - I guess not. I had the chance to
view both screens and I didn't notice the differences. Both screens had
sharp text and beautiful color rendering.
Viewfinder Coverage
The viewfinder coverage is measured in percents. A 100% coverage means
that everything that you see via the viewfinder will appear in the final
image. So when you buy a camera with a 96% viewfinder coverage, it
means that 4% of the scene is not visible via the viewfinder. In many
cases it is not the important, and you won't even notice that you are
shooting with a camera that only offers 96% coverage. It is more
important when you are shooting Macro photographs, where every detail is
important and large enough to be noticed. It is also important when you
are shooting images that your subject is not in the middle of the
frame.
Canon 60D: 96% coverage
Nikon D7000: 100% coverage
Buying guide tip:
The Nikon D7000 has an advantage of having a 100% coverage viewfinder
than the 96% coverage of the Canon 60D. Again, ask yourself if having a
100% is important for you type of shooting habits. You can always give
yourself a spare padding by walking back from your subject or zooming
out a bit.
Full High Definition Movie Recording
Both the Canon 60D and the Nikon D7000 can record 1080p Full HD videos.
The Nikon can shoot 1080p @ 24fps, while the Canon EOS 60D can shoot HD
videos at 1080p @ 24/25/30fps. The Nikon D7000 support AF while
filming, which is an advantage over the Canon 60D which doesn't support
this feature. It means that with the 60D you will have to use manual
focus to keep your subject in focus. Trained professional
cinematographers could probably handle it well, but enthusiast
photographers would probably prefer to have an AF while shooting movies.
The AF on the D7000 (when shooting videos) is not that great. I mean it
works well, but don't expect it to deliver professional results. It is
somewhat slow and tends to miss the focus point from time to time. Don't
get me wrong, it is good and a nice feature to have, but don't expect
too much from it.
The Canon EOS 60D delivers exceptional video quality. I think that Nikon
has certainly managed to shrink the gap in terms of video quality. Even
so, I personally prefer the look and color rendering of Canon's DSLRs.
Having said that, both cameras can capture gorgeous videos. I still
think that DSLR videos still need improvements when it comes to
usability. The image quality will astound you. It is really, really
good.
The 60D has an advantage of shooting in various frame rates, not just
24fps as the Nikon D7000. The Nikon D7000 has AF while shooting videos,
while the 60D doesn't. Both of course can shoot in Full HD 1080p. In
terms of video quality, I prefer the Canon's color rendering. Having
said that, both produce excellent Full HD videos.
On a side note you might want to check out our recent survey that we published that says that Canon is the most popular camera brand.
but I just can’t figure out, here the deal I’m in a big dilemma right now about
buying between a Canon T2i with a Canon EF 70-200mm F4L USM lens or a Canon 60D
with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens so what you people out there would
advise me, thank you in advance and your respond would be very much appreciated.