Canon's
PowerShot A60 is a 2-megapixel camera that shares the body design
of the PowerShot
A70 and has just about all of the same features, but of course, at
a lower price.
The current A-series cameras have a design that provides a good grip,
and a sturdy construction that is a combination of metal and plastic.
The front part of the camera, including the lens trim, is metal; the rest
is made of a two-tone plastic which, in the A60, is pale blue and silver.
a
small On/Off button which needs to be held down for more than
a second to start the camera.
a
Mode Dial sits on the back edge so it can be easily turned
with the thumb.
a
small speaker to playback recorded sounds.
a
chromed shutter release.
a
zoom control which is built as a ring around the shutter release.
Just like the A70 the zoom control provides for telephoto
when pulled to the right, and wide angle
when pushed to the left. In addition, in Playback the telephoto side offers
a magnifying function
while the wide angle side can be used to show an index
of captured images.
The PowerShot A60 is equipped with an optical viewfinder — without a diopter
adjustment — that yields a sharp image and which has an clearly marked
AF zone.
The back of the A60 provides additional controls, starting with a Mode
Switch that decides between Shooting mode
or Playback mode .
Nearby, four buttons arranged in a circle act as a way to navigate the
camera's menus and also provide some ancillary functions:
The
Up arrow selects the Flash Modes. Five modes are available:
Auto flash with Red-eye Reduction, Auto, Forced
On, Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off.
The
down arrow cycles through 2 functions: Macro Mode and Manual
Focus. In Macro mode the A60 has a focus range of 5 and 46 cm (2
and 18 inches) at the wide angle zoom position, and 26 to 46 cm
(10 to 26 inches) at the maximum telephoto.
Then,
another press of the button engages the Manual Focus Mode.
In this mode the LCD monitor displays a distance scale on the lower
part of the screen, and the right and left arrows are used to focus
the lens gradually.
Four more buttons, located below the 1.5 inch monitor, complete
the set of external controls offered on the A60:
Confirms
some of the selections made in the menu such as card formatting,
and serves to access the image quality settings.
Calls
up the basic camera menu according to the Mode Switch's position;
and also provides access to the Setup and My Camera menus.
Display
controls the LCD monitor and its overlays, cycling through a detailed
information view, then only the image, then Off. In Playback, the
button also serves to display the shooting data, or the image by
itself.
Function
calls up a menu overlaid on the left side of the screen. The Function
menu is used to set the most commonly needed image capture settings
(See the Characteristics section of the review for an overview
of the settings).
Selection
of the shooting mode is made with the Mode Dial. Twelve modes are available,
starting with the Green mode, the A60 full Auto mode:
Auto
is a fully automatic point and shoot mode. Few camera settings are
available as the A60 takes care of just about everything.
The Auto
mode is also the dividing point of the Mode Dial. Shooting modes offered
above it are referred to as the Creative Zone and include:
Program
AE: in the Program mode the A60 sets both aperture and shutter
speed but leaves control over most other camera settings to the
user.
Shutter
Speed Priority AE: allows setting the shutter speed from 1/2000
second to 15 seconds. However, the top shutter speed available varies
according to the zoom's focal length and the aperture in use.
Aperture
Priority AE: allows setting the aperture from f2.8 to f8 over
11 values, but the widest aperture (f2.8) is only available at the
widest angle, decreasing gradually to f4.8 as the maximum telephoto
setting is reached.
Manual
Mode: provides complete control over the camera, but within
the same limits that are imposed on both the Av and Tv
modes with respect to the focal length in use.
The shooting modes positioned below the Auto (green) mode are part of
what Canon calls the Image Zone. These mode are:
Portrait:
uses a wide aperture to blur the background and keep the subject
in sharp focus. The effect of the portrait mode is more pronounced
if the telephoto is used. The slowest shutter speed is 1 second.
Landscape:
maximizes depth of field by using a smaller aperture, which can
also mean a slow shutter speed (1 second).
Night
Scene: uses a slow shutter speed and flash to capture foreground
and background. The flash can be controlled and even turned off,
but the ISO setting is under the camera's control and the shutter
speed does not fall below 1 second.
Fast
Shutter Speed: gives priority to a fast shutter speed so as
to capture movement. CCD sensitivity cannot be selected. With this
mode, the shutter speed range is limited to 1/15 sec. at the low
end.
Slow
Shutter Speed: is intended to make moving subjects such as water
blur, and the ISO setting is decided by the camera. The slowest
shutter speed available is 1 second.
Stitch
Assist: the stitch assist mode is designed to capture a series
of images that will later be stitched together using the software
furnished with the camera. Most settings can be set for the first
frame of the series, but cannot be changed for subsequent shots
until the mode is turned off.
Finally,
placed at the end of the still image modes that make up the Image Zone,
is the Movie Mode that allows capturing video clips with sound. The movie
mode has one difference from the mode offered on the A70: it does not
offer a 640 x 480 image size.
Movie:
offers a choice of two frame sizes, 320 x 240 and 160 x 120, both
with a maximum duration of 3 minutes. The exposure, focus, white
balance, and zoom can be set before recording starts, but cannot
be altered once the recording has started. Recording is done at
15 frames per second. Sound is recorded very clearly through the
microphone located near the optical viewfinder's front window.
The
good ergonomic design of the PowerShot A70 made it a very popular model,
and it is reasonable to expect this will continue with the A60, particularly
since it is being marketed at a very competitive price, offers an excellent
number of shooting modes and has characteristics that can satisfy most
users.
when pulled to the right, and wide angle 
when pushed to the left. In addition, in Playback the telephoto side offers
a magnifying function 
while the wide angle side can be used to show an index 
of captured images.
or Playback mode 
.
Nearby, four buttons arranged in a circle act as a way to navigate the
camera's menus and also provide some ancillary functions:
