Canon EOS D60

The CCD RAW mode listed above deserves some explanation: This is a format that records all the data from the CCD, exactly as it comes from the A/D conversion process. It is lossless compression, meaning that the file is reduced to a smaller size, but without losing any data in the process. This thus preserves all the original data from the sensor, but is nevertheless much more compact than an equivalent TIFF file. (The effective compression ratio relative to final file size is about 2.4 to 1.)

NOTE that the D60's RAW format now automatically includes an embedded medium/fine JPEG as well, which several of Canon's various software packages can extract with a new button called "Extract JPEG." (RAW Image Converter applet, TWAIN driver, Mac plug-in) This should provide a quicker workflow for situations where your final file format is JPEG. (Although I think my personal preference would be for the dual-file RAW/JPEG approach used in the EOS-1D.)

The D60 has a USB port for (reasonably) rapid file transfers to the host computer. - I say "reasonably" fast, because the USB connection obviously won't be nearly as speedy as the FireWire (IEEE 1394) connection on Canon's EOS-1D and the Nikon D1x and D1h.) Like the D30's USB connection, the D60's is on the low side of average, speed-wise, as I clocked it at 259 KBytes/second on my G4 Mac. The specifics of the USB interface is that the camera will appear on the desktop of your computer if you have the proper driver software loaded.

I confess to being a little confused over what constitutes a "storage class" USB device these days, as I'd previously understood this to mean that a device would auto-mount on a Mac OS 8.6 or higher or Windows Me/2000/XP desktop without the need for any additional software. In the case of the D60, Canon refers to it as "storage class," but it nonetheless does require driver software to make the connection. On Mac OS 8.6-9.2, Canon supplies a Control Panel called USB Mounter that lets the D60 appear on the desktop as a hard drive. This connection allows drag-copying of files from camera to computer, but not the other way around. Under Mac OS X, the D60 is apparently supported by Apple's Image Capture Architecture, but I haven't had a chance to try this for myself yet. Under Windows XP and Me, Canon supplies a WIA driver that makes the D60 a "storage class" device under those versions of Microsoft's OS. (At "press" time, I don't know what support may be offered under Windows 98 - I believe it to be a standard non-storage-class USB connection via a TWAIN driver. - Windows 98 doesn't provide support for storage class USB devices.)

Lost Images? - Download this image-recovery program so you'll have it when you need it...
Since we're talking about memory and image storage, this would be a good time to mention the following: I get a ton of email from readers who've lost photos due to a corrupted memory card. It's tragic when it happens, there are few things more precious than photo memories. Corrupted memory cards can happen with any card type and any camera manufacturer, nobody's immune. "Stuff happens," as they say. A surprising number of "lost" images can be recovered with an inexpensive, easy to use piece of software though. Given the amount of email I've gotten on the topic, I now include this paragraph in all my digicam reviews. The program you need is called PhotoRescue, by DataRescue SA. Read our review of it if you'd like, but download the program now, so you'll have it. It doesn't cost a penny until you need it, and even then it's only $29, with a money back guarantee. So download PhotoRescue for Windows or PhotoRescue for Mac while you're thinking of it. (While you're at it, download the PDF manual and quickstart guide as well.) Stash the file in a safe place and it'll be there when you need it. Trust me, needing this is not a matter of if, but when... PhotoRescue is about the best and easiest tool for recovering digital photos I've seen. (Disclosure: IR gets a small commission from sales of the product, but I'd highly recommend the program even if we didn't.) OK, now back to our regularly scheduled review...