canon lcd panel doesn't shut off manufacturer

"Just like Canon"s Professional series line of camera"s the EOS 90D does not have an eyepiece sensor to turn off the LCD screen and requires the info button to be pressed in order to turn off the LCD screen while shooting photos through the viewfinder."

My recollection is that the shutoff "feature" wasn"t there because it was thought to be a convenience for the user. Like the rubber eyepiece cover that attaches to the neck strap, it was meant to keep light from the screen from leaking in through the eyepiece and biasing the metering. Perhaps the newer, better cameras are considered to be sufficiently insulated from spurious light that the shutoff is unnecessary. Note that if the screen serves as a touchscreen, you might specifically not want the shutoff.

Just received my EOS R and I noticed that as soon as I installed the battery with the camera off on the LCD screen the shooting mode continues to be visable it was set at P if the change the mode and shut off and turn it back on what ever mode was set last remains on with the camera off is this normal or am i missing something and if normal how much of a drain is it on the battery.

I think these Canon liquid crystals stay in their last position when power is removed from the circuit. Room light or sunlight is reflected by the dormant liquid crystals. Little to no power is consumed.

Watching mine"s power consumption when it is unused (and stored in quite a cool bag, which probably doesn"t help - if my house was warmer I think it would do better for battery longevity), it used about 9% of the battery over 16 days of inactivity - 0.5625% a day. I assume it"s mainly the LCD that uses this (plus the internal clock I suppose). Seems pretty consistent - I"ve been noting it down when I periodically check it, which I started doing when I got the camera out after not using it for a fair while and found the battery near-depleted.

As you say, it"s an LCD and it doesn"t use the backlight when turned off, but I do notice that if power is cut (by removing the battery) the LCD is then pale all over, so it does seem to be using power to keep the whole display panel (aside from the exposure mode indicator letter(s)) black.

It doesn"t describe how to disassemble the rear panel but it shouldn"t be too hard. Take great care of any springs so you know how to refit them, make lots of notes about where screws come from, and keep them separate as there may be several sizes. You may find a loose connector, or maybe a ribbon bonded directly to the LCD, in which case a little bit of packing inserted behind it to increase the pressure may be sufficient to fix it.

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS is a compact, lightweight digital camera used primarily for quick point and shoot photography with several photo features and options, such as video recording, red eye reduction, a 2.5 inch LCD screen, 8.0 megapixels and a flash memory slot.

Note: This troubleshooting guide covers general problems with the Canon PowerShot A720 IS so you can identify what is wrong before referring to the repair guide to fix it.

The first thing to check if your digital camera won"t turn on is to press the on/off power button. The power button is located on the top surface of the camera and is the small button on left side of the mode dial. You should feel a slight difference in heights between the button and top surface of the camera when the button is pressed.

You may want to check your 2 AA batteries if your digital camera won"t turn on or turns off on its own. They may be the wrong size or inserted incorrectly if the Canon PowerShot A720 IS won’t turn on. Make sure that they are size AA and that you have the positive terminal end of the battery facing out in the front slot and the negative terminal end facing out in the back slot.

Try replacing your batteries with new ones or with batteries that are fully charged for those that are rechargeable. Low battery power might be the reason why the Canon PowerShot A720 IS turns off on its own.

If the Canon PowerShot A720 IS comes into contact with any type of liquid, you may have to the disassemble the camera into a few major components to let the parts dry in a safe and dry area or carefully place the major components in a bag of dry rice. When the components are completely dry, reassemble and try again.

If the digital camera still doesn"t power on, consider replacing the batteries or the motherboard. The motherboard probably blew a circuit when the liquid came into contact with the motherboard.

If LCD screen on the Canon PowerShot A720 IS displays a blank screen while the camera is powered on, you may want to press the Display button. The function of the Display button is to turn on and off the LCD screen. The button is located next to the LCD screen on the back of the camera and is labeled as DISP. Sometimes the display on the LCD screen shuts off when the camera enters its power saving mode or if the Display button was accidentally pressed.

If the LCD screen is still blank, then it may be due to low battery power. Replace both of the AA batteries with new or fully charged ones, turn the camera on, and press the Display Button.

After you have tried the previous troubleshooting steps and the problem persists, you may want consider the LCD screen repair guide to check for faulty internal wire connections that are connected to the power supply, LCD screen, and the motherboard. If you have replaced the LCD screen and the wires connections are intact after examination, then you may want to replace the motherboard.

When the camera repeatedly becomes unresponsive to user input, wait a few minutes to allow the camera to finish any processes that it may have started. If a significant amount of time passes and the camera is still unresponsive, recycle power by using the on/off button and remove and reload the batteries into the camera. When the Canon PowerShot A720 IS is back on, check to see if the frozen image has been removed.

If the frozen image on the LCD screen is the most recent picture shot, toggle the camera and video recording mode switch up and down. The mode switch is located in the top left corner of the back panel of the camera.

After you have tried the previous troubleshooting steps and the problem persists, you may want consider the LCD screen repair guide to check for faulty internal wire connections that are connected to the power supply, LCD screen, and the motherboard. If you have replaced the LCD screen and the wires connections are intact after examination, then you may want to replace the motherboard.

The lens usually causes flickering LCD screens when the lens focuses on light from a fluorescent light source. Simply turn away or move from the light source or reduce the lighting in the area stop the screen from flickering.

You may have one or many dead pixels if you notice an extremely small black square or many of them scattered across the LCD screen. If you see a large black blot, then your LCD screen is cracked and the liquid portion had spilled onto the glass screen. If either situation occurred, you have no other option than to replace the camera’s LCD screen.

If the Canon PowerShot A720 IS has a dark or faint screen but the digital camera is still operational, then the backlight may have burned out. Unfortunately, there are no LCD screen bright adjustment settings on the settings menu. You may want to verify this by taking the camera apart and replace the LCD screen. If the problem persists, there may be more significant damage to the Canon PowerShot A720 IS associated with the motherboard. Use the motherboard replacement guide to replace the motherboard.

Should a constant and straight bright red or purple line appear either across or vertically, refer to the LCD screen replacement guide to check the wires connections between the motherboard and the LCD and/or replace the LCD screen.

Go to the back panel of the Canon PowerShot A720 IS and press the small button labeled MENU. Use the circular directional pad to navigate through the menu screen. Select settings tab and make sure that the camera is not on mute. If mute is on, turn it off and then on again. Power the digital camera down and restart. If you do not hear the chime or the chime is distorted, then the internal speaker may have some problems.

The battery compartment cover may not be properly shut and locked while operating the camera. Just close the cover securely and restart the camera, and the lens should retract.

The lens housing unit could have some debris in it. You can clean the lens housing unit by first powering the camera off and pressing the plastic lens ring button located on the lower left side of the lens when the camera is facing you. Then carefully unscrew the ring to remove it. Next, carefully wipe the lens housing unit with a dry cloth when the lens is fully extended. Otherwise, the lens could be damaged. Then turn the camera back on and off to see if the lens will retract. If the lens housing unit still does not retract, follow the lens disassembly guide to take apart the lens and carefully wipe again before reassemble.

Initially, use the tweezers to free the shutter button if it is stuck. Carefully apply the tip of one end of the tweezers in the space between the button and the panel and try to get just underneath the button to pop it back in place. Do not force or jam the tweezer if it does not fit in the space. If the button is unable to pop back into its position, replace the spring contact that is associated with that button with the shutter button replacement guide.

When buttons are loose, they may have somehow been disconnected from the their contact spring. Use the shutter button replacement guide to reattach or replace the spring and connect it to the shutter button.

The subject may be out of focal range, hard to focus on, or the camera may have the wrong focal settings if the images appear blurry and out of focus. You may want refer to the Canon PowerShot A720 IS user manual to learn about the different settings.

If you still receive blurry and out of focus images, make sure that you are using the correct zoom setting and allowing the camera to focus on the subject before taking a picture. To focus, press the shutter button only half way down. When you hear the camera finish focusing, you can then completely press down on the shutter button to take the picture.

If the above does not work, you may want to restore the camera back to factory settings and restart the camera and try taking a picture. Again, if the same problem occurs, you may want to check the shutter button and follow the unresponsive shutter button portion of the troubleshooting page. If it is not the button, you may want to replace the check the wires and/or replace the motherboard.

If you do not operate the camera for about one minute, the [LCD Monitor] will turn off, and the [indicator] on the back of the camera lights green (Display Off Function). After about two more minutes, the power will turn off (Auto Power Down Function).

If the [LCD monitor] is turned off but the [indicator] is still green, press any button other than the button, change the camera orientation, or press the halfway to turn on the monitor to resume shooting.

If EOS Utility does not start automatically, click the [Start] button, then select [All Programs] ([Program] for Windows 2000), [Canon Utilities], [EOS Utility], and then [EOS Utility]. If you use Mac OS X, click the [EOS Utility] icon registered in the Dock.

I took to a camera fixer here in Rio de Janeiro, he dismantled the LCD off and the part indicated on the drawing I sent earlier, then he sprayed corrosionX on this small sensor and it is now fixed.

I actually bought the spare part on eBay (as @Avenger 2.0 kindly indicated), but the technician said it wasn’t needed. Apparently after a few years this small sensor gets a bit of corrosion and starts acting funny. The camera works 100% but the flip screen doesn’t know it was flipped so it turns off when you press it against the camera body.

If a problem occurs with the camera, first refer to this Troubleshooting Guide. If this Troubleshooting Guide does not resolve the problem, take the camera to the nearest Canon Service Center.

If (1) the battery charger or battery has a problem or (2) communication with the battery failed (with a non-Canon battery pack), the protection circuit will stop charging, and the charge lamp will blink in orange at a constant high speed. In the case of (1), unplug the charger"s power plug from the power outlet, reattach the battery, wait a few minutes, and then reconnect the power plug to the power outlet. If the problem persists, take the camera to the nearest Canon Service Center.

If the internal temperature of the battery attached to the charger is high, the charger will not charge the battery for safety reasons (lamp off). During charging, if the battery"s temperature becomes high for any reason, charging will stop automatically (lamp blinks). When the battery temperature goes down, charging will resume automatically.

In case of charging problems, the access lamp blinks in green and a protective circuit stops charging. In this case, unplug the power cord, reattach the battery, and wait a few minutes before plugging it in again. If the problem persists, take the camera to the nearest Canon Service Center.

If the power is turned off while an image is being recorded to the card, the access lamp will remain on or continue to blink for a few seconds. When the image recording is complete, the power will turn off automatically.

Even if [Auto power off] is set to [Disable], the screen and viewfinder will still turn off after the camera is left idle for the time set in [Screen off] or [Viewfinder off] (although the camera itself remains on).

Shooting is not possible if the AF point turns orange when you attempt to focus. Press the shutter button halfway again to refocus automatically, or focus manually (, ).

High-speed continuous shooting may be slower depending on the battery level, ambient temperature, flicker reduction, shutter speed, aperture value, subject conditions, brightness, AF operation, type of lens, use of flash, shooting settings, and other conditions. For details, see Selecting the Drive Mode or Still photo file size / Number of possible shots / Maximum burst for continuous shooting.

Estimated maximum burst indicated in the viewfinder does not change when you switch cards, even if you switch to a high-speed card. Maximum burst listed in Still photo file size / Number of possible shots / Maximum burst for continuous shooting is based on the standard Canon test card, and the actual maximum burst is higher for cards with faster writing speeds. For this reason, estimated maximum burst may differ from actual maximum burst.

It may not be possible to record movies during still photo shooting if operations such as extended image display increase the camera"s internal temperature. Turn off the camera or take other measures, and wait until the camera cools down.

If [Communication error Reattach accessory] is displayed, reattach the accessory. In case this message is displayed again after reattachment, make sure the terminals of the multi-function shoe and accessory are clean and dry. If you cannot remove the dirt or moisture, contact a Canon Service Center.

I am new to Photography using DSLR. I recently bought a Canon EOS 1300D and I was checking it. I have seen some cameras that their LCD display goes off once you bring your eye close to the viewfinder. But in my Canon EOS 1300D it"s not happening. Is it because this model doesn"t have a sensor for that, or do I have to set something? I don"t want the LCD display to stay on all the time, that"s why am asking.

Camera failures can happen anytime. Even the high-end Nikon, Sony or Canon cameras are not devoid of malfunctions. Sometimes it is a digital camera sensor problem, pictures showing black screen, or just your camera falling into water leaving you in a fix!

Here we have listed 12 common camera problems and their solutions. You can apply the troubleshooting methods in various types of digital cameras, DSLRs, SLRs, etc. The solutions cover all popular brands of Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Kodak, Olympus and other.

Once everything is in place, press the power button to turn on the camera. If still, your camera doesn"t turn on, the battery could be faulty and need replacement.

Download Stellar Photo Recovery software to retrieve lost or deleted photos and videos from SD card. The software supports all types of memory cards used in Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji, etc.

The error message, "Error. Press shutter release button again" on digital camera LCD is often a hardware issue. The gear motor of the Shutter either gets tight, damaged or contaminated with dust. Lubricating the gear motor can help. If your digital camera is under warrantee, turn to the dealer for replacement or repair. Don"t open it yourself.

Use back-button focus technique in which the shutter release takes the shot while a button (AF-ON or AE AF lock) on the back locks the focus. Hold the back button continuously while taking a shot. And as soon as you take off your finger from the back button, the focus gets locked.

The lens error messages can freeze your camera. Even turning it off and on won"t help. Usually, a lens error occur when the lens has dirt or it is not fitted properly on the camera.

Battery errors such as "cannot communicate with battery" or incompatible battery error" on Canon, Sony or Nikon DSLRs are reported by many users. It usually appears when your batteries are not connected properly; there is dust in the battery terminals/ compartment; or the battery is damaged.

I had been able to push the playback button again and get the settings (Q) menu screen, but now it doesn"t display unless I use the Q button. I was also able to change my focal point or any other settings from the screen, and now I can"t.

Thanks for checking in. I love my 90D too! Sorry you"re experiencing an issue with displaying the settings (Q) menu screen. It"s quite common to get confused with how to enable different screens on the back of your Canon EOS 90D. I get confused all the time, especially because I switch between my 90D, my 5D Mark III, and my EOS R menus and screens.

How to Customize Buttons and Dials on Canon 90DAlthough the playback button can be set to toggle between the most recent capture and the Quick menu screen or the electronic level, it can"t be customized in the menu using the "customize dials and buttons" option within the menu. See the photo below.

Let’s get one thing out of the way in the first sentence. If you’re here to understand the mysteries of thermal flow in the Canon R5 I can tell you everything I know without doing a teardown: It’s small, it’s weather-sealed, and photo-body cameras have limited ability to get heat out of the camera.

I always speculate some, but I’ll try to be clear about ‘this is what I know’ and ‘this is what I speculate.’ For example, two years ago, we tore down the first EOS R. I showed that there was a big empty space in the camera, about the size of an IBIS unit. That was what I knew. Then I speculated that Canon would NOT put IBIS in their mirrorless cameras because they were so into lens IS.

The camera looks pretty much like the other Canon cameras with the battery door off. That’s the connector for the WFT-R10 wireless transmitter, which is cool: It functions as a 2-battery grip plus provides ethernet as well as wireless connectivity, connecting up to 10 cameras to a server. This is not something I’m interested in myself; the onboard wireless is all I ever need. It seems a cool, albeit expensive, option for high-powered professional-type people.

The battery door itself gives us our first pleasant surprise. In every camera, the battery door is a weak area for leakage. There’s usually some weather-resistant gaskets around the edge, which the Canon R5 has. In addition, the entire flat surface is soft gasket material in addition to the raised gaskets around the edges and hinge area.

The key to taking off the grips, for those of you doing your own disassembly at home, is to keep as much of the double-sided tape on the grip as you can, which makes it easier to reapply. The grip material surface feels slightly different than earlier models to the touch, but it’s about the same thickness and flexibility.

The inside of the bottom plates shows us a new thing! We’re used to seeing a bead of rubber felt between the plastic pieces of the body to seal for the weather. Canon now has a soft rubber gasket along the mating edge of the pieces. This is much larger and provides a greater seal area than what we usually see. It seems to be attached to the body (in the old days, I would have said ‘vulcanized’) rather than being glued on.

The I/O side comes off next, and again we see that big rubber lip sealing the entire piece. Also, note that both the HDMI and digital out ports are part of the main PCB, so secure your cables; tugging these ports loose will be an expensive main PCB replacement.

OK, enough with weather sealing. You know weather sealing is outside my circle of trust, but I might put this within the rhomboid of reduced suspicion. I write off too many cameras from water damage every year to really trust weather sealing. This is good, but weather sealing isn’t about where it is good; it’s about where it can leak.

The back has more dials than the original R,but the LCD wiring appears identical; nothing much to see here. Except for the new, coppery colored flex they’re using on the LCD side, but not the switch side. I don’t know why the new flex material, but it is pretty.

Now we can look into the camera and see the back of the circuit boards. This is immensely more intense and dense circuitry than we saw in the R. First of all, there’s a green sub-board that appears to be about DC power conversion. You can see some hefty wires entering it from the battery compartment. The larger, square chips are TPH8R903NL voltage converters. Over to the left on the black board, the large white chip is a Canon WiFi chip with what looks like an antenna plugging in just above it.

I’ll indulge in my flex fetish and show you a closeup of ‘the argyle flex’. We actually decorate our office with large printed macros of pretty flexes and circuit boards. Yes, I know I need some counseling.

Anyway, with the viewfinder out, the top assembly comes off. Not much different, other than the number of buttons and dials, from the other R top assemblies. Except they’ve put all the connections between the top and motherboard in a single flex; usually, there are several. There is also, compared to the main part of the camera body, a bit of air up here.

We took off the tripod plate next (note, we had to take off that top heat sink before the tripod plate, so they are indeed connected). Notice the tripod socket is screwed, not soldered, to the plate, so it’s easy to replace.

As long as we’re looking around the edges, I should show you the battery door switch, since people have been having a grand old time stuffing things in there to make the camera think its door is staying shut. This is a small, frail switch soldered directly to the motherboard and only held on by the solder. I have it on very good authority (my own) that it’s easy to dislodge the switch from the circuit board with just a little bit of torque, requiring a complete mainboard replacement, which is very pricey.

Removing this shows another thermal pad underneath the CPU. So it seems Canon is sending the heat from the SDRAM chips to one sink, and from the CPU to another. To some degree. (Get it? Degree?)

Going back to the camera, we get to see the back of the sensor / IBIS assembly and the huge flexes leaving there, as well as the shutter mechanism between the sensor and the battery compartment.

The sensor assembly is held in by three screws. As you can probably see, Canon has changed to shimming the sensor for flatness (in the R they used spring tension screws). Spring tension screws can theoretically be more accurate (depending on how accurately they measure), but I assume the vibration of an IBIS unit could loosen them over time; every IBIS camera we’ve opened uses shims.

With the shutter out, the chassis really has nothing left inside but the lens mount, battery case, and a few connection traces. You know something I’ve found interesting in all the jumping-to-conclusions about heat inside the Canon R5? Not one person has tested the heat conductivity of the chassis. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t conduct heat well.)

We can’t get an exact glass measurement without taking the sensor apart, and we have a bad habit of breaking glass when we do that, so it will have to wait for the first Canon R5 to die for a more accurate measurement. We estimated the total (including the front piece) at about 2mm, which is Canon standard.

On all the edges of the Canon unit, the sensor is mounted directly to IBIS plate; no tabs. That doesn’t mean it can’t break, of course, or glue come loose. But this seems sturdier to me.

Given how tightly sealed things are, I’m curious as to where the heat goes to get out of the camera; some further investigation is required there. A lot of people are talking about how the heat should move around inside the camera, slapping some thermal paste around, and doing things to manipulate the heat cut offs.

The design of the Canon 60D is slightly smaller, and more specifically aimed at the advanced amateur market, better fitting into the niche occupied by the Nikon D90 and now the D7000.

Very good high ISO performance, especially for 18-megapixel subframe sensor; 3.0-inch, 1,040K-dot Vari-angle LCD is very useful for video and Live View; Sharp 18-135 kit lens with above average zoom range and I.S.; Full HD (1920x1080) movies at 30/25/24p, 60/50p at 1280x720.

Body not as rugged as mag-alloy 50D; AF assist only works when flash is up, though flash can be forced off; Auto-exposure not reliable in very low light; No continuous autofocus in Movie mode.

The Canon 60D began shipping in September 2010 and comes in a kit with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens for a list price of US$1,399, or body only for US$1,099.

After a longer wait than normal, Canon introduced the EOS 60D to a market keen for its arrival. It arrived into a world where digital SLRs can be seen gracing the neck of everyone who"s ever thought of being a photographer, so it wasn"t surprising that Canon seemed to have rethought its entry-level prosumer digital SLR. The design of the Canon 60D is slightly smaller, and more specifically aimed at the advanced amateur market, better fitting into the niche occupied by the Nikon D90 and now the D7000, while the Canon 7D remains a better match for the Nikon D300S, as both are cameras aimed more toward those making money with their photographs. The redesign still mostly adds and improves features, like the 18-megapixel sensor, Full HD Movie mode, and Vari-angle LCD, but there"s at least one feature deletion that is a little frustrating, which we"ll get to shortly.

deck than an evolution of the xxD line. Another, more welcome change integrates the 8-way joystick with the Quick Control dial. The major unfortunate omission to our minds is the Lens AF Microadjustment Custom Function, a firmware feature that anyone who cares about sharp images will want in their semi-pro camera. It"s another example of how the Canon 60D is now aimed at the advanced amateur, not the semi-pro market.

In another challenge to the Nikon D90 and D7000, the Canon 60D ships with the EF-S 18-135mm IS kit lens instead of the rather long-in-the-tooth and poorly matched EF 28-135mm IS lens that shipped with the 40D and 50D.

The Canon 60D began shipping in September 2010 and comes in a kit with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens for a list price of US$1,399.00, or body only for US$1,099.00.

Look and feel. Anyone who thought the 50D was a little too bulky will appreciate the Canon 60D"s smaller size and reduced weight. Body-only weight including battery and card has decreased by 1.5 ounces (43g) to 27.5 ounces (1.72 pounds, 779g), despite the swivel screen. The body is made of a mixture of ABS resin, polycarbonate resin, and polycarbonate resin with a special conductive fiber, presumably for EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding. The frame is aluminum and polycarbonate enhanced with glass fiber. Dimensions are 5.7 x 4.2 x 3.1 inches (145 x 106 x 79mm), a little bit shorter and less wide than the 50D, and just a bit thicker overall from the lens mount to the LCD thanks largely to the swiveling LCD.

The Canon 60D"s grip is smaller, with a nice indentation just inside the grip to help improve your hold, something we"ve long appreciated in Nikon SLR designs. It"s less noticeable from the front, but there"s still an indentation for the middle finger to quickly align your hold.

Differences on the right side start with the tapered LCD screen. Users of the 7D may also notice that the four buttons across the top of the LCD have only one function, not two. In fact, it gets even more straightforward: the settings that each button adjusts appears beneath it on the LCD. No more looking all over the LCD to find the setting you want to change, and no more guessing which dial to use to change it; both will work. That is new, and makes good sense.

When using the Canon EX580EX II flash, the new rubber gasket mates with the plastic around the EOS 60D"s hot shoe, further sealing the body in wet environments. The power switch is moved from the bottom right to the upper left, as it now appears on the 7D. Beneath that is the trashcan button. Canon is still having trouble deciding on a consistent format for buttons on their SLRs, as this is completely different from the 7D, the 50D, and the T2i, as are nearly all of these buttons. The Live View/Record button is at least in the same place on all three cameras, though this one operates more like the T2i than the 7D. That"s mostly because both the T2i and 60D have a setting on the Mode Dial that activates Movie mode, while the 7D has a dedicated switch that surrounds the button. Thankfully they retained the AF-ON button, a useful device. Since they moved the power switch from the bottom right, there was no switch handy to deactivate the Quick control dial, so they added an UNLOCK button beneath it. It"s a bit confusing, because by default, the Quick control dial is unlocked, and this button does nothing; but if you enable the Lock [Quick control dial] in the menu, the Unlock button finally has a purpose: allowing you to decide when you want the QC dial to adjust EV in Program, Aperture, and Shutter priority modes. If you lock it, though, know that the QC dial will have to be unlocked in Manual mode before it will adjust aperture, so it remains an imperfect solution.

Further economizing on space, Canon has integrated the 8-way joystick of previous models with a smaller Quick Control dial. The end result is an 8-way control disk, useful for selecting among the nine AF points in the viewfinder and navigating in the menus and around zoomed playback images, surrounded by the usual Quick Control dial.

The Canon 60D is reduced in nearly all dimensions, except for the overall thickness. Width and height are smaller by one and two millimeters respectively, and the shoulders slope a bit more. An infrared sensor appears on the 60D grip, while it"s long been absent from the 50D and its predecessors. Bravo.

The LCD is most changed from the 50D, as it"s now tapered instead of rectangular. Front-to-back thickness is increased by five millimeters, while the pentaprism/flash size is noticeably smaller. Finally it"s obvious from this angle how much smaller the grip is; that"ll be good for some, not for others depending on your hand size.

The Canon 60D is slightly larger than the Nikon D7000, mostly in width, but the Canon xxD line has shrunk somewhat to take on the D90 and D7000. The 60D even includes an infrared receiver, located on the grip, while the Nikon D7000"s IR port appears on the upper right of the lens mount. A key advantage remains in the D7000, though, which is the AF-assist lamp. The two lenses address similar needs, with the Canon covering 28.8-216mm, and the Nikkor covering a slightly wider and shorter 27-157.5mm; both are f/3.5-5.6 and image-stabilized. The Canon 60D is also missing the equivalent of AF Fine-tuning, something the D7000 retains (an important feature if you have a lens that front or back-focuses).

Sensitivity. Despite the increased resolution, and the corresponding decrease in photosite size, the Canon EOS 60D has an ISO sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 6,400 equivalents in 1/3 EV increments, with the ability to extend to ISO 12,800 equivalent. While the expanded range is unchanged from that of the Canon EOS 50D, the ISO 6,400 position has been moved inside the standard range, rather than being provided as an expanded setting. This is an indication of Canon"s confidence in the 60D"s noise performance. The Canon 60D also offers an Auto ISO function, which operates within the standard ISO 100 to 6,400 range. Basic Zone operating modes limit sensitivity to ISO

Autofocus. The Canon 60D"s AF sensor is unchanged from the 50D, and features a 9-point diamond array, with nine cross-type f/5.6 autofocus points, meaning that they"re all sensitive to vertical or horizontal lines. Nestled in the center is an additional precision AF sensor that is arrayed diagonally and used when you mount a lens of f/2.8 or faster. It has the advantage of detecting horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines. All nine AF points can be selected automatically or manually, and the autofocus sensor has a working range of -0.5 to 18 EV (at 23°C / ISO 100). The Canon 60D includes the ability to detect the light source (including the color temperature and whether or not the light is pulsing), and then take these into account and microscopically shift the focus as necessary. Autofocus modes include One-shot, Predictive AI Servo AF, and AI Focus AF, which automatically selects between the One-shot and AI Servo modes.

The Canon 60D"s exposure metering options include 63-zone Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, Partial (6.5% of image frame at center), and Spot (2.8% of image frame) options. Metering sensitivity range is specified at 0 to 20 EV (at 23°C/73°F, with EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens, ISO 100). One notable change is that the Canon 60D now offers a wider exposure compensation range of +/- 5 stops, versus the +/- 3 stop range of the 50D. Granularity can still be adjusted, with a choice of either 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps. The Canon 60D also offers automatic exposure bracketing, within a range of +/- 2 stops, with the same step size choices.

The EOS 60D also retains Canon"s Picture Style function, which lets you select from Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, or three User Defined settings. In each of the preset modes, the contrast, saturation, sharpness, and tone are set for specific conditions. The three User Defined options let you manually adjust each variable, then save it as a custom parameter. Finally, you can set the camera"s color space to sRGB or Adobe RGB.

Viewfinder design. The Canon EOS 60D"s viewfinder design is shown above. The coverage has been improved ever so slightly, to 96%. Magnification and eyepoint are unchanged from the previous design, and the 60D"s viewfinder accepts the same focusing screens as that from the 50D.

Viewfinder. The Canon 60D features an eye-level pentaprism viewfinder similar to that of the 50D, but with slightly improved 96% coverage (our tests show it to be a little better than 96%). By way of comparison, the Canon 7D has 100% coverage, and the 50D has 95% coverage. The viewfinder magnification is unchanged from the 50D, at 0.95x (-1m-1 with 50mm lens at infinity), equating to a 27 degree field of view. Also unchanged is the eyepoint: 22mm from the center of the

The Canon 60D inherits the Rebel T2i"s unusual ability to use autofocus during movie recording. Continuous autofocus isn"t available, so you have to manually trigger single AF operations as needed with a half-press of the shutter button. The feature is something of a tradeoff, because the AF operation is clearly visible in the video, even if Canon"s contrast detection AF implementation doesn"t hunt around the point of focus as much as some we"ve seen. AF noise is also very clearly captured on the movie"s audio track, at least when using the internal microphone, although using quieter USM lenses can mitigate this somewhat, and AF noise can be avoided altogether by using a good directional mic on a shock mount. Pros will certainly want to stick with focusing manually (and can choose to disable AF during movie capture to prevent accidental operation), but some enthusiast photographers may appreciate being given the choice as to whether they feel the convenience of AF is worth putting up with the drawbacks. If focusing manually, 5x or 10x focus assist is possible before recording starts, but not during movie capture, since this would preclude the ability to monitor subject framing. Of course, before movie capture begins, either phase-detection or contrast-detection autofocus is possible, with the same provisos as in regular Live View shooting.

Electronic level. The Canon 60D provides a dual-axis electronic level function, reminiscent of that previously seen in the EOS 7D. The 60D"s electronic level is shown on the rear-panel LCD display when in the correct display mode, both for live view and regular shooting. The level gauge can also be shown both on the top-panel status LCD display, and the small info display in the optical viewfinder, by pressing the Set button, if configured to do so. The electronic level display

Noise Reduction. The Canon 60D offers two types of adjustable noise reduction. Long Exposure noise reduction can be performed for exposures one second or longer, and works by taking a second "dark frame" of equal duration with the shutter closed, and then subtracting it from the first frame. This reduces or eliminates most noise generated by the sensor during long exposures at low ISOs, but can make noise worse at higher ISOs (at ISO 1,600 and above). Available settings are Off, Auto and On. The 60D also offers the user four levels of high ISO sensitivity noise reduction. Options are Disable, Low, Standard, and Strong.

For us, the real work of a modern image sensor and processor is done in low light. So we like to show some benchmark images from a camera, starting at ISO 1,600 and moving up, as well as a selection of Gallery images shot out in daylight. Since we didn"t have the Canon 60D at our lab near Atlanta for our initial preview, we went out shooting on Long Island, NY at Old Westbury Gardens.

I left Dave to take pictures inside the hot, non-air conditioned Westbury House, instead wandering out into the Old Westbury Gardens on a very hot day. The good news was that plants love hot days, and the gardens were replete with interesting flowers, birds, and butterflies. Since I knew that I"d only be able to make one pass, I shot primarily with the Canon 60D"s kit lens, the EF-S 18-135mm. It"s a versatile optic that"s well-suited for a walk in the park.

I also appreciated the smaller size of the Canon 60D. It"s not dramatically smaller, but is better for a walk than the 50D was. I don"t think it"s as small as my now ancient 20D, but the grip is smaller, and will be more comfortable for a wider array of users.

Shooting video was also easy, once I remembered to use the Mode dial to select the Movie mode before pressing the Record Start button (I"ve grown accustomed to the Canon 7D"s switch/button arrangement). I got some humorous videos of geese pecking at and walking along on the grass. I don"t think I had the wind filter activated, so there"s some wind noise in the shot. Not that wind filters ever fully remove wind noise.

One major item disappointed me about the Canon 60D. I own two lenses that front and back focus by a touch, and I"ve been waiting for the 60D to come so that I could correct for those problems with the Lens AF Microfocus Adjustment feature that was on the 50D, 7D, and other Canon pro SLRs, but not on the Rebels. Deletion of this feature is a strange choice that I just don"t get from Canon"s perspective. Yes, it forces more advanced photographers like me to buy a 7D, but not all can afford such a camera. Besides, who doesn"t want a way to make their lenses sharper? Wouldn"t Canon benefit if people could have their photographer friends show them how to tune their lenses to be even better? It seems like a no-brainer to me, and it should be a pretty easy firmware fix. To omit it from a high-end camera whose predecessors have the feature just doesn"t make sense. Perhaps they don"t want to field the support calls when curious newbies find and adjust the feature and suddenly all their pictures are blurry. It"s possible.

Aside from that issue, I really enjoyed shooting with the Canon 60D. I like its reduced size, simplified controls, including the new integrated 8-way controller and Quick Control dial. The big 8-way disk allowed me to easily change AF points with a quick press, just like the joystick used to do. I forgot to use the Vari-angle display until I started doing contortions to get the right angle while shooting indoors. It"s very nice to have on an SLR. The 18-135mm kit lens is a near ideal lens for Canon"s new target market, with reasonable sharpness and a handy 7.5x zoom range, not to mention a pretty solid image stabilization system. Given the high resolution of the Canon 60D, I recommend hobbyists consider some sharper optics for more serious work, and a medium prime lens or two.

Ultimately, the Canon 60D is built for a different market. Canon has long since lured many serious 50D shooters to the 7D and 5D Mark II; now it appears their goal is to lure the Rebel shooters to the Canon 60D and more directly compete with the Nikon D90 and D7000. That"s probably just the right strategy. Most of the important features from the 7D and T2i are included in the Canon 60D, as well as the audio level control from the 5D Mark II and the swivel screen from the Canon G12. It seems like every Canon line has contributed a little something to Canon"s entry-level prosumer digital SLR, and the results are quite good.

Image quality of the GH2 is difficult to judge next to the Canon 60D mostly because of the different color balance and tone curve, which makes the GH2"s image look darker. In general, Panasonic"s cameras have a tougher time with yellows in particular in their JPEGs, rendering the mosaic background greenish instead of more neutral tan. Resolution appears similar, though the sensors are two megapixels off; the GH2"s sensor is 4:3, while the 60D is 3:2.

Overall, the Canon EOS 60D produces some amazing prints at all ISO ratings, with good color and great detail, and this is only at JPEG with standard noise suppression active. RAW images should deliver considerably more resolution and higher quality when processed with good software.

capacity SD/SDHC memory card. These days, 8GB Class 4 is a good tradeoff between cost and capacity, but if you plan to capture many movie clips, look for larger cards with Class 6 or faster ratings.

Canon"s latest enthusiast digital SLR draws from many different cameras in Canon"s lineup, from the Canon G12, with its swivel screen, to the 5D Mark II, with its fairly advanced video functionality. Though the controls have changed a bit, I still found the Canon 60D very familiar. The simplified controls tend to reduce the fiddle-factor, which results in a camera that gets out of the way and lets you concentrate on shooting. Autofocus is fast and pretty reliable, and the camera feels great in the hand. The Canon 60D"s 18-135mm kit lens offers an extremely useful focal range for all kinds of photography, and it"s nice to have Full HD video built-in for those few moments when only video will do.

Canon has learned a lot from the competition these last few years, making changes that matter to avid photographers. Even the shutter sound is more tame, without a lot of winding and buzzing, making me feel more like a photographer than a show-off. I like the location of the Live View button, but miss the 7D"s ability to switch more quickly to Movie mode. Having to go to the Mode dial makes it more of a hassle.

The lack of Micro-focus adjustment and a PC Sync terminal is a clear sign that the Canon 60D wasn"t strictly intended for the serious photographer; that"s who the 7D was built to serve. At least in the latter case, the built-in flash can serve to fire several off-camera EX-series strobes, but those with studio lights will have to employ a hot shoe adapter, instead of just using the standard PC Sync cord with their existing equipment.

Most shooters can ignore those two points, though. The 60D has a broad set of advanced features, including the electronic level, an external mic jack, advanced autofocus, sophisticated metering, and a whole lot more. The Canon 60D"s swivel screen means you can really get creative shooting from odd angles, and its high speed capture is good for sporting events and shots of the kids at play. The Canon 60D is a great upgrade for Rebel owners, too, offering a little more speed, a bigger viewfinder, and remote flash capability.

There"s no question that the Canon 60D takes great pictures and videos, works like a charm, and does incredibly well in low light. The ability to print 20x30-inch prints from ISO 400 and 16x20 from ISO 800 images is valuable, and quite impressive. Even ISO 12,800 shots produce a good 4x6-inch print. The Canon 60D is very fun to shoot with, takes great shots in low light, and makes earning a Dave"s Pick look easy. It should come as no surprise that we also gave it 5 out of 5 points.