This month's Technical Report begins an overview of the EOS D60, a new digital AF SLR camera, announced at the end of March 2002.
Concept of development
The EOS D60 (see Photo 1) is a new digital AF SLR camera developed as the successor to the EOS D30 launched in October 2000. The development concept of the EOS D60 is as follows:
Standard digital AF SLR camera
with high pixel count
High-precision CMOS sensor with
6.3 million effective pixels for high image quality EOS D30’s outstanding features
retained•Continuous shooting speed of about 3 fps and maximum burst of 8 frames
•Shooting features, performance, operation ease, and shooting-priority concept inherited from the EOS D30
Features and improvements suggested
by EOS D30 users incorporated•Improved AF performance in low light
•Superimposed display for AF points
•Shorter and stabler shutter release time lag
•Processing parameters setting and registration with the on-screen menu
•Improved metering algorithm
•More viewfinder information
•LCD panel illumination
•Improved visibility of the LCD monitor
Evolution of the EOS D30 into the EOS D60
Major changes from the EOS D30 to the EOS D60 can be outlined as follows:
| (1) | CMOS sensor with 6.3 megapixels | |
| (2) | Drastic noise reduction during long exposure | |
| (3) | Continuous shooting speed of about 3 fps, and maximum burst of about 8 frames in all image formats including RAW mode | |
| (4) | Seven image recording formats | |
| (5) | Capable of recording RAW and JPEG images simultaneously | |
| (6) | Processing parameters setting with the on-screen menu | |
| (7) | Improved AF performance in low light | |
| (8) | Improved operability | |
| 1. | Shorter startup time from power off | |
| 2. | More stable shutter release time lag | |
| 3. | Superimposed display for AF points | |
| 4. | More viewfinder information | |
| 5. | LCD panel illumination | |
| 6. | Improved visibility of the LCD monitor | |
| 7. | Expanded Custom Functions | |
| (9) | Compliant with Exif Print standard (Exif 2.2) | |
| (10) | Comprehensive package of application programs | |
In the following section, the points of evolution of the EOS D60 are described individually.
Evolution 1: CMOS sensor with 6.3 megapixels
| The EOS D60 employs Canon’s proprietary
large single-plate CMOS sensor with approx. 6.3 effective megapixels (out of a
total of 6.52 megapixels), an effective sensor size of 22.7 x 15.1mm and an aspect
ratio of 3:2 (see Photo 2). The EOS D60 also incorporates the RGB primary color
filter, and "digital signal processing IC" for high-speed processing
and high image quality, precise and bright color reproduction, high resolution
and high S/N ratio. The newly developed CMOS sensor is identical to the EOS D30’s
except for the increase in pixels and the reduction in the size of each pixel. |
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| With the finer pixels (increased pixel
count), the size of each pixel is reduced to about half that of the EOS D30. The
smaller pixel size results in lower sensitivity. This, however, was solved through
design and process reforms to secure sufficient aperture size and improve light-gathering
efficiency of the on-chip micro lens, enabling the user to take pictures at ISO100,
ISO200, ISO400, ISO800, or ISO1000. With the EOS D30, red ghost outline sometimes appeared at point-symmetry position or near a light source under certain shooting conditions when a bright light source entered the lens. The EOS D60 succeeded in eliminating the phenomenon almost completely by modifying the configuration of its optical low-pass filter in front of the CMOS sensor. The IR filter has a hybrid structure with a coating for changing the spectral transmittance characteristics of the front dichroic mirror and absorption function with IR absorption glass (see Fig. 1). |
|
Evolution 2: Drastic noise reduction during long exposure
With the CMOS sensor's dark current reduction and the image reading circuit's noise reduction, the EOS D60 does not require noise reduction for long exposures as the EOS D30 did and achieves clearer image recording than the EOS D30, under the same conditions. Therefore, C.Fn-1 is not necessary and has been eliminated.
This improvement also helps enhance the normal picture taking sequence. As a result, the shutter release time lag is stabler.
Evolution 3: Continuous shooting speed of about 3 fps, and maximum burst of about 8 frames in all image formats including RAW mode
Even though the EOS D60 has nearly twice as many pixels as the EOS D30, it maintains the high-speed shooting of approximately 3 fps in burst of 8 frames in the Large/Fine mode of the EOS D30.
This was made possible by a larger buffer memory (128 MB) to better handle the image's larger data resulting from the higher pixel count (6.3 megapixels) and by improvements in the image processing process during continuous shooting.
The EOS D30’s maximum burst during continuous shooting is about 8 frames in the Large/Fine mode. With other recording/compression modes, this maximum burst varies from 3 shots in the RAW mode to 30 shots in the Small/Normal mode. With the EOS D60, the maximum burst of about 8 shots is maintained regardless of the image recording format, including the RAW mode.
Evolution 4: Seven image recording formats
The EOS D30 has five image recording formats, four JPEG formats and the RAW format. The EOS D60 has two more image quality settings, Middle/Fine and Middle/Normal (both are equivalent to approximately 2.8 megapixels), permitting the user to select from among seven image recording formats shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Image recording format (combinations of quality setting)
| Quality setting |
Recording size |
Recording method |
Compression ratio |
Image size (Approx. MB) |
Recording capacity |
|
| 1 | Large/ Fine |
3,072
x 2,048 (Approx. 6.3 megapixels) |
JPEG | Low | 2.5 | 48 |
| 2 | Large/ Normal |
High | 1.3 | 92 | ||
| 3 | Middle/ Fine |
2,048 x 1,360 (Approx. 2.8 megapixels) |
Low | 1.4 | 89 | |
| 4 | Middle/ Normal |
High | 0.7 | 172 | ||
| 5 | Small/ Fine |
1,536 x 1,024 (Approx. 1.6 megapixels) |
Low | 0.9 | 138 | |
| 6 | Small/ Normal |
High | 0.5 | 255 | ||
| 7 | RAW (+JPEG) |
3,072 x 2,048 (Approx. 6.3 megapixels) |
Lossless compression RAW (+ JPEG) |
- | 7.4 | 15 |
* The maximum capacity applies to a 128 MB CF card.
* The image file size and the CF card's maximum capacity depend on the subject and ISO speed.
Evolution 5: Simultaneous recording RAW and JPEG images
The EOS D60 has the simultaneous RAW/JPEG image recording function that is so highly acclaimed in the EOS-1D. The system is somewhat different from the recording system of the EOS-1D. A JPEG-Middle/Fine file is automatically recorded by embedding its data (2,048 x 1,360 = approx. 2.8 megapixels) in the thumbnail storage area within the RAW image file (.crw) when shooting in RAW mode. The JPEG-Middle/Fine file can be extracted from the RAW file with the bundled TWAIN driver.
Evolution 6: Processing parameters setting with the on-screen menu
To set and register the processing parameters with the EOS D30, the camera must be connected to a computer with the interface cable and the bundled software must be used. However, with the EOS D60 the processing parameters can be set and registered directly with the menu functions displayed on the camera’s rear LCD monitor (see Fig. 2).
Besides the three processing parameters ("contrast," "sharpness," "saturation") provided by the D30, the EOS D60 also has "color tone" for a total of four processing parameters. There are three levels of adjustment for each parameter as shown in Table 2.
Furthermore, up to three sets of parameter settings (Set 1 to 3) can be registered at the discretion of the user to respond to various shooting purposes such as portrait, landscape, and close-up.
These processing parameters are applied at the time of image data processing immediately after shooting, for JPEG images, or during image processing on the computer using the bundled software for RAW images.
Table 2 Processing parameter settings
| Parameter | Setting | Level | |
| Contrast | Adjusts the contrast | - | Low |
| 0 | Standard | ||
| + | High | ||
| Sharpness | Adjusts the sharpness | - | Low |
| 0 | Standard | ||
| + | High | ||
| Saturation | Adjust the color saturation | - | Low |
| 0 | Standard | ||
| + | High | ||
| Color tone | Adjusts the color balance | - | Red |
| 0 | Standard | ||
| + | Yellow | ||
Evolution 7: Improved AF performance in low light
With the EOS D30, AF operation was possible within EV 2 - EV 18. This has been improved to EV 0.5 - EV 18 with the EOS D60.
The algorithm for the AF-assist beam has also been modified to improve AF operation in low light. The AF speed of the EOS D60 is the same as the EOS D30.
Table 3 compares the major specifications between the EOS D60, the EOS D30 and the EOS-1D, while Fig. 3 shows the names of exterior parts and controls of the EOS D60.
Evolution 8 through 10 will be explained in the next issue.
(To be continued in the next issue)
Fig. 3 Nomenclature
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