Leaked info about a new dSLR stole a bit of Nikon's thunder this morning, but the company officially announced the D60 digital SLR this evening. (The price was announced later at $750.)

So far, the D60 is one of the hottest camera announcements of PMA 2008 in Las Vegas, the annual photography industry show that begins on Wednesday.

According to Nikon's press release, the D60 is smaller than your average dSLR, just like the popular Nikon D40. The 10.2-megapixel cam comes with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR image-stabilizing lens included.

Thanks to a few nifty features on the D60, this dSLR acts like it's a point-and-shoot, making it seem like a good option for first-time dSLR buyers.

It's practically an instant-on camera, with an 0.18-second startup time. Users can crop, retouch, and edit photos in the camera with its onboard editing apps, and the camera can even create stop-motion films by sequencing up to 100 consecutive shots. Nikon says the Stop Motion Movie mode is a first for dSLRs.

Another interesting feature is the camera's dust-removal system; it literally shakes dust off the lens and has something called an Airflow Control System that blows dust particles away from the CCD sensor.

The D60 uses Nikon's Expeed imaging processing engine to enhance photo color and tone, as well as 3-D Color Matrix Metering II, which the company says makes automatic exposure adjustments to low-light shots. The camera can capture RAW-format images, which can be resized and edited within the camera.

In addition to SD cards, the D60 also supports two of the emerging trends of this year's CES and PMA shows: Eye-Fi cards and high-capacity SDHC cards. The Eye-Fi card can transmit images directly from the camera to a computer over a Wi-Fi connection, eliminating the need for a USB cable. SDHC cards made a big splash at CES this year when their capacity hit 32GB -- all that storage is handy if you're shooting in RAW format all the time.

No pricing information for the D60 has been announced just yet, but Nikon says the new dSLR will be available in February.

PC World Senior Products Editor Melissa Perenson contributed to this story.

0 D-SLR

by David Gussman

Touting it as the new entry-level D-SLR, Nikon has enhanced the resolution from the D40 with a 10.2 megapixel sensor (up from 6.1), and included Nikon's EXSPEED processor (previously seen in the D3 and D330 models) and enhanced active dynamic lighting. A couple of new features also included are a dual dust-removal system and what it calls its Airflow Control System. Essentially it's an air vent that is at the bottom of the camera and has air move away from the sensor when the shutter is depressed—it's an interesting design that should theoretically keep dust out completely.

The D60 also includes many of the D40x's enhancements over the D40, like a 2.5-inch LCD and in-camera image editing such as red eye correction. A new power-conserving feature shuts the LCD off when the optical viewer is being used. So when reviewing pictures and the need arises to take a picture, just snap the shot and the LCD will turn off automatically. Last but not least, a fun feature added to the D60 is a stop animation movie feature that will allow the user to string together up to 100 JPEG clips to produce a movie.

All in all, I was expecting a little more from Nikon to counter Canon's new XSi announcement. There really isn't that big a difference from the D40x, and I'd be willing to bet the price will be similar as well. Packaged with a 3X zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens, the D60 will be available in February and pricing will be announced 30 days before the release.

The most interesting lens released today is the new 24mm tilt/shift lens. It basically allows the photographer to mechanically shift the lens to increase perspective. I had a chance to preview it at CES and I can't wait to get it into our Labs and try it out. Essentially, it can correct linear distortion and correct the view to what an actual human eye sees. For example, the angle of a building may not come out looking correct as an eye would see it. This lens will correct for that and make it seem much more accurate. The 24mm Nikkor lens debuts in the spring for about $1,930.