If you think the just recently announced Canon 60Da looks exactly like the 60D from over a year ago, that’s because its the same camera in just about every way. What that little “a” in the name gets you, however, is a special new astrophotography mode. People who take pictures of the stars and heavens are always battling with the infrared filter of digital cameras. That’s because so many objects in deep space emit hydrogen-alpha light, a deep-red 656.28-nanometer wavelength of the light spectrum, which often gets filtered out. The Canon 60Da claims to give the photographer the ability to capture the starry night, in all its 656.28-nanometer wavelength beauty. This is the first camera from Canon to offer that feature since the 20D back in 2005. If you thought the five-year gap from the 5D was bad, imagine a seven-year gap for astrophotographers.
Speaking of the 5D, now that the mark III is already out in the wild, many Digital SLR fans are impatiently waiting to see how many of its features trickle down to more affordable models. The new Digic 5 imaging chip, for example, has been slated to replace the now quite old Digic 4 and offers the possibility of cleaner high ISO and video modes. But that’s why the announcement of the Canon 60Da’s release is bittersweet to many Canon fans.
On the one hand, astrophotography is pretty damn cool. On the other hand, terrestrial photographers are presented with just another 60D, with the same Digic4 imaging processor and limitations of the original. With camera announcements expected at the upcoming NAB show in Las Vegas, perhaps Canon is saving the big upgrades for later.
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