Customer Reviews

Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX and 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens with 2 Nikon School DVD

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Have lived with this camera for a while now and have nothing but superlatives to say about it. I currently have both the 18-55 "standard" lens and the 55-200 "VR" lens.

I have a background in professional industrial photography and quite frankly if you can't do it with this camera you probably can't do it with anything. Even with it's myriad of features and settings my wife can take good pictures with it. The built in flash works very well but for more power and range pick up a Nikon SB-400 flash at a bit over $100. Picture quality is all that one could ask for. Save your money and get the D40 rather than the higher priced models.

KenRockwell.com has an excellent after market downloadable manual for the D40 in pdf format that gives a lot of easy to use help on choosing the optimal settings. You should download a copy from his site before your camera arrives. Much more readable than the factory manual.

With the price of SD cards coming down I suggest you get the high speed version of the cards (I use the SanDisk Ultra III cards) and save the older slow cards for your digital picture frames. A 2 GB card will hold around 500 images at highest quality. Order one

My only complaint is that the dedicated macro lenses are quite pricey compared to the standard lenses, but I have been getting excellent results using supplementary close-up lenses on the normal lenses--just not as convenient as a dedicated macro lens for some work.

As for accessories it depends what you really need to accomplish what you want, but I'd suggest the following to start

Extra SD card
52 mm UV filers for all lenses (mainly to protect the lens)
HB45 lens shade (if your 18-55 mm lens doesn't have one)
Tripod and/or monopod
Small camera bag
Lens cleaning kit
Spare battery
SB-400 flash (Get the SC-28 TTL flash cord to if you like to use your flash off camera for lighting control.)

I wanted to make the move into digital format for my SLR, and I have to say this was probably one of the best investments I've made for a camera. I've been shooting since I was 12 years old with SLR's, my first camera was a Nikon FG,all manual tank of a camera. I never thought that a digital SLR could compete with my film camera, but I'll tell you what, it certainly does.

The biggest thing i've noticeed is the color that it captures, the saturation is unbelievable, skin tones look amazing, and landscape photos bring out the most brilliant colors, yellows, reds and greens alike. The focusing on the camera is quick, and precise. I do recommend purchasing the SB-400 flash as well though. The built in flash is nice, but it suffers from the same downfalls as built in's on point and shoots, it just washes things out.

This camera is great for beginners, as well as more advanced users. The menu's are easy to read, and simply laid out, you can find practically any setting you may want in no time at all. But if you want to take pictures fast, throw it in program, bounce the SB-400 off the ceiling and take away, the pictures all come out great! If your a more advanced user the options available to actually edit your photo's after the pictures been taken, as well as the freedom of having a full manual setup is a dream, and easy to use as well.

The 2 lenses in the kit should fulfill any need for the average photographer, and to be honest, I haven't even had an oppurtunity to try the 55-200 lens yet, the 18-55 has been incredibly versatile, and the close focusing ability of the lens allows for some amazing close ups for flowers and such.

I still can't believe the quality of the pictures that this camera is capable of producing. I went to a butterfly exhibit in my town, and took a picture of an amazingly bright blue butterfly. Unfortunately I was only able to get about 3 feet from it, couldn't get closer due to barriers, but even so, with the 18-55 zoomed in on it, I further zoomed in and cropped the photo at home, and blew it up to an 8x10, and it was perfect. The color of the butterfly was just as bright, and just as crisp, and there was no distortion from the additional zooming in and cropping of the original.

The display on the back of the camera is just as fantastic as the rest of the camera, it's bright (actually had to dim it down in the settings menu) crisp and clear.

If your looking for the perfect digital SLR to get into, this is the one, it's simple, VERY light weight, and the pictures are absolutely amazing.

If you are ready to drop the point-and-shoot world, but don't want to spend a lot of money then get the Nikon D40. Definitely need to get at least a 4GB SD card and 2 lenses. I recommend the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm as a good start.

I cannot sing the praises of the NIKON D40 loud enough. This kit is spectacular. The teaching DVDs are fantastic: easy to understand, pleasant, fun. I am below novice level when it comes to photography. Initially, I bought a Kodak Easy Share V550 for my introduction to digital photography. The Easy Share was a complete disaster: Very short battery life, tiny little buttons, problems right and left. For Christmas, my husband got the NIKON D40 with the kit. Now my photos are unbelievably good, even great sometimes. The NIKON D40 is not pocket-sized but if taking great photos is what you are after, this is the camera to buy. Worth every cent and then some.

After purchasing a Sony digital that the store owner raved about and I was totally disgusted with by the time I decided to shop for a new camera, I am the very happy owner of a Nikon D40. (I have owned -and loved- three other Nikons.) This camera is reasonably priced for the quality and has predictably good results! I want close to 100% satisfaction when I shoot a photo. Thanks to Nikon, that's exactly what I get.

I bought the camera a month back..And the picture it took were awesome..I was in a dillema whether to buy Canon Rebel XTI or Nikon D40.. was doing a lots of reaserch..And went to the Circuit city store..and the touch of feel of Nikon D40 was awesome..I just liked the camera instantly..But Canon Rebel is a great camera also..But didn't like it in my hand..Somehow felt like cheap plastic to my hand..and the default 18-55 MM lens that canon provide with the camera is just useless..so went for Nikon D40 and never felt sorry for it.. Here are couple of things that would like to mention about the camera..

Pros
1. Picture quality is just awesome..
2. Auto focus is fast..very good for novice users like me..
3. On board help facillity..
4. Cann't beat the build,look and feel..
5. Price..well too less for a gem like this..
6. Kit lens..too good..Nikon quality offcourse..
7. Lots of advanced feature if you wanna explore..Very good while u transition from a novice user to so called proffesional

Cons
1. It doesn't have in built auto focus motor..So won't be able to auto focus with all lens..So check for compatibillity while you shop around for lens..Nikon AF-S series are the ones compatible with this camera..other lens you will be able to manual focus..But who cares..I might not use more than my kit lens and the 50-200 AF-S lens..

2. 3 point auto focus..This is something I didn't like..Most of the people use center focus..But I prefer more AF points..like a 9 point AF in Canon XTI or 11 point in other nikon cameras..You can choose the areas you wanna focus...But as I said most people are fine with center AF..but who cares if you gonna use only with Auto mode..

3. Burst mode..is something you would like to use during sports photography..and this is something I felt like handicaped in this camera.. I liked it better in Canon XTI..

I'm not a pro, but I've always wanted to step up into more serious photography. I did my online comparisons, read a bunch of reviews and settled on the D40. From the first click (on Auto setting), I was amazed at the quality of pics (but I just graduated from an ancient 2 megapixel Cannon Elf so the bar was pretty low).

It came with two instructional videos which were helpful but I purchsed a recommended book which helped explain all the features in language that a non-professional could understand.

The zoom lens that came with it and the sports feature allowed me to take amazing pictures of my nephew's ultimate frisbee team two days after it arrived.

For the price, the features, ease of use and a million other reasons, I'd definitely recommend this camera.

My search ends here..for now. After hours together in search I finally ended in 2 products that I wanted to go for. Canon and Nikon were the 2 products that I ended with. I was not able to come to a conclusion of which to buy . After some debates with myself I settled for Nikon D-40 which I am not regretting or will never regret about. I have used this camera for the past few days and everything turned to be great..I haven't found a single issue with this one and am proud of owing it. I would advice any one to go for this and its worth getting it for that price..

I Love my Camera! I recommend the D40 to anyone.
The LCD screen is big and bright, the viewfinder is great. It has many functions, nice shutter speeds, and aperture settings. It's very light and compact. It's very easy to use in auto mode, and you can also use the manual mode and adjust everything yourself. It's very easy to maneuver around the menus, now with "my Menu" were you can customize your menus, so there aren't unnecessary items on there or things you rarely use. Some see the d40 and automatically say no just because it has 6.1MP but it actually takes really good photos, they are crisp and clear.

I have had a number of point and shoot cameras, including a Lumix which which looks like an SLR, but quality of pictures is lacking. I wanted a camera that would take serious pictures of musical instruments and travel experiences. After a number of positive online reviews, I made the plunge and could not be happier. I bought the kit with the 55-200 extented lense. I take pictures at the low size level, which still produces outstanding quality pictures. I find that anything over 1 meg has to be reduced to email and is more trouble to fool with as I only make 4x6 pictures. As a result the newer 10 meg version was not really an options for me. The camera is easy to use. If you put it on P instead of auto, the flash will not be a problem during the day. Were this to be stolen, I would buy it again. This camera blows away any point and shoot camera that I have used or owned.