The Nikon D40 is a great lightweight digital SLR. I previoiusly owned a D50, and the D40 is lighter and more compact. I have only shot a few hundred pictures so far, but the image quality is excellent. There are some reports that this camera tends to overexpose some high contrast shots. I have noticed this but I DON'T consider it a problem. The camera tends to expose for the darker parts of the image thus overexposing the lighter parts. This is not an issue unless your subject is in the lighter part of the shot. In most cases the subject in high contrast shots is in the shadows or is backlit so the subject actually ends up being well exposed. This turns out to be a real plus for a majority of people because they don't consider the placement of their subject relative to available light. It makes perfect sense that Nikon would have calibrated an amature DSLR meter this way. I have owned a lot of cameras and none of them have exposed shots perfectly 100% of the time. It is very easy to use exposure compensation on this camera to correct for any under or overexposure that you don't like. It's a digital camera so take as many shots as you want and just delete those you don't like.
The D40 is very well built and the ergonomics are great. I can see all of the viewfinder with my glasses on (DSLRs require the user to look through the viewfinder versus the LCD screen to frame shots). The LCD screen is larger and brighter than the one on the old D50. The camera has enough features and flexibility for the beginner up to the professional photographer. Set it on auto and almost all shots will turn out great, or you can fiddle with all sorts of settings to your heart's desire. All of the negeatives or cons that I have seen for this camera in various reviews are related to things that few people will care anything about. Do some research and see for yourself. The most important thing to consider is image quality, and this camera does great in that area as do most digital SLRs.
The D40's flash combined with Auto ISO is great. All flash shots I have taken have turned out very well exposed. I even took some flash shots of my house from across the street and they turned out perfectly exposed. Auto ISO set the ISO to 1600 on these shots, but the image quality was just fine. High ISO shots taken with DSLRs are almost as good as low ISO shots taken with point and shoot cameras. You cannot use megapixels to compare image quality between point and shoot cameras and DSLRs. My 6 megapixel D40 has far better image quality than my 7 megapixel Canon 850. Color and saturation are similar (the things that make people say "ooh, pretty picture"), but there is no comparison when it comes to noise and resolution (things that most people don't really notice or care about when looking at your pictures).
You are wondering why I purchased a 6 megapixel DSLR when there are several on the market with higher pixel counts. There are three reasons: 1) price, 2) size and weight (very important if you carry the camera around all day or travel with it), and 3) the difference in image quality between 6 and 12 megapixels is miniscule and something that absolutely NO ONE would notice by looking at my pictures. If you take two identical shots with a D40 and a higher megapixel DSLR and blew them up to 8x10 or even 11x14 the average person wouldn't notice a difference, and more importantly...they wouldn't care. Color, saturation, and composition are much more important than small differences in resolution. These things are determined by the subject and the photographer, not megapixels. Some of my favorite digital pictures were taken with a 2 megapixel camera I owned several years ago. Save your money on megapixels and use it to take your significant other out for a nice dinner.
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This Item  Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II Auto Focus-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens | Recommendations |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $150.00 | $226.00 | $356.00 | $499.99 | $189.00 | $699.00 |
| Delivery | Get it Jan 16 - 17 | Get it Jan 13 - 14 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 30 | Get it as soon as Friday, Jan 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, Jan 3 | Get it Jan 3 - 6 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sold By | Chumdog LLC | Port Hole Renewed | PIXIBYTES | PR Renewed | Amazon.com | Willoughby's Established 1898 |
| display type | LCD display | LCD display | LCD | LCD | LCD | LCD |
| display size | 2.5 inches | 2.5 inches | 3 inches | 3.2 inches | 3 inches | 3.2 inches |
| lens type | Zoom lens | Zoom | — | Zoom | Telephoto | Interchangeable |
| zoom type | Optical | Optical Zoom | Optical Zoom | — | Optical Zoom | optical |
| shooting modes | Landscape, Close-up, Portrait, Night Portrait, Automatic, Child, Sports | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic | Portrait, landscape, child, sports, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, party/indoor, beach/snow, sunset, pet portrait, candlelight and more |
| connectivity tech | USB | USB | HDMI | Wi-Fi | USB | NTSC, PAL |
| video resolution | 1080p | 1080p | 1080p | FHD 1080p | 1080p | FHD 1080p |
| optical zoom | 3 multiplier x | 3 multiplier x | 3 multiplier x | 3 multiplier x | 42 multiplier x | 3 multiplier x |
| magnification | 0.8x | Optical | Optical | — | — | 0.82x |
| wireless tech | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi | ✓ |
| model name | Nikon | Nikon | Canon EOS | CRTNKD5300KT1855RRB | AZ425 | Nikon D5300 |
The little DSLR that could...Incredible photos at an excellent price. Yes, you want this camera
Excellent photos, easy to use, comfortable to hold, and FAST! This is one great camera, especially for the price. For a little more than many mid to high-end point and shoots, this camera packs a lot of technology into it's small price tag. But for the beginning DSLR user, that technology works in the background so just set it to AUTO and fire away, and you've got the best pictures you have ever taken. You will wish you made the move from point and shoot to DSLR sooner! I did a lot of research before choosing the D40, and all the reviews seemed to point to this one as the best entry-level DSLR, and in the 7 months I have had this camera, I have not been disappointed. Thousands of pictures later, I echo many other positive reviews here - this is one of THE best electronics purchases I have ever made. So many people have asked about my camera after seeing my photos (quite a few have even asked if I am a professional photographer). Several have since bought their own D40s :)For me, one of the huge annoyances with a point and shoot is the time between shots - waiting and waiting for your camera to recharge the flash or write the data to the memory card. Not a problem with a DSLR. The D40 starts up quickly, is fast between shots, and allows you to take more photos without flash.In the beginning I used the "scene modes" and Auto, and Auto no Flash, but my interest in photography has grown since using this camera and I use the manal and semi-automatic modes now. This camera is great for BOTH casual and enthusiast users. Stick to AUTO and get great shots OR learn about photography techniques and delve into all of the camera's different settings for more difficult lighting situations, etc.Once you have your D40, if you find yourself getting interested in photography, you may want to collect some additional gear over time. Here is a list of some accesories I have acquired to use with my D40:LowePro Rezo 170 Camera Bag (Not ugly. Works great. Holds D40 plus camcorder or D40 plus flash, 2 lenses and room to spare.)Nikon SB-400 flash (Yes, you eventually want this. Small, lightweight, inexpensive. Saves your camera's battery power and recharges more quickly. Use it to bounce light off the ceiling for indoor photos. It looks so much better you will never use regular non-diffused front-on flash again. Get rechargeable AA batteries, I love the Sanyo Eneloops and I am slowly replacing all my AAA and AA batteries in the house with these).Nikkor 55-200mm VR zoom lens (Inexpensive, works great. Get the VR version, not non-VR version. Nikon sometimes does a $[...] [...] with this lens when you buy the camera and lens at the same time. That makes it super cheap).Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens (This is getting repetive, but this lens is cheap. Great value. Amazing low light, no flash pictures. I love natural light and this lens is my favorite for those situations where you don't have that much light available to you. One big drawback is that it is Manual focus on a D40, but over time you learn. Get the Nikon HR2 lens hood to go with it).Nikon ML-L3 wireless remote (Inexpensive, works well. Easy way to take family group shots for your Christmas cards).Sandisk Ultra II Sd Card (Have not had any problems with lost data. Transfer your images frequently to your computer and use your camera to reformat the card each time to minimize your chances of corrupt data or data errors).Sigma EX DG 52mm Multi-Coated UV Filter (No problems with this filter).One last thing, during my research I considered getting the Canon Rebel counterpart. To me the Nikon has several advantages - better menus (Canon's menu looks archaic and crude in comparison), better selection of affordable lenses, flash and other accesories, better ergonomics, better color rendition, auto ISO. Both camera companies are great and both cameras are capable of nice photos, but the D40 is much easier to use, and at the time I bought it, significantly cheaper I am completely happy I went with Nikon over Canon, and now that I have more experience in the DSLR world I look forward to upgrading to a bigger, more complex D300/700 eventually. But I know will still use my little D40 as well!One more last thing, if you are still unsure and want to know how to use this camera before buying, you can check the Nikon Digitutor online videos:[...]
