The D40 is a compact and lightweight high-performance camera that makes it possible for anyone to create stunning images with an SLR. Designed specifically for ease of use, the D40... more
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Nikon D40
Nikon's success in the D-SLR market has been outstanding and the new D40 is sure to be yet ... more
another sales sensation. Written by Simon Stafford this "Magic Lantern" manual gives owners all the information they need to understand and operate their camera...
all the important parts and protecting them from impact, abrasion, dust and fingerprints, whilst at the same time maintaining the full functionality of the camera and not adding any extra weight to your gear. Camera Armor is designed so that all the camera controls and access ports remain accessible. This particular piece of Camera Armor has been specifically designed for the Nikon D40 and consists of four parts; an elastomeric silicone Body Armor, Lens Armor, a Lens Cap Lanyard and a polycarbonate LCD Shield. The elastomeric reversible hood stretches over lenses up to 85mm in diameter, and an elastic cord adheres to your lens cap and attaches to the Lens Armour. The LCD is protected by a clear polycarbonate shield that covers it in its entirety, protecting against cracks and scratches. Camera Armor can remain in place during picture taking and storage.
Digital camera - 10.2 Megapixel, 10.2000048828125 - Optical Zoom: 3.9 - Weight: 545 - Flash memory: CompactFlash Type I, Type II - Viewfinder: Optical Viewfinder
A review by thereddragon on Nikon D40 April 10th, 2009
Author's product rating:
Picture Quality
Excellent
Range & Quality of Features
Excellent
Ease of Use
Very Easy
Durability
Excellent
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Great quality and value for money, feature - rich, the good old dependable Nikon name
Disadvantages:
None really, unless you need more megapixels and more features for pro use
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I bought this gorgeous digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera just over a year ago and am head over heels in love with it. Although only the entry level D range Nikon at 6.1 megapixels, it is an absolutely brilliant piece of kit (as you would expect from Nikon) for the money and produces impressively high quality photos.
I’ve been an avid photographer for many years, and my trusty ancient Minolta SRT-101 SLR served me extremely well for more than two decades until I decided to try digital. At first I bought a Nikon Coolpix a few years ago, as prices for digital cameras were a lot higher then and that was as much as I could afford, and alternated between the Coolpix and the SRT depending on whether I wanted just snapshots or something that needed setting up in a more creative way.
But having had the opportunity last year to purchase the D40 at a reduced price due to some vouchers I had, I decided to take the plunge. And my elation at taking this camera home and starting to use it, was overwhelming (still is). The Minolta has now been retired to the bedroom closet, probably only to be taken out and dusted off from time to time to admire as a beautiful old museum piece.
The D40 is a gorgeous camera to use. It feels wonderful in the hand, being of a light weight for an SLR and feels very ergonomic. It just so very much feels, and looks, like quality. The LCD screen is a good generous size with a clear display, and it comes with an AF lens with variable zoom, giving you a range of from 18 to 55mm, which is very handy for general use. It also incorporates a pop-up flash unit that functions very well.
After so many years of setting things up manually with non-digital SLRs, I find it very useful that you can also use the D40 in Manual mode and get whatever non-standard effect you want to achieve, such as long-exposure shots or a deliberately over-exposed or under-exposed effect.
But for quick shots, it’s great to have the automatic settings (‘Point-and-Shoot Mode’), as these can save you from losing a great spur-of-the-moment photo opportunity that you might otherwise miss if you had to stop and fiddle around with manual settings. These modes consist of Auto, Auto (flash off), Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close Up, and Night Portrait. You can also achieve instant focus, which is usually pretty accurate, using Focus Lock which consists of pressing the shutter button halfway down until you hear a beep. As my eyes are not what they used to be, I find this feature of digital cameras extremely useful!
As well as the Manual and Auto modes described above, the camera also offers Programmed Auto which sets shutter speed and aperture for optimal exposure, Shutter Priority Auto in which you choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture (good for freeze or blur motion), and Aperture Priority in which the camera selects the shutter speed and you choose the aperture (for blurring the background or attempting to bring both the background and foreground into focus).
A variety of lenses can be used with this camera, in particular Nikkor (Nikon’s own lens brand) lenses in its AF-S and AF-I ranges for autofocus work. Manual lenses without the autofocus facility can be used, but you will of course have to set them manually as the camera’s autofocus feature won’t work with them. In probably one of the most unconventional uses of an additional lens for this camera, I am using my antique Minolta’s 35mm Rokkor lens with a reversing ring, as a Macro lens. It works pretty well and the price of a reversing ring was a lot more affordable than a new Macro lens! (And at least a part of my beloved old Minolta lives on!)
You can also use all the standard lens filters as you would use on any SLR. A polarising filter was my first filter purchase on buying this camera, as I’ve always loved the effect they give, and it works beautifully on the D40. You can add an external flash unit (Nikon Speedlight) if needed, and a remote control to take self-portraits or to eliminate camera shake.
The D40 takes SD cards and can cope with the larger capacity type up to 4GB, which is the size I use in mine to give me loads of capacity at high resolution. As well as downloading photos to a computer for printing, the camera can also print direct to a Pictbridge enabled printer via a USB cable, and can even be connected to a TV or VCR for displaying or recording your photos via an EG-D100 cable. Nifty!
Rather than just copy and paste a big list of specs, you can read the whole list of specs here right on the manufacturer’s own site: http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25420/D40.html. Enjoy.
Highly recommended entry-level DSLR from one of the world’s best cameras makers, great as a first DSLR for traditional SLR users.
Also on Ciao.com as EsmeraldaDragon, dooyoo as thereddragon and Helium as Lady Dragon.
Advantages: Lightweight and compact, easy to use in "Auto" mode Disadvantages: comes without memory card
...kept separate, I bought the Nikon D40 "kit" which is essentially the camera body, a AFS DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED 2 lens, neck strap, a USB cable (for connection to your PC) battery charger and mains lead, battery, 2 CD's containing software, quick start guide, warranty certificates and instruction book. And then the slow realisation that there was no memory card. So I can't use it until I buy one, a minor irritation but I would have thought ... ...kit (airbrush and cloth) a Nikon infra red remote, a tripod and a decent bag to carry the kit around in. The battery life is excellent, and the 2GB memory card more than enough for my needs so I only bought a spare memory card, as I don't have a need for a spare battery (yet) So, to quickly sum up, I bought one of the "digital field guide" books and am still reading it, and I have no hesitation on recommending this camera to anybody wanting to take ...
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...then progressed to a 6mp Nikon "point and shoot".
Finally decided it was time to move up to a DSLR, did a lot of research and went for the D40 - Why ?
Firstly, the name: If it says Nikon on it, it is a quality camera - nuff said !
Why did I go for a camera with ONLY 6 mp ? Because there is more rubbish talked about the number of pixels in a camera than there is about anything else. You only need to go to 8/10/12 mp if you are making VERY large ... ...camera like this, but the Nikon battery just goes on for ever, despite having to power the electronics, the mirror, shutter, a large screen and the auto focus motor.
I use a 2gb card (none supplied with camera) which holds 560+ photos at "best" jpeg quality, if you reduce the quality you double or quadruple that quantity. The camera will take a 4gb card, but I have read that there are compatibility issues with some cards of this size.
If you get ...
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Advantages: Price, durability, ergonomic design, ease of use, good instructions! Disadvantages: No memory card included. Argh.
...ISO also applies, and the Nikon Processing engine is the same as the D80 or the D200, with 420 pixel sensor on the 3D Color Matrix Metering. If this all sounds a bit beyond you, the camera ALSO offers lots of helpful and accessible functions like "in-camera retouching". This is just to help you improve your photos BEFORE you take them - the LCD monitor will tell you if your scene is too dark and you need to use the flash (I am so guilty of this). ... ...used across a variety of Nikon models - probably your current Nikon uses the same). I've read some pretty positive comments about the battery life - I would say average. HOWEVER, there is NO MEMORY CARD INCLUDED. I cannot stress this enough - it's the one big irritation in the specification. The camera is still definitely worth getting, but you do need to budget for a card (and probably if you buy this card you'll need a reasonably big one). The ...
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Advantages: Cheap, easy to use, nice clear LCD screen Disadvantages: No motor for auto focus
...came with it was a Nikon AFS 18-55mm. This has a good range to start with for average portraits or imagery. I have also managed to get some good micro shots with this lens. The screen is a good size to check any images after taking and the camera also has some good built in features such as red eye reduction and several tonal changes for on the spot editing. The main downside about this camera is at its cheap price, there is no motor for the lens ... ...lens with work on this camera, otherwise the lens must be adjusted manually. This was one problem I had when I first started as I was looking to get into live event and music photography where ideally an auto focus is needed. This then means the prices rocket up when needing to get a decent auto focus lens for either tele or micro. Apart from that, the camera has always been by my side and managed to get some outstanding quality pictures. Defiantely ...
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Advantages: Quality, features, battery charging, the feel, realiable, fast, comfortable Disadvantages: Non
...more from just buying a Nikon D40! Has a good clear colour LCD screen, powerful flash, easy to access memory and battery, comes supplied with everything you need to start you off. I've been told that Canon are good makes, but to be honest, the picture quality i think is so much better on this camera, plus this camera is only a 6 megapixels, so am guessing the Nikon D40x which is a 10 megapixel camera, is proberbly the best camera around at the moment! ...
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Additional Features: Direct print, USB 2.0 compatibility, auto power save, digital noise reduction, DPOF support, display brightness control, PictBridge support, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, cropping an image, text input to Exif header, in-camera red-eye fix
Certified for Windows Vista: Certified for Windows Vista
Included Accessories: Eyepiece cover, dust cap, body cap, lens cap, eyecup, shoe cap, strap, Eyepiece cover, body cap, eyecup, shoe cap, strap
Cables Included: USB cable
Manufacturer's product description
The D40 is a compact and lightweight high-performance camera that makes it possible for anyone to create stunning images with an SLR. Designed specifically for ease of use, the D40 lets you use the kind of digital and optical technologies that professionals use without the need to deal with complex functions. Whatever you shoot there is an automated Digital Vari Program that lets you achieve fantastic results in any situation. Help menus are easy to navigate and the in-camera retouch menu makes it simple to edit and enhance your images on the large, bright 2.5-inch LCD monitor. Perfect for people who want an affordable camera to explore what it is that makes SLR photography stand out, the D40 is so user-friendly that all you have to do is concentrate on the scene you want to photograph and the camera's advanced Nikon technologies will take care of the rest.
Power
Power Device: Battery charger - external
Battery
Supported Battery: Nikon EN-EL9
Supported Battery Details: 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery ( included )
Lens system (2nd)
Special Functions: Tele
Type: Zoom lens - 55 mm - 200 mm - f/4.0-5.6 G ED Nikon AF-S DX
Focal Length: 55 mm - 200 mm
Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera: 82.5 - 300mm
