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 enlarge | Brand: Nikon
Category: Photography
Buy New: $546.95
New (9) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  420 reviews
Sales Rank: 291
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Includes Software: Yes
Optical Zoom: 4
Display Size: 2.5
Maximum Focal Length: 55
Minimum Focal Length: 18
Maximum Resolution: 6
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 3.7 x 5 x 2.5
MPN: 9437
Model: 9437
UPC: 018208094370
EAN: 0018208094202
ASIN: B000SDPMEI
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The best entry-level digital SLR! April 20, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
For $540 or so, this is the best you can get! Excellent pictures, ease of use, compact and sturdy.... You won't be disappointed!
FAR MORE CAMERA THAN YOU WILL EVER REALLY COMPREHEND AT A QUICKLY DROPPING COST April 16, 2007
37 out of 38 found this review helpful
I began as a child with brownies and graduated to instamatics, wondering at the wonderful new technology and the convenience of a contained drop in roll of film and a cool flash. In high school I progressed to dark room processing (whose magic and science later served me in a sweltering subtropical environment), but still with the most basic of cameras unless a friend lent me his Mamiya Seikor and hand held light meter. I have an old soviet all mechanical KGB 35 mm SLR camera laying around somewhere, but my main camera which became like a part of me, another organ of my body, was my Canon AL-1, with the wonders of a rudimentary Focus assist system and aperture priority photography. That Canon saw me across thousands of miles through Nicaragua and the heights of Machu Picchu, and finally gave up the ghost when twenty years came and went and duct tape couldn't hold it together anymore and the long lens fused to the body.
Being known as a photographer, or one who has taken pictures, has its draw backs, as people ask you about the latest technology. In the mountains of NIcaragua in the eighties new tourists asked me how their latest point and shoot knew which ISO to set to. I had no idea. More recently people handed me their digital point and shoots, tiny as cellphones, and I had no idea and a lingering commitment to a roll of film as true photography, and a full sized SLR as the only way to go. I cannot grasp the concept of parallax which point and shoots require, but must compose in the viewfinder as I cannot control the darkroom with commercial and color film processing.
Then I met this D-40
Being obliged to buy a digital as the price of film processing soared, I searched desperately here on the amazon, feeling unfaithful, comparing product details, etc. which are so generously given here on the amazon, and I discovered: This D-40 is all of the camera you will ever need forever, case closed (Of course I felt the same about my Canon).
I now once again sleep with my SLR literally, and its manual I commit to memory. This camera is really more than you will ever need, and since it is behind the latest wave its price is very reasonable and generous. The number of megapixels is more than sufficient for enlargement, and for cropping to details while recomposing. In fact, the camera is its own darkroom, as it allows you to crop and otherwise alter and adjust all aspects of images, including going sepia tones, and dump them to a printer or your computer, without the need for further graphics programs. The full functions of the camera quickly become intuitive, with its easily accessible and ergonomic buttons and switches and menu screens, and as one who used no more than a mainly mechanical SLR for years and loved it, this D-40 is truly magical and well beyond my needs, desires and imaginings. It can do everything and more.
I strongly suggest you get the very inexpensive 55-200 mm long lens designed for this camera series. Watch for the full description of the lens to be sure it is fully compatible with all of this camera's features. And before going outside, as you learned in your first photogrpahy class, be sure to get the UV lens filter, or other filter, mainly to protect the lens from scratches and the world and your fingertip oils. Be sure to get the semi-soft camera case which is ample enough to cover the surprisingly short long lens. Also hunt around for the best price on SD memory cards, of which you will want several, and which are very inexpensive here on the amazon. If you can afford it get an extra rechargeable battery to carry in your case, and get the plug in transformer for use where plug in is available and long service is required. Pick up the remote control device and all the rest of the bells and whistles while available, but essentially get the long lens, lens filters, SD cards, and semi soft case. Also get a great all around technique refresher book like Understanding Exposure (see my review there please).
One surprisingly expensive accessory is the Speedlight flash attachment. I got sticker shock at seeing the price on these nowadays, for one that angles, etc. We used to get these used for next to nothing, but now I'd get another lens instead! In any case the built in pop-up flash on the D-40 serves for most any flash situations without being annoying and with a red eye assist, etc., even at a good distance (ever seen those folks at a football game stand up and try to fill the stadium with their disposable flash or their CELLPHONE? Or stand more than twelve feet away?).
I normally go with ambient light no matter how long the exposure, for the suffused effect, and so rarely use a flash. So I was glad to learn the flash can be suppressed in the "fully automatic no flash" mode, as well as other modes, but having it there to pop up whenever people require you to "take my picture" under unfavorable conditions is very comforting. This is a great all around camera with also wonderfully implemented specific skills.
The only con mentioned elsewhere that I can agree with is regarding the three point automatic focus system which focusses on the nearest object. I lean on the law of thirds myself and so have to lock focus and recompose in the viewfinder, or think of cropping later. Obviously the focussing points were set up to favor the exact center, which is death to any photograph. But hey, work around this already!
You cannot go wrong with this camera. Did I mention the ample rear screen, full color, which permits zooming in very closely to check your focus, etc., and which scrolls through several functional menu screens? It has everything and more, including settings for aperture priority (and even if you do not have a manual aperture ring on your lens, you can do it through the camera itself), shutter priority, etc. etc. etc. If you feel there is something this camera CANNOT do, as mentioned in other reviews, just READ THE MANUAL (we used to have an interesting acronym for that in the early days of PC's) and you will discover this camera in fact can do it all and more.
You can set this up so that every iota of information regarding focal length, shutter speed, aperture, etc., etc., gets saved with the photo instead of jotting it down in a pad, and thus you can even see that the ISO is altered automatically to fit conditions. No more blowing off a roll of 100 ISO before nightfall just to take low light pictures by oil lamp with ISO 800 and using it up before daybreak. You can also set the ISO instead of automatically switching it from shot to shot as the camera wills.
I have not yet tried setting the ISO to 1600 to see if it comes out as ethereally grainy as that film did when first marketted twenty years ago. Got some great shots of people and places that way. I suppose in the DSLR it simply grants greater latitude in low light situations without flash. But I see no pressing need to have a button dedicated directly and only to adjusting ISO as mentioned in another review. I trust the D-40's processor to make the decision. That's what I pay it for. Me, I am too concerned with keeping those kids in focus and in frame, or that wild bird from spooking to soon, or that flower from getting lost in too great a depth of field, or holding my breath while soaking in that altar lit by candles and wishing I had brought my tripod, or at least a monopod.
Truly this is the camera to get, especially at this falling price, but be sure to protect it with lens filters and case, and READ THE MANUAL!!
Learning photography, again. April 15, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I previously used mainly manual film cameras, but the cost of developing film made it difficult to take the hundreds of pictures needed to learn how to take good ones. I recently bought the d40 which is a great camera for learning with. I have taken about 1000 pictures in the last two weeks and probably have learned more in that time than I did with months of using a film camera. I have large hands, so I was suprised how this small camera fits as well as it does. The screen is large and very clear. The availability of a few new cheap lenses alson makes this easy on the wallet, while allowing a newbie like myself learn the basics. I highly recomment this camera.
 Excellent Quality April 12, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a perfect cam for to begin with. The picture quality are simply amazing. Quite lot of things can be learnt from this.
Small Camera, Big Punch April 10, 2007
This camera is wonderful. It is fairly priced and does everything I need it to. I had a d50 that was stolen and am almost glad because I could replace it with this one. The continuous shooting capabilities make for a more easy live action stop-motion frame capture. If you want it to do everything for you, it does so very well. It also allows you to have full control of the camera. I cannot say enough about the weight. I have decently sized hands, more large than small but still thin and the camera size doesn't feel small. I love this camera. I wish it had a guard for the screen, but you can't win them all. The only drawback to this camera is that I cannot use one of my brother's old lenses with autofocus because the body of the camera of course doesn't have an autofocus engine. I rarely autofocus anyway, so I'm fine with that. Plus it won't affect new lenses I buy.
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