Chance to upgrade my nikon d40

[denz]

Hi all

As the title says ive ' sort of ' got the chance to upgrade my nikon d40 as my brother wants to buy mine for £200 for his girlfriend and it just so happens ive got a few quid saved up (£250 - £300 ish) and if the "Deal" went through i was thinking of getting the nikon d80 as an upgrade but wanted to know 1, is it loads better than my d40 and 2, is it a bit dated now or is it still going strong any advise would be great

p.s im a semi noob to (no jokes please)

 

[puddleduck]

Well the D80 is just fine, but the advice I always give is spend on lenses, not bodies.

So I'd treat yourself to a nice lens - fancy macro? Buy a macro lens! Low light? Buy a Sigma 30mm f/1.4! Either of those purchases will allow you do get shots that a body upgrade won't.

In many ways the D40 is a better imaging device (as in picture quality) than the D80 too...

 

[Flash In The Pan]

but the D80 is still quite a step up from the D40 in terms of features and there's a barely used one on the sales forum (not mine!) that would leave you enough change for a new lens or two as well

 

[denz]

Thanks puddleduck, thats sound advice and thanks flash think ill hold off for a bit now .

Thanks again

 

[allanm]

If you want to upgrade then the D80 is a good choice.
Theres a used D80 on mpbphotographic at the moment for £359 here There are cheaper ones around too.

A D80 will open up a whole new world of lenses to you with its internal focus motor ( what do you already have?)
Its physically a bigger body too. Do you want the extra size? It will handle bigger lenses better ( better balance) It has a better faster a/f system too.
I would definately recommend getting a D80 if the price is right.
Allan

 

[aberal]

Be careful about buying lenses - you will have to check whether the D40 is compatible with some of Nikon's better lenses. See here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/d40-recommendations.htm#lenses

I've just been through the same thing myself when I realised that my D40X wouldn't drive the lenses I wanted - so upgrading the body now isn't such a daft notion if you want to build up a collection of good lenses to keep and use in later years.

 

[denz]

Thanks for the feedback guys ,

My girlfriend has told me she will contribute the rest of the money for a d80 as part of my christmas present (and my birthday presents for the next ten years ) so the possibility of upgrading in the near future is quite possible, and yeah i agree aberal and allanm if/when i upgrade the option of lenses is much vaster and sometimes cheaper than having to buy for the d40 .

.....now which lens do i choose next .........

Thanks for everyones advice its very much appreciated

P.s thanks puddleduck again for your sound advice