Nikon D40...

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bethyboo21

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Bethany Charlesworth
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Hey, I am an amateur when it comes to photography and am going to College in September to study photography :love:.
We don't need a DSLR untill we are a few months into the course (so parents are buying it as a christmas gift) but I have started looking now to get an idea of prices etc.

I have looked at the Nikon D40, it seems particularly appealing since we only have a limited amount of cash to spend.
I was therefor wondering if anyone can recommend it or on the other hand recommend anything else.


Thanks !
x
 
It's a great camera, I'd look at a D40x or D60 now though at the D40 is discontinued I think.

Pete
 
For around the same price Olympus e410, Pentax k100d super, both around £270 best handling all three see what feels best in your hands. Do a google search for reviews on all.
 
thanks, will have a look and consult the 'rents :)
x
 
icecavern said:
It's a great camera, I'd look at a D40x or D60 now though at the D40 is discontinued I think.

Pete
Click to expand...

I agree. I am really pleased with my D40X. This has been superceeded by the D60, so if you look around you will find that you can get some good deals on it.
 
I have a D40X very good camera, but a little small for my hands...
 
For the price, the D40 is an out-standing body. Of course, so too are the D40x and D60; but it comes down to how much of a budget you have and what other things you need to buy at the on-set.

You will need at least one memory card, may be a spare battery, may be you will need a bit more than the kit lens .... as college is still a bit away, you may want to wait and do some more research into this.

In the end, if you decide to go with the D40 now then rest assured that it is a bragain for what you get ... checkout this link for some of the best prices ...

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/cat4.html
 
first post for me....but as its an interesting topic as I'm looking at the entry level ones for fun, I thought I'd ask a few questions if thats ok :)

do these have live view? I know the olympus has but which other entry level ones have this feature? The camera is really something for my wife as well and as we are used to digital compacts live view seems like a good feature?

thanks
 
I know the D40 and D40x do not have live view, but I am not too sure about the D60.
 
I bought my D40 an dcouple of weeks ago and loving itttttttt.

I too and a beginner to DSLR , plodding my way through the manual , and online teaching bits , going out and trying different things , learning from here my good points and where i'm going wrong ............. WHAT A NEW LEASE OF LIFE.

When i get a little more better at taking shots , i'll start adding some for all to see .... :D

Rgds

Andy
 
i bought the D40X a few months ago over the D40 as it wasn't alot more

and its a great camera

would recommend getting the X version,

i have trialed teh D60 in Jessops last weekend and it feels different and not really as good as the D40X

but thats hold wise, as for using and snapping i couldnt compare as i didnt test it

all down to personal preference in my eyes
 
i have a d40 and its a great camera and produces some nice pictures :) the only limiting factor is that the lenses that auto focus with it seem to be a bit more expensive than ones that dont have their own motor.

From what i can see the d40 and d40x are just about the same camera just the x has a higher mega pixel count (someone will probably put me right on that)
 
oli said:
first post for me....but as its an interesting topic as I'm looking at the entry level ones for fun, I thought I'd ask a few questions if thats ok :)

do these have live view? I know the olympus has but which other entry level ones have this feature? The camera is really something for my wife as well and as we are used to digital compacts live view seems like a good feature?

thanks
Click to expand...

The only entry level DSLRs to feature live view are the Olympus E410 twin lens kit £350, E510 twin lens kit around£420. Then its Sony A300 around £500 then Canon 450D around £580. Dont think Nikon till D300 as live view. Pentax K20D.
 
oli said:
first post for me....but as its an interesting topic as I'm looking at the entry level ones for fun, I thought I'd ask a few questions if thats ok :)

do these have live view? I know the olympus has but which other entry level ones have this feature? The camera is really something for my wife as well and as we are used to digital compacts live view seems like a good feature?

thanks
Click to expand...

Personally I don't find live view a problem. I just take a photo at my preferred aperture, then view the photo, and if it's not right I just take another photo at a different aperture. Alternatively just take several photos straight away at different apertures, and see which one you like best as regards DOF. It doesn't cost you anything to take several photos with digital.:thumbs:

Regarding live view as a means of composing your photo as in compact cameras, you will find it much easier to use the viewfinder as the worst problem with LCD screens is never being able to see what you are taking in bright light, and even if your compact has a viewfinder it's still not much help as what you see is not what you get.:thumbsdown:
 
hillwalkinggirl said:
..... It doesn't cost you anything to take several photos with digital.:thumbs: ....
Click to expand...

I see you've said "several" there, of course in absolute terms yes, several shots would cost relatively nothing .. but, I'd say be careful with that, cameras have limited life-span and the weakest link is the shutter! Plus, there are other "hidden" expenses too ...

Back in the days of film, there was there major cost factors

1) buying the camera
2) the cost of processing the film & printing
3) the cost of maintenance.

With digital SLRs, this has now changed to

1) cost of buying
2) cost of processing the film is changed to cost of storage (hard drive, memory cards, programs, and your computer .. plus what other gear you use to maintain your image library). If you opt to print your pictures then you will have that cost as well!
3) cost of maintenance

Taking all that into account, you can see that clicking away with digital SLRs may seem to cost nothing, but in the end cost does add-up!

This does seem a bit too extreme and a clinical approach, but by being trigger-happy one will soon hit one of the expens bariers and may need a shutter fixed .. or a new hard drive!
 
My lad ( one with the ball ) pestered me the other afternoon, to go and watch his school play in a mini inter primary school rugby event. Well , having a camera I had to sign a form stating that i was taking photo's of kids, a sticker on my jacket with " official photographer ".....

Well, armed with the D40 and my 200 mm lens , was an ideal chance to play with the settings and on manual focus....... WELL impressed getting both of his feet airbourne, just on the normal sports mode.

He took in 100 photos on a disk the following day and got 5 house points :D ........... MONEY WELL WORTH SPENT , in my eyes.


DSC_1198-Copy.jpg
 
Wail said:
I see you've said "several" there, of course in absolute terms yes, several shots would cost relatively nothing .. but, I'd say be careful with that, cameras have limited life-span and the weakest link is the shutter! Plus, there are other "hidden" expenses too ...

Back in the days of film, there was there major cost factors

1) buying the camera
2) the cost of processing the film & printing
3) the cost of maintenance.

With digital SLRs, this has now changed to

1) cost of buying
2) cost of processing the film is changed to cost of storage (hard drive, memory cards, programs, and your computer .. plus what other gear you use to maintain your image library). If you opt to print your pictures then you will have that cost as well!
3) cost of maintenance

Taking all that into account, you can see that clicking away with digital SLRs may seem to cost nothing, but in the end cost does add-up!

This does seem a bit too extreme and a clinical approach, but by being trigger-happy one will soon hit one of the expens bariers and may need a shutter fixed .. or a new hard drive!
Click to expand...

Yes but you don't have to save them all. Memory cards are now relatively cheap and easy and quick to reformat. They last for ages. Taking several photos doesn't mean that you need more storage space on your HD as you are only going to save the best one of the batch. Graphics programs you are probably going to buy anyway irrespective of whether you have live preview or not. As regards maintenance this is probably going to cost just as much whether you use your camera often or not. With a D40 or D40x the amount of shutter clicks is probably not going to make any difference to the resale price anyway.

If you want a camera that is inexpensive, has a easy initial learning curve and still allows you to progress as you get more efficient go for the D40 or D40X you wont regret it.
 
I've used both the D40 and the D40x.
Both excellent.
If, like myself, you do a fair bit of cropping the 40x is much more useful.
I've checked pics taken on both and I think the D40 has a tiny edge on the X for pic quality.
If you're just printing up to A4 (and not cropping) then the D40 will do an excellent job at a very good price.
Personally i'd spend a little more and go with the D60 with the 18-55 VR kit lens. It has had very good reviews and the bundle looks a good buy to me.

Oh, no offence Andy, but your shot wouldn't make a sale for me !
 
hillwalkinggirl,

You make a very logical argument!

May be I ought to adopt a more methodical approach for deleting my not-so-good pictures, but I just can't get myself to do that. I much prefer to take the easy way out and get the extra hard drive, so much so that I have a few TB attached to my home server.
 
Oh, no offence Andy, but your shot wouldn't make a sale for me !
Click to expand...

I agree Rockshifter. I think that where Andy went wrong was not using a small enough aperture even though he had plenty of light. From his exif info he shot at f4.2 with 1/1000 speed, and focal length of 100mm. A smaller aperture would have given much more depth of field. This is a case of where I think it would have been better to set the camera up manually rather than letting the camera decide. The moral of the story is that it's a good camera to get used to on the auto settings but then it has plenty of scope to progress to user set up.
 
Wail said:
hillwalkinggirl,

You make a very logical argument!

May be I ought to adopt a more methodical approach for deleting my not-so-good pictures, but I just can't get myself to do that. I much prefer to take the easy way out and get the extra hard drive, so much so that I have a few TB attached to my home server.
Click to expand...

To be honest I have the same problem. I do a lot of work in Photoshop (teach it also) and I keep thinking I'll just keep that as it may be useful to use for demo. My bank of hard drives is getting a little big now, so I am attempting to prune the dross down. It's a bit like clearing the garage out though, can't bear to throw anything away as it may come useful. In future I'm going to follow my own advice and delete the rubbish at source. :thinking:
 
TBH If I were in your shoes, at this present moment in time, I'd be considering a 2nd hand D80 for the same sort of money as the D60.. The D80 is a better camera and you can utilise a better selection of lenses with it.

However, by christmas everything is likely to have changed. I'd guess they'll be another new camera on the market by then, possibly in the shape of the D80 replacement, the D90 maybe... which will serve to drive the price of the D80 down, meaning you might be able to get a new one for a very attractive price.

I wouldn't be looking now for something I was going to buy in September, or even later, as everything may have changed by then :D

2p ;)
 
it's just me getting all over excited about starting the course :D

im guessing they will be able to help us with the types of cameras they think we should buy...plus we can use there stuff for a while anyway :)
but really really cannot wait :D
x
 
I'm sure they'll offer advice... but the feel of a camera is a very personal thing... what feels right for me, may feel totally wrong and strange to you.

When I got my D80, I tried a few other cameras from Canon and Pentax, but neither felt right in my hands, and the Nikon did, so I bought it :D
 
yeah i see what you mean, im sure they will have a diffrent ones i can try out etc.
x
 
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