Nikon D40 Pro Reviews

The Nikon D40 is an attempt to make DSLR photography accessible to more people than ever before, making it one of the most important models in the company's history. Crucially Nikon haven't simply concentrated on reducing the price by reducing the features.

Nikon has certainly succeeded in designing an ideal camera for first-time DSLR owners. The D40 is small, light, very easy to use, rarely fooled by anything and simply delivers great quality pictures. So it’s the perfect entry-level DSLR, right?

Although Nikon continues to improve and hone its entry-level D-SLRs to make them easier to use, the D40 doesn't quite earn a coveted Editors' Choice award.

Nikon's D40 is not only an awesome little dSLR that captures great photos with robust performance, it also has a very pleasing price tag of $600 or less (and remember this is for the body and the lens.)

Nikon really shocked the market with the D40. We've been pleasantly surprised with its excellent performance in low light and its simple grace as a day-to-day shooter. Then we remind ourselves that all this quality comes at less than $600, and we shake ourselves awake. The Nikon D40 is one great camera!

Normally I'm not much impressed by entry-level models, but I really enjoyed testing the Nikon D40 SLR. It's not often that I'm this enthusiastic about a camera. It's a nice looking camera, wonderfully compact but still sturdy. Above all, it's a great camera to operate, and produces fantastic pictures. The settings have a lot of possibilities, without being bewildering. If you are thinking about taking the step from a compact camera to a SLR, you should absolutely go for the D40. If you do, don't forget to buy a Nikon SB-400 flash. Any photographer could easily fall in love with this set. It's absolutely wonderful!

In many ways, you might consider Nikon's D40 the Zelig of digital cameras. Is it a digital SLR with the spirit of a point-and-shoot? Is it a point-and-shoot with the power of a dSLR? It depends upon who's doing the shooting. While the D40 will never morph into an ultracompact or grow up to be high-powered, pro shooter's camera, it covers the in-between fairly well.

The D40 is perhaps one of Nikon's most important digital SLRs. It's certainly their smallest and lightest, their most affordable and ships with a fairly decent kit lens too. But noteworthy is the fact that it's their first digital SLR not to provide Auto Focus to their large range of lenses which do not have built-in AF motors. This was a move which in the grand scheme of things was not unexpected and although disappointing to some is unlikely to be of too much consequence for the average D40 buyer (those with more specific lens requirements are expected to go for the D80).

Because of cameras like the new Nikon D40, industry pundits expect close to 2 million D-SLRs will be purchased in 2007. Because of its $599 price—with lens—it nicely bridges the gap between high-quality point-and-shoot digicams and those who want to take their photography one step beyond–and also don’t want to go broke. Nikon caused quite a stir in December 2006 when the D40 arrived. Nikon typically goes for the higher end and feels consumers should pay a bit more for its uptown brand. I cut my teeth on the fabled Nikon F2 35mm camera back in the day and always have a soft spot for the company. But there are limits. There’s no reason to spend a bundle on a D-SLR when the 8MP Canon Digital Rebel XT and 6MP Pentax K100D are around for under $600. In a turnaround, Nikon met the competition head-on with the 6.1-megapixel D40. And this camera is clearly targeted to D-SLR newbies unlike the recently reviewed Pentax K10D. Should you go for this one or set your sights a bit higher? Let’s find out…