Beginners: Do Not Buy The D40/D40x

[puyjapin]

I can see what your saying about the limitation of AF lenses, but what is wrong with the 70-300 AF, that would Af on a D40 wouldn it? And as you said some of the sigma lenses would also. Does anyone know if the 18-270 tamron will AF on the D40? ORis it only nikon af or some sigmas?

 

[puyjapin]

exactly, most people sho buy D40's don't expand past the 18-55.

dont they?seems like a few on here do including me as i intend to get the 70-300 vr

 

[adamwilliamking]

dont they?seems like a few on here do including me as i intend to get the 70-300 vr

Yeah, I think he was just exagerating, however, very few D40 owners buy a D40 with intentions of expanding out of the DX series lenses.

70-300 vr is most certainly part of the DX format.

 

[puyjapin]

so am i correct in thinking not all modern nikon lenses that state AF will AF on the D40? they have to state DX to AF on the D40 CORRECT??? Other than that any nikon lens will fit but wont AF?

 

[Coldow91]

there are also people who use the D40 with plans on expanding but in the opposite direction. Pre-Ai glass goes for pennies and is often of great quality. This is the way I am going. Manual Metering is fine for 90% of my shots, and with a focusing screen focusing could not be easier. There is also lots of Af-S glass for those who want it.

I personally cannot stand Canon XTi's or their lower end bodies....I wouldn't mind a 5dMk2 though

 

[adamwilliamking]

so am i correct in thinking not all modern nikon lenses that state AF will AF on the D40? they have to state DX to AF on the D40 CORRECT??? Other than that any nikon lens will fit but wont AF?

Only Nikon "AF-S" will work "perfectly" with the D40.
"AF-S" is determining the type of Auto Focus System.
"DX" is the style of sensor, and/or the size/crop of the sensor.

Any Sigma lens with HSM "Hyper Sonic Motor" will focus and meter on a D40.

 

[epp_b]

The 70-300 vr is most certainly part of the DX format.

The 70-300 VR is an FX lens.

so am i correct in thinking not all modern nikon lenses that state AF will AF on the D40? they have to state DX to AF on the D40 CORRECT??? Other than that any nikon lens will fit but wont AF?

No. "DX" means "crop frame" and it has nothing to do with the AF system. Plainly speaking, the lens need to have a built-in motor for autofocus to function (Nikon AF-S, Sigma HSM, etc.).

Canon has been doing it this way from the get-go with their EOS system, but Nikon started out using in-body AF motors that drove the AF mechanically instead.

 

[puyjapin]

So this affects metering too then?
whats pre Ai glass?
wont the lenses marked just AF work ok on the d40?

 

[sabbath999]

Well if someone is looking to "grow" they're going to be stuck either way, unless they buy a full frame camera from the gate. Anyone who is buying a first Nikon DSLR be it a D40, 60, 90, 300 is going to be "wasting" money everytime they purchase a DX lens (in your theory), because once they upgrade to a full frame these DX lenses will bang out a crappy 5mp photo on your 21 mp sensor. So by your theory the only way to properly grow in a Nikon camera without wasting money is to throw down 3 g's for a D700 out the gate.

Not at all.

I don't recommend DX lenses, with the exception of the 55-200 VR which is dirt cheap. One can buy any of the full frame Nikon Lenses and use them with any DX camera... of course, with the D40/40x/60 (which wasn't introduced for quite a while after this post was orignally made).

What I have CONSISTENTLY recommended was that a person spend his/her money and resources on buying the finest quality glass and spend as little as possible to get the job done on the body.

I have never varied from that. I do not recommend DX lenses (again with that one exception) at all, nor do I regularly use any but the 18-55 VR (which came in a kit) and the 55-200. All of my other lenses, the 70-200 VR, 105 VR, 70-300 VR, etc. are full frame.

I have absolutely no intention of buying another DX lens, and only own the 2.

Nikon makes a LOT of good, relatively inexpensive FX glass, including the excellent and extremely cheap 70-300 G and the 50 1.8 G that people on a budget can pick up and use for years. Moving a bit up the line, the FANTASTIC 80-200 f/2.8 is well under one grand in the non-AF-S version. Pro level optics at a cheap price in that one as well. Or how about the excellent 60mm Macro 2.8 D? The sharp as a tack 50mm f/1.4 D? The blistering little 35mm f/2 D or the f/2.8 28mm D? All of these fantastic lenses, none of them will autofocus on the D40.

The lack of autofocusing with non-AF-S lenses was only one part of the article however. I find the 3 focus points a much bigger challenge personally with the D40.

I have a D40 and I use it a LOT. Most of the Hawaii pictures I have posted here over the last month or so have been taken with it, because it is light, cheap and if I drop it or trip when walking across a field of broken lava and it gets smashed I won't lose any sleep over it.

The little thing has fantastic image quality, that has NEVER been an issue.

Having said all that, I use the camera in strictly defined roles... where I want something light and cheap to carry around. Sooner or later it is going to die a horrible death, and I can live with that.

Any other camera in the Nikon system other than the D40/40x/60 can work fully with FX lenses... I can't imagine wanting to buy DX lenses for these cameras, so that kind of nips your argument in the bud.

Buy DX lenses if you like... I have no intention of doing it myself.

For starting out as a camera to build a system off of, I would rather have a D50 or a D70 (available used for the same money or less than a D40 now and at the time this was originally posted) than a D40.

Your milage may vary.

 

[puyjapin]

question would u buy 1. the 70-300 vr or 2.the tamron 18-270 vc both of which i am told will AF on my d40. If i got the tamron i would not need my kit 18-55 ever again but if i got the 70-300 id be changing the lenses all the time until i buy a wide angle etc

 

[sabbath999]

I would have to look LONG and HARD before I bought the Tamron... simply because that is a HUGE zoom range, and generally something with that large of a range suffers from SERIOUS image quality issues.

The Nikon 70-300VR is excellent in image quality.

 

[Brentnow]

Sabbath999, I just wanted to say you take beautiful pictures. Your zoo shots of the polar bears first caught my eye, and then I kept viewing. So many great images. Great work!

 

[Sherman Banks]

Sabbath999, I just wanted to say you take beautiful pictures. Your zoo shots of the polar bears first caught my eye, and then I kept viewing. So many great images. Great work!

Way to resurrect a thread with something absolutely unrelated! :thumbup:

 

[UUilliam]

every one knows that Nikon D40 isnt compatible with Autofocus...
But it is great for a BEGINNER camera..
i personally prefer Manual focus...

only good thing about Auto focus is if your shooting auto-motive or other fast moving objects that you dont have time to focus on...

but D40 is a great camera for anyone...
why does Ken rockwell still use a D40 if it is the case a beginner shouldnt use them? yet he is a professional...

 

[UUilliam]

Sabbath999, I just wanted to say you take beautiful pictures. Your zoo shots of the polar bears first caught my eye, and then I kept viewing. So many great images. Great work!

Way to resurrect a thread with something absolutely unrelated! :thumbup:

he is new... he is trying to get posts... as this is his first post OR he is OP...