D40? Or...

gamerz

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Hello,

So its been a good year or so that I have been interested in getting more into digital photography. Up to now, I have been doing photography mostly as a hobby, and want to continue it as a hobby, but at a higher level. Currently, I use a 7.2mp Point and shoot. It has been a good camera, but as I progressed it became more and more limiting. After a few months of research, I decided that I should buy an SLR, the Nikon D40 to be exact. While browsing some photography forums and such, lots of comments about the D40 have made me turn away from it a bit, or at least reconsider what I am doing. The main thing that put me off was the lack of on board auto-focus motor. This might concern me... I do have an old Nikon SLR somewhere in storage, with some old lenses that I might want to use.

Moving on. If I do decide with the D40... I found what I believe to be a good deal at bhphotovideo.com. Here it is:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/471716-REG/Nikon_25420_D40_SLR_Digital_Camera.html

Nikon D40 with 18-55mm lens (Would I want another lens? if so what one?)

Accessories
4GB SD card
Softcase bag (I might not need... could just use a backpack)
Extended 2 year warranty (just in case)

Thats roughly $650 with a new D40



Now, if I was not to get the D40... what should I get? I want to stay away from used cameras, unless they are refurbished by the company that produces them.

Thank-you very much!
 
i got a d40 last christmas, check out my flickr to see the kind of stuff ive been able to produce with it. its deffenitly a good choice, ive been able to expand my skills with taking pictures greatly. I'm gonna have to sell it though for a D80 or D200 because photo school requires something on the more of a "professional" level, go figure..:)
 
Hello,

So its been a good year or so that I have been interested in getting more into digital photography. Up to now, I have been doing photography mostly as a hobby, and want to continue it as a hobby, but at a higher level. Currently, I use a 7.2mp Point and shoot. It has been a good camera, but as I progressed it became more and more limiting. After a few months of research, I decided that I should buy an SLR, the Nikon D40 to be exact. While browsing some photography forums and such, lots of comments about the D40 have made me turn away from it a bit, or at least reconsider what I am doing. The main thing that put me off was the lack of on board auto-focus motor. This might concern me... I do have an old Nikon SLR somewhere in storage, with some old lenses that I might want to use.

Moving on. If I do decide with the D40... I found what I believe to be a good deal at bhphotovideo.com. Here it is:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/471716-REG/Nikon_25420_D40_SLR_Digital_Camera.html


Nikon D40 with 18-55mm lens (Would I want another lens? if so what one?)

Accessories
4GB SD card
Softcase bag (I might not need... could just use a backpack)
Extended 2 year warranty (just in case)

Thats roughly $650 with a new D40



Now, if I was not to get the D40... what should I get? I want to stay away from used cameras, unless they are refurbished by the company that produces them.

Thank-you very much!

As long as you're aware of the lens limitation, the D40 gives the biggest bang for the buck today.
 
I'd check out what those old Nikon lenses are that you've got. If they're at least 1986 or newer AF or AF-D and nice enough to shoot with, you might want to consider a used D50 instead. If they're older AI or AI-S manual focus lenses, they'll be manual focus on any camera, but you'd need a D200 or higher to get metering support with them. Depending on what the lenses are, it may or may not be worth it. A D200 even used is a lot more money though.
 
As for ugrading from the 18-55mm kit lens really depends on what you plan on shoting. Alot of people have that lens and also the 55-200 AF-S DX lens. You can also get that lens with VR which helps you get sharper images when you have to hand hold your camera. A step up from that (in terms of reach) theres the 70-300 VR AF-S. All these are good lenses and would really help get good shots from places like kids socccers games and travel and such. Another option, if you have the money, is to get professional grade lenses from either nikon or sigma. As for sigma lenses, the ones with HSM in there title will be able to autofocus with the D40/D40X. Sigma makes some nice lenses and its nice to have lens choices outside of nikkor. For example, you can only find an extreme wide angle lens and also a prime lens that will autofocus with you camera from Sigma.

Now dont forget about other accessories you might want to consider such as tripod/monopod, flashs, filters, straps, and all that other fun expensive stuff that comes along with getting a DSLR =)
 
I have a D40, and I love it. But I am a beginner and I didn't have any Nikon lenses which I need to be compatible. There are lenses which will work with the D40, from Nikon and other companies (I have a Sigma 10-20 which works perfectly). My next lens might be the Sigma 50-150, this guy gets awesome results with it an a D40.

Also, if you think you might want to to get into HDR later, be aware that the D40 does not have auto-bracketing.
 
thanks for the link andrew. I also am looking at getting either the sigma 50-150mm, or the 70-200mm

I hear there both great lenses

and i am also ordering the sigma 10-20 like you have, do you like it?
 
I'll try and dig out my old lenses and see what I have.
 
thanks for the link andrew. I also am looking at getting either the sigma 50-150mm, or the 70-200mm

I hear there both great lenses

and i am also ordering the sigma 10-20 like you have, do you like it?


Yeah, I love the Sigma 10-20. The focus works great, the colours and sharpness are good, I have no complaints. The only thing is that if you have people at the edge of the shot when shooting very wide (10-12 mm), they will look distorted. But if you keep them in the centre of the shot, or zoom in a bit (14-20mm), they will look fine. But I guess this is true of any really wide lens. But I love shooting at 10mm, it makes for amazing landscapes and skys. If you want, you can look through my flickr pics, I have tagged every picture with "sigma" and "10-20" that I took with this lens.
 
My preferable budget is under $800 canadian including taxes and accessories... I will be willing to go over if it is worth the extra money.

Anyways, went digging around the house and found some of my old lenses. Here they are:

BTW, im not really sure what the "1: f/3- f/5.6" means... I am a noob.

Nikkor AF 28-80mm 1: f/3- f/5.6

Vivitar 28-200mm 1: f/3.5- f/5.3... This one didn't say anything about being AF...

Nikkor AF 70-300mm f/4-f/5.6


So there you have it. Now, based on those lenses I just listed, would I be better off buying a D80 or D50/70 body and using those lenses, or buying a D40?
 
I see that you have a Nikon lens collection. Otherwise I would have reccommended the K100D (Pentax).

Do you need about Autofocus or can you live with Manual Focus. If you can live with MF, the D40. If you want a semi-fancy camera or need autofocus, get the D80.
 
I would prefer auto focus at the moment. I'm sure If i got into practice with manual focus it would be fine.
 
My preferable budget is under $800 canadian including taxes and accessories... I will be willing to go over if it is worth the extra money.

Anyways, went digging around the house and found some of my old lenses. Here they are:

BTW, im not really sure what the "1: f/3- f/5.6" means... I am a noob.

Nikkor AF 28-80mm 1: f/3- f/5.6

Vivitar 28-200mm 1: f/3.5- f/5.3... This one didn't say anything about being AF...

Nikkor AF 70-300mm f/4-f/5.6


So there you have it. Now, based on those lenses I just listed, would I be better off buying a D80 or D50/70 body and using those lenses, or buying a D40?
Those are semi-decent lenses, but none will auto-focus on the D40. So I'd get either a D50, D70 (used) or a D80 (new or used) all depending on your budget. I'm not sure what camera pricing is like in CAN dollars these days. I'd go for a used D50. If you can find one, a refurbished one would be the best since it'll have a factory warranty.
 
Sorry to bring this thread up again... but... I am still searching for the right DSLR for me...

I know this might start a big debate canon vs. nikon and such... but D40 or XT? Since I dont have any really good Nikon lenses that I would want to use on my D40, I have been starting to consider Canon aswell. These are the main limitations that I know of:

D40(x): no internal auto focus motor... only AF-S lenses will auto focus on it. As a result, AF-S lenses are more expensive.

XT(i): Not as good image quality as nikon (not sure if this is true). You need more expensive lenses to get great images with an XT, or so I have heard. Quick question aswell, does the XT,XTI, and XSI have built in autofocus motors so that they can focus with the EF lenses as well as the EF-S?

So... D40 or XT?

Also... my preferable budget is under $1000 canadian with a camera, lens, and accessories that I may need.
 

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