SOOO EXCITED!!!

[Ejazzle]

have fun!! and dont be afriad of "M"!!

 

[Flora]

have fun!! and dont be afriad of "M"!!

What's "M" ?...sounds scarey.

 

[reg]

:facepalm:

Manual mode.

 

[Flora]

:facepalm:

Manual mode.

Sorry, don't know all the lingo yet...still a beginner so everything is black and white to me.

 

[reg]

 

[Chewbecca]

See, the thing with cameras is, you want to research EVERYTHING about them, even (and especially) any accessories, including a camera bag.

I bought a Lowepro Rezo 190 AW as my first camera bag. Sure, it's got this waterproof covering, 3 places for lenses, a few more pockets than I need at the moment, but it gives me room to grow. BUT it's also bulky. The d@mn camera bags are even expensive, imo.:lmao:
I ALWAYS keep my camera in the bag unless I'm using it.

But I'd go somewhere to try out camera bags. See what's most comfortable for you. I'd buy something that'll give you some room to grow your glass collection (it'll save you some time and money before you have to upgrade your bag for something bigger). UNLESS you want something that'll fit your camera and then buy a separate bag for your lenses, which some people do that, too. I didn't want to go that route, so I bought a bigger bag at first.

 

[STICKMAN]

You will love it for sure!!!! I bought my D-40 May 24th of this year and haven't put it down. I do allot of Emergency Service photography and this thing has not let me down yet..........

What I bought;

D40 kit with 18-55 lens and 55-200 lens however I upgraded for a extra 50$ to the vr on the 55-200.

I got a pol. filter and a uv filter. I use neither much at all!!!! I just use a hood.

I bought a 2gb sd ultra III card and love it for the extra $ my uploading to my laptop is super fast.

My org batt more then last me to go out and shoot a few calls shooting a ton of shots (even with auto on) and im still fine. so imo a extra batt. can come later.

I did buy two more cards however i did such do to best buy just ran a sale last weekend where they had s/d ultra II hcsd card 4g for 1/2 price at $25. That was a great deal so i landed up with two for the price of one....

Other then that my d-40 did come with a nikon camera bag pretty nice for free.

Just charge up the batt and head out and start shooting no better way to feel it out then that. We can all tell you everything u know or seen but nothing is better then first hand experance. So go enjoy yourself and your new camera. Congrats

 

[reg]

It's threads like these that remind me that Canon vs. Nikon is so stupid. It's all about being happy with what you have.

:thumbup:

 

[Flora]

It's threads like these that remind me that Canon vs. Nikon is so stupid. It's all about being happy with what you have.

:thumbup:

You nailed it on the head, Reg!

My camera just arrived and I am about to burst...tearing into the box this very moment....

 

[MissMia]

Congrats Flora! Can't wait to see what you'll capture with your new camera.

 

[Beastt]

After buying myself a D80 I was so excited that I needed to share the experience. So I bought a D40 (the 2-lens kit), and had it sent to a long-term internet friend. She was blown away but terribly intimidated. She called me when it arrived but I couldn't even get her to put a lens on the first night. She was used to point and shoot cameras and was almost afraid to touch her D40. I called her the second night and finally convinced her to pop a lens on the camera, put it in Auto mode, and snap off a shot.

That was all it took. She went around her house taking pictures of everything and hasn't put the camera down since. It goes everywhere with her and she loves it! She lives in a gorgeous area and quickly made me jealous with the beautiful pictures she has been taking. Once you have a D40, it's just not going to get any better. The pictures your new camera can produce are as good as any coming from any D-SLR at any price.

She loved it so much I recommended one to my mother and she also bought the two lens kit (18-55mm and 55-200mm).

There is one drawback to D-SLRs and it's such a fact of life that from what I've seen, it has slipped everyone's mind here. The problem is dust but you needn't be intimidated by it. It will get into your camera and make itself very comfortable on your IR filter (right on top of your sensor). You'll eventually see some dark little blotches on some of your photos.

So I would recommend being ready for the inevitable. Get yourself a blower with a filtered intake port. Giotto makes several you can get for around $10. That's your first line of defense against dust. I would also recommend looking into a brush system like those made by "Invisible Dust". They'll run you a bit more money (around $80), but will serve as your second line of defense against dust.

If you end up with some spots that just won't go away, you can get them by using special cleaners and sterile swabs (1-use each), specifically made for cleaning your IR filter (also known as a "low-pass filter"). There are several videos on YouTube demonstrating the proper techniques. Be very careful but again, don't let the process intimidate you. You can pay someone else to clean your filter (often referred to as "cleaning the sensor"), but unless you're just terribly intimidated by the idea, it's far more cost effective to learn exactly what you're doing, get the proper supplies, and just clean it yourself. The swab and cleaner kits can be had for around $20. Just make sure to get a cleaner recommended for ITO (Indium Tin-Oxide), coated filters because the D40 does have this anti-dust coating. Several companies such as "Photographic Solutions" (photosol.com) produce these kits.

The more you change lenses the more dust is likely to get into the camera but some will likely get in even if you never change lenses. Some people just clean their IR filter on a standard schedule but I don't think it's really necessary unless you start to detect those dastardly little blotches in your photos.

I'm sharing your excitement at the moment. My D80 has been my passion since I got it and yesterday I received my new Nikon D200. Now I can have two lenses mounted, one on each camera, and switch back and forth without a lens swap. I love to shoot macro (not that I'm any good at it but I try), and often find some of the best telephoto shots go by while I have one of my macro lenses on the camera.

Lots and lots to learn but it's amazing fun and I'm sure you'll become so absorbed in your new D40 that bills, cars, cleaning, groceries and the rest will all fade into the background.

If you're looking to build a collection of useful accessories, I completely agree with those suggesting a camera bag, case or pack. I ended up buying an SLR holster, a 2-SLR bag and two different Lowepro packs. Some things I felt my friend might need include the Giotto Rocket Blaster, a wireless Nikon remote control (about $15), a spare battery and a 70-300 macro lens. She hasn't had to use the Rocket Blaster yet and won't need the remote until thunderstorm season hits in her area but the battery and Sigma lens are getting a good workout.

 

[RubyMagic]

Look into getting a prime.

The 50mm 1.8 is nice, and right at 100 bucks.

If you want an autofocus prime, you'll need to dish out 400 bucks for the Sigma 30mm 1.4.

 

[Mav]

I was terrified of the whole dust issue when I first started, but it's been a non issue for me. Even when you have some dust it's only visible when stopped down at f/8 or smaller (higher f/numbers), and also only when you've got a flat background like the sky. Otherwise with more typical and complicated backgrounds you can't see it, and at apertures larger than f/8 (like f/5.6) it's invisible there too.

In over 25,000 shots between my two DSLRs the only thing I've ever needed to do as far as dust is use a rocket blower and that's it. The other night shooting some interesting weather I had some. Just popped off the lens, used the mirror lock-up function, gave a quick few blasts of air and it was gone. Then I noticed some extra bits on the mirror which is what I saw in the viewfinder so I blasted that off too. Done again. I've seen some suggestions to use a shop-vac just outside the lens mount to suck the dust particles back out after you break them free with the rocket blower, but I've never felt the need to do that. Dust splotches on some of the keepers are ridiculously easy to clean up with the bandaid tool in Photoshop. Elements has this too.

As far as actual sensor cleaning kits, I'd just send it away and get it professionally cleaned by Nikon. For a little over $100 they'll do that along with re-map some hot pixels off of my sensor and clean the mirror and other parts of the camera too. Haven't ever needed to do that with my D80 though which I bought when it was brand new, and the D90 is almost out.