Nikon D40 - a bargain?

[andyoxon]

Is this camera at £210 (£270-£60 Nikon cashback) new, a bit of a bargain if you want a very portable dSLR, with a decent kit lens (with others available), and good IQ - and aren't too bothered about losing auto exp bracketing, or an in body AF mechanism?

Andy

[bomber]

I'd say yes.

Having a base ISO of 200 is very good for avoiding blurry shots (and noise) as well.  Never really miss bracketing, just use the exposure compensation, not much slower.  Only catch for me is the choice of (autofocusing) prime lenses is somewhat lacking.

[LEE]

DP Review gave it a 'Highly Recommended" 18 months ago.

Time and Digital Cameras move on but it's a quality DSLR for snap camera money of a few years ago.  6Mp on a big sensor and big lens gets you nicer images than 10Mp on a tiny sensor & lens usually. 

Seems like a great bargain but personally I'd stump up a bit more and get 10 or 12 Mp with Image Stabilisation.  I tend to crop a lot of my images and 6Mp can start to pixelate pretty quickly.

[David Martin]

Bargain. Excellent first dSLR. If you really get on with photography you will find it limiting and wanting more.. but then again that is always true of whatever camera.

..d

[blackpuddinonnabike]

I've got one! Got it on that very deal as well - cracking camera as far as I'm concerned and not even started to get anywhere near it's full capability.

[andyoxon]

This evening our next door neighbour has lent me his D40 with 18-55 & 55-200 to try out - so I was testing out in the garden earlier.    Nice weight, shutter feels good, view finder is not bad really, though it doesn't compare with my FE2 -  pentaprism etc.  Some of the portraits of mini ao looked very slightly too reddy cast - haven't really delved into the image settings yet.  Took some raw - may look for a free converter, or play around with CS3 at work (can I download a plugin).

Anyone know how to get the camera to 'accept' on old MF AI-S lens, couldn't get the shutter to fire - I know there is no metering.

[David Martin]

This evening our next door neighbour has lent me his D40 with 18-55 & 55-200 to try out - so I was testing out in the garden earlier.    Nice weight, shutter feels good, view finder is not bad really, though it doesn't compare with my FE2 -  pentaprism etc.  Some of the portraits of mini ao looked very slightly too reddy cast - haven't really delved into the image settings yet.  Took some raw - may look for a free converter, or play around with CS3 at work (can I download a plugin).

It may be red, your monitor may not be calibrated, or many other reasons. As for CS3, yes there is a plugin.

Anyone know how to get the camera to 'accept' on old MF AI-S lens, couldn't get the shutter to fire - I know there is no metering.

Set the camera to manual. use the histogram as a post hoc meter.
..d

[frankly frankie]

Some of the portraits of mini ao looked very slightly too reddy cast ...

It may be red, your monitor may not be calibrated, or many other reasons. ...

Since it was evening, if the AWB was not enabled it probably would look red.
This is a Good Thing IMO.