There are about 2 weeks now since I have the Nikon D40x and I am extremely pleased with it. The main reasons are: fast shooting and crystal clear images with natural colors, very low noise and plenty of sharpness. There are 2 more things I like about it: the fact that I can immediately delete a picture if I want without entering the playback mode (The length of time the image remains on the monitor is determined by option.) and the outstanding battery life (I believe I reached around 600 shots before recharging – and recharging time is a little bit less than 2 hours). It’s not heavy (this is important for me) and maintains the design of the previous 6MP Nikon D40, having a good grip and well placed buttons. Becoming familiar with the operation of the D40x will take little time even if the controls are well placed and logical.
There are few Vari-Programs shooting options compared to my old Canon, but, who really needs them? The display shows all the informations needed for adjustments before pressing the shutter and, besides aperture and shutter time, everything can be set up using the “info” button in combination with the “set” button. Shutter and aperture are modified using the wheel below the dial. The help button is very useful for anyone who never worked with a SLR before and whenever it is pressed it gives tips about what adjustment you should do to obtain a technical correctly image. You can view a histogram of the image, but there is no composition grid. In the little viewfinder you have a focus preview which I find very accurate when using manual focus.
The focus screen of the D40x provides three AF areas – I wish there could be more but at this price range it’s OK. The camera definitely worths the money. When using the playback effects, it saves the applied effect as a new file and it won’t allow me to make a second effect on the new image. Also, when shooting in RAW+JPEG, the jpeg version can only be low and not at full quality, but, it takes allot of memory anyway so why wishing for even more memory consumption. The Noise Reduction, if turned on, decides whether or not photos captured at high sensitivity or with long exposures (more than 1 second) are processed to reduce noise – another useful in-camera feature. If you are passioned about HDR, Image Overlay option in playback serves to combine two RAW images to create one – exposure of the shots can vary between 0.1 and 2 EV in increments of 0.1 EV while the effect can be seen in a preview (maybe later Nikon will allow more than 2 shots to be combined).
I received the camera with the standard Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm lens (as in kit) but later on I intend to get a telephoto lens. For this, it’s important to know about compatibility on the camera: AF-S DX lenses have a solid build and are compatible with Nikon D40x. D40x is only fully compatible with AF-S or AF-I lenses that have their own built-in AF motors. The Nikon D40x is also equipped with a flash shoe dedicated to Speedlights SB-400, SB-600, SB-800 and SB-R200 external flashes.
I love this camera and I recommend you to buy it (body only, kit and accessories) from my amazon links below.
Tags: Nikon, Nikon digital camera, slr digital camera, Nikon d40x, raw, 10mp, Nikon d40x kit, d-lighting, digital camera
My Name is Lau, I'm 26 and I'm from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Nature Photography is my passion, and secondary, Abstract Photography, but other kind of photographic challenges please me as well.
