Thursday, November 1, 2007

D40 Hands-On: Nikon's Infant DSLR



My Baby Nikon had its first outting at a polo match in the fashionable, hurricane-hit community of The Villages in North Florida in late October. Gorgeous weather broke out after a week of drizzle and I was ready with 5 lenses to try out. Standing on an elevated grandstand, it was a cakewalk to shoot from my seat. My Dad and I also went to the playing field level for behind the scenes images too. (images coming...)

Hands On
As a tot among Nikons, the D40 behaved very well but, as expected, is a little infantile in its abilities. Overall, image quality was no issue but mechanically it is clearly a toddler at times. Handling was easy for my smallish hands and button layout is typical Nikon. I covered the unprotected LCD screen (no clear plastic cover is provided for this model!) with a pre-ordered Giottos multicoated glass LCD protector to keep its baby blue preview window clean and unscuffed. A small EN-EL9 batt powers this pup for ~470 images. All in all, a sweet addition to it's more famous siblings.

Operation
AF was typical of most amateur DSLRs - fairly quick but unable to keep an adequate tracking on moving objects. I also utilized my 70-300 AF in a manual manner to see if if I could keep up with the polo horses and 7-minute chukker sessions - not too bad, not too good. AF-S really is a necessity. My 24-120 VR worked properly but, again, the D40's amateur level AF was not stellar.

Automated exposure was baffling - even in bright sun, as the D40 tended to overexpose easily. I discovered that the sensor you focus with also becomes the weighted area the meter concentrates on - even in Matrix AF! I'll assume poor parenting on my part and promise to do better next time...

Interface
Menu manipulation is really spiffy with a double-tap on the "i" button taking you to a toggle-controlled Information menu of basic settings - ISO, Mode, Flash, etc. I use the Function to set ISO like the D40's bigger brothers can. I'm still trying to get the menu o the rear LCD to stay off while i'm composing, but it doesn't appear to be an option. Aggravating as it is no fun getting its glare in your eye at the viewfinder.

I defaulted to using the internal viewfinder for monitoring the D40 with its Nikon-standard exposure and flash compensation routines. In such a familiar interface, I have barely needed to consult the manual on this camera. Its simplicity is its best feature for rapid AF-S lens changes, easy-to-choose shooting modes and long battery life - I shot 470+ images with a mix of flash and plenty of chimping - just as specified.

Samples
My parents offer themselves as typical images we shoot a lot - check these two out as a testimony to the D40's kind rendering. Excellent in-camera sharpness negated the need to add any here beyond a typical tweaking in WB warming.





Conclusion
The D40 is cute and cuddly - a perfect choice for any digital shooter's firstborn camera body. (I mounted the DK-21M viewfinder magnifier from my recently sold D200, so youknow this baby is a real member of the Nikon family.) Don't wait - you can never be too old to beget one of the best little Nikons ever made - the D40!

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