Nikon D40 review and randomness
Well, I’ve owned it for a little while now, and I’ve finally gotten completely used to it. There’s still some things about it I’ve not used and haven’t fully figured out, but that’s to be expected from something with a 300 page manual and a bazillion menu items.
So, review!
First off, I really wanted to get a Nikon D60. It’s the upgraded model from the D40; more resolution, better focus system, better metering. And a $200 price hike. The kit lens with it is the newer Vibration Reduction version, which I’d also love to have. But, in the end, I bought based on a sale at a local store. I paid a bit more than I could have online, but the immediate satisfaction was a big part of it all. My kit deal was the Nikon D40 camera, an 18-55mm lens, a 55-200mm lens, and a 1GB SD card. I’ll touch a bit on each, as well as talk about photography in general.
So, let’s start things off with a rewind back to my older camera, the Nikon EM. An almost completely manual SLR (Single Lens Reflex), it is a very nice, light, compact camera. I used to own a few other lenses for it (a nice zoom and a wide angle), but all I had left after getting hungry one month was my 50mm prime lens. It’s still a very fine lens, letting in a ton of light and being super sharp. The camera itself was pretty much a no-frills unit that taught one how to REALLY use a camera. Made to be an entry-level unit, it lacked any of the high end automation, but had enough automation to make one not hate taking pictures. You have to focus it manually (with a split plane focus helper in the eyepiece) and set the aperture manually (although the inbuilt light meter helped you out there). From there, you could let the camera manage the shutter speed, run at a constant 1/90th of a second, or stay open for as long as you held down the shutter button. You also had to manually advance the film after every shot (although there was a peg adapter on the bottom for a motor drive I never owned). The only thing this camera lacks is an ability to precisely dial in a shutter speed. It also has a self timer, although it never seemed to be consistent (was just a spring-wound delay). While all these things mean the camera was more work than a point and shoot to use, the pictures it made were fantastic. Had film prices and prices for developing said film not gone through the roof, I’d probably still be shooting with it
But, well, times change. Film is now beyond inconvenient. So, I need to buy a digital. But which digital? After using such a nice little camera for so many years, stepping down to a cheap point and shoot would feel wrong; I’m kinda spoiled for control, you see. But, for so very long, digital SLRs were $1000+ things made for pros with money. I drooled, but figured that film was still cheaper in the long run. And then suddenly there were cheap ones on the market.
Of these, I bought the Nikon D40, a replacement for the Nikon D50 (yes, Nikon’s numbering scheme is retarded). It’s a 6.6 megapixel camera that only supports autofocus on lenses that have inbuilt focus motors. Being made of less expensive materials than the more “professional” camera, it’s light as a feather. The thing really feels like nothing in your hands and extended time hanging from your neck isn’t painful like many more expensive cameras. It only comes as a package deal with the Nikkor DX 18-55mm G:3.5-5.6G II lens. This is a zoom lens that moves from very wide to just beyond normal vision. Reviews of this lens are all raves about it. And, really, they’re right. It’s light, sharp, and easy to use. Its only downside is that, to switch from auto focus to manual focus, you have to flick a switch before moving the focus ring. My package deal also came with the Nikkor DX 55-200mm 1:4-5.6G ED lens, a zoom from normal to decently far. It is also a light and sharp little thing. And the last part of my pack is a boring 1GB Panasonic SD card.
So, what’s the camera like? Well, at first, I must say I was blown away by all the crap on here. There’s even more control than my old manual allowed, but getting to it wasn’t always obvious. I had to read the manual. I also read some reviews by much better photographers. And then I had to just plain use the thing, trying to get a feel for it.
For starters, there’s the big shooting mode knob. It has the four modes you will ever use, and then it has eight other modes named after photography subjects that try to automate everything. These other modes really are pointless, though, since the P mode (Program Mode) automates both aperture and shutter speed to make for the best exposed shot, allowing you to choose to use the flash or not (you press a button on the left side to pop up the flash, closing it turns it off). All the trickery the other eight modes do can be done with this single mode, and you get all the niceties like messing with exposure compensation (for when things come out too bright or too dark, no matter what you do), flash timing, and whatnot. This mode, coupled with some other settings, is what I use most of the time because it’s simple point, click, picture.
The other three modes are useful in various other shooting situations. S is Shutter Priority. You dial in the shutter speed you want, and the camera figures out the aperture to expose the picture right. All the other parts of P mode are the same. A is Aperture Priority, the inverse of S mode. And M is Manual Mode, where you set both aperture and shutter speed, for when you need to make things just right.
Of course, if you don’t know what these terms mean, then all that means nothing. So I’ll explain. Pictures happen when light is exposed onto something light sensitive. Too little light and the picture is dark, too much light and the picture is all white. And there’s many variables that control these things. Shutter speed is a simple concept: it’s the time that light is allowed to hit the light sensor. Longer lets more light through, as well as blurring motion. Aperture, is more complex: it’s the size of the hole that light is allowed to pass into the camera. A smaller hole lets in less light, but also has the side effect of making more of the image be in focus at one time. Balancing these two is all about what kind of image you’re going for.
Next up in any photo shot is the ISO speed. The D40 can be set to 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light, but the noisier the image. The whole measurement system comes from film, where different physical setup on the film material would allow for it to expose to light at different rates. The higher the speed, the coarser the image but the faster or lower the lighting needs to be to make a properly exposed image. But, in the digital world, you’re stuck with one sensor. So instead of having different film, you have different levels of amplification of the signal off the sensor. It has the same effect of making the image noisier as it allows less light to get the job done. Of course, changing this setting on your own is just as annoying as changing rolls of film. Luckily, the D40 has the ability to automagically set the ISO speed between whatever two extremes you set. I personally let it run the whole gamut, only turning it off when I’m shooting in full manual mode and wanting to dial in a specific exposure.
After these, the only two things that have an effect on the image is the exposure and flash compensation. Both can be adjusted to make the overall image lighter or darker. I’ve not messed much with either of these myself, since most of my shooting is without a flash and in decent lighting. Speaking of the flash, the built in one is serviceable. It only points forward, so it’ll make a very flat looking image. But sometimes you want or need that. You can also mount a flash on the top, like my cheap Vivitar flash. Such a flash is affected by all the same settings as the built in one (fire time, exposure compensation, and such).
Now for the convenience feature called Auto Focus. The D40 has three different points of focus and various methods to choose between them. It’s mostly right, but can add up to a second lag on a shot. It also lacks any helpers when in manual focus mode, forcing you to rely solely on just making the image look as sharp as possible in the viewfinder. Thankfully, you can lock the auto focus by either half pressing and holding the shutter button or pushing the AE/AF lock button. You could also flick the switch on the lens over to manual if you want.
One of the nice things about this camera is the ease of shooting modes. It defaults to single mode; one press, one shot. Like most cameras. With the press of a side button, it switches over to a delay timer shot, which can be set. But the mode I shoot in most is continuous mode; it keeps shooting frames as long as you hold down the button. Easy to get one shot with a tap, great to capture anything that is moving or has a bunch of people who like to blink.
Like any digital camera, the D40 has the option to save shots in various formats. It has three levels of JPEG compression, a RAW mode, and a RAW plus JPEG mode (which is what I use, since Windows doesn’t have a thumbnail plugin for Nikon NEF images). Also like most digital cameras, it has a bundle of inbuilt image processing functions. All of which I don’t use at all since they only affect JPEGs; I prefer to do my processing in the RAW importer in Photoshop. This also brings up the subject of white balance. The Nikon has a very poor automatic white balance mode, but since part of the RAW importer is adjusting white balance, it doesn’t really matter if the camera guessed wrong. You can change the white balance to many different presets, all of which work very well for what they’re named after. I just leave it on auto, though, and worry about it when I process the photos later.
There’s a lot more little things about the camera. Like how you can customize the menus to only show what you want, change a few of the button functions, and change the way the interface shows you things. The back LCD is bright and clear, but still not really good enough to make sure that your shot wasn’t slightly out of focus or blurred. And a bundle of little things like power down delays, LCD brightness, image commenting, and such are also hidden in the menus. While some things are laid out a bit oddly, such as the Auto ISO settings being buried in the Custom Settings Menu instead of the Shooting Menu, overall things are easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. Of course, if you don’t know the camera can do it, you’ll probably wonder what the hell one option or another is used for. Reading the manual really does help here.
As for the bottom line, this is a very good camera. It’s not cheap when compared to something like a Nikon Coolpix happy snap, but if you want a damn fine camera but don’t want to blow the cost of a used car on one, the D40 is a good buy. Since they’re the descendants, I’d assume the D40X and D60 would also be good buys, but they’re more expensive. If anyone is curious, I can do a series of photography how-to’s. And, once I finish cleaning up stuff, I’ll be uploading most of my photos to my brand-new Flickr account, so you can see what I’ve been able to do.
So, review!
First off, I really wanted to get a Nikon D60. It’s the upgraded model from the D40; more resolution, better focus system, better metering. And a $200 price hike. The kit lens with it is the newer Vibration Reduction version, which I’d also love to have. But, in the end, I bought based on a sale at a local store. I paid a bit more than I could have online, but the immediate satisfaction was a big part of it all. My kit deal was the Nikon D40 camera, an 18-55mm lens, a 55-200mm lens, and a 1GB SD card. I’ll touch a bit on each, as well as talk about photography in general.
So, let’s start things off with a rewind back to my older camera, the Nikon EM. An almost completely manual SLR (Single Lens Reflex), it is a very nice, light, compact camera. I used to own a few other lenses for it (a nice zoom and a wide angle), but all I had left after getting hungry one month was my 50mm prime lens. It’s still a very fine lens, letting in a ton of light and being super sharp. The camera itself was pretty much a no-frills unit that taught one how to REALLY use a camera. Made to be an entry-level unit, it lacked any of the high end automation, but had enough automation to make one not hate taking pictures. You have to focus it manually (with a split plane focus helper in the eyepiece) and set the aperture manually (although the inbuilt light meter helped you out there). From there, you could let the camera manage the shutter speed, run at a constant 1/90th of a second, or stay open for as long as you held down the shutter button. You also had to manually advance the film after every shot (although there was a peg adapter on the bottom for a motor drive I never owned). The only thing this camera lacks is an ability to precisely dial in a shutter speed. It also has a self timer, although it never seemed to be consistent (was just a spring-wound delay). While all these things mean the camera was more work than a point and shoot to use, the pictures it made were fantastic. Had film prices and prices for developing said film not gone through the roof, I’d probably still be shooting with it
But, well, times change. Film is now beyond inconvenient. So, I need to buy a digital. But which digital? After using such a nice little camera for so many years, stepping down to a cheap point and shoot would feel wrong; I’m kinda spoiled for control, you see. But, for so very long, digital SLRs were $1000+ things made for pros with money. I drooled, but figured that film was still cheaper in the long run. And then suddenly there were cheap ones on the market.
Of these, I bought the Nikon D40, a replacement for the Nikon D50 (yes, Nikon’s numbering scheme is retarded). It’s a 6.6 megapixel camera that only supports autofocus on lenses that have inbuilt focus motors. Being made of less expensive materials than the more “professional” camera, it’s light as a feather. The thing really feels like nothing in your hands and extended time hanging from your neck isn’t painful like many more expensive cameras. It only comes as a package deal with the Nikkor DX 18-55mm G:3.5-5.6G II lens. This is a zoom lens that moves from very wide to just beyond normal vision. Reviews of this lens are all raves about it. And, really, they’re right. It’s light, sharp, and easy to use. Its only downside is that, to switch from auto focus to manual focus, you have to flick a switch before moving the focus ring. My package deal also came with the Nikkor DX 55-200mm 1:4-5.6G ED lens, a zoom from normal to decently far. It is also a light and sharp little thing. And the last part of my pack is a boring 1GB Panasonic SD card.
So, what’s the camera like? Well, at first, I must say I was blown away by all the crap on here. There’s even more control than my old manual allowed, but getting to it wasn’t always obvious. I had to read the manual. I also read some reviews by much better photographers. And then I had to just plain use the thing, trying to get a feel for it.
For starters, there’s the big shooting mode knob. It has the four modes you will ever use, and then it has eight other modes named after photography subjects that try to automate everything. These other modes really are pointless, though, since the P mode (Program Mode) automates both aperture and shutter speed to make for the best exposed shot, allowing you to choose to use the flash or not (you press a button on the left side to pop up the flash, closing it turns it off). All the trickery the other eight modes do can be done with this single mode, and you get all the niceties like messing with exposure compensation (for when things come out too bright or too dark, no matter what you do), flash timing, and whatnot. This mode, coupled with some other settings, is what I use most of the time because it’s simple point, click, picture.
The other three modes are useful in various other shooting situations. S is Shutter Priority. You dial in the shutter speed you want, and the camera figures out the aperture to expose the picture right. All the other parts of P mode are the same. A is Aperture Priority, the inverse of S mode. And M is Manual Mode, where you set both aperture and shutter speed, for when you need to make things just right.
Of course, if you don’t know what these terms mean, then all that means nothing. So I’ll explain. Pictures happen when light is exposed onto something light sensitive. Too little light and the picture is dark, too much light and the picture is all white. And there’s many variables that control these things. Shutter speed is a simple concept: it’s the time that light is allowed to hit the light sensor. Longer lets more light through, as well as blurring motion. Aperture, is more complex: it’s the size of the hole that light is allowed to pass into the camera. A smaller hole lets in less light, but also has the side effect of making more of the image be in focus at one time. Balancing these two is all about what kind of image you’re going for.
Next up in any photo shot is the ISO speed. The D40 can be set to 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light, but the noisier the image. The whole measurement system comes from film, where different physical setup on the film material would allow for it to expose to light at different rates. The higher the speed, the coarser the image but the faster or lower the lighting needs to be to make a properly exposed image. But, in the digital world, you’re stuck with one sensor. So instead of having different film, you have different levels of amplification of the signal off the sensor. It has the same effect of making the image noisier as it allows less light to get the job done. Of course, changing this setting on your own is just as annoying as changing rolls of film. Luckily, the D40 has the ability to automagically set the ISO speed between whatever two extremes you set. I personally let it run the whole gamut, only turning it off when I’m shooting in full manual mode and wanting to dial in a specific exposure.
After these, the only two things that have an effect on the image is the exposure and flash compensation. Both can be adjusted to make the overall image lighter or darker. I’ve not messed much with either of these myself, since most of my shooting is without a flash and in decent lighting. Speaking of the flash, the built in one is serviceable. It only points forward, so it’ll make a very flat looking image. But sometimes you want or need that. You can also mount a flash on the top, like my cheap Vivitar flash. Such a flash is affected by all the same settings as the built in one (fire time, exposure compensation, and such).
Now for the convenience feature called Auto Focus. The D40 has three different points of focus and various methods to choose between them. It’s mostly right, but can add up to a second lag on a shot. It also lacks any helpers when in manual focus mode, forcing you to rely solely on just making the image look as sharp as possible in the viewfinder. Thankfully, you can lock the auto focus by either half pressing and holding the shutter button or pushing the AE/AF lock button. You could also flick the switch on the lens over to manual if you want.
One of the nice things about this camera is the ease of shooting modes. It defaults to single mode; one press, one shot. Like most cameras. With the press of a side button, it switches over to a delay timer shot, which can be set. But the mode I shoot in most is continuous mode; it keeps shooting frames as long as you hold down the button. Easy to get one shot with a tap, great to capture anything that is moving or has a bunch of people who like to blink.
Like any digital camera, the D40 has the option to save shots in various formats. It has three levels of JPEG compression, a RAW mode, and a RAW plus JPEG mode (which is what I use, since Windows doesn’t have a thumbnail plugin for Nikon NEF images). Also like most digital cameras, it has a bundle of inbuilt image processing functions. All of which I don’t use at all since they only affect JPEGs; I prefer to do my processing in the RAW importer in Photoshop. This also brings up the subject of white balance. The Nikon has a very poor automatic white balance mode, but since part of the RAW importer is adjusting white balance, it doesn’t really matter if the camera guessed wrong. You can change the white balance to many different presets, all of which work very well for what they’re named after. I just leave it on auto, though, and worry about it when I process the photos later.
There’s a lot more little things about the camera. Like how you can customize the menus to only show what you want, change a few of the button functions, and change the way the interface shows you things. The back LCD is bright and clear, but still not really good enough to make sure that your shot wasn’t slightly out of focus or blurred. And a bundle of little things like power down delays, LCD brightness, image commenting, and such are also hidden in the menus. While some things are laid out a bit oddly, such as the Auto ISO settings being buried in the Custom Settings Menu instead of the Shooting Menu, overall things are easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. Of course, if you don’t know the camera can do it, you’ll probably wonder what the hell one option or another is used for. Reading the manual really does help here.
As for the bottom line, this is a very good camera. It’s not cheap when compared to something like a Nikon Coolpix happy snap, but if you want a damn fine camera but don’t want to blow the cost of a used car on one, the D40 is a good buy. Since they’re the descendants, I’d assume the D40X and D60 would also be good buys, but they’re more expensive. If anyone is curious, I can do a series of photography how-to’s. And, once I finish cleaning up stuff, I’ll be uploading most of my photos to my brand-new Flickr account, so you can see what I’ve been able to do.