- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 21 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Whoever said its the photographer that makes great shots obviously did not have this camera."
Pros: Lightweight (good for small hands!), great battery life, easy to navigate settings
Cons: Included flash is just that - the included flash. Slow response times on kit lens occasionally.
Summary: I won't lie, I really hadn't planned on buying a DSLR when I walked into the store that fateful day. I was going to replace my compact digital, but after looking at, playing with, and hearing about from one of the managers at the store's experience with the camera, I came back a couple days later and purchased it. (Even better, said manager actually brought his back after a few days' usage and upgraded to the D80 as he was more experienced with SLRs, so I got the open box price on his old one still in mint condition!)
I am not a technical writer, and pretty much a hobby photographer, so I don't know all the ins and outs of SLR photography. I am a graphics student, so I can line up shots, and what I mess up on, I can use Photoshop on to fix. Here's my take on the D40x though.
Pros: The first thing that was pointed out when I was talking to the manager (who was a work colleague for a while, so we were on good terms and not on a pushy buy it now kind of basis) was that I have small hands. This seems like a silly thing to point out, but the D40x's smaller body and lesser weight than most other DSLRs was a huge selling point. I could comfortably hold the camera, reach all the buttons and my hands did not cramp up in the process. In fact, as soon as I picked up the thing, I was in love without even taking a single picture - it just felt right.
The navigation of controls is pretty easy, even more so if you're a previous Nikon owner (I currently have an old Nikon Coolpix 3100). Many of the preset scene types are still present on the wheel selector. Plus, the graphical interface that is integrated with the LCD display is fairly straight forward, and even gives hints with the ? icon. I love the messages it gives though when it is too dark in the area (or you've left the lenscap on like I've tried to) "Subject is too dark."
Just a couple of words on battery life - its great. I can take several hundred pictures without the flash, and still do very well with the flash as well. I'd recommend having a backup battery for usage over long periods of time, but the energy saver sleep mode the camera goes into helps tremendously. (It also wakes up very quickly.)
I went from a 3.2MP compact digital to the 10.2MP in the D40x, which was a huge difference. Not only can I take giant photos, depending on the situation, the giant full-size image might be somewhat grainy, but when I post photos to my website (which I size down from 3872 x 2592px to 500x335px), the graininess disappears and look beautiful. I have yet to try out getting a great shot and getting it printed full-size, but as long as the photo is a sound shot, I think it will be amazing. All of the pictures so far have been clean, not a lot of noise, and very crisp.
As far as lenses go, I purchased the kit with the 18-55mm lens included. Its a good lens, sometimes a bit slow on the focusing, but for a first DSLR, it works great. Mind you, I'm one that goes all out, and I purchased the 55-200mm lens that works with the DXes (not the fancy one with VR) shortly after, just for more options. Once again... entry level lenses for an entry level camera for an entry level user - like me!
Alright, now the cons.
The lenses are a bit slow. I do a bit of sports and concert photography, so the speed is important. However, considering I upgraded from a compact digital, the difference is tremendous. In my case, the slowness is alright, because it still seems super fast to me. I've heard some other people state that they are slow too. I'll go with their opinion then.
Along with the lens slowness, the fact the body only takes DX lenses could be a negative for some people that may have lenses for other cameras that would have fit otherwise. If this is a first slr, then its not an issue. (The silver lining though is that the special DX format lenses are no more expensive than the counterparts for other bodies.)
I have noticed on occasion that the camera does not always find something to focus on, or I have problems getting it to focus on what I need it to. I think there is a setting I might not have tweaked right... I've only had the camera for a few months and haven't read the manual (yeah yeah I should. It'd probably help). Typically though its good about finding a focusing point.
The integrated flash... its an integrated flash. Far better than the flashes I've dealt with on compact digitals, however I still purchased the SB-600 speedlight to go with it. Do you absolutely need to? No. I just like gadgets, and playing with new effects.
Overall though, and coming from the standpoint of never having had a DSLR camera and being a newbie to them, I love this camera. With the auto settings I was able to just pick it up and intuitively just start taking awesome pictures. As I get more brave I will start messing with settings more. I know that changing apertures and such is pretty easy with the navigation system. The photos come out very clean, and I'm sure I'd have even more success if I got to know the settings past the auto mode!
I highly recommend this camera to a new DSLR user - whoever said that its the photographer that takes excellent photos obviously never had this camera. Even what I'd consider "bad" photos still seem to look good coming from this camera!
Where to buy
Nikon D40x (with 18-55mm lens):
$1,099.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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