| The Nikon D40 Digital SLR Camera has been on a | | | | of movement, such as sports or wildlife. |
| multitude of top ten lists and received numerous five | | | | Nikon decided that a depth of field preview feature |
| star ratings. But, every camera has it's quirks and | | | | was not necessary for the D40. Depending on your |
| some of them can be quite glaring. Then Nikon D40 is | | | | preference for taking pictures, this may or may not be |
| no exception. They say there's no such thing as a bad | | | | of concern. Some photographers find this very helpful, |
| camera, only bad photographers. I'd like to take that a | | | | but others may just experiment with different aperture |
| bit further, and say that there's no such thing as a bad | | | | settings and figure out from that what stays in focus, |
| photographer, only good photographers using the | | | | and what doesn't. I would suggest, that someone |
| wrong camera. So, let's be a little critical with the D40 | | | | learning photography could really benefit from a depth |
| SLR, and see if it's really the right camera for you. | | | | of field preview as it helps to teach the principles of |
| The most obvious shortcoming of the Nikon D40 | | | | objects in focus anddefocused. |
| camera, is the absence of an autofocus driver in the | | | | One last small grievance. Most SLR's in this price |
| camera body. What this means, is that if autofocus is | | | | range, allow you to take pictures in the RAW format, |
| important to the way you take pictures, they you are | | | | and the D40 is no exception. What is a bit surprising, is |
| somewhat limited in the number of lenses you can use | | | | that when you take pictures with the RAW and JPEG |
| with the D40. Only about ten percent of the available | | | | format at the same time, the D40 only uses a very |
| lenses for the Nikon D40 have autofocus drives built | | | | basic JPEG format. For a camera in this price range I |
| into the lenses. Needless to say, those lenses are | | | | would have expected better. Again, your photo taking |
| considerably more expensive than lenses without | | | | preferences come into play here. If all you ever take is |
| autofocus (upwards of $500 or more). Autofocus | | | | only RAW, or only JPEG format pictures, then don't |
| would be important to anyone shooting shots with lots | | | | concern yourself with this issue. |