Nikon D40 —Digital Camera Review

The Nikon D40 comes with a 6.1 mega pixel,23.7 x 15.6 mm CCD DX sensor. It also comes armed Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering capabilities and 3 area AF sensor. The ISO sensitivity scales from 200 to 1600 (plus H1,equivalent to 3400). The Nikon D40 offers continuous shooting at 2.5 frames per second (fps) and has a huge 2.5inch LCD display monitor. The body is lightweight,and made almost entirely of plastic. This is fine,but don’t expect the Nikon D40 to feel as solid or rugged as something like the D300.

A couple features it lacks —ones that at the time seemed trivial,but later became big frustrations —are it’s lack of a AF motor and it’s inability to bracket exposures. Without an auto focus motor,the D40 only works with Nikon AF-S lenses and third party lenses with auto focus motors built in. It’s inability to bracket exposures makes shooting HDR —short for High Dynamic Range —images very difficult.

I feel confident,however,that for many entry level or casual digital camera user looking for something just a little more than a normal point-and-shoot has to offer,the Nikon D40 is a fine camera.

Nikon D40 Features worth noting:

• Custom ISO capabilities
• 2.5 fps continuous shooting
• 2.5 inch LCD monitor display
• In camera re-touching capabilities (D-Lighting,Red Eye,Cropping)
• Uses EN-EL9 lithium-ion battery
• USB 2.0 data transfer
• Secure Digital Memory slots (Compatible with SDHC cards)

Nikon D40 Technical Specifications:

• Sensor: 23.7 x 15.6 mm CCD DX sensor,6.1 million effective pixels

• Focus Modes:
  • Single Servo AF [AF-S]
  • Continuous Servo [AF-C]
  • Automatic [AF-A]

• File Formats:
  • NEF (12 bit RAW,compressed)
  • NEF + JPEG
  • JPEG (fine,normal,basic)

• NEF Compression:
  • NEF 12-bit RAW Compressed

• Lens Mount: Nikon F Mount with Auto Focus (AF) contacts

• Focus Points:Three

• AF Auto Focus Modes:
  • Single Point
  • Dynamic Area (3-points)
  • Closest subject Priority Dynamic

• Shooting Modes:
  • Single Frame (S)
  • Continuous,2.5 fps
  • Self Timer
  • Remote trigger

• Auto focus lighting assist: Yes

• Metering:TTL
  • 3D Color Matrix Metering II
  • Center weighted
  • Spot

• Exposure Lock: Yes,with AE-L and AF-L button

• Exposure Bracketing:Not available

• Exposure Compensation:Not Available

• ISO Sensitivity:
  • Default ISO 200 to 1600
  • Boost ISO to 3200 (HI 1)

• Shutter: 30 seconds to 1/4000 second …bulb mode available for longer exposures

• White Balance:Incandescent,Fluorescent,Sunlight,Cloudy,Shade,Flash

• White Balance Bracketing:Not available

• Color Space: sRGB,Adobe RGB

• LCD Monitor:
  • 2.5 inch TFT LCD
  • 230,000 pixels

• Built In Flash: Yes,manual pop up

• Flash Compensation: -3 EV to +1 EV (1/3 stops)

Playback Modes:

• Full Frame
• 4 to 9 image thumbnails
• Histogram
• Highlight clipping warning
• Shooting data information