Thinking of buying a Nikon D40?

chickmug

Couple of questions for those who may have one.

All being sold with one lens which is equivalent to 28mm with three x zoom. Would like capability of more zoom so any suggestions for a reasonable price and what would you expect to get?

It has a 2.5 inch LCD which shows menu and pictures already taken but does it show the picture about to be taken when I don't wish to use the viewfinder?

If no to above what is it like only having the viewfinder?

I used a friends Olympus DSLR and found the viewfinder very poor so does the D40 have a good viewfinder?

Finally if on fully auto does it take good pictures because when I borrowed my friends Olympus I felt there would be a learning curve

Sput2001

You have to take photos using the viewfinder. You can't frame the shot with the LCD display. I think that's the case with most DSLRs.

The standard lens with a D40 is the 18-55mm. An additional 55-200mm lens would be a useful addition to the setup. You should be able to pick up a Sigma one for about £100, or a Nikon for for about £140 or so.

Marty_J

Using the viewfinder is great. I switched from a bridge camera on which I composed photos on the screen, and I don't miss it at all. The viewfinder on the D40 is nice and bright, with all your shooting info displayed beneath it. Auto does a great job, but of course you'll get more out of it when you step up to the manual modes.

There's a great review of the D40 here and a really useful user's guide here.

I love my D40 to bits. One of my favourite purchases of the last few years. At £245 from Amazon, it's a steal.

isofa

If you want to be able to frame the shot with the screen, you need a DSLR supporting LiveView, a relatively new feature.

Personally I'm not that into it, and prefer to frame with the view finder.

Remember DSLRs (I'm talking most consumer/semi-pro models) have a "crop factor" of 1.6x on standard lenses, so a 18-55mm in reality is a 28.8 to 88mm.

Lenses can cost from a few hundred to a few thousand, the kit lenses are generally a bit weak and soft, but fine for starters, Sigma make some good lenses, else stick with quality ones for your camera from the manufacturer.

Id' narrow down a Canon and Nikon and try them both out in a show, before buying online.

You can't go wrong with Nikon or Canon, personally I prefer Canon, but there isn't much to choose between.

For best prices try: www.camerapricebuster.co.uk

unrich

Its almost impossible to manually focus using a screen. A viewfinder on the other hand allows pretty accurate focusing.

Fifer

unrich wrote: »

Its almost impossible to manually focus using a screen. A viewfinder on the other hand allows pretty accurate focusing.

Some live view systems allow the image to be magnified which allows for precision manual focussing. This is very useful for static studio situations. But the viewfinder is preferable for most situations.