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25 March 2010

Nikon D40 is a great intro to Nikon DSLR

I'm a professional photographer and this was my first digital SLR Nikon camera. I still have it and still use it regularly. Strangely, I also purchased a D40x, which is the slightly updated version and has something like a 10 MP chip and slightly updated software and a few improved features, but the shutter went out on it and it costs nearly as much to replace as to purchase a new camera, so I recently purchased a Nikon D5000 instead - I'll review that one once I've received it and gotten to play with it a bit. I'll repeat, the Nikon D40 is a terrific little digital SLR camera and I use it to shoot PROFESSIONAL quality photography. You do *not* need a $3,000+ camera to take great pictures. In fact, some of my very favorite shots I've taken over the years I actually captured with a point-n-shoot pocket camera. A great photographer, not a great camera, makes great photographs. So if you're looking to get into more serious photography, the D40 is an affordable and excellent camera to start with. Pros: * Very small and very light. You can (and I have) shoot with this thing for 16 hours straight without getting the least bit tired. * The 6.1 megapixel resolution is plenty for printing images up to standard poster size, so don't sweat 8x10s - they'll look beautiful. * SO MUCH CHEAPER than a D70 or D90 and you can get virtually identical quality images if you know how to operate a camera. The more expensive cameras have features that truly only professional sports photographers and such would need, like the stronger casing and the faster shooting, metering, and focusing speeds. Cons: * This thing is not built with the strength of the higher end models and it could easily be broken if dropped from a moderate height. Use those camera straps and this will never be an issue. * The D40, as far as I can tell, does *not* allow you to turn off the auto-focus assist light, which is *not* infrared, apparently. Mostly this isn't a problem, but sometimes it is. It usually only comes on in very low lighting situations, when it's needed, but sometimes, like when you're somewhere that doesn't allow flash photography, this will keep you from being able to take *any* pictures without risk of being ejected from the premises. * The ISO only goes down to 200 and only up to 1,600. For most people, this is fine, but when you're wanting to shoot in either very low light situations, or wanting to get the maximum image clarity, these ISO limitations can be slightly, um, limiting. Again, however, not an issue for 99% of the people who will be using this camera. * I can't remember exactly at this moment whether it was the D40 or the D40x, but one of the cameras flat out ignored the ISO settings in "M" (Manual) mode. This was incredibly annoying because when we were using studio lighting and wanting to shoot crisp high resolution images, it was shooting in 1600 ISO, which made the images muddy (by comparison to an ISO 100 image) when blown up beyond 4"x6". * Certain Nikon/Nikkor auto-focus lenses will *not* auto-focus on this camera. I won't bother explaining which ones right now, but you should make sure before purchasing additional lenses. Again though, this is one of the very best digital SLR cameras, whether you're a pro or just getting started. Save your money on the camera and spend extra on your lenses - the lenses will last FAR longer!

2 of 2 found this helpful

25 March 2010

Nikon D40 is a great intro to Nikon DSLR

I'm a professional photographer and this was my first digital SLR Nikon camera. I still have it and still use it regularly. Strangely, I also purchased a D40x, which is the slightly updated version and has something like a 10 MP chip and slightly updated software and a few improved features, but the shutter went out on it and it costs nearly as much to replace as to purchase a new camera, so I recently purchased a Nikon D5000 instead - I'll review that one once I've received it and gotten to play with it a bit. I'll repeat, the Nikon D40 is a terrific little digital SLR camera and I use it to shoot PROFESSIONAL quality photography. You do *not* need a $3,000+ camera to take great pictures. In fact, some of my very favorite shots I've taken over the years I actually captured with a point-n-shoot pocket camera. A great photographer, not a great camera, makes great photographs. So if you're looking to get into more serious photography, the D40 is an affordable and excellent camera to start with. Pros: * Very small and very light. You can (and I have) shoot with this thing for 16 hours straight without getting the least bit tired. * The 6.1 megapixel resolution is plenty for printing images up to standard poster size, so don't sweat 8x10s - they'll look beautiful. * SO MUCH CHEAPER than a D70 or D90 and you can get virtually identical quality images if you know how to operate a camera. The more expensive cameras have features that truly only professional sports photographers and such would need, like the stronger casing and the faster shooting, metering, and focusing speeds. Cons: * This thing is not built with the strength of the higher end models and it could easily be broken if dropped from a moderate height. Use those camera straps and this will never be an issue. * The D40, as far as I can tell, does *not* allow you to turn off the auto-focus assist light, which is *not* infrared, apparently. Mostly this isn't a problem, but sometimes it is. It usually only comes on in very low lighting situations, when it's needed, but sometimes, like when you're somewhere that doesn't allow flash photography, this will keep you from being able to take *any* pictures without risk of being ejected from the premises. * The ISO only goes down to 200 and only up to 1,600. For most people, this is fine, but when you're wanting to shoot in either very low light situations, or wanting to get the maximum image clarity, these ISO limitations can be slightly, um, limiting. Again, however, not an issue for 99% of the people who will be using this camera. * I can't remember exactly at this moment whether it was the D40 or the D40x, but one of the cameras flat out ignored the ISO settings in "M" (Manual) mode. This was incredibly annoying because when we were using studio lighting and wanting to shoot crisp high resolution images, it was shooting in 1600 ISO, which made the images muddy (by comparison to an ISO 100 image) when blown up beyond 4"x6". * Certain Nikon/Nikkor auto-focus lenses will *not* auto-focus on this camera. I won't bother explaining which ones right now, but you should make sure before purchasing additional lenses. Again though, this is one of the very best digital SLR cameras, whether you're a pro or just getting started. Save your money on the camera and spend extra on your lenses - the lenses will last FAR longer!

3 of 3 found this helpful

27 April 2010

Dell E228WFP LCD Monitor - good image, bad hardware

Apparently this series of LCD flat panel LCD monitor has a great image, but they made it with cheap or faulty parts, so it is inclined to require repair early. Repairs is fairly inexpensive - from an honest repair shop - because all they have to do is replace a couple of really cheap capacitors usually.

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