We have another Nikon D40 review to bring you, today’s is from Thom Hogan. The Nikon D40 is Nikon’s smallest and most affordable digital SLR. It’s launch smack at the beginning of this year’s shopping season must have been carefully calculated. Along with the camera and lens announcements, Nikon also announced a new Speedlight, the SB-400, that is obviously aimed as a partner to the D40, neither of which have dedication to Nikon’s creative lighting system.

"As I write this, the D50 and D70s are still being offered, but I expect that to change soon, meaning the D40 is likely to be Nikon’s only 6mp and entry-level DSLR for awhile. As such, it goes up against the Pentax K100 series, used bodies, high-end compact digicams, and a host of other products. And I think it’ll hold its own.

First, the image quality is excellent. Nikon has proven once again that they know how to suck every last little bit of quality out of the 6mp sensors they’ve been using for more than four years. And amazingly, the included kit lens doesn’t let the sensor down. For those that aren’t trying to shoot wall murals and are satisfied with the size prints you’d get off, say, a really good desktop inkjet, there’s nothing to complain about in image quality until you get to ISO 3200, and even then some will find it usable at smaller print sizes.

But the impressive thing about the D40 is that it is arguably the best-designed small camera to date. Handwise, it’s perfect. The viewfinder is good, if not up to the D200 level. The controls are sensible and what we Nikon users expect. And the moving of the top LCD to the color LCD, while still with some slightly rough edges, turns out to be a lot more useful than you’d expect. As I note in the handling section, you can do 99% of the settings you’re likely to make while shooting without dropping into the actual menus. Nikon almost hit a home run with that, and frankly, why their top end Coolpix cameras don’t borrow the best aspects of this design I don’t know. Color, noise, and resolution are quite good, and you have enough control over the first two items to get excellent image quality."

Featuring
6.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
Kit includes 3x 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens
2.5-inch LCD with three display options; built-in flash and hot shoe
Fast startup with instant shutter response; shoot at up to 2.5 frames per second
Powered by one rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL9 (included); stores images on SD memory cards (memory card not included)
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At under US $600, we the Nikon D40 is excellent value for money. What do you think?