Nikon D40 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: There are going to be those who think that Nikon is at best foolish andat worst mad to launch a new digital SLR with only 6 megapixels.

Pros: Excellent image quality, Large viewfinder, Big LCD screen

Cons: Small body, Fiddly menu, No top screen

Verdict: A great camera let down by a sluggish interface.

Review summary: With the D40, Nikon is finally competing price-wise in the entry-level DSLR market. In the USA, the D40 is sold with the kit-lens only for $599 USD. In Canada, the camera is available alone for $649 CDN, with 18-55mm F3.

Pros: Very low noise up to ISO 400, Low noise at ISO 800 with minor loss of details, Good image sharpness with adequate lens, Fast and accurate focus, Very fast and responsive, Good build quality, Good ergonomics, but may be too small for some

Cons: Strongly over saturated colors, Poor automatic white-balance under artificial light, Strong shadow noise at ISO 1600, ISO 3200 extremely noisy, ISO 200 Minimum, Limited image parameter range, LCD status lags camera settings

Award: Highly Recommended!

Pros: Excellent image quality, great resolution and detail, who needs eight megapixels?, Surprisingly good build quality, tight shut lines, Very compact and lightweight (especially with kit lens) yet still comfortable to use, Kit lens is better quality than man

Cons: No lens motor in body means non-AF-S/AF-I lenses are manual focus only, Disappointingly RAW+JPEG setting only records Basic quality JPEG's, No status LCD panel on top of camera (we hate to see these go), No exposure or white balance bracketing, No hard bu

Verdict: The D40 is perhaps one of Nikon's most important digital SLRs.

Review summary: The D40 isn't just a cut-down or 'refreshed' D50

Pros: Excellent image quality, Large viewfinder, Big LCD screen

Cons: Small body, Fiddly menu, No top screen

Verdict: The intention, presumably, is to offer a quick visual impression of the settings in use. The aperture diaphragm, for example, shrinks or enlarges according to the aperture you've set on the camera. In practice, though, you find your eyes going straight to

Review summary: We have now tested the Nikon D40 against the Nikon D50 and the Pentax K110D digital SLR. To see how well these cameras would respond to the challenge, we tested the Nikon D40, Nikon D50 and Pentax K110D under mainly difficult lighting conditions. See full