Nikon D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I travel alot and I am always poking a camera somehwere. I just spent a month in Alaska and captured great, great, shots. My family and friends were surprised by how great the prints looked. I found the 18-55mm lens to be the most versitile over the 55-200mm. The wide angle gave me crisp clear panarams of the mountains. When I check the sharpness of the lens at +400, still clear. I am buying a D90, and will use the D40X as a back up. No break downs, camera got wet (even with a camera bag), but it worked eveytime I used the remote, or just fired away. I was a Leica man for years, but not anymore.

Lastout173d

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I researched for several months before deciding on the D40X. The D80 was too heavy and the Rebel XTi was too clunky witha smaller viewfinder. This is easy to use out of the boxand each time you shoot you learn more about itscapabilities. After an hour or two of learning the controls I was up and shooting great pictures although you don'tneed to make major control adjustments to take good pictures.The ergonomics are great and your finger will naturallyslide to the shutter button. I think the kit lens is quitegood and have not experienced the slow auto focus thatothers have mentioned here. And the extra megapixels allowfor cropping that doesn't affect resolution. Add the SB-400Speeedlight and the 55-200 VR lens and you have all you needto take great photos in any situation.

Expertise: Experienced amateur

Problems Encountered: The Nikon software - Capture NX - is an additional $100 pluspurchase although Nikon Picture Project is included withpurchase.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Minolta SLR, Canon SLR, Olympus digital

Items I Recommend: SB-400 or 600 Speedlight, 55-200 VR lens

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I seriously looked at the D40, D40x and D80 and decided on the D40x. I spent a lot of time reading about the features of each of these cameras I can say that all will give excellent results. In the end it came down to budget and knowing how I would use the camera. If I were on a tighter budget I would not hesitate to consider the D40. My main goals were to take better pictures, faster than my Canon A95 P&S. The slow focus and late shutter release of the P&S lost so many great photos that I decided the DSLR was the way to go. Note, the Canon P&S had great picture quality( sometimes a second too late). The D40X is a great camera. I have shot over 500 pictures so far and have liked the way the camera feels and responds. The picture quality is great and the battery life is excellent. I can hand it to my wife who knows nothing about aperture and shutter speed and she will take great pictures. Also I have some older Nikkor lens( manual ) and a flash unit, all work great but all are manual.

Expertise: Intermediate

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Canon A95, Nikon EM,

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I've always used high-end equipment, so I considered the D80 and D200 but decided to spring for the smallest and lightest DSLR Nikon makes and haven't looked back! It lacks a few features of the higher-priced cameras in the Nikon line, but for general shooting it's a convenient extension of my eye and hand with no serious limitations. Build quality seems high, and most of the ergonomics are good. The 18-55 kit lens is excellent if you stop down a bit, and it has good macro capability, as well as weighing -much- less than the more expensive midrange Nikon zooms. If you want more reach, the Nikon 18-70 and 18-135 are sharper wide open, but much heavier and more expensive. Sigma has just added a D40x-compatible version (the HSM designation) of its excellent 17-70 with really close macro capability. For general shooting in good light, though, the kit lens does a more than adequate job. If you're a serious photographer, I recommend using the Aperture priority mode, which lets you shoot fast while keeping a close eye on what the camera's doing. Spend some time with the instruction manual and the menu controls to tweak the settings to get it set up just right for your shooting style, and you'll find you have a sweet little tool. I also recommend Stafford's manual for this camera, in the Magic Lantern series. He writes clearly and gives you his own preferences for many of the settings, with sensible explanations that give you more of a feeling of mastery of the controls. SUMMARY: a lightweight, user-friendly DSLR that gives excellent results with minimal fuss. It has greatly eased the pain of watching support for my extensive Nikon film SLR system (5 bodies, 17 lenses) wither away.

Expertise: Serious amateur for over 40 years

Problems Encountered: None that matter. Viewfinder image is a little on the small side but works fine. The AE lock button is in an awkward place for my hand, but it's not something most of us will use very often.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Nikon film SLRs, Leica RFDR film system, Pentax film SLR system

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I purchased this camera from B&H and the experience was as simple and painless as you would expect it to be. The camera is well made and with the kit lens it takes nice pictures in auto and manual focus modes. The camera's features provide the user with nearly infinite creativity in their picture taking.

Expertise: Serious amateur

Problems Encountered: The kit lens is good but in low light situations the autofocus can be slow. The lens selection for this camera is slim, even with the Nikon brand. This camera lacks the internal lens auto focus motor thus the lens must have an internal focus motor to allow the camera and lens to operate in the autofocus modesotherwise the lens must be manually focused.

Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Minolta manual SLRs, Sony FD97 digital

Items I Recommend: Nikon AF-S or Sigma HSM lenses

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I got this Camera from B&H for my Jewelry product shots. The lens come with it during the auto focus makes some noise. I also noticed the Auto mode does not work with fluorescent light sets (The one I got Smith Victor 78Watt triple bulbs). It either shows the color too Grey or too Blue in the back ground. Once I use P mode and manually adjusted white balance it came out alright. If you do night shots, highly recommend to get the Nikon Remote. It's a fun camera to have. If you never own a DSLR, it will require some time for you to figure it out.

Problems Encountered: To change battery, seems a bit of jammed. A bit disappointed it made from Thailand, instead of Japan.

Items I Recommend: Body Armer, Hoya Filter

Comments about D40x Digital Camera Kit with Nikon 18-55mm Lens:

I have been doing digital photography for a while now. Ihave been using point-and-shoot cameras since basically thebeginning of digital photography (my first was a $400 Kodakat 3.2MP!). I finally saved enough money to get the D40x,and let me just say, I LOVE the pictures I can get with it! Yes, the kit lens is lacking somewhat (what else can youexpect from a kit lens?), but it still takes GREAT photoscompared to the point and shoots I have had. It is supereasy to use, and Nikon is not lying when they report thestart up time. I love nature photography, and I was able tocatch a shot of a white-tail deer that I unexpectedly cameupon during one of my hiking adventures. May not soundexciting, but the deer was gone in under 2 seconds. I mustsay, for my first D-SLR, I love it. The clarity and sheerSIZE of the pictures makes them great for messing aroundwith in photoshop. GREAT PRODUCT!

Problems Encountered: No real problems, kit lens isn't the best though. I woulddefinitely suggest spending a little extra and get a betterlens.

Previous Equivalent Items Owned: Nikon Coolpix 5200, Nikon Coolpix 5700, Several Minolta 35MM SLR's

Items I Recommend: A better lens