I bought this Camera for a throw away price of about Rs 20000 from a auction website in India. Mostly I wanted a ’professional camera’ to shoot macro photos, food and landscapes. I’ve been using it close to a year now and I’m happy to say it’s been a good investment for budding and amateur photographers like me.
Though it’s only 6 mega pixels, the quality of photos are awesome and life-like (people photos and in low-light conditions). I had done quite some research into DSLRs and went for the D40 after I read many articles which pointed that Mega Pixels don’t matter (this is a marketing ploy used by camera companies)
What’s good about the D40:
Small and Lightweight - Among other DSLRs this is perhaps the smallest and the easiest to handle.
Price - Around 20k and thereabouts - this is attractive for those wanting to invest in a good DSLR and into photography
Battery Life - I’ve used this camera for over 2 continuous day of ’snapping’ - at over a 1000 photos and it still has some more battery life to spare. Unlike normal digital cameras, it uses less of the LCD display. Even when you leave your camera ’on’, it doesn’t consume any much of the battery
The Photos - Friends were awestruck at the quality of the photos which are incomparable to point and shoot digital cameras. Even great is the quality of night shots; the small flash provides enough light even in a completely dark environment.
Watch out for:
No LCD preview - 99% of DSLRs do not have a live preview like that in a normal digital camera. In a DSLR you have to use the viewfinder (eyepiece) to shoot. Many people insist on using a live preview, that’s why I included this point here.
Size - Though it is small compared to other DSLRs, it is still big when you look at pocket sized digital cameras today. This is not a camera which you can carry around in your pocket
Video - As far as I know, video recording is not present in any DSLR.
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Should you buy it? - If you want to take great shots of prople, places, food or anything else and want to learn photography - this is the camera for you.
If you just want to take snaps of people and use it occassionaly buy a point and shoot digital camera