need help purchasing a Nikon
Mike LeBlanc
Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
I have liked Nikons for awhile now and I have been wanting to buy one. Currently I have a Canon S3 IS which has limited me allot! I usually shoot flowers, birds & hopefully more DGrin challenges. I have no idea what to expect from either camera and at this point I have no plans to purchase any other lenses. A few minutes ago I was convinced the D60 was for me "over" the D40. But I might have read too many reviews because I came upon this review and now I am having second thoughts. I was hoping to get some input on this review I just read. Thanx!!!
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The Nikon D60 is a "sucker" camera sold mostly to people who are not professional photographers, but who are impressed by meaningless megapixels. Megapixels have nothing to do with picture quality. The less expensive D40 is the same thing as the D60, but better. The D40 is the professional's vacation camera. It's what I take when I'm on vacation or with family, too. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The D60 exists to allow Nikon to sell a camera in the $750 price range to less experienced people who feel better spending $750 on a camera than spending $470 on the superior D40. If you're smart enough to be researching cameras from people like me who are here to help you instead of trying to sell you an expensive camera, just get the D40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If you want to spend $750, get a D40 and more lenses or flash. For instance, for sports, get a D40 and the excellent 70-300mm VR, or get the less expensive, and also excellent, 55-200mm VR for general telephoto use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I wouldn't buy a D60 or a D40x. I would buy, and actually did buy, the superior and least expensive D40, which today sells for only about $470 complete with an absolutely excellent non-VR lens. The least expensive D40 has twice the sensitivity to light (ISO 200 base vs. ISO 100 base) and over twice the flash sync speed (1/500 vs. 1/200). The other features, like pixels and dust reduction, are just fluff. I've never had a dirt problem with my D40, and I change lenses a lot and have made 25,000 shots on my D40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Pixels are a pain. Do you know that I own a $5,000 D3, and usually shoot it set down to 6 MP, not its native 12 MP? [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If you have $1,000 you may want to look at the D80 if it's going to be your only camera, but honestly, I use cameras all day, every day, and when I go on vacation, I prefer my D40, not the D80.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The Nikon D60 is a "sucker" camera sold mostly to people who are not professional photographers, but who are impressed by meaningless megapixels. Megapixels have nothing to do with picture quality. The less expensive D40 is the same thing as the D60, but better. The D40 is the professional's vacation camera. It's what I take when I'm on vacation or with family, too. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The D60 exists to allow Nikon to sell a camera in the $750 price range to less experienced people who feel better spending $750 on a camera than spending $470 on the superior D40. If you're smart enough to be researching cameras from people like me who are here to help you instead of trying to sell you an expensive camera, just get the D40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If you want to spend $750, get a D40 and more lenses or flash. For instance, for sports, get a D40 and the excellent 70-300mm VR, or get the less expensive, and also excellent, 55-200mm VR for general telephoto use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I wouldn't buy a D60 or a D40x. I would buy, and actually did buy, the superior and least expensive D40, which today sells for only about $470 complete with an absolutely excellent non-VR lens. The least expensive D40 has twice the sensitivity to light (ISO 200 base vs. ISO 100 base) and over twice the flash sync speed (1/500 vs. 1/200). The other features, like pixels and dust reduction, are just fluff. I've never had a dirt problem with my D40, and I change lenses a lot and have made 25,000 shots on my D40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Pixels are a pain. Do you know that I own a $5,000 D3, and usually shoot it set down to 6 MP, not its native 12 MP? [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If you have $1,000 you may want to look at the D80 if it's going to be your only camera, but honestly, I use cameras all day, every day, and when I go on vacation, I prefer my D40, not the D80.[/FONT]
Camera : Nikon D40
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Some will say Video is not necessary but I have read some articles by Nikon reviewers and all have agreed that it adds another demension to a photographer. That's just my opinion.
Good Luck
I read his review and agree with him now that I own a D40. I use a D300 and a D200 backup for a lot of my photography but I get tired of the weight to lug around at times. So I thought I would try the D40. I really enjoy using the camera. It is very light weight for everday use and the kit lens is not bad. I purchased the 55-200 VR to go along with it and now I have a system that is easy on the muscles. Depending on how large you plan to print you should be happy with the camera.
Click3, welcome to the Digital Grin.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
A really good camera is the D70....many a person used them before going to the D200.....and there are still people looking for used ones to have them turned into IR cams......
I would suggest a D70 or D70X because it uses CF cards (I hate the size of SD cards for m MP3 player and I will be in a world of hurt of they stop making dslr's to accept them as I have 6 - 8gb and 2 -2gb cards now) ..... and then a move up to a D300 when the time is right.....or if you can afford the D300 / kit lens....go for it and grow with it.............
Well I woud like to just have fun right now & see where it takes me. I would like to be able to enter the DGrin challenges and have some control over my shots, which I don't have allot of with my S3 IS. I think right now I would prefer to just go with the D40 because allot of people say its a fun camera, until I figure out where I am going with my photography. I'm still unclear though as to whether I should go with the D40x or just stick to what the majority has suggested in the D40.
See for yourself, particularly this gallery shot the first few days with the gear. All straight from the camera, no post-processing whatsoever. I'm rusty on composition and lighting, but having a blast... Note, others shot all the sailing photos (and they're not edited), I just handed the camera over, set up (I'm in them).
I've been ordering prints from AdoramaPix.com (also based on his recommendation), on the metallic paper, up to 11 x 17, and have been impressed with what I get back. A bit less so with prints from SmugMug, to be honest.
The thing he said that really struck me was something about it being the eye and mind of the photographer, not the hardware... Sounded like something the art teachers used to say!
I was impressed enough with the results I got right out of the box based on Rockwell's advice, that I sent him a few bucks. I hardly touched an SLR of any sort in probably 10+ years. Played with a D70 a bit last summer and thought about buying a used one, but the D40 is SO much lighter and easier to carry. Plus it's cheaper & has a warranty!
Nikon D40, 18-55, 70-300
RockHead-MA, welcome to the Digital Grin.
Thanks for the comments.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Using Canon I did not expect this as I can even use an adaptor for old screw mount (M42) lenses that I already had for an earlier film camera and still meter by using aperature priority. I DO have to focus manually.
Jane B.
Woo hoo.. nothing in the house is safe tonight!
Have fun with the camera!
www.rfcphotography.com
A simple search reveals the sync speed to be correct. My D50 also has sync speed of 1/500.
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-D40-Digital-SLR
Wow, I stand corrected - I didn't know of any consumer/prosumer dSLR that had a native 1/500 sync speed. Wait a minute - now I know why the D40/D50 have a 1/500 sync speed - they have an electronic shutter vs. the mechanical shutter of the D60/D80 and above. Wow, you learn something new every day in this forum...
www.rfcphotography.com