About D40X

D40X is a very light entry level DSLR from Nikon. When carrying weight is more important than getting the absolutely best possible photo, the D40X is much more useful than a bulky but excellent camera like the D300, D700 or D3.

The most important difference between the D40X and its sibling, the D40, is that the D40X has 10.2 million pixels, while the D40 only has 6.1 million pixels. For many situations there is no reason to aim for more pixels, and in a few situations it is even bad for the image quality. However, all new DSLRs from Nikon have at least 10 million pixels, so it is something we will have to adapt to.

Like other entry-level DSLRs, and most compact cameras, the D40X has a number of "programs", like Portrait, Sport or Close-up, with settings that supposedly are good for particular situations. However, it is very difficult to figure out what kind of settings the camera maker considers good for a particular situation. As experienced users prefer more control, high end cameras do not have this kind of preset programs.

The D40X is reasonably flexible, but Nikon does not seem to think that the user can handle all settings efficiently, so some are half hidden away. To change the ISO, for example, there is no way of doing that without accessing lit up menus or windows on the LCD, which can be embarrassing in some low light situations, where the light potentially disturbs bystanders. For a user who trusts the auto-ISO function, this is of course not a problem.

Like many older DSLRs the D40X does not have Liveview display of the motive on the LCD screen.

The D40X does not support bracketing.

The D40X has only three possible focus points, aligned horizontally. This can be a problem when taking photos of ships at the horizon, as the logical disposition often is to have the ship fairly low on the photo with a lot of sky on top.

The D40X works well with almost all Nikon lenses, even really high-end ones. The ability to change lenses is one of the big advantages of DSLRs compared to compact cameras.

The D40X uses SDHC cards to store images.