Nikon D40X

Just recently purchased a Nikon D40X for my wife, for her birthday. She already had a Cybershot and it is nice but she wanted a "real camera" and spent a lot of time researching the D40. Opted for the D40X for the extra mega pixels, 10.2 instead of 6.1. I like the fact that it is an SLR and that it has a nice sized screen on the back for menu access and picture review. It is light enough and the "package" I purchased included a set of lenses. I wound up upgrading the telephoto lens to the AV version for an extra $50. We both are getting older and are not as steady as we used to be so I am hoping this will help on those long shots.

So far it is working out nice enough. It cycles fast enough to do 3 fps for 3 or 4 seconds and can go longer with faster SD cards. At max resolution I was told to expect 200 +/- pics on a 2 gig card. We'll see. That was a bit of a disappointment, that the cards for the Nikon are different from those used in the Cypershot so back to the electronics store for more. I like the weight and feel of it and just love that SLR sound it makes when you take a picture.

Update: 11/6/07

We have been using this camera for a bit now and we continue to like it. The menus can be a little complicated because there are just so many setting you can adjust and control. It supports multiple menu styles and has a programmable button that you can setup for that thing that you want to do that this is not already a button for. Most people use it for the timer but as it is programmable, you can use it for whatever you want. We got the camera from Ritz and the package I purchased included a set of 18 classes that cover the camera as well as things like photo editing and taking different types of photographs. We have only been to a couple but so far they are nicely organized and useful.

You can use the camera in full auto mode or select from about 10 different preset specialties like portrait, close up, action and full manual. The picture are very nice and we can tell the difference in quality between pictures taken with this verses the CyperShot (as you would well hope based on the higher pixel density). The battery seems to last a good long time and we did wind up getting very close to 200 photos on that memory stick. We did have a small issue getting some of the on-screen setting changed but the class we took walked us through it so no problem. The biggest complaint we have about the camera so far is that we had a real problem finding the menu setting that allowed us to adjust how long the LCD displayed the menus when you were using the camera. The default time is very short and the documentation was not clear on how to set it for a longer delay. The instructor of the class knew about this and walked everyone through setting it to a longer display time. Like I said earlier, we like this camera and so far it is a real winner with us.

Update: 1/14/08

We continue to have fun with this camera. We have taken a class or two and expect to take some more. The first class was on the basic D40X (using it, menu access, configuration changes, changing lenses and what all of the buttons and options are for). Was very useful if only for showing us where to go to check the default menu timeout (make it longer). I really like the 10 MPix of this camera. It allows even a "fair" shot to be zoomed and cropped a lot, to improve it. I also really like it being all digital. We have an HP all-in-one as well as a dedicated HP photo printer (4 X 6) and create many of our own prints. We got the camera at Ritz and that is where the classes are given. They have a lot of nice services there along with the cameras and accessories. We took our own Christmas photo and turned it into a card at Ritz. They are knowledgeable and know their stuff. I would like a better telephoto lens for this camera and will most likely pick one up this year.