Nikon D40 Worth the money or ?????

[pegleglooker]

hey gang,
Ok here's the deal, I currently own a Minolta Dimage Z1. It's a GREAT camera, but I'm looking to upgrade. A friend recommended a Nikon D40 and I have checked them out and they look GREAT !!! But, the cost is $499 for the body and a 18-55mm. I also found a Phoenix 650-2600mm IF MAC 52X lens for $289.95. I am looking for a good SLR that will take quality pixs. There are area's that I can get close to but not enter. So, that is where the BIG lens comes in. Should I do this ?? Is it worth the money ?? Am I buying TOO much camera ?? This is what's in my head and I am asking for a little help from those in the know....

Thankx
PLL

 

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[pegleglooker]

I got word that the Phoenix lens' are ok... True

PLL

 

[ocean man]

Canon, Tamron. nough said!

 

[lamar]

hey gang,
Ok here's the deal, I currently own a Minolta Dimage Z1. It's a GREAT camera, but I'm looking to upgrade. A friend recommended a Nikon D40 and I have checked them out and they look GREAT !!! But, the cost is $499 for the body and a 18-55mm. I also found a Phoenix 650-2600mm IF MAC 52X lens for $289.95. I am looking for a good SLR that will take quality pixs. There are area's that I can get close to but not enter. So, that is where the BIG lens comes in. Should I do this ?? Is it worth the money ?? Am I buying TOO much camera ?? This is what's in my head and I am asking for a little help from those in the know....

Thankx
PLL

Dear pegleglooker;
The Nikon system is OK. Also, the Canon system is OK. When you are purchasing a dSLR camera, you need to remember that you won't be purchasing a camera, rather you will be purchasing a camera system. This is why shopping for the right system can become can nightmare.

I use the Sony/Minolta system. I happen to like Minolta glass and it has benefits not found on the other big name systems. For instance, on Sony cameras, the anti-shake system is built into the camera's body. On Nikons and Canons the anti-shake is built into the lenses. This makes the lenses bigger, heavier and more expensive. With Nikon and Canon lenses, everytime you purchase a lens, you purchase the anti-shake technology. With the Sony/Minolta system you only purchase it when you buy a new camera body. This feature alone makes the Nikon and Canon lenses more expensive.

The same can be stated about auto focus. On the Nikon and Canon lenses, the AF motors are built into the lenses, whereas on the Sony systems the AF motor is built into the camera's body, thus whenever you purchase a Nikon or Canon mount lenses, you are also purchasing a new AF motor. With the Sony/Minolta system, you only purchase the AF motor once.

Because the auto focus motor and the anti-shake system are built into the camera's body by Sony, this means that the lenses are less expensive because there is no need to purchase the same technology over and over. Another area to look at is lighting control.

On the Sony dSLR cameras, the flash unit act as a normal pop-up flash unit, yet it can also do so much more. For example, you can purchase a separate flash unit and use it on the camera's hotshoe flash mount, BUT you can also use the same separate flash unit off-camera! This is achieved via an included stand that the hotshoe flash sits upon. You place the hotshoe mount flash on it's included stand and then you can place it anywhere the light is needed. The pop-up flash then acts as the contoller flash and through the pop-up flash a series of very high speed Morse coded type messages are flashed to the off-camera flash unit.

For example, the camera will determine that the scene is too dark and thus it will out a message to all off-camera flash units stating, "Start flashing now!" When the scene has become properly illuminated, the camera will tell the onboard flash unit "All flashes stop flashing now!" and the flashes will stop flashing. This is a HUGE advantage when attempting to take photographs in tricky lighting environments. You can use as many hotshoe mount flashes as you wish, thus effectively turning your camera system into a highly portable and inexpensive camera studio.

Minolta invented this flash control system about 20 years ago, thus the technology is mature and inexpensive. On the other hand, Nikon and Canon have just started using their own versions of this system and thus the technology is more expensive on their systems.

For an example of system pricing, you've stated that the Nikon D40 is currently retailing for 499.00. The D40 is a very old body as it was introduced in 2006. It has no built-in AF motor, thus you can only use the higher priced Nikon mount lenses designated as AF-I or AF-S in auto focus mode with the D40 body. In all other situations you must rely on manual focusing.

Also, the D40 has a 6 megapixel sensor. This is tiny in comparison to the current Sony dSLR cameras at the same price point. Please note that you will be buying a Sony sensor in the DD40 camera, only at much higher premium than you will be paying for a Sony sensor in a Sony camera body.

For 50$ less than the D40, you can purchase a new technology Sony A-390 camera with an 18-55mm lens, a 4GB memory card and a camera bag!
http://www.adorama.com/ISODSLRA390A.html
Please note that the Sony A390 camera uses the new 14.2 megapixel sensor instead of the of much older 6 megapixel sensor that is used in the Nikon D40.

In short, I think the Sony system is the far better deal than anything that Nikon or Canon can build. Understanding that it's not the camera which determines the quality of the image, rather it's the operator BEHIND the camera that determines the quality of an image, the camera choice should become irrelevant. In my film days, I tended to use the cheapest camera system that would allow me the widest range of options. Those cameras included the Nikon F2, the Canon A-1 and F-1, the Minolta SRT-101 and the Ricoh KR-5. They were all good cameras ad they all served their intended purpose.
Your friend;
LAMAR

 

[jfoto]

I would go Nikon over Sony any day of the week and twice on sunday .. I disagree with the above poster on a couple of points.. 1) The Nikon autofocus motor is indeed built into SOME of the Nikon cameras (Nikon D80, Nikon D90, etc.).. also, the off camera remote flash system with Nikon is truly amazing, and not as expensive as led to believe.. just my two cents.

 

[Daedalus]

We went from Nikon to the Sony line of cameras also . The Nikon is a very good camera , no doubt !

But we found that the Sony cameras were just as good and cost a lot less in the long run . And that goes to just about
everything you buy for the camera .
This is something that you need to see for yourself . And go around and look at the photos and ask other people who use them for what they think.

My Son just got a new Sony Camera so he could take Videos with it. The older model Sony did not take video. The Nikon that you are looking at did not either , that is in less they have upgraded it.

The main this we found was that both cameras took great photos , and that the Sony did do great macro shots like you are looking for. I use to take photos of bugs in the garden , don't know why , but I could get so close a shot that it looked like the bug was in the lens . And the colors were great !

You might go down to a store and take a look at both and see what you think as either one will be a good camera !
And look at the lens and other items for the camera that you might want , and look at the cost of both . Also your Sony will use most of Minolta lens , not all but most as Sony bought Minolta years ago .