Sister thinking of buying a Nikon D40

[dhutch]

Is this a sensable buy?

Shes mid way through her lower six, studying art (and chem and english) and has decied she wants a DSLR.

She takes a few photos with the family compact (optio s5i) and they show some sort of tallent, although i can get better shots off it more reliably.

I worry that for the money (or lack of) she would better of with a decent point and shoot. But maybe she wouldnt learn as much?

I dont know, a D70 might be better, but its out of budget unless she does a lot of sweet talking. Canon EOS 400D?

Also had the Canon G9 and G10 mentioned by a freind.



Daniel

[Simpo Two]

dhutch said:

I worry that for the money (or lack of) she would better of with a decent point and shoot. But maybe she wouldnt learn as much?

Indeed, and there's no upgrade path as she learns.

dhutch said:

I dont know, a D70 might be better, but its out of budget unless she does a lot of sweet talking.

The D70 came out in 2004 - I'd have thought a body is no more than £150 now, maybe less. It's a perfectly decent camera (I did my first few weddings with one). By modern standards the screen is small and it's noisy over ISO400, but heck, for £150 you can't complain!

[andy-xr]

I took a D40 to New York and back as a first SLR, with the kit 18-55 and a 70-200. Never done anything with a camera previous to that other than a £100 compact that was always on auto

D40 is a great choice, nice starting point given the price they're knocking around for now, it's not the end of the world if it's just a fad. D80 for something more long term

[eightseventhree]

There is always a lot of love for the Nikon D40, the main argument that people give against it, is that you have to get a specific lens for it. More and more companies are doing the AF-S lenses or equivalent so i dont think thats much of an issue now!

Take a look at my photo stream of Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewjamesroberts/ all done with a d40 with 18-55 and 55-200

Edited by eightseventhree on Friday 24th October 08:38