It was slightly lower key than the launch of the D80. There were no countdowns on the website, no teaser movies but there were certainly rumours. Now it's official - the D40 has been launched. At ThinkCamera we had a hands on sneak preview before the launch and got to try out the camera - read on to find out what the big deal is.
So what's new?
It's small, cheap and easy to use. That's it.
Actually, it's very small. We have seen bridge cameras here at ThinkCamera that are larger than the D40 with kit lens and that's far from accidental. This is a camera that hopes to steal market share from the bridge and compact sector rather than the existing DSLR market.
The Nikon D40 is scheduled to sell for less than any digital SLR from Nikon ever. The whole thrust of the campaign is that if you want a DSLR from a top tier manufacturer, you're going to want a D40. In fact, with a recommended retail price of £449 complete with lens you'll be hard pressed to find many DSLRs cheaper. That's a bold move for Nikon - previously they have presented themselves as quality at a price. The question is can they make the transition to a bargain camera manufacturer without losing their reputation for quality? Sharp eyed observers may note that the D50 is currently available for less than this since you can buy it without a lens for around the £380 mark. If you want one then snap it up because the D40 replaces the D50 - there are some still in the “system” but once those dry up there will be no more.
Everything about the D40 has been designed to appeal to the enthusiast. Following the lead of the D50 there is only one control wheel rather than Nikon's favoured 2 but the refinements go further. We'll look more at this when we review the D40 in depth but the plan is that this will be a camera you can just pick up and shoot with. There are advanced modes there when you are ready for them but getting going is easy. A beautiful example of this is when you change a control such as metering pattern. A screen turns on to show you the type of picture you may like to take with matrix metering or spot or centre weighted. The same is true of practically all the controls including some very clever screens that show the effect of flash compensation.
The specs
Nikon would like you to think of it as a stripped down D80 but it's probably easier to think of it as a second generation D50. There was a big chart showing how features are migrating down from the D80 rather than up from the D50 so it's more like a D50 plus what they learnt from making the D80.
Here are the headlines you need to know.
- No top plate LCD. The whole interface of the camera has been redesigned so that you don't need a top plate. This centralises all the information onto the huge 2.5 inch monitor - just like a bridge camera.
- 6 million pixel sensor. No surprise at all there - this is an entry level and 6MP is, in our opinion, plenty good enough with the right processing and lens.
- A change to the lens mount!!! Well, not really. Of course the D40 has the Nikon F mount which has been a faithful design for years. This means that most Nikon F lenses ever made will fit the camera. However, not all of them will focus. The D40 has dropped the motor in the body which allows it to autofocus “regular” AF-D lenses. This saves bulk, weight and of course money. However, it means that you will only be able to autofocus with AF-S and AF-I lenses. Many people will see this as a backwards step since the Nikon range only currently includes 20 fully compatible lenses. It's likely that Nikon will move towards all their lenses being AF-S so this range will grow but many people will be a little sad that their old faithful 50mm 1.8 will not autofocus on the new Nikon.
- No anti dust system. Nikon were actually a little defensive on this one. It's easy to see why. All the entry level offerings from other manufacturers include some form of anti dust system and a common fear from first time DSLR buyers is that they will damage their camera trying to clean it or run up huge bills having it cleaned professionally. Nikon did explain why they believe they don't need an anti dust system though - the whole camera is designed not to create dust in the first place - a common misconception is that dust in a DSLR come from the outside. In fact it's often left over from manufacturing or created as the parts inside grind against each other. Nikon have designed the shutter mechanism so that it produces very little dust (actually they said “no dust”) and the whole mechanism is “run in” before assembly. Various parts are designed with an anti static coating and finally the low pass filter (which sits over the CCD and is where dust would collect) has a gap behind it. Any dust on the filter will be out of focus and so much less noticeable. Whether this stands up in the real world remains to be seen but it's much easier for Canon and Sony to explain why users don't need to worry about dust in their cameras.
- There's a new battery. The EN-EL3e simply won't fit in the D40 and so it uses the EN-EL9 which according to TIPA standards will give you 470 shots from a charge. It will come as no surprise that it uses SD memory (including SDHC which allows up to 32GB cards to be used) and that it has an APS-C size sensor just like all other Nikon DSLRs.
- Did I mention it's small? Really small. People with big hands might struggle but the camera is better laid out than most bridge cameras I've come across.
Lenses and other goodies
Kit lenses have kind of settled down to an 18 - 55 zoom lens and the D40 is no exception. The only real surprise is that the D40 will ship with a Mark II version of the popular 18 - 55 AF-S DX zoom. The mark II seems to be very similar to the mark I - the major difference appears to be a faster quieter motor.
There will also be a brand new flashgun for the D40. As Nikon were quick to point out, it makes little sense to use the camera with one of the existing flash guns (though of course you can if you want) since the D40 is actually smaller than the SB-800 flashgun. The SB400 is a much smaller flashgun which runs on two AA batteries (rather than the four of its big brothers). It has a swivel and tilt head but only produces about twice the power of the pop up flash with a guide number of 22 (ISO 100 in metres). This flash gun will only work with cameras compatible with the creative lighting system but cannot be used as part of an advanced wirless lighting setup. To translate the Nikon speak - if you want to use off camera wireless TTL flash then you'll still need to buy an SB600 or SB800. The SB400 has a recommended price of £149.
Nikon also took the opportunity to mention that the 70 - 300 VR lens announced with the D80 has now officially been delayed by to months. If you're lucky you may see one in December (since by now you probably figured the promised October release wasn't going to happen).
Yes, but what's it like?
The D40 will be advertised with the slogan “it's a Nikon pure and simple” and that's exactly what it is. Pick it up and it's just like any other Nikon you've ever handled - except smaller.
There's no doubt about it that the display on the LCD is gorgeous. Even without gimmicks such as the ability to use your own picture as wallpaper it's clear, easy to follow and very very pretty. For this alone Nikon may just have cracked it. It will be very easy for people who have never picked up a DSLR before to start using the D40. More importantly it will be a camera you can grow with. It has all the advanced features you need (full manual control with creative lighting system and manual flash compensation for the hard core techies) but gently guides you in their use. There's a rather lovely display that shows you the aperture as an opening iris and shutter speed as a speedometer. You don't need to remember that 2.8 is a wider aperture than 5.6 because the graphic on the screen shows you.
Prices and availability
Well, the rumours were true. The recommended retail price of the Nikon D40 with 18 - 55 mark II lens is £449.99. I'd expect that to drop a little as the retailers start to cut each others' throats but that price represents an pretty good deal - I'd imagine profit margins will be rather thin. That's all the more impressive when you remember that it's just 4 years since Canon stunned the camera world with a DSLR for under £1,000.
The D40 will only be available with the kit lens at least at first. That makes a lot of sense when you consider the target market but a little annoying for those looking to buy a second body for their D50. The lens will retail at a recommended £149.99 so Nikon would like you to think that you are getting the D40 for £300. If it was available for that then I'd buy one tomorrow.
Nikon have been criticised in the past for supply problems with their new cameras and lenses (the availability of the 18 - 200 VR is something of a running joke) but all the promises are that the Nikon D40 will be in the shops in time for Christmas.
I spoke to some of the dealers who will be selling the D40 at the launch. There was a feeling that Nikon may just have the killer entry level camera here - the only concerns were availability and price. If Nikon could have delivered the D40 two months ago for 50 pounds less they would be laughing all the way to the bank and the top of the camera charts this Christmas. As it is, it will be very interesting to see how much market share they really capture.
Nikon D40 specification
| Mega-pixels: | 6.1 |
Photo: | JPEG, RAW (NEF) |
| Lens Mount: | Nikon F mount |
RAW: | Yes |
| LCD: | 2.5 inch |
FPS: | 2.5 |
| Dimensions: | 126 x 64 x 94mm |
Shutter: | 30 sec to 1/4000 |
| Weight: | 475g |
Exposure: | ISO 200 to 1600 |
| Storage: | SD, SDHC |
Movie: | No |
| Battery: | Li-Ion EN-EL9 |
Microphone: | No |
| Interface: | USB 2.0, AV |
PictBridge: | Yes |
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