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Dave Lewis
Guest
"spelled" in the USA.
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Dave Lewis
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Dave Lewis
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Nikon D40 Review is up !!!
- Thread starter Leonel Eleutrio
- Start date
I am here all the time, wandering different forums, and chime in from time to time.
You include battery life in most of the DSLR reviews. I am just wondering why you don't include one in here.
You include battery life in most of the DSLR reviews. I am just wondering why you don't include one in here.
The whole image softness issue that Phil has raised is indeed by design, and is not a problem at all. The manual in the K10D explains:
Natural Image Tone - "Images are finished naturally and suitable for retouching".
Bright Image Tone - "Images are finished brightly, with high contrast and sharpness".
The K10D, being targeted to more advanced users, defaults to Natural. Phil tried adjusting the sharpness in the "Natural" setting, but it would not give him the desired results. However, it turns out that changing the setting to "Bright" does give results that he likes. At least that is what he said in the review of the K100 which defaults to "Bright" and gives just about the same exact results. See this post for the see that, and press the back button when you are satisfied.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21334660
It is clear then that Pentax chose to use the Natural image tone so that users can adjust it in their computers to their hearts content, applying whatever level of sharpness they enjoy. So, what you get out of the camera in the default mode is not meant to make you go Wow when you look at it zoomed 100% in a monitor. Other camera makers chose to apply more sharpening to their pictures out of the camera. But again, if you like sharp pictures out of the camera, with no tweaking on your part needed, simply set it to Bright and adjust the contrast and stauration accordingly.
Why Phil insists on ignoring what the manual states regarding the intent of this setting (to say nothing of the SR issue) is beyond me. Personally, I think he was a little rushed to get this review out the door (or he simply has a different Philosophy than Pentax and its community).
Oh, and you probably will be interested in the K10D vs D200 RAW comparison:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21286534
Natural Image Tone - "Images are finished naturally and suitable for retouching".
Bright Image Tone - "Images are finished brightly, with high contrast and sharpness".
The K10D, being targeted to more advanced users, defaults to Natural. Phil tried adjusting the sharpness in the "Natural" setting, but it would not give him the desired results. However, it turns out that changing the setting to "Bright" does give results that he likes. At least that is what he said in the review of the K100 which defaults to "Bright" and gives just about the same exact results. See this post for the see that, and press the back button when you are satisfied.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21334660
It is clear then that Pentax chose to use the Natural image tone so that users can adjust it in their computers to their hearts content, applying whatever level of sharpness they enjoy. So, what you get out of the camera in the default mode is not meant to make you go Wow when you look at it zoomed 100% in a monitor. Other camera makers chose to apply more sharpening to their pictures out of the camera. But again, if you like sharp pictures out of the camera, with no tweaking on your part needed, simply set it to Bright and adjust the contrast and stauration accordingly.
Why Phil insists on ignoring what the manual states regarding the intent of this setting (to say nothing of the SR issue) is beyond me. Personally, I think he was a little rushed to get this review out the door (or he simply has a different Philosophy than Pentax and its community).
Oh, and you probably will be interested in the K10D vs D200 RAW comparison:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21286534
ChemDoc, now who is the mean one exactly?
NickMJr
Senior Member
Perhapse those prices are higher due to much higher import taxes that are added to the price before it hits the shelves. You dont see on your reciept such as you would with a sales Tax.
http://nickmjr.smugmug.com/
Nick M
Not complaining about the K10D. Only in that the mention of "bargain" in the D40, while the K100D is just the camera the pentax should have made years ago. They both look like really nice cameras for the entry level.
Its a fine review. Nikon's choices are interesting here. I'm all in favor of anything that erodes Canon (my camera company to date AE-1P, A-1, 300D, 400D) market share. Good competition makes for better cameras for me. I hope the they fix the grip next time so that I don't have to trade in all my lenses and switch.
For now, that all the review chips have fallen, I think I'm ok with my selection. Though I wish I knew if it was SR in body that is marginally effective on the Pentax/Sony or if it is IS in general. I respect phill's tests but I wonder how different lens IS is to body IS. I've only had IS in my Panasonic to date and there it seems more helpful than the SR reviews would indicate.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbryce/
Its a fine review. Nikon's choices are interesting here. I'm all in favor of anything that erodes Canon (my camera company to date AE-1P, A-1, 300D, 400D) market share. Good competition makes for better cameras for me. I hope the they fix the grip next time so that I don't have to trade in all my lenses and switch.
For now, that all the review chips have fallen, I think I'm ok with my selection. Though I wish I knew if it was SR in body that is marginally effective on the Pentax/Sony or if it is IS in general. I respect phill's tests but I wonder how different lens IS is to body IS. I've only had IS in my Panasonic to date and there it seems more helpful than the SR reviews would indicate.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbryce/
jimr
Forum Pro
Pentax itself, will tell you that the SR on the K10D is superior to the SR on the K100D. Phil didn't exactly rave about the SR on the K100D. From the dpreview K100D test;
"Utilizing the K100D's Shake Reduction did improve things, but only slightly."
"Utilizing the K100D's Shake Reduction did improve things, but only slightly."
Carnildo
Leading Member
Oh, we all know that Phil is in the pockets of Canon and Nikon. After all, there's no way an impartial reviewer would have given the EOS 1Ds-MkII a "Highly recommended" while at the same time giving the K10D a mere "Highly recommended (just)".
Would you complain to Nikon because its software does not run well under Linux? Well, maybe you could. But, the point is, would it be reasonable to expect Nikon's software to run under Linux when it clearly says in the manual (I assume) that the software is meant to run in a different OS?
Well, Pentax manual says:
"The Shake Reduction function may not fully reduce camera shake when
taking close-up shots. In this case, it is recommended that the Shake
Reduction function be turned off and the camera be used with a tripod."
Of course, Phil has the right to test Pentax Shake Reduction system under any parametters he wants. But, do you think it is reasonable for him to expect good results from it when tested outside its intended range?
J
jeff-c
Guest
I need to check the user manual but I recall "default" mode is the "graphic" mode as I didn't like it and changed to the classic mode.
roogie
New member
I went to my local shop and had a hard time deciding between the D40 and the D50, for my uses the D40 is going to be my new camera. Thanks for the review.
007peter
Forum Pro
I never thought I'll hear Larry embracing a D40. If Larry can love a D40, then Jews and Palastian can get along, oil and water can mixed, maybe world peace isn't just a fantasy.
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FANBOY(i)sm is a NEUROSIS, Get Help!
DigitalPowerShot
Senior Member
"who needs 8MP?" 
)))) Very objective!
...and the ISO comparison: no word about the superior 350D (wich is discontinued) !!
Phil's reviews are not that objective and honest as they used to be.
Simon is more objective in this respect.
Where is the sentence...?: "the camera is not bad at all, but the competition had a very good 6MP (entry level) camera years ago. Now entry level cameras have 10MP!!!)
)))) Very objective!...and the ISO comparison: no word about the superior 350D (wich is discontinued) !!
Phil's reviews are not that objective and honest as they used to be.
Simon is more objective in this respect.
Where is the sentence...?: "the camera is not bad at all, but the competition had a very good 6MP (entry level) camera years ago. Now entry level cameras have 10MP!!!)
P
Phil Askey
Guest
I see you've swallowed the megapixel pill whole.
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
--"who needs 8MP?"
...and the ISO comparison: no word about the superior 350D (wich is
discontinued) !!
Phil's reviews are not that objective and honest as they used to be.
Simon is more objective in this respect.
Where is the sentence...?: "the camera is not bad at all, but the
competition had a very good 6MP (entry level) camera years ago. Now
entry level cameras have 10MP!!!)
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
jimr
Forum Pro
Exactly the reaction I'd expect from a Canon owner.
"who needs 8MP?"
...and the ISO comparison: no word about the superior 350D (wich is
discontinued) !!
Phil's reviews are not that objective and honest as they used to be.
Simon is more objective in this respect.
Where is the sentence...?: "the camera is not bad at all, but the
competition had a very good 6MP (entry level) camera years ago. Now
entry level cameras have 10MP!!!)
Dave Oddie
Senior Member
Maybe he has but I think you should have made a bigger fuss about the lens incompatibility issue to the extent of knocking it down to recommended in its final rating.
You have mentioned more than once Canon tend to deliberately miss out features and I think that even applied to the latest A6xx review posted as well as to the original 300D d-slr review.
Well Nikon are now doing exactly the same thing with their d-slrs.
The D200 is the only camera that is within the realms of the reasonably affordable (though still too expensive for me) that offers full backward lens compatability.
The D80 while it will focus older AF lenses it won't meter with other older lenses so saying as the review does that Nikon suggest (I think) go to the D80 for better compatibility is not strictly true.
The D40 won't focus or meter many older lenses.
There is a clear hierarchy here just as there is with Canon not implementing certain features they could easily do in their entry level d-slr.
I think this is a significant development (if that is the right word) and who is to say if Nikon thinks they can get away with it they won't drop backward AF compatibility with the next generation D80 level camera?
One of the things Nikon play on is that their lens mount is backwards compatible with old lenses but with the D40 they have thrown that out of the window and the possible implications of this are not to be dismissed lightly IMO.
One of the reasons I didn't buy a D80 is the fact I could not get a Tamron adaptall-2 mount off e-bay for my mirror lens and have it meter when attached to the camera and I think the D40 casts a big doubt over Nikon's future commitment to backwards lens compatibility to the extent it is no longer a reason to buy into the system.
Dave
DigitalPowerShot
Senior Member
Well, you get it when you get it (right?) ;-)
I was under the impression that this is a camera that cannot autofocus with 75% of Nikon's own lenses and 99,9% of third party lenses. That means you have a cheap camera that only takes a few and expensive lenses (at the currens AF-S line-up). I am not saying anything about the further quality of the cam but the above alone should disqualify it for a highly recommended IMHO.
RW
RW
Erik37
Senior Member
or, about the 400D, "the camera is not bad at all, but the
competition has had useable hand grips and spot metering for many years."
MP's is just one property of many.
Just my two oere
Erik from Sweden
competition has had useable hand grips and spot metering for many years."
MP's is just one property of many.
Just my two oere
Erik from Sweden
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