Keep or Sell D40

I chose to sell my D40 and buy the D80. It's not that I "needed" the upgrade but that I "wanted" to be able to use my 35 f/2 and 50 f/1.8 primes that I already owned. I enjoy taking pictures of my dogs and the ability to take natural light photos indoors without a flash was my goal.

I tried using my primes on the D40 but after 30 minutes of try to focus on moving animals, the headache that ensued wasn't worth the effort.

rugger88 said:

alemmo said:

I'm not sure i understand your reasoning for keeping the D40. You
state you would take the D40 on vacations and travel and such. But
buying a new and better camera either the D80 or D90.

That doesn't make sense to me. If I am going on vacation or
somewhere i have never been before and may never be again I would
want to take my best camera, the one that will take the best pictures
possible.

Click to expand...

This is pretty easy to understand if you ask me. Why don't people
take medium format (4x5) cameras on vacation? They might only be
there once and they should want to get the best images possible. I
find the D40 so easy to carry around and use like a P&S, I would like
use the D80/90 more indoors with fast primes. I think I agree with
most of the others and will keep my D40, I think it's worth more than
the few hundred bucks I'd get for it.

Click to expand...

Um ok buddy. The weight difference between a D80 and a D40 is 5 ounces!!! Are you that much of a nancy boy that you can't handle that? lol

A 4x5 medium format camera comparison to the D80 and D40 comparision is absurd.

I think the 18-135 is great. Its very sharp, much lighter than the 18-200 and to be honest I can not tell the difference in image quality between the two. The 18-135 does have a little more barrel distortion but it doesn't bother me a bit. The only thing the 18-200 has is its slightly longer reach and VR. LIke I said I do most of my shooting outdoors so I dont have much need for VR. For low light indoor shots I bought the cheap Nikon 1.8 50mm with the extra money I had after selling the 18-200. I also like the fact that I don't have to manual focus this great little lens. Bought the D80 and kit lens brand new for $850 from a guy on Amazon.

and you called me a jerk in the Leica forum. Run and check yourself out in the mirror!

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida

You might want to keep the D40 just for the smaller RAW files. If they're similar to the D50s, they should be less of a computer hog and nice to work, even at high ISOs.

If you get chance take a look through a D80 viewfinder. It's awesome ! Big
and bright and the D80 is not that heavy at all. Pick up a 5d and you will feel
a huge weight difference just to show you how lite the D80 really is.

http://dwayneoakes.zenfolio.com

Take care Dwayne Oakes

I'd keep it but that is just me. As you say, you won't get much for it used. Refurbs with a 1 year warranty are going for $300 plus or minus (body only) so I have to expect regular used are a bit less?

I actually just bought a D40X refurb to go with my D50. It is not a lot smaller but for the price I want to try it and see if it will be a little better for bike rides and dog walking, etc. I still suspect I will use the D50 when go out to specifically take photos. I should have it this week maybe.

It all depends upon the person, though, and I can easily see someone saying to sell it.

--
Stu
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stujoe/

.

For what it's worth, the D40 was my first DSLR, and I sold it thinking I needed something better.

I regret selling it.

There is a certain magic to the out of camera images that little camera produces, compared to the 10+ megapixel cameras out now. I was looking through all the photos I've taken with all the cameras I've owned, and the D40's jpegs with their warm, contrasty images just jump off the screen. I haven't been able to reproduce that with any other camera except an Olympus I've tried recently, without significant photoshopping.

However, if you're buying the D90, and it does indeed have the same sensor and ISO performance of the D300, there is probably little point in keeping the D40, except as a backup for low light shooting.