Which is the better camera

--The D40 or the new D3000
I was pretty set on the d3000 till I read Ken Rockwells reviews

Thinking I might go with Nikon D40 now . I am not opposed to Canon or Sony , but have heard a lot of good things about the D40 . This is my first DSLR so I want one that will be easy to learn and use , will be taking mostly fast action shots . out side in the sun light and weather . Thanks for your guidance
Jod

Jody Mikles said:

--The D40 or the new D3000
I was pretty set on the d3000 till I read Ken Rockwells reviews

Thinking I might go with Nikon D40 now . I am not opposed to Canon or Sony , but have heard a lot of good things about the D40 . This is my first DSLR so I want one that will be easy to learn and use , will be taking mostly fast action shots . out side in the sun light and weather . Thanks for your guidance
Jod

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For your the d3000 is definitely better. Ken Rockwell has a lot of useful info. But some of what he says should be taken with a grain of salt. I appreciate what he does. I wish even more people took that much trouble to put info out there. But some of his conclusions (especially the love of the d40, which is great but not GREAT).

If you know a little bit and want to learn more about photography and this is more of a entry in to becoming a photographer then the d40 makes sense.

If you are new to photography in general, and would like to learn then the d3000 is a better choice.

The d3000 is really unique. It has built in tutorials and explanations that no other camera has. Plus it is a excellent bargain. Additionally, The menu system has been tweaked to make it easier on people used to point and shoot cameras. A really good starter camera, but enough controls so that once you master it, you will not automatically start jonesing after a d90.

The d3000 normally comes with a 18-55 VR lens, the VR bit is important. It means "vibration reduction". The lens is stabilized. Make sure the kit (be it a d40, d60, d3000 or other brand) comes with at least 1 stabilized lens. Do not be in too much of a hurry to buy a bazillion dollars worth of lenses. Instead learn to use the camera then in the process you will get a feel for what sorts of lenses you would like to eventually add.

Jody Mikles said:

--The D40 or the new D3000
I was pretty set on the d3000 till I read Ken Rockwells reviews

Thinking I might go with Nikon D40 now . I am not opposed to Canon or Sony , but have heard a lot of good things about the D40 . This is my first DSLR so I want one that will be easy to learn and use , will be taking mostly fast action shots . out side in the sun light and weather . Thanks for your guidance
Jod

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FYI Ken Rockwell is a nut
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nm/aliens/index.htm

The Nikon D40 is years old, (2005?) - , depending on your budget look at more current DSLR models - Canon 500D, 450D, etc., Nikon 5000D, Pentax K-x,

Thanks very much, this forum is fantastic.
--
Jod

I had the same need as you... photographing fast action, mostly outside, and I decided on the D3000. I've now had it a little over a month, photographing 5 or 6 soccer games and some fall foliage and I could not be happier.

I was a reluctant DSLR buyer having given up my film slr about 12 years ago. Most recently I was using a Canon S5is super zoom, and while it is a pretty nice camera, I was really struggling with fast action shots because its hard to track your subject when the view finder goes blank in between shots. So I finally conceded that I'd have to go back to a SLR and the D3000 is light years ahead of that.

The D3000 is perfect for photos of my kids playing soccer and I'm also looking forward to capturing them during downhill ski races. I find the camera fast... in JPEG mode at normal compression I can fire off at least 40 shots in about 13 seconds. The auto-focus is also fast and accurate and out of 100's I've only had a few that are out of focus, and those were during a soccer game under poor lighting near sunset on a cloudy day. I also got the 55-200 mm stabilized lens which I've exclusively used for the soccer games and I find it to be a pretty darn good lens.

Also see my additional comments about the KR review:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=33502744

Good luck.
Andy

Bjorn_L said:

Jody Mikles wrote:

The d3000 is really unique. It has built in tutorials and explanations that no other camera has. Plus it is a excellent bargain. Additionally, The menu system has been tweaked to make it easier on people used to point and shoot cameras. A really good starter camera, but enough controls so that once you master it, you will not automatically start jonesing after a d90.

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D40 also has these built in tutorials and explanations, as well as a very easy menu system...

I have the D40 and like it a lot, but if I was buying an entry level one today I'd go for the D3000--it's better than the D40 in pretty much every respect, except possibly per-pixel high-ISO performance, but if you shrink the D3000 pictures back to 6MP that'd be about the same, too.

I'm a Nikon user. Never-the-less, I would also consider the Olympus E 620 as well as other brands when looking at entry-level cameras.
--
Ed

I am wondering if this is indeed true in practice? D3000 used 'like a 6MP camera' (either in camera or in post processing) does give similar noise performance to the D40?

--
AS

mattsaccount said:

I have the D40 and like it a lot, but if I was buying an entry level one today I'd go for the D3000--it's better than the D40 in pretty much every respect, except possibly per-pixel high-ISO performance, but if you shrink the D3000 pictures back to 6MP that'd be about the same, too.

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