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Nilon D40 question


bigsky
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We've had a Nikon D40 for quite sometime. Too complicated to use. Wondering if we decide to keep it for our next trip, is there a setting you would suggest to just keep it on to keep things simple? I'm also thinking about getting an Olympus for underwater use and just a point and shoot. May take the time to figure this cam out or just sell it. :rolleyes:

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We've had a Nikon D40 for quite sometime. Too complicated to use. Wondering if we decide to keep it for our next trip, is there a setting you would suggest to just keep it on to keep things simple? I'm also thinking about getting an Olympus for underwater use and just a point and shoot. May take the time to figure this cam out or just sell it. :rolleyes:

 

 

If you don't want to play with the manual mode settings, it can get complicated, just turn the top dial to Auto mode (Green icon). It will give good results in most shooting situations.

 

 

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If you don't want to play with the manual mode settings, it can get complicated, just turn the top dial to Auto mode (Green icon). It will give good results in most shooting situations.

 

 

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Thanks! My kids take lots of pics with their cameras. (cannon) Neither one likes my camera and says it complicated :roll eyes: I should just sell it. Paid a fortune back then. Probably worth nothing now.

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Thanks! My kids take lots of pics with their cameras. (cannon) Neither one likes my camera and says it complicated :roll eyes: I should just sell it. Paid a fortune back then. Probably worth nothing now.

 

 

The D40 was my first DSLR and it served me well for a few years, until I upgraded to a D7000. It is still my backup camera. If you're not getting good results, you might want to try resetting the camera to factory defaults. There are two buttons that have to be simultaneously pressed and held for 2-3 seconds (which two escape me at the moment, but they both have green dots). This will reset the camera to the out-of-the-box condition and give you a fresh start. You might want to try this before investing in a new camera.

 

 

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What about the D40 is complicated? I used one for years (still have it) and, while it could be cumbersome depending on what you try to do with it, it could also be as simple as the simplest point n shoot camera in Auto. Not saying you should try and "love" it, it is a 10 year old 6mp camera but it might help with recommendations if people understand what about it you find complicated.

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What about the D40 is complicated? I used one for years (still have it) and, while it could be cumbersome depending on what you try to do with it, it could also be as simple as the simplest point n shoot camera in Auto. Not saying you should try and "love" it, it is a 10 year old 6mp camera but it might help with recommendations if people understand what about it you find complicated.

 

 

The "complicated" part I was referring to was using manual mode if you don't have at least a basic understanding of the exposure triangle. I don't know the experience level of the OP so I was just offering using Auto as an option. I still have mine and use it as a backup camera.

 

 

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It shouldn't be any harder to use than any other camera, if you are simply putting it into auto mode.

 

But, especially considering the age of the camera, if you are using it in auto with kit lens, even most current smart phones will actually be far superior.

 

In terms of selling it, you can probably get $100 to $150 for it.

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What about the D40 is complicated? I used one for years (still have it) and, while it could be cumbersome depending on what you try to do with it, it could also be as simple as the simplest point n shoot camera in Auto. Not saying you should try and "love" it, it is a 10 year old 6mp camera but it might help with recommendations if people understand what about it you find complicated.

 

I wasn't just wanting to use it in auto mode. I'm going to recharge the battery and try again.

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The "complicated" part I was referring to was using manual mode if you don't have at least a basic understanding of the exposure triangle. I don't know the experience level of the OP so I was just offering using Auto as an option. I still have mine and use it as a backup camera.

 

 

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Yes, thank you. Using the manual mode and different options made it a little more difficult. I have left it in the drawer for years. Going to try and play with it again. We have a trip in March I'll take it then. Our cruise is in May and want to get good pics with the telephoto lens. I have time to play with it. I'm not experienced with these type of cameras, so I may have not given it enough of a chance.

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Yes, thank you. Using the manual mode and different options made it a little more difficult. I have left it in the drawer for years. Going to try and play with it again. We have a trip in March I'll take it then. Our cruise is in May and want to get good pics with the telephoto lens. I have time to play with it. I'm not experienced with these type of cameras, so I may have not given it enough of a chance.

 

 

I would suggest searching YouTube well before your cruise for tips and techniques for using the D40. There are plenty of helpful videos. Good Luck!

 

 

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I would suggest searching YouTube well before your cruise for tips and techniques for using the D40. There are plenty of helpful videos. Good Luck!

 

 

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Good idea. Got the battery charged and took a look at it. Things pop up on the screen and no idea how to get rid of :rolleyes: Watching youtube is a good idea! :D

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Good idea. Got the battery charged and took a look at it. Things pop up on the screen and no idea how to get rid of :rolleyes: Watching youtube is a good idea! :D

 

How old is the current battery? If it has been sitting around for years I would suggest that you buy two new batteries for your Cruise.

 

Then carry the spare with you. Nothing puts the damper on a good day is to see something that you want to shoot a photo of just to have the battery go dead.

 

Then do some practice shoots around the house so you can get a feel for the impact of the Sun or shade on the subject that you are taking a photo of.

 

Bob

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How old is the current battery? If it has been sitting around for years I would suggest that you buy two new batteries for your Cruise.

 

 

 

Then carry the spare with you. Nothing puts the damper on a good day is to see something that you want to shoot a photo of just to have the battery go dead.

 

 

 

Then do some practice shoots around the house so you can get a feel for the impact of the Sun or shade on the subject that you are taking a photo of.

 

 

 

Bob

 

 

It's been sitting for years. Good idea to have a spare. Sad to think I originally spent 1,000 on the cam with not as much use as I should have gotten out of it. Need to figure it out. Thanks

 

 

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Most newer smart phones might just do better than that D40. If you want easy try a new iPhone.

 

framer

 

Cheaper to learn my camera than pay 7 or 8 hundred for a new iphone. Mine does the job tho for now. If I was in need of a new phone, that would help. I can't imagine a phone can do the same job as the dslr :confused:

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Any modern DSLR is far better than any smartphone camera. Even the D40, which is an older unit, will outperform even the best camera phone. This is particularly true in challenging lighting situations or where focusing quickly is important. Also, paired with the kit lens, the D40's optical zoom will give it a distinct advantage over a smartphone camera.

 

A beginner should not set the camera on manual exposure. I am an experienced photographer and rarely use this setting unless there is a very good reason. Setting the camera on auto will work fine until you learn to use the camera settings.

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A beginner should not set the camera on manual exposure. I am an experienced photographer and rarely use this setting unless there is a very good reason. Setting the camera on auto will work fine until you learn to use the camera settings.

 

Couldn't agree more. The modern cameras are designed to act as very sophisticated analysis tools to help the photographer spend more attention on the subject than the settings. My first 15 or so years as a photographer were spent with an SLR that had nothing more sophisticated than a match-needle light meter built into it. As tech progressed and auto-metering, autofocus and all the other bells and whistles came onboard, I have welcomed them and happily added them to the toolbox. I shoot on Aperture priority almost exclusively because I like to be able to control depth-of-field but I am content to let my little electronic assistant make all the other decisions for me. True, I occasionally have to tap it on the shoulder and adjust for extreme backlighting, bright sand or snow, or a few other unusual situations but the need decreases with every generation of cameras.

 

There are times when you are working outside the range of your camera's automation and manual mode is needed but unless you have a fully manual camera, "I only shoot in manual mode" is an affectation rather than a nod to photographic purity.

 

There's my 2¢ for the day! :)

 

Dave

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Any modern DSLR is far better than any smartphone camera. Even the D40, which is an older unit, will outperform even the best camera phone. This is particularly true in challenging lighting situations or where focusing quickly is important. Also, paired with the kit lens, the D40's optical zoom will give it a distinct advantage over a smartphone camera.

 

That's actually not true.

I posted a thread demonstrating, when using the iPhone 7, compared to a modern dSLR+kit lens, shooting fully auto... the iPhone can match or surpass the results.

Being 10 years old, the d40 will have even more of a disadvantage.

 

Smart phones have advanced tremendously. They also incorporate fantastic stabilization and wide apertures.

dSLRs have far more potential than smart phones.

But stick to auto and kit lenses... you can get equal or better results with a smart phone.

 

Let's remember that the d40 doesn't even have live view or video.

The top truly usable ISO on the d40 is about 400-800. It has a mere 6mp of resolution while the iPhone has 12mp.

The lens on the iPhone will let in about 4-8 times more light than the d40 kit lens, making the iPhone far superior in low light. The frame rate on the d40 is limited to about 2.5 fps.

 

We have reached a point where the best smart phones will match dslrs (kit lenses, used in auto). The best smart phones will now easily surpass those first generation dslrs.

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Couldn't agree more. The modern cameras are designed to act as very sophisticated analysis tools to help the photographer spend more attention on the subject than the settings. My first 15 or so years as a photographer were spent with an SLR that had nothing more sophisticated than a match-needle light meter built into it. As tech progressed and auto-metering, autofocus and all the other bells and whistles came onboard, I have welcomed them and happily added them to the toolbox. I shoot on Aperture priority almost exclusively because I like to be able to control depth-of-field but I am content to let my little electronic assistant make all the other decisions for me. True, I occasionally have to tap it on the shoulder and adjust for extreme backlighting, bright sand or snow, or a few other unusual situations but the need decreases with every generation of cameras.

 

There are times when you are working outside the range of your camera's automation and manual mode is needed but unless you have a fully manual camera, "I only shoot in manual mode" is an affectation rather than a nod to photographic purity.

 

There's my 2¢ for the day! :)

 

Dave

 

I don't disagree with any of that. But I think there is often confusion in how people use the term "manual" mode.

Enthusiasts like you are using "manual" mode to literally mean "M" where shutter, aperture and ISO are all manually controlled.

I find laypeople often use the term "manual" to mean any mode outside of full auto. I've seen people describe switching the camera to sport-mode or portrait-mode as shooting "manual."

 

So I agree with you fully, that there is very very rarely any reason to shoot full manual. But to some people, shooting Aperture-priority is a form of manual.

I'll just as much disagree that anybody should stick to full auto. Yes, when you pick up a dSLR for the first time, you are going to use full auto. But in the long run, you are only getting a small fraction of the potential of the camera if you always stick to full auto. It is important to understand the available settings of the camera, and know when and how to make changes. Doesn't have to mean going into full manual mode.

But if you know when and how to use the other semi-auto modes -- Like "sports" mode, "portrait" mode, "night" mode -- Then you will use much more of the potential of the camera. The next step, exposure compensation, AF-S vs AF-C, and you will use even more potential. And taking the next step, understanding how to use the various available focus modes, knowing how aperture affects depth of field, understanding slow and fast shutter speeds, the different types of flash modes, etc, -- will advance your photography even more.

(In the class I teach, I skip over the dummy modes like sports, night, etc, and move into PASM and focus control).

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Cheaper to learn my camera than pay 7 or 8 hundred for a new iphone. Mine does the job tho for now. If I was in need of a new phone, that would help. I can't imagine a phone can do the same job as the dslr :confused:

 

It can do better. A new iphone is a $800 camera. A 10-year-old dSLR is a $150 camera.

It shouldn't be surprising that a $800 camera can surpass a $150 camera.

 

A dSLR will usually have much greater potential. Add a $1,000 lens to the dSLR, it will easily surpass the iphone.. but then it's not a $150 set-up anymore.

 

This link is a good comparison of the iPhone 6s, versus a current generation dSLR. The results are very close, with the iphone winning some shots, and the dSLR winning some shots. The iphone 7 is only better.. while a 10 year old dSLR will obviously be worse. (what really surprised me in this test, the iphone handled action better than the dSLR).

 

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/iphone-vs-dslr,review-3386.html

 

And here is a comparison of the iphone 6 compared to a $3,000 dSLR:

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-6-vs-dslr-and-point-and-shoot-2015-2/#e-iphone-had-no-trouble-capturing-everything-the-ony-issue-is-that-the-colors-look-oversaturated-seems-like-a-toss-up-between-the-dslr-and-the-iphone-16

 

Their conclusion is that the dSLR was better in almost every shot --- But they were very very close in many cases. And this was a $2,000 dSLR, not a $150 dSLR. And it was an older iphone, the 6, not the improved 7. (and the iphone easily beat the standalone point and shoot).

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A 10 year old D40 may only have $150.00 worth of resale value, but that doesn't make it a $150.00 camera. A camera that actually retailed for 150.00 generally takes pretty lousy pictures. D40 takes excellent pictures, even by today's standards. From a pure image quality at base ISO perspective, I think the images from my D40 are actually a tad better than my D300 (which always really bothered me). My D7200 is better than both, but not significantly better (though it gets much better very quickly at higher ISO). All 3 take significantly better quality images than my iPhone 6.

 

Sure, looking at them all at web size might give the appearance that they aren't very different, as the scaling is masking the differences, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

 

Granted, the D40 is still limited by its 6mp sensor and only 3 focus points. Basically translates to don't crop, don't print over 8x10 and focus and recompose everything. D40 is also challenging to use in Manual mode since there's only 1 command dial and no dedicated buttons like a fullsize DSLR would have. ISO can be assigned to the function button which helps though. Mine spent nearly its whole life in aperture priority and I never found it complicated, though occasionally cumbersome.

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I don't disagree with any of that. But I think there is often confusion in how people use the term "manual" mode.

Enthusiasts like you are using "manual" mode to literally mean "M" where shutter, aperture and ISO are all manually controlled.

I find laypeople often use the term "manual" to mean any mode outside of full auto. I've seen people describe switching the camera to sport-mode or portrait-mode as shooting "manual."

 

So I agree with you fully, that there is very very rarely any reason to shoot full manual. But to some people, shooting Aperture-priority is a form of manual.

I'll just as much disagree that anybody should stick to full auto. Yes, when you pick up a dSLR for the first time, you are going to use full auto. But in the long run, you are only getting a small fraction of the potential of the camera if you always stick to full auto. It is important to understand the available settings of the camera, and know when and how to make changes. Doesn't have to mean going into full manual mode.

But if you know when and how to use the other semi-auto modes -- Like "sports" mode, "portrait" mode, "night" mode -- Then you will use much more of the potential of the camera. The next step, exposure compensation, AF-S vs AF-C, and you will use even more potential. And taking the next step, understanding how to use the various available focus modes, knowing how aperture affects depth of field, understanding slow and fast shutter speeds, the different types of flash modes, etc, -- will advance your photography even more.

(In the class I teach, I skip over the dummy modes like sports, night, etc, and move into PASM and focus control).

 

I accept your adjustments! :)

 

You were correct in assuming that I was actually referring to shooting actual "manual only". Waste of a couple billion dollars worth of research IMHO!

 

I've never heard someone refer to Aperture- or Shutter-priority mode as "manual", but I can see them being perceived that way if the user is not yet knowledgeable about settings.

 

As for "Sports", "Sunset" and other named modes, I have never actually used any of them and can't give an opinion on their usability (though their being buried in menus gives me a hint). In the long run (or even the short run) I think you're right that users are better served to take the time to play with and learn A and S modes along with exposure compensation. Those three settings and perhaps Autoexposure lock can duplicate just about any preset mode and are a lot faster to access in real world use.

 

I guess that's the beauty of today's cameras. You can buy a wonderfully sophisticated piece of equipment and grow into its capabilities as your skills improve while being table to capture excellent images all along the way.

 

Dave

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A 10 year old D40 may only have $150.00 worth of resale value, but that doesn't make it a $150.00 camera. A camera that actually retailed for 150.00 generally takes pretty lousy pictures. D40 takes excellent pictures, even by today's standards. From a pure image quality at base ISO perspective, I think the images from my D40 are actually a tad better than my D300 (which always really bothered me). My D7200 is better than both, but not significantly better (though it gets much better very quickly at higher ISO). All 3 take significantly better quality images than my iPhone 6.

 

Sure, looking at them all at web size might give the appearance that they aren't very different, as the scaling is masking the differences, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

 

Granted, the D40 is still limited by its 6mp sensor and only 3 focus points. Basically translates to don't crop, don't print over 8x10 and focus and recompose everything. D40 is also challenging to use in Manual mode since there's only 1 command dial and no dedicated buttons like a fullsize DSLR would have. ISO can be assigned to the function button which helps though. Mine spent nearly its whole life in aperture priority and I never found it complicated, though occasionally cumbersome.

 

Even compared to a 2016 24mp aps-c camera, if used with kit lens on auto, and printing 8x10 or smaller, I can't tell the difference between an iphone 7 and aps-c photo.

 

2 low light photos:

 

31817971870_583c69b1c3_b.jpgA6300 and kit lens auto by Adam Brown, on Flickr

 

32155068436_dce8a2bcb1_b.jpgiPhone lowlight by Adam Brown, on Flickr

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I accept your adjustments! :)

 

You were correct in assuming that I was actually referring to shooting actual "manual only". Waste of a couple billion dollars worth of research IMHO!

 

I've never heard someone refer to Aperture- or Shutter-priority mode as "manual", but I can see them being perceived that way if the user is not yet knowledgeable about settings.

 

As for "Sports", "Sunset" and other named modes, I have never actually used any of them and can't give an opinion on their usability (though their being buried in menus gives me a hint). In the long run (or even the short run) I think you're right that users are better served to take the time to play with and learn A and S modes along with exposure compensation. Those three settings and perhaps Autoexposure lock can duplicate just about any preset mode and are a lot faster to access in real world use.

 

I guess that's the beauty of today's cameras. You can buy a wonderfully sophisticated piece of equipment and grow into its capabilities as your skills improve while being table to capture excellent images all along the way.

 

Dave

 

You're too far removed from a layperson shooting, lol.

 

I'll just tweak your comments -- Even more important than A&S modes, I'd say learning your autofocus system. A huge portion of non-keepers, come down to the shot simply being out of focus. Learning how to use AF-S to lock and re-compose... learning how to use AF points in AF-C.. This is probably the most important thing to learn when shooting dSLRs.

 

Over 4 weeks, I primarily teach 3 things to entry level photographers:

Autofocus

Composition

Exposure triangle (including depth of field, etc).

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We've had a Nikon D40 for quite sometime. Too complicated to use. Wondering if we decide to keep it for our next trip, is there a setting you would suggest to just keep it on to keep things simple? I'm also thinking about getting an Olympus for underwater use and just a point and shoot. May take the time to figure this cam out or just sell it. :rolleyes:

 

That why I recommended an iPhone. Its just easy and is a huge upgrade to that D40.

 

You can send direct to FB from a phone which many do today.

 

framer

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