Great camera, no matter what colonialpara says

Nikon's new D40 takes point-&-shoot photographers and gives them an outstanding, enabling dSLR camera. It also takes professionals and serious enthusiasts and gives them something much more portable to be their "everyday" dSLR.

colonialpara may be a "top reviewer" but his review rambles on with conjectures about Nikon's marketing strategy and, frankly, gets quite judgemental about you, the potential buyer. Neither are relevant here, imo. His harsh criticism is also out of step with most professional photographers' impressions.

Before I bought, I played with it extensively at a local retailer. I am somewhat photo-savvy, but I was putting this great camera through its paces in minutes. It turns on instantly and is ready to shoot. The menu system is very easy to learn on-the-fly. Also, even the D50 is large by comparison, and the higher end Canons and Nikons are enormous, and entirely impractical.

Three issues which should be aware of:

1. As you may know, Nikon saved size, weight, and money by transferring AF responsibility from the camera to the lens. This has been called a negative, unfairly imo. This is what I will call a caveat. You can't have the perfect camera that does everything for $550. There are only two kinds of people who should care that the D40 has no AF motor: the person with a collection of legacy lenses, and the person whose photography needs are so involved that he/she will need a particular lens that may not have AF capability. I will add that these AF lenses are EASY to find. Nikon, Tamron, and Sigma all make excellent, well-reviewed lenses that are completely compatible with the D40. Look for "AF-S" (Nikon), "DII IF" (Tamron), or "HSM" (Sigma).

2. There are only 3 AF zones. For me and most people for whom this camera is targeted, this should be fine. You will have to look for a higher-end camera for an intricate focusing (and metering) matrix, however.

3. The D40 is a 6-megapixel camera. These days the "megapixel race" consumes much marketing press. Hogwash. Inless you're planning on using a large-format printer to make posters, you'll never need more than 6 MP to get completely crisp lab-quality prints up to 8 x 10 inches on photo paper.

One knock I will give the D40 is that I'd like to see more dedicated buttons for commonly used functions like white balance, although the camera makes OK use of programmability of a couple of buttons, and secondary functions accessed by holding down a button and then pressing the 5-way key or moving the ckick wheel.

One exceptional asset is the configurable display, which, with a button press, can display photo hints and tips on using various modes. There's no secondary status LCD dedicated to showing camera settings; the main screen doubles for this function, and can be made to look like one if you like.

Overall, the D40 is just what you're waiting for if you want to take the next step beyond the limitations (and, in some cases, lenses) of the point-&-shoot cameras. Being critical of it for any professional-level omissions is like being critical of a Camry for not having a 300 horsepower, ceramic brakes, and a built-in bar in the back. Do yourself a favor: play with one, and do your own research. I think you'll agree with me.