Sorry for the poor cell-phone camera quality. I know I
look like a squashed kid...

Ok, so the Nikon D40x was released today, and that's the
camera I am holding in this picture. No, I did not buy one,
just giving a brief impression, and thoughts on the 'littlelest'
Nikon digital slr. Not enough to say for me to blog it, and unlike
most of the bloggers out there, I'm not in it to make money. Only for
my love of cameras, and to share it with you all...

The D40x...wow, just a few months ago Nikon released the D40,
a 6mp digital slr with very impressive picture quality, and
(for me) some severe limitations. The main thing is that it
won't autofocus with my old, beloved AF/AF-D lenses. Neither
will the D40x. Autofocus only works with the AF-I or newer AF-S lenses.

The D40x is pretty much the same camera, but now with a 10mp
DX sensor. The camera is dinky, but feels good in my hands,
better than you might expect. The D40x, unlike the D40, has
iso100, and does 3 frames-per-second as opposed to the D40's
2.5 fps. Other than that, they are very much the same camera.

You got to hand it to Nikon. They know the money lies in the
consumer market. The pro cameras are historically more for
prestige than anything else. They just don't generate the kind of
bulk revenue that the consumer models do. But it's the money from
cameras like the D40, D50, D70, Coolpix series, that companies
like Nikon use to put into r&d for higher end cameras like the D2x.

The fact that the D40/D40x doesn't autofocus with my AF/AF-D lenses
is a problem for me because I have a few cherished primes (50mm f/1.8,
85mm f1.8, 105mm f/2) that I love, and AF is very useful. Of course,
I could manual focus them, but that would slow things down for sure,
and you can't always work like that in real world situations.
You can also use older, manual focus AI/AIS Nikkors on the D40x,
but the camera won't meter for you. This is not really a big deal
once you get used to it, I do it all the time with a D70s,
but it would've been nice. That's what the D200 is for, I guess! :)

So what do I think about the D40x? Seriously, for its intended target,
which includes newcomers, soccer moms upgrading from point 'n shoots,
and the likes, it is nearly perfect. Price point is damned good at $799
for the kit (with 18-55 AF-S), and $729 for the body only. It would make a good
backup for more advanced Nikon shooters as well. You really can't complain for the
missing features when you realize there's a reason for it, and why they sell D2x's
and D200's. I mean, if the D40/D40x had everything, why would you need
to buy the other cameras!!

The D40X hints at Nikon's future plans. Obviously, there will be more AF-S
lenses in the works, but for now, and for me, there just aren't enough AF-S
primes out there, and I don't want to upgrade from the lenses I already have.
And one of the beauties of the Nikon system, for me, is the abundance, and
quality of the legacy lenses.

But this is a nice little digital slr for many folks. Just a couple of years
ago, who'd have ever thought you could get this kind of quality for under a
grand. Hey, did I just say a mouthful again?...Later!

Best Regards,
Sam