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Upgrading from a Nikon D40?

foxwelljsly

Me too, I ate one sour too.
The wife has a couple of good lenses and a Nikon D40. Without spending a fortune, what might be a good upgrade from the D40 that has compatibility with the same lenses? S/H fine. Better low light performance and a better screen most important. It would also be nice if it could be the compact format of the D40 rather than the larger Dx00 series.

Also, is there a decent wide angle prime lens for this lens mount? I know Nikon don't make them, but wondered if there might be a sigma or similar available.

Cheers
 
I'm interested in this as I have a hankering, but then it takes shots like this and I think..................it's good enough:-

y4mt6yPFXdwqxs06Soa1mdmYUI9hlECxTJjnmwz7aByvnjUixykRhnn8YBd4v5clzQZytt69ZL2vjViG-8txlu1UFpifBqnX59APHcBOIjFI2APB271BTV99vmjNnfre_qa9zWAtXh4yP__ouuL97JEOdBffDCkZgp7B0yIEsh4yq-leVIIw-meEOkOGz1PpvBh0z-zNepBDzn5JMQM2KsXNQ
 
I believe the D40/50 etc range was replaced by the D3x00 range, which is basically the nikon entry level DSLR range, or maybe the D5x00 which are their 'one step up'. In reality, there's usually not a huge difference between them, and a newer D3x00 is better than the older D5x00 if you see what I mean, with the features trickling down.

A quick look here:

https://www.parkcameras.com/c/2551/used-nikon-digital-slr-cameras

shows some examples available second hand, with various things, but a D3200 might be interesting, which was their entry level camera from around 2012:

https://www.parkcameras.com/p/SH-48-1176/used-nikon-digital-slr-cameras/nikon/used-nikon-d3200-body

It's got 24mp vs the 6mp in your current camera, much better low ISO (two more stops i'd guess), better AF, and a nice large 3 inch screen.

Park Cameras are a nice bunch - give them a ring and discuss what you are after and they will offer you decent advice.
 
The D40 is a brilliant little camera, what lenses do you have with it?
My advice would be to buy a second hand D7000, they are so cheap at the moment and a massive jump in every way from the D40.
I say D7000 rather than one of the 3XXX or 5XXX bodies is that the D7000 has controls and buttons to set everything instead of having to change things in menus, so as a learning tool it is much easier to use...of course you can still use it on the auto modes.
If you have the budget get a D7200 which is another step up.
 
Second vote for the D7000. Mine has taken 10's of thousands of shots and still going strong. Accurate autofocus, ability to use older screw drive lenses, solid. They are very inexpensive used.
 
The D5100 has the same sensor as the D7000 in a smaller body. that would help with the desire to be compact. However, it does not have the screw motor so some older lenses will not be able to have AF, i.e. the ones that are labelled AF-D, AF-S will work fine.
 
Second vote for the D7000. Mine has taken 10's of thousands of shots and still going strong. Accurate autofocus, ability to use older screw drive lenses, solid. They are very inexpensive used.

Third vote for the 7000, or indeed the best 7*00 series camera you can afford. They're a proper robust metal bodied DSLR and are a nice size.... and the have the focusing motor and top LCD display.
 
I think you guys are suffering from scope creep. There's nothing a 7x00 will add above a 3x00 that matters to the OP, except cost more money.

The replacement for the D40 was the D50, D60, and D3x00 series. It's the natural successor to the D40, and does everything he's asked about (and more). What does the 7x00 add above the 3x000 really? Support for older lenses he doesn't have, bracketing (anyone ever used this in the digital world?), higher FPS (when did you last shoot continuous). No, the 3x000 is designed with exactly this use case in mind, and it's the right camera.

Now if you come at it from a different direction, and are an enthusiast wanting to explore the world of historic nikon lenses on the cheap, then sure, the 7x00 are the ones to go for. The 5x00 series seem to be the odd ones out, but second hand the prices close down and it will depend on what deals are about.
 
I personally use the D7000 and it lets me use the older lenses and drives the zoom, so as not relying on the lens to be motorised. I know the Sigma 10-20 is a superb lens without the need to go to Art Series lenses, ok it isn't a prime and I have not owned one but I did borrow one for a holiday and was very pleased with the results. I mainly shoot landscape and remember the multiplier for a lens on the D7000 crop sensor is x1.5
 
I think you guys are suffering from scope creep. There's nothing a 7x00 will add above a 3x00 that matters to the OP, except cost more money.

The replacement for the D40 was the D50, D60, and D3x00 series. It's the natural successor to the D40, and does everything he's asked about (and more). What does the 7x00 add above the 3x000 really? Support for older lenses he doesn't have, bracketing (anyone ever used this in the digital world?), higher FPS (when did you last shoot continuous). No, the 3x000 is designed with exactly this use case in mind, and it's the right camera.

Now if you come at it from a different direction, and are an enthusiast wanting to explore the world of historic nikon lenses on the cheap, then sure, the 7x00 are the ones to go for. The 5x00 series seem to be the odd ones out, but second hand the prices close down and it will depend on what deals are about.

That's a thought, I forgot the D40 doesn't have a focusing motor anyway so the existing lenses will be compatible. I went from a D50 which did have both the top LCD and focusing motor (which some of my lenses need) so the 3*00 and 5*00 cameras were of no use to me. I'm pretty sure the image quality and low light sensitivity of 7*00 models is ahead of the lower models, as is video quality but with that said, the image quality of all the newer models is good.
 


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