Nikon D40x

Nikon's lightweight DSLR that packs a heavyweight punch

There’s been something missing from the Nikon digital SLR range for quite a while now. While Canon‚’s marketing juggernaut has made the EOS 400D the UK’s most popular mid-range consumer DSLR, Nikon’s two most recent offerings haven‚’t exactly delivered direct competition, despite their outstanding performance levels. The ten-megapixel Nikon D80 offers top-quality results for seasoned amateurs, but its street price of £799 puts it in a significantly higher price bracket than Canon’s EOS 400D. Meanwhile, the low-priced Nikon D40 is a great buy for first-time upgraders, but with a six-megapixel sensor, it can’t fully match the feature-set of Canon’s flagship. Now Nikon is filling that crucial middle ground with the release of the D40X, a ten-megapixel model that has the features and the price to compete against the EOS 400D. Is this finally a camera to draw attention away from the 400D as the first choice for the bulk of amateur photographers who want a high quality, midpriced digital SLR? It’s time to see how the D40X shapes up against its biggest rival… Place the Nikon D40 side by side with the Canon EOS 400D and a comparison throws up a disparity in the camera’s resolutions (six megapixels for the Nikon, ten megapixels for the Canon). With the new D40X, Nikon is attempting to buttress its range against death by resolution by giving its latest model a ten-megapixel sensor, placing it firmly in the same league as the 400D. But aside from a higher-resolution sensor, what does the Nikon D40X bring to the table for seasoned digital SLR users? On the exposure front, the D40X has a choice of three metering patterns: matrix, centre-weighted and spot. It has a 30-1/4000sec shutter-speed range, the four classic exposure modes (Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program) as well as a full Automatic mode and seven scene modes on its Program dial. There’s a plethora of white-balance options, and the camera can record the information from its ten megapixel CCD in one of three compression settings for JPEG capture or in Nikon’s proprietary RAW format (otherwise known as NEF). It can even simultaneously record RAW and JPEG images - although at a slower speed than recording in either format individually, which is acceptable but not ideal. On the colour front, the D40X can record images in Normal, Softer, Vivid, More vivid and Portrait modes, as well as a black-and-white setting. You can further customise the image processing of the picture by choosing to alter the saturation, contrast, image sharpening and even the hue, using the custom section of the processing menu. The flash displays all the usual functions you’d expect from a consumer DSLR, plus a very useful second curtain synchronisation setting. With slow shutter speed shots, this function causes the camera to fire the flash at the end of the metered exposure, not the beginning. This leaves movement trails coming from the rear of a moving subject, rather than extending unnaturally in front as would be the case with normal slow shutter speed flash. Add to the mix a selection of focusing sensor patterns, focus modes and shooting modes, and the spec list for the D40X has pretty much everything on a camera that an amateur photographer could ever want - bar a depth-of-field preview, which you’ll definitely find on the EOS 400D but

Ease of use In terms of handling and usability, the joker up the D40X’s sleeve is its intuitive learning-based Help screen. On pressing the buttons either side of the ‘?’ symbol, you get an explanation of the options offered by those menu items for each major function. As well as being useful for users who want to expand their involvement in the photographic process by selecting more manual functions, it also serves as a very quick primer in photographic features for the complete novice. This is a unique feature, and one we’re sure manufacturers will be keen to mimic on any forthcoming releases. In addition to these user-triggered help sections, there’s also an array of helpful messages that pop up to warn you if the shooting conditions are not best suited to the functions you’ve selected. For example, if light levels are too low for the selected aperture and shutter speed, the camera will suggest popping the flash up in one of the more user-controlled modes (or automatically pop it up in the full Auto mode). The 2.5-inch LCD makes these messages, whether text or pictogram, easy to read and, with the exception of the section on colour temperature, which uses some fairly specialised vocabulary, they are pretty easy to follow for the novice as well. It therefore makes the transition from prosumer to DSLR much smoother. In the field, the camera is easy to set up and very speedy to use. The images are quick to load for reviewing, although somewhat slower when it comes to magnifying an image to have a really close look at it. In terms of general usage, the level of information on display is geared to inform without being overwhelming. While the rear LCD screen shows you everything, the information in the viewfinder is restricted to what you really need to know (exposure settings, focus frame settings, shots taken/remaining in buffer and focus and exposure status). The viewfinder itself is clear and bright. There are quite a few controls on the camera, but you could easily get by using only half a dozen of them or fewer - depending on how much user control you wish to exert and equally how adventurous you are with your photography, that is. The buttons are large and solid, and those in the five-way controller (the up/ down/left/right arrows and OK button) have a palpable click when you depress them so you know it has been properly pressed. The Mode dial and Control dial also have positive clicking actions in order to offer an instant tactile as well as visual feedback when you‚’re selecting a new mode, which is nice to see.

Final Verdict The D40x is a superb piece of kit which is sufficiently user-friendly to be aimed at the novice end of the market but with enough quality to satisfy much more experienced users OVERALL

As a keen photographer for more than ten years, Matt is combining the two great loves of his life in taking photos and playing with new gadgets.