So about that camera…

I’ve had the Nikon D40 for a few weeks now. I’ve used it in different situations: at night, in museums, of nature, food, streets, people, small objects, etc. Here are some thoughts and photos from the first two weeks (before Kapadokya).

In general, I like the D40. It’s easy to use. It feels good in my hand, with enough weight that I don’t worry about dropping it accidentally. It does get a little heavy when I wear its strap around my neck for prolonged periods.

I can lock it in my backpack. I just need to free up some space by taking out my toiletry kit, for example. Then I just have to worry about someone borrowing my unsecured toothbrush and cleaning the toilet with it.

I usually keep it at ISO200. As with the Lumix LX5, I usually use “Cloudy” white balance outside during the day, because I like the warmer colors. I don’t save RAW images. I don’t think I’m interested in that fine a control, and the photos just aren’t that important to me.

The kit 18-55mm lens gives decent zoom but is also wide enough for most of my needs. I find I have to be very careful about consciously controlling the depth of field. For example, the back wall of the shop below is out of focus.

I usually shoot in P-mode, because I spend less time fiddling with the camera. I can still control the aperture and exposure to an extent in P-mode, but I often forget to check the aperture.

The camera does pretty well at night. The lack of vibration reduction in the stock lens can make steady shots difficult. Since the LX5 is significantly smaller than the D40, I was able to prop or brace the LX5 against solid surfaces more easily.

Taking photos through display cases is trickier. With the LX5, I would usually gently place the lens barrel flush against the glass. This helped keep the camera steady. It also helped avoid distracting reflections. This isn’t as easy with the D40, since the focusing motor seems more fragile.

I do enjoy being able to manipulate the manual focus directly, instead of having to roll a thumb wheel or twiddle a joystick. One problem is that the weight of the focusing element can bring it out of focus if I’m aiming straight up or down.

Macro shots are pretty straightforward. One difference is that the minimum distance from the front lens to the focal plane is around 5 inches, which is farther than that on the LX5.

There have definitely been times when I wished for a wider field of view, but that is more of a consequence of the lens.

I don’t miss the higher resolution. 6 megapixels seems fine to me. Smaller dimensions means smaller JPEG files means less storage and less time needed to upload to Flickr.

Battery life is surprisingly good, especially for a battery bought used. I’ve taken over 1000 shots on a single charge.

I’ve gotten used to using the optical viewfinder, surprisingly quickly. Yesterday, I found it strange to compose using an LCD when I handled some display cameras in a Saturn store. I do need to be careful to not look into the sun. Also, the edges of the photo may not match the extents in the viewfinder.

The only time I really miss having an LCD viewfinder is when I have to hold the camera away from my eye, e.g., close to the ground. It can take a lot of shots to land on the desired angles.

The shutter makes a louder clicking noise than the LX5. I feel it can be distracting, especially in quiet places.

The age of the D40 design comes across mainly in its user interface. Things like having only three points of focus and a lack of grid lines are sometimes annoying, but those are not deal-breakers.

If the active focus point can’t find something to focus on, the camera will refuse to take the shot. I have to switch over to manual focus then. When taking a series of burst shots, the camera will sometimes re-focus between each shot.

When I set the focus to a surface, then re-compose the shot and fire off a burst, the second and third (etc.) shots may be focused elsewhere. Again, I have to switch over to manual focus. Those are little annoyances.

I like the D40. More than that, I like the notion of taking photos with a DSLR. I don’t know if I will continue to travel with one, or go back to a smaller camera like the Lumix LX5, or go with something between. Lately, I’ve been casting an acquisitive eye on the Nikon D300. But do I really want to travel around with something so expensive hanging off my neck?

In conclusion, here’s a photo of a cute dog begging for table scraps.

I gave her a slice of my breakfast bologna.

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