Does anyone know any pros or cons about the camera Nikon D40x.?

Dr. Sam's overview of the megapixel question is excellent, but I can add some specific information about the D40x as I bought one a little over a month ago and have taken several hundred pictures with it. I've also introduced two of my children to photography through the D40x and a couple of "photo safaris" we've taken.

The experience with my kids really highlights the D40x's strength, which is that it's incredibly easy to pick up and start taking stunning photographs. If all you do is leave it in "auto" mode and use it as a "point and shoot," you'll end up with the best-looking snapshots you've ever taken. But if you're willing to learn a couple of simple adjustments -- simple settings on the top of the camera, mostly -- you can take your photography to a whole new level.

Case in point: the D40x comes with a "flower" icon on the selector dial, which presets the camera for close-up work. You get a very tight "depth of field," which means the distance from the lens that is in focus; anything closer or farther from this depth of field will be blurry. Here's a shot my 10-year-old son took using this preset:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightningcharlie/5130...

There's also a "mountain" icon which presets the camera to give you a much, much greater depth of field, suitable for landscapes and long shots. Think of it--if you're shooting a picture of a log cabin 100 yards away with trees 500 yards farther and a mountain a half-mile behind that, you want them ALL in focus, right? Here's a shot I took with the "mountain" (landscape) preset:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfisher71/513720577/

You can see details in the ferns in the foreground and also in the fir and pine needles in the distance. (Check it out in one of the larger settings to see more about that.)

There's also an "action" icon (a running stick-figure) which optimizes the camera's settings for motion shots. Since a large portion of my old film photographs include race cars and other forms of motorsport, this was a big attraction for me. I did a test session with my son out at his school's playground a few weeks ago, in which he was playing with a rubber-band powered airplane. Those shots are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfisher71/sets/721576...

As you can see from several of them, the "action" setting captured it in the midst of some pretty rapid movements.

And for those of us who learned to take pictures using cameras where we had to set the F-stop, film speed (remember film? :-) and shutter speed, the D40x will let you change settings individually in "P," or program, mode. In addition to the usual settings, you can change the white balance (that is, the preset values for red, green and blue in the pixels of your image) to compensate for various kinds of lighting. (I used to have to do this by purchasing "indoor" and "outdoor" film, and then I was stuck shooting the entire roll with the film stock that was in the camera; it's a joy to be able to switch white-balance from one photo to the next.)

How do you find out about all this? The store at which I bought my D40x (Pro Photo Supply in Portland, OR) regularly has seminars with the Nikon rep, which I highly recommend. She walked us through a selection of these settings, gave a brief talk about composition (the "rule of thirds"), and more. It was a very worthwhile two hours, probably saved me weeks worth of experimentation.

The key limitation to the D40x (and D40) is that it doesn't have a built-in autofocus motor (as used on other Nikon cameras), so you are restricted to the AF-S and AF-I autofocus lenses. If you're starting a photography business, as Dr. Sam's friend was, this will eventually limit your selection of lenses. But if you're looking to move up to a DSLR with a lot of power and the ability to create some really GREAT images, the D40x is an excellent choice.

And you should also definitely check out Flickr, not only for the pictures but for the discussion about photography from millions of hobbyists, professionals, and artists. It's a great community of people who are actively pursuing photography as a passionate form of self-expression. A free membership gives you 200 uploads, and a $24.95 "pro" account gives you unlimited photo storage.

Nikon D40 vs. D40X

There are slight differences in these cameras that need to be considered. Rather than write it all out, I'll send you to a few sites, if Yahoo! lets me post them...

See: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40x.htm

See: http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3896/camera-test-n... for a glowing review.

See also:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?m...

See also:

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID201/1725...

As far as the pixel issue, I say, if you have no other basis for making your decision, go for more pixels. If you always plan to compose your pictures perfectly, you don't need a whole lot of pixels. If you want to allow for cropping, which means enlarging only a portion of your image, the more pixels the better.

Imagine taking a scenic view and then noticing that the middle 20% of the photo would make an even better picture. Suppose you take a picture of a whole group of people and Aunt Clara really, really looks great in the picture, but everyone else looks lousy. If you have the pixels to work with, you can still make a decent print of Aunt Clara that she would be happy to have. If you buy an 8-to-10 MP camera and don't want to TAKE large photos, you can always set the camera to a lower file size. You can never go the other direction, though. Unless the cost is a major issue, buy the camera with more pixels. You will never be sorry that you did, but you might one day be sorry that you didn't.

I have a few photos on Flickr to include in a discussion on how many pixels are enough. Go to my page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/tags/pix... Some of the pictures are from a 4 MP or even 3 MP camera, showing you what you might expect without any cropping. I think they are quite acceptable. Some of the pictures are from a 10 MP camera (the swan and the pansies), showing the value of having those large images so that you can crop a smaller image out of the original picture and still end up with a satisfactory image.

Then again............ I just got done advising someone else to spend a couple hundred more and get the D80 instead of the D40X, but she was planning on starting a wedding photography business.

I havent seen the D40x, but the D40 did not have a motor in it for AF lenses. You will not be able to autofocus unless the lens you buy has a motor for it. The platform is great.

nothing else you need. Pros: Cheap easy to use Con: Needs special lenses to Autofocus slow flash sync speed.