Bump to 10 megapixies. And also retail price of $729 as well. Ouch on the price bump. I think the d40 was what, $599 street?
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d40x is coming out.
- Thread starter bluewire
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Seems just like Nikon caving to the megapixel war. I'm more excited about the new 55-200 VR lens.
Ooooh! You know you've just set yourself up for a barrage of tirades from the Nikon faithful, right?
I am a bit surprised that Nikon decided to update their D40 that fast, I mean the thing hasn't been out for more than 6 months, and they are already replacing it? That seems like something Canon would do.
On the upside, it seems that they've done more than just upped the sensor. The ISO range is increased, and they have increased the burst rate. This, I think makes it a much better competitor to the 400D.
They didn't fix the RAW+Jpeg(basic) problem either.
On the plus side, the current d40s will be even cheaper, good value for some people bargain hunting.
and the 55-200 vr has a maximum aperture of f/4.5 whereas the non-vr version has a max of f/4...kinda weird...oh and they took the D50 off the nikon web site.
You don't think they'll continue to sell both? Seems like good price range coverage to me between the D40, D40x, D80 and on up.
yesss....score, the d40 will become much cheaper. i'm actually kinda glad that i sold my first d40 for retail value..... now to play the waiting game!
Seems like a good move. Canon has no option in this range. The D40x is in the XTi range (although in my non-expert opinion, which happens to justify my XTi purchase, the D40x is not as good). But for the entry level croud looking at a D40 vrs an older Rebel XT, I'd think the 2.5" display alone would lure most of the buyers. And how long is Canon going to sell the Rebel XT? Actually, have they stopped already?
Edit: it's still on Canon's website, so I guess not.
Edit: it's still on Canon's website, so I guess not.
I guess what they're trying to do is to replace the D50 with the 40x, which, although would cover the price points well, still seems to be a step back in that the 40x doesn't have a focus motor, better TTL focusing, and WB bracketing. It should be interesting, however, to see what the IQ of this camera is going to be like.
I'm aware, and certainly not trying to bash Nikon, I like its products a lot. There are only so many pixels you can cram onto a crop sensor. Even with noise-reduction technology - eventually you'll need to go to something bigger unless something really new comes along.
I didn't interpret it as Nikon-bashing.
It's just that I wasn't sure that everyone knew some of the Nikon dSLR-only lenses don't cover anywhere near a full 35mm frame (Does Canon also do that?).I know what you're saying, though. Thom Hogan speculates that the next pro Nikon body will have a larger sensor (basically doing what Canon does, I guess - pro cameras w/ full sensors, consumer/enthusiast cameras w/ the APS-sized sensors). It'll be interesting to see what comes out in the next 12 months. IMHO going with a 10mp sensor in the D40x is overkill, but in the minds of a lot of people more pixels = "better" so they probably felt they had to do it.
This problem?
* When images captured with the D50 at an image-quality setting of NEF+JPEG Basic were opened in PictureProject, a problem caused differences in brightness between the RAW image and its corresponding JPEG image. This problem has been corrected.
That is fixed in PictureProject software update version 1.5.2.
At the consumer end of the scale, they pretty-much have to. The D40 target audience isn't going to go from 8MP P&S cameras to 6PM DSLRs without education, and education costs in terms of marketing and sales. Putting the D80 sensor in the D40 was a good move, most D40x users won't miss the extra flash sync speed, and educated consumers (pro-sumers) wanting a light backup body will likely understand the trade-off.
Personally, I'm still waiting to see if they announce a 400/2.8 VR this year, other than getting a good deal on a 600/4, that's the only real lens purchase I'd consider other than the 200-400VR if I want to get something smaller/lighter.
Wow, I just read the press release about the 55-200mm VR lens. While I would love to get the 18-200mm, I can't afford it. I can combine the 55-200 with my 18-55 and get the 50mm 1.8 I also want for half the price of the 18-200mm. Seems like a good deal to me.
Not only that, but (unless things have improved dramatically) you'll end up waiting a long time for the 18-200.
I ordered it on May 26 of last year... and it didn't ship until September 28. It is a very nice lens though.
The new 55-200mm VR lens is definately bigger news for most of us Nikon users.
People are right about the megapixel wars though, and I think new SLR buyers need to be educated that megapixels doesn't mean megacamera. Good value for what it is though, still would recommend to d80 as it has more chose. At the end of the day if your buying an DSLR you surely want a fully featured one, the D40 for me always seemed like a compact with interchangeable lenses, there is more to a DSLR than this feature alone surely.
People are right about the megapixel wars though, and I think new SLR buyers need to be educated that megapixels doesn't mean megacamera. Good value for what it is though, still would recommend to d80 as it has more chose. At the end of the day if your buying an DSLR you surely want a fully featured one, the D40 for me always seemed like a compact with interchangeable lenses, there is more to a DSLR than this feature alone surely.
Yeah, but this sensor is proven to have good image quality. And Nikon has consistently demonstrated a superiority in their ability to set up good processing of the images versus the other companies using the same sensors in the previous generation and to an extent in this one.
The press release is worded (and Nikon's site indicates) that these are "Sister Cameras" intended to be produced simultaneously at two price points to cater to more needs, but at a low investment (most of the stuff involved is either in the D40 or D80.
Having said that...
I wanted a D3, not a D40x today!
Dang! That looks really, really nice! Hopefully Pentax will come out with a full frame DSLR soon. I'm so jealous of all those 5D (and soon to be D3) users!
