What is the best digital SLR for a beginner?—Emily F

I also want a lens that can shoot at a pretty good distance, so a kit with 2 lenses would be ideal. I was thinking mayber Olympus Evolt or Nikon D40. I would like to keep it below $800

Best Answer —Dr. Sam

The Nikon D40 is a great little camera, very easy to use and quite reasonably priced. It will get you in the Nikon family which is a great place to be. If you buy accessories and lenses, you will be able to use everything on any Nikon that you might upgrade to later on.
I hate to see people slam the camera because it can’t autofocus with older Nikon lenses. It is true that there is a “slight problem” with older Nikon lenses not autofocusing on the D40, but if you do not own a bag full of older lenses, it is not going to be a problem. It is barely a problem anyhow. If you check www.nikonusa.com for “AF-S” lenses, which are ALL 100% compatible with the D40, you will find 23 lenses, including 7 “VR” (vibration Reduction) lenses and one true macro lens with “VR”. There are another 25-plus lenses in the current catalog that provide all functions except autofocus as well as many (possibly dozens) “out of print” lenses that will work just as well. In addition, although these lens will not autofocus, most of them will still give focus confirmation. From the D40 manual: “If the lens has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 of faster, the viewfinder focus indicator can be used to confirm whether the portion of the subject in the selected focus area is in focus. After positioning the subject in the active focus area, press the shutter release button halfway and rotate the lens focusing ring until the in-focus indicator is displayed.”The D40 only has 3 autofocus zones arranged horizontally at the center, 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions. This might be considered a limitation, but realistically, most people will find this perfectly adequate, especially if you are moving up from a point and shoot with only a center zone.

You can get the D40 with the 18-55 kit lens at B&H Photo (available through Yahoo! Shopping or at 1-800-622-4987) for $550 (May 2007). You will want to add a decent SD memory card and I recommend a Sandisk Ultra II or Lexar Platinum II - either 1 GB or 2 GB would be great. You can get one from B&H also for $30-45. There is an entry-level 55-200 mm zoom lens that does a decent job that you can get for $170. My wife has this lens and it’s fine, but we just replaced it with the new 55-200 VR for the advantage of vibration reduction. It only costs $250. I bought one right away, as I kind of figured it would go out of stock soon, since it’s a bargain for a VR lens.

Anyhow, you can get your D40 with the 18-55 kit lens (a good lens), the regular 55-200 lens, and a decent card for $750-800, keeping you below your budget limit. You’d have a very nice camera system for a beginner or a not-so-beginner, too.

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