I recently purchased Nikon D40 and have a couple of questions regarding lightning. For some reason when I take pictures in auto mode, they come out darker than real life. Is there a brightness setting that can be adjusted for auto mode?

The second question is about night shooting. if I want to take a picture of say a street lamp or a headlight of a car, what would be the optimal setting to use to get the crispy lens glare? Right now, the lights come out blurred. I tried playing with settings but haven't had much luck.

For $600 camera, I am sure both of these things should be adjustable, right?

Auto modes are notoriously difficult to control- the point is to let the camera do the work. I'm not sure on the D40 how much you can adjust, but see if you can't get exposure compensation (the (+/-) button just behind and to the right of the shutter release) to take effect. Otherwise, switch to Program (P) and do the same thing.

I'm not entirely sure about what you mean by the crispy lens glare, are you saying that you're getting motion blur? Night obviously is lacking in one critical thing- light. Make sure your ISO is set high, your aperture wide (you may need a faster lens like the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for better results), and a good enough shutter speed. If you're getting camera shake, you may need either a VR lens or a tripod. If you're getting motion blur from your subject, the only cure is a faster shutter speed and the way to get that is wider aperture and higher ISO.
You may wish to try the P, S, A, or M modes in this case.

I recently purchased Nikon D40 and have a couple of questions regarding lightning. For some reason when I take pictures in auto mode, they come out darker than real life. Is there a brightness setting that can be adjusted for auto mode?

The second question is about night shooting. if I want to take a picture of say a street lamp or a headlight of a car, what would be the optimal setting to use to get the crispy lens glare? Right now, the lights come out blurred. I tried playing with settings but haven't had much luck.

For $600 camera, I am sure both of these things should be adjustable, right?

First off, check the firmware and make sure you have the latest version (1.1). Also, it sounds like you might need a quick camera primer, so I'll type up some basics here for you.

There are TONS of adjustments on the D40 (I've got one myself). The key is to know what you want to change and then use the manual to find out how to change it if you don't know how to. If you're not familiar with what the different modes mean and how changing them will affect your shots, you might consider talking to someone with some experience who can walk you through everything.

For the night shots, you should set the camera on a tripod and use the timer or a remote to keep your finger from moving the camera when you hit the button. NEVER free-hand it because the long exposures will produce all kind of blur and such.
- If it won't focus due to the lack of light, set it to manual focus and do it yourself.
- You should set the camera to manual ("M" on the dial) and open the aperature as wide as it will go (I think that's 4.6 or something...?).
- Start with a 1/4sec exposure (the shutter time will read "4" for 1/4 second of exposure) and work down (longer) from there until you get the desired shot/brightness.
- Stick with an ISO of 200 because you have all the time you want and as far as that goes, the lower the ISO, the better quality the shots will be.
- If you don't know how to set some of these options, it's all detailed in the manual.

Some hints:

- Wider aperature means more light gets through so the shorter shutter speed you'll have to have. The lower the aperature setting, the wider it is. Kinda backwards, I know. Also, the wider it is, the more specific of a focus point you will have. With a setting of 4.6 you will focus on a specific point and the stuff immediately in front or behind it will be out of focus (this is real good for artsy pictures, especially with flowers and stuff). Auto mode usually sets it at 5ish, but you can manually adjust it in other modes to well over 20 with this camera if I recall. You can get more of a "fixed focus" with a narrower aperature but your shutter speed will need to be slower to allow enough exposure with the smaller hole of light passing through. The "A" setting on the config wheel will set aperature to manual. You adjust the aperature and the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed for you.

- The "S" option on the camera allows you to change the shutter speed and the camera will auto-adjust the aperature to give you a proper exposure. This all depends on the aperature being able to go to the level it needs to though. There are limits and you will definitely overexpose a shot if you try to run a 1/2sec shutter speed in broad daylight. The "S" setting works best for low-light situations. You can set a 1/8sec exposure at dusk and it will open the the aperature to the proper width to expose the shot for you.

Hopefully all this helps you! Good luck and happy clicking!