Playing With the Nikon D40x

[Photo-John]

We got a D40x in for review last week. I shot studio tests with it and took it out for a mountain bike ride yesterday. So far I kinda like it. I'm really used to the Canon controls and Nikon's controls are bass ackwards compared to all the other digital SLRs. But that's not really a big deal. It just slows me down a bit. The camera feels great and I think I'm getting pretty good exposures that allow me a lot of room to work later. I'm shooting NEF RAW and converting in Lightroom. The one thing that I'm not happy with is the 18-55mm DX kit lens. Even stopped down to f/8 there's noticeable softness around the edges. But the lens can be replaced. So unless you're planning to buy the kit and nothing else, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

These photos were all taken yesterday on a very late season ride near Ogden, Utah. It's raining today and supposed to turn to snow tonight. So that was probably the last ride up there.

Note: there has been a lot of post processing in these photos. Don't think that they came out of the camera looking like this. In the kind of lighting I shoot in, a lot of selective adjustment has to be done to hold highlight detail and open up shadow details. What I look for is a camera that can deliver good raw material to work with in Photoshop. And I think the D40x performed admirably - except for the lens. There are a couple that I know would have been better with a different lens. C'est la vie.