Nikon D40X Intro Demo (2 Videos)

[LRY]

If I was over the top at the heights of DSLR technology yesterday, today finds me equally enthusiastic at the other end of the price spectrum. The Nikon D40X aims to bridge the segment of the market that wants high quality pictures with compact camera simplicity. As Lindsay Silverman of Nikon told us, "[these photographers] don't necessarily think of themselves as photographers" but they want something better than a point-and-shoot.

The Nikon D40X is pictured below with the new 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED-IF lens (approx. 80-300mm in 35mm equivalent). Due to the wide angle view, it looks bigger than it really is, so check out this video and the next video for a sense of it's compactness.




Although all DSLRs seem to have a fully automatic, "program" or "green" mode, a big bottleneck to understanding the controls is the user interface. Nikon's D40X redesigns the display interface to help users understand what controls actually do and when to use them. (It also has a "Classic" interface too for those familiar with DSLR functionality.)




See the new long telephoto zoom described below:

[walterick]

I just thought I would add another shot of the Nikon D40x. Nikon has clearly kept the beginning DSLR user in mind in designing the user interface of this camera. It seemed every screen had a "help button" function which reminded me of hitting "help" on my computer at home. Pressing the help button brought up a window which explained what each screen was asking me to do. The video and stills Larry provided show you exactly what the new user interface looks like.

I think the new layout will definitely help the people who are starting out in DSLR's for the first time. My questions is, will it get into the hands of the people it is designed to help?