Positives: Excellent image quality. Low sensitivity to noise. Excellent 3D Matrix and iTTL metering. Bright viewfinder. Very fast to start. Very good monitor. Excellent autonomy with battery. Light and compact. Well-priced. Negatives: No Depth Of Field Preview. No LCD panel for settings. No autofocus with AF-D and G lenses. No composition grid in the viewfinder. Video out cable as an option.

While we were expecting maybe a few more megapixels in the new camera, it didn’t fit in with Nikon’s strategy here. And that is to attract lots of first-time DSLR buyers with a camera that won’t scare them off, at a price that won’t break the piggy bank. We’d say it has a pretty good shot at doing that.

If you’re ready to enter the world of digital SLRs, the Nikon D40 is a great way to do it. It offers a compact, truly portable body, great performance and photo quality, and a really user friendly interface for not a lot of dough. I can recommend the D40 without hesitation.

So do not let the 6.1MP resolution fool you: the D40 image quality and low-light capability put many DSLRs with higher resolution to shame.

The general impression of the camera is that it’s a well-made device that has had a lot of thought go in to it. Things that have been changed make it easier for the newbie to get around what may initially seem a daunting device.