From Nikon
Great pictures used to require complicated and cumbersome equipment along with years of experience. Not any more. The D40 is compact, lightweight and designed specifically for ease of use, yet contains all the top-quality, high-performance technologies that you expect from a Nikon digital SLR. And with world-famous Nikkor lenses, you know you have the sharpest and most reliable optical performance available. All in a camera light enough to carry with you everywhere. Beautiful photography has never been easier.
This is a good SLR for the money. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger buck units, but it takes very good pictures. I find that 6 megapixels is enough for all the prints I want to do - you don't need 10 megapixels unless you are blowing up photos to large poster size. Comfortable to use, good battery life, a lot of camera for the money. Note that this camera doesn't have a focus motor in the body, so the lenses have to have focus motors. You won't be able to use your existing Nikon SLR lenses on this one. It also doesn't shoot multiple pictures as fast as the higher end cameras - if you do sports work and want to burst 5 fps, this isn't for you. It will still shoot fast enough for pets, other action. I recommend no smaller than a 4 GB SD card - anything smaller won't hold enough pictures and you will shoot a LOT with this camera.