I purchased the D40 yesterday and love it. The kit lens is great quality, quiet, fast and accurate focusing and small. The D40 is very small, fits great in my hand - has a beautiful large LCD screen and is far more sturdy feeling that the Canon Rebel in my view. If you are used to Nikon like I am - - - everything is in the right place. This little baby also has a much valued RGB histogram (you push the "OK" button 3 times to access it) which is so much more useful than the normal single channel histogram thatmy D70's have. The D40 / kit lens package is so easy to carry around anywhere.
I also made the decision to purchase the Sigma 10-20 ultrawide for use on my D200 - although it works great on my D40 also. It is almost as quiet as the Nikon 12-24 when focusing, quite fast and accurate with Auto focus. The lens is very sharp and the extra 2mm of non-fisheye width at the extreme wide end of the lens puts it over the top compared to the really nice but expensive Nikon.
Tonight my wife and I were out on the beach on Lake Huron just walking around. She hates using my bulkier DSLR's but loved this little D40/18-55 combo as much as I did. Here are a couple shots we took tonight with it:
Anne's shot:
Model:NIKON D40 | Orientation:Normal | Software Used:Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows | Exposure Time:1/400 seconds | F Number:F/10 | ISO Speed:200 | Date Taken:2007:04:21 20:14:48 | Exposure Compensation:-4/6 Step | Metering Mode:Pattern | Flash Mode:No Flash | Focal Length:55 mm | Color Space:sRGB One of mine (it was rough finding nice content becuase of the time of year and lack of anything fresh and green):
Model:NIKON D40 | Orientation:Normal | Software Used:Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows | Exposure Time:1/60 seconds | F Number:F/5.6 | ISO Speed:900 | Date Taken:2007:04:21 20:25:38 | Exposure Compensation:-4/6 Step | Metering Mode:Pattern | Flash Mode:No Flash | Focal Length:55 mm | Color Space:sRGB Another that Anne took as we were leaving in the pitch black night. I love the painterly look and will try a print on Art Paper:
Model:NIKON D40 | Orientation:Normal | Software Used:Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows | Exposure Time:1/3 seconds | F Number:F/5.6 | ISO Speed:1600 | Date Taken:2007:04:21 21:07:20 | Exposure Compensation:-4/6 Step | Metering Mode:Pattern | Flash Mode:No Flash | Focal Length:55 mm | Color Space:sRGB