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Nikon D40 User's Guide
© 2007 KenRockwell.com
Nikon D40 with new 18-55mm lens.
Original files at
ht tp://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/index.htm
January 2007
Converted to PDF by Sándor Nagy nasa@delfin.unideb.hu
© 2007 KenRockwell.com 1 converted by Sándor Nagy
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Ken Rockwell Post Office Box 8778 La Jolla, California 92038-8778 United States of America http://www.kenrockwell.com/ © 2007 Ken Rockwell All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make one print for yourself. All other uses are absolutely forbidden, especially emailing this to others, making multiple copies, posting or mirroring, or handing this out to others. Instead, please send others this link to the newest version: http://KenRockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide where they m
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CONTENTS page INTRODUCTION 6 BASICS 6 CAMERA SETTINGS 6 RESET
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Image Sharpening 22 Tone Compensation (Contrast) 22 Color Mode 23 Saturation 23 Hue Adjustment
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Monochrome 42 Filter Effects 42 Small Picture 43 Image Overlay 43 APPENDIX
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INTRODUCTION Want free live phone support? In the USA, call (800) NIKON-UX, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Looking for a specific control? Use my Search page. Be sure to mention the D40 in your search. This lengthy article will teach you to be an expert on the Nikon D40's controls and menus. It also includes a lot of tips, tricks, and the settings I prefer to use. To get great photos you still need to get yourself to the right place at the right time and point the camera in the right di
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Nikon has an easy reset feature. I use it every time! My standard operating setting is only a few clicks different from the defaults. RESET Unlike my other Nikons, I don't use the green reset feature. I find it easier to press the I button and run down the items on the left and bottom of the screen. Quality I use Large, JPG, BASIC I'm a data cheapskate. I prefer small files. For most people not shooting hundreds of throw-away images a day, feel free to leave it in NORMAL, the default. NORMAL
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maximum of 1,600 (or any ISO you choose) as it gets darker. Only if it gets still darker will it let the shutter speed go below 1/15 at ISO 1,600, exactly as I'd do manually. I explain how to set Auto ISO and select the shutter speed at which the ISO starts to increase and the maximum ISO to which it will increase in the Custom Setting 10 (page 30). I set Auto ISO to 1,600 max because the noise from the D40 at ISO 1,600 looks much better than blur. I set 1/15 because my Nikon 18-200mm and th
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Read more at Shooting Menu (page 21). FOCUS (AF) Mode I use the default of AF-A. This mode automatically selects between the two older modes, AF-C and AF-S. These are explained under Focus Modes (page 27). METERING I use Matrix, the default. You set metering in Custom Setting 05 (page 29) or with the Button (page 15). Seeing how poor the matrix meter has become in the D40 (it requires constantly varying levels of compensation) I intend to try center weighted metering. With my intimate kn
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focus with the included lens, move it to "M." If the switch says "M/A - M " then use M/A. These lenses may be focused manually at any time in either position. As soon as you tap the shutter button in M/A you return to autofocus. More advanced lenses, like the 18-200mm, 70-300mm VR and 18-135mm, and any lens with an M/A position, may be focused manually at any time without moving any switches. Leave them in their A or A/M positions. Non-AF-S and non-AF-I lenses, like the new 10.5mm fisheye,
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EXPLICIT DETAILS These were the basics. Keep reading for explicit details. CONTROLS TOP PANEL CONTROLS Nikon D40 Top Panel Controls. Exposure Mode Selector Knob (shown above.) Spin it to select among P, S, A and M exposure modes. I ignore the green AUTO (as shown above) and the other convenience modes (flower, lady in hat, etc.). Many of the menu options are shown only after you select the FULL MENUS option in the Setup Menu (page 35) and are often deactivated in anything except the P, S, A a
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Three easy ways to return to the standard program combination are to: 1.) flip to a different mode and back to P, or 2.) turn the D40 off and back on, or 3.) spin the rear dial back to its original position. The *P symbol goes away when you've returned to the standard combinations. The standard combinations are f/4 at 1/60, f/5.6 @ 1/125, f/8 @ 1/250, f/11 @ 1/500, etc. A shifted set might use f/4 @ 1/1,000, f/8 @ 1/500 or might use f/4 @ 1/2, f/5.6 @ 1 sec, etc. Don't worry, just flick th
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Firmware Defect: When turned ON, Auto ISO (page 30) remains active in Manual mode. I always turn off AUTO ISO when I enter Manual Mode, otherwise Auto ISO changes the ISO and ruins whatever you were hoping to accomplish with manual exposure mode. OFF, ON and Shutter Release Button Leave it ON unless you're putting it away. It draws no more power in ON than OFF. OFF is a lock to prevent accidental operation. +/- and Diaphragm (*) Button This button is next to the shutter button. In manual ex
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Info and Green Dot button Tap this to wake up the D40 and show you what's going on with your settings on the LCD. Tap it again to turn off the LCD. To change the settings, tap the other < i > a nd Green Dot button (page 15)on the rearof the D40. Hold both Green Dot buttons at the same time for a few seconds to reset most of the tactical parameters, like exposure compensation, autofocus modes, ISO, White Balance, etc, to their defaults. I don't use this reset often, since I set enough th
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I thank my lucky stars with my Nikon, because on my idiotic Canon 5D I have to wait and press the Play button just to zoom in on a shot I just made! No need for this with Nikon, so long as you have Image Review (page 30) set to ON. The only reason you may want Image Review OFF (its default) is if you prefer to make many immediate changes to your next shots. If Image Review is ON, the image pops up after your shot, and the D40 responds to your dial inputs by showing the the next or previous
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defaults. I don't use this reset often, since I set enough things away from defaults. I would use it if I loaned my D40 to a friend and had it returned later. AE-L AF-L / Key Button (Top Right Center) This can lock the focus and/or exposure or turn on the autofocus. You set what it locks in Custom Setting 12 (page 32). I set mine to lock exposure for as long as I hold the button (AE lock only). Rear Dial (top right) Click this left and right to control most of the D40's functions. Up/Dow
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Trash Can Button This is the D40's flush lever. Press it while a photo is displayed to erase that photo. You'll get an "are you sure?" screen, and press it again to dump that shot. Meatheads like me get used to double pressing it every time out of habit, which means I accidentally erase some shots. Serves me right. It doesn't do anything else. It ignores you if pressed without an image displayed, except it is used for deleting bad characters in the secret message embed mode (page 38). Almos
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From the top down: +/- Lighting Bolt (Flash) Button 1.) Press once to pop up the built-in flash. 2.) Hold it and the +/- (*) diaphragm button (page 13) at the same time and spin the rear dial to alter the brightness of the flash. 0.0 is normal and I leave it there almost all the time. Only in rare instances do I ever need to adjust it towards the minus side to make it darker, or the plus side to make it lighter. This is much easier to do than it sounds; it's quite natural. 3.) Hold it and s
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mode. The background exposes correctly, people may be blurred, and a burst of flash freezes them along with the blurry ghost images. Normal and SLOW do the same thing in S and M exposure modes (page 11), since you or the camera may select any shutter speed in these modes regardless of flash sync. I usually prefer to choose an exact slowest shutter speed in the M or S exposure modes (page 11). In SLOW mode and dark conditions the shutter speeds can become too long for comfort. Red-Eye SLOW (
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What it Does It sets a few playback options. What I Change I leave it alone. Delete This is helpful if you want to delete all images while saving those you locked with the Key / AE-L AF-L button (page 16). I don't use this. I do all my editing and selection in my computer and I do my in-camera deletions one-by-one with the trash can key. Playback Folder The camera can record to and play back from different folders. CURRENT ignores photos in folders other than the one to which you're record
