Nikon D40 Digital SLR

I bought a new camera today. A Nikon D40 digital SLR from EC-Mall in Future Park, Rangsit. Considering photos are a large part of my website (and main method for recording parts of my experiences in Thailand and elsewhere), I decided I would put some more effort into the quality of photos. First step (although certainly not the main step), was to get a new camera. My Canon IXUS 50 is working well (after a 4000 Baht repair job in 2007), but does not produce great quality pics (maybe its the user?). After talking to friends and reading a bunch of online reviews, I decided to go for a digital SLR, limiting my choice to the entry level Canon or Nikon cameras. In Thailand, the current models are the Canon EOS400D and Nikon D40X. However, the older models (EOS350 and D40) are still on sale, and of course the newer models are arriving shortly (e.g. EOS450D). I was going to get one of the current models, which were priced around 21000 Baht, until Brenton pointed me to Ken Rockwell's site, which strongly recommended selecting the older Nikon D40, over the D40X (note, some people think Ken is a little too enthusiastic about Nikon). With this advice, I decided on the D40. I wasn't too concerned about Canon or Nikon: I would have been nice to stay with Canon (have the IXUS 50 and video camera), while Nikon uses SD cards which I currently have about 750MB (the Canon uses CF card). There are several nice web sites for camera shops in Thailand: EC Mall, Pix-One, World Camera, Fotofile, and Mee Camera. Both EC Mall and Pix-One have outlets in Future Park at Rangsit. So I checked them out. Pix-One didn't have the D40 in stock, so that left me with EC Mall. They had it, so I got it. My bartering was not very good (mainly because the camera was already on special). In the end I got: Total price was 16000 Baht. I was happy with this, considering I was planning on spending 20000 Baht or more. In the future, I can get some more equipment, including a new lens, spare batteries and maybe a bigger camera bag. But for now I'm happy. Now its time to learn how to take good photos.

Created on Fri, 15 Feb 2008, 12:00am

Last changed on Fri, 09 May 2008, 2:22pm