Do you recomend the Nikon d40?

This will be my first SLR camera, i've been saving for a while now.

It took me a while to save money, i don't want to regret buying that kind after i get it.

-should i wait and save some more and get the Nikon D80?

-how far does the lense that come with the D40 (18-55mm) zoom? can it be used to photograph insects?

This is a really hard question to answer because I dont know how you are going to use the camera. The D40 in the hands of someone who knows how to work it can take fantastic photos, you dont have to question that at all. I own the nikon d40x (i choose to get the 10mp version because print sizes and enlargements with the 10mp versus 6mp is noticeable to me.

You will not be able to get the type of photos that have the insect that has huge head and you can see the little hairs on it without a macro lens that can be around 300 dollars separate for the entry level ones.

If you are just learning photography and dont plan to sell photos, turn it into a career then the d40 is fine. I wouldnt recommend the d80 because it is exactly the same as the d40x just with an internal autofocus motor meaning it can take more lenses, but i doubt you will be buying $1000+ lenses anytime soon.

I have the d40x and also the d200 and the quality of photos between the two when PROPERLY set up with the SAME lenses is almost undetected.

If you want to go out and take photos and learn go for the d40, its a great camera. When comparing the d40 to the d80 the only real difference is 6mp versus 10mp, and unless your printing or cropping you wont notice the difference between the two. And as i said earlier the autofocus motor in the d80 will accept any lens, but you dont have any lenses already and all new lenses have a built in motor anyways usually.

edit: i didnt mention the d60, has 10mp and built in sensor dust vibrator to help clean off dust. I would actualy save for that camera instead.

D40 is a great camera.

D80 can autofocus with more lenses and has a few things advanced users will appreciate.

But if you have to wait a long time to save for it, get the D40 and get shooting.

Here's a demonstration of the close-up abilities of the kit lens (scroll way down for it):

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-55-i...

I don't really think it's suitable for shooting very small bugs.

However, Nikon makes very nice (and reasonably-priced) close-up attachments which may do the job for you:

http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/...

Hope this helps.
V

well you decided after you hear this before 3 months i was a semi-pro photographer because i was on the point and shot camera but i bye the Nikon d40 now I'm a pro photographer in more than 10 websites one of them is the national geographic and art in all of us and Google earth and if you want to see a simple photos of the Nikon d40 here is my website http://photographersamer.deviantart.com/ and here is the gallery http://photographersamer.deviantart.com/... so you can see the photos and decided if you need it or not and for the Nikon d80 the only deference is the mega pixel and it's not a problem the Nikon d40 is a 6 mp but still take a great photos and for the lens it's like all the SLR cameras 18-55mm but you bye it more lenses and yesterday i bought the segma 70-300mm lens and it''s great so i think you should buy it but if you see yourself that you can get more money for the Nikon d 80 so buy the Nikon d80