What SLR camera is best for taking youth sports photos?

I have been taking photos off and on for about 17 years now. I am starting to do more photography part time and am getting jobs taking photos of youth sports, both posed and action photos. Also I am having people asking me about senior photos. I am looking at purchasing a Nikon D40, D40X or D80. My funds are tight, so I was wondering if I really need the D80 and if the 40's will work?

There is not that much difference between the D40 or D80 when it comes to getting good action and sports shots. Back when 35mm SLR's ruled, we used cameras that had NO autofocus and shutterspeeds that topped out at 1/2000th of a second and manually advanced the film. We had NO problem getting great shots.

As you can see the D40 has twice the shutter speed (1/4000th of a second) than the old 35mm cameras.

Just be sure you have a long enough lens for the distance from you to your subject. Most of the time a 70-300mm zoom will be find.

I would simply suggest, shift to Canon Rebel xt

The Nikon D40 is a good camera for beginners. It has a nice LCD, good image quality, fast flash sync, and its cheap. That's about all it has.

The D40x is said to be the D80's "replacement." Yeah. The D40x is the same camera as the D40, but with a lower flash sync and grainier images. Oh, and you get to pay an extra $200. The only upside is the 10 megapixels. This is really, the only selling point; not something to be proud of. Personally, I would never recommend it. This may sound harsh, but it is my personally preference.

The D80 is a good all-around camera. 10 megapixels, sturdy grip, clean images, top mounted LCD, among other things. When you think about it, it is not that much more expensive than the D40x. Plus, it's a much better step from the D40.

All I'm going to say is that you can buy the camera that will suit your needs, and do so later on, or you can pay half that for the D40, then the other half when you want something better.

If you are stuck between the two, you can always look at the Nikon D70s, or the D100. These are both really good cameras, and a lot cheaper.

Canon XTi + IS USM Canon 17 - 85 lens ! ;-)