How would you guys rate the d40? I just got myself one for christmas and figured it would be a good beginners camera.

My main focus is photographing concerts, clubs, and parties. What type of lens would you all recommend for that type of setting?

I also take a lot of up close pictures of very small things, like plants, bugs, etc. Same question about the lens for those types of pictures as well

i've never been on the photography section of JSP before, so hope i can get some good input!

seel d40 and get d7000 that for start. then get wide lens like 18mm 24mm need to remember that on crop sensor you wont get what you think you will so 18mm will be 23mm, 24mm will be 30mm

THANKS for the input my current lense is 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6. I still dont know a lot about this stuff yet, i still have a lot to learn, so i appreciate your advice !

18mm on nikon asp-c is 27mm

oh thx was think x 1.3 but i guess that on sony

IIRC it's 1.5 on nikon and 1.6 on canon.

no offense but the 18-55mm kit lens for nikon is a really bad lens for night shooting. I agree with the above post about getting the d7000, works well with low light. since you will be shooting a lot of low light I would suggest getting a faster lens (at least a 2.8). with many concerts you won't be able to use flash for at least a 2.8 will help. as for parties and things where a flash can be used I would suggest buying a flash you can use off camera. if you don't know how to use flash yet you can start off by playing with bouncing the flash but learn how to use flash off camera with a transmitter

i had a d40x a few years ago, that kit lens is actually amazing for a kit lens, i found my copy super sharp, no vignetting or fall off, in fact brilliant and i would put in on close to the 24-70L i had in terms of performance (yes people this lens is that good)! however with a wide open of only f3.5 It won't provide high shutter speeds in low light (however if you buy a flash gun it would be fine)

The camera is basic but good for learning i out grew its capabilities within 12 months, I think iso performance is poor and AF is really bad (3 point is yuck lol) Also some of the custom settings are buried too deep within the camera's setting which restricts the learning curve as you will tend to use more auto settings!

thanks everyone for the advice! i appreciate it and have been looking into some new lenses and accessories. I will have to look more into the different types of flash accessories i can get, but i havnt really thought about that too much yet!

I have just been messing around and taking a lot of pictures of random things, i'll try and put a link to some up tonight, so you guys can check them out