I have had this camera for around 7 months, my first DSLR, so this review is going to be very 'unprofessional photographer' friendly, as I am an unprofessional photographer, who honestly after 7 months still has absolutely no idea what he is doing, but I'm still taking the best photos I have ever taken.

Taking photos with the D40 is quite literally a snap, there is nothing quite like the sound that a 'real' camera emits when taking a photo, it's quite satisfying. The quality of the pictures that I have been taking with the kit lens have been great, I mostly use the automatic settings and I know the pictures could be better. And that's the great thing about an SLR, to a large degree the quality of the photos are only limited by the knowledge of the person taking the photos. With the kit lens and auto settings I find that the photos are crisp and well balanced, I'm really happy with the results, although the camera does struggle in low lighting but I'd put that down to the lens and my lack of knowledge to how to shoot a good photo in low light.

So, would I recommend this camera? Yes. Without a doubt, if you are entering the world of amateur/professional photography then this is a great start! I'd suggest looking at some lenses that are on offer at the moment too, Nikon recently released a 35-mm DX F1.8 Prime lens which is very highly recommended, I'm hopefully getting my hands on one soon, which will only add to the quality of the pictures I take. Great stuff!