hmm, i was at the shop today, and when i was trying it out, there was a very limited distance that i can zoom in on for the d40x, i.e. a REALLY REALLY short distance, which was what made me changed my mind back to getting a prosumer. and there has also been a lot of criticism about the d40x that it has a limited range of lenses available for use.
any opinions on this?
So why must buy D40X?
Got a lot of other cameras around that price range that are good. I hope I don't get flamed for saying this, but Nikon is not the only brand out there. If you want something with a wide range of zoom, optical quality will suffer, nonetheless. Because the lens has to accomodate that wide range of zoom. Nowadays getting better and better but nonetheless I personally think that the image quality suffers and it's discernable to me.
Yes, the kit lens is 18-55mm, which roughly equates a 3x (slight more than 3x actually) zoom. Most prosumers give you 12x, which is in a way, making it more budget than getting a DSLR and th 18-200 lens (which would give you 27-300mm focal length in 35mm film terms).
But what do you want? Are you committed to photography? Do you know the basics of photography? Can you handle a DSLR? These are some questions only you can answer yourself before deciding which to get.
The D40x is a DSLR whereby you have to get lenses with AF motor built into the lens. So yar, in a way it is limited, but I'm not very sure, have to ask Nikon people.
Some other cameras you might want to consider if you really are interested in DSLR,
1) Pentax K100D like I said, good value for money, good kit lens, SR, etc
2) Pentax K10D (more advanced than K100D but more megapixels)
3) Olympus E410
4) Olympus E510
5) Canon 400D / 350D - from what I hear the kit lens quality is less than desirable and has a rotating front though