I recieved a Nikon D40 for my birthday early on Friday night. I've been using it pretty much non-stop since I got it and while i've primarily just been bumming around the house with it so far it's produced some really interesting shots, as well as experiences.

The camera is an absolute dream to use. Physically it's a sexily curvaceous piece of kit, with holding and pointing with the attached lens a pleasant experience in itself. But echoing the physical appeal of it, the camera is incredibly mute, and even the slower of the shutter speeds are pretty nippy. For everyday use it may seem a little advanced compared to cheaper compacts, but the camera is suited to a range of environments and scenarios, only rarely letting you down, and of course, should that be the case, there's always a wealth of manual settings to help correct the proposed image. Being a DSLR means it can welcome many other lenses onto it's body for further customisation and specific scenarios and ideas, meaning that for now, it's very future-proof, at least until something completely revolutionary comes along.

I was given an additional Nikkor 55-200mm lens for distance shots and landscapes, though currently i've yet to use it, or even need it in the first place, though i'm sure those scenarios will soon present themselves. As such, all of the following images were taken with the standard included-in-the-box lens, primarily in automatic mode though some manual focusing in places.