Nikon D40 Excellent starter slr, Sir

Well were should I start, this camera is good really good, usable prints straight from the camera right up to iso 1600, possibly better than some 8meg cams and pushes the 10 meg too. Less can mean more and does here by my experience.
The body is quite small but has good handling, I have large hands and preffered this over the Eos 400. The controls are very easy to use and in most cases understand, all the usual easy programs for the learner and more advanced for the experienced, if you have the later nikon lenses this would be a good backup. Canon went fully electronic some years ago, I think may be Nikon are going the same way, you can use older lenses but only on manual focus, the really old ones full manual only. The metering is very good, can be trusted in most circumstances, main probs are under artificial lighting can under expose slightly, and have a warm cast, generally very good.
The very large lcd on the back can be adjusted to switch of within a secound if required, most settings can be adjusted from here using the d-pad. The size gives a very good preview(again can be adjusted on/off) of your photos. The viewfinder is reasonably bright and clear, lots of information on the lcd and the focus points are visible in bright light, I personally select just the centre sensor only-as a preference to all three as the camera can focus on other things than what you want.
Lens autofocus is very quiet and quick, the whole camera reminds me of my old eos 100 i had some 14 years ago.
I can Highly Recommend this camera a good start to the Nikon system.
I paid 478 sterling for the twin lens kit, money well spent.