So I’ve had my Nikon D40, complete with kit lens (18-55mm) for a couple of weeks now – my first SLR and a choice that I arrived at after some fairly protracted hand-wringing. How has it worked out? Brilliantly, to be honest – considering I’ve basically just taken it out and about in London, I’m really pleased with the results I’ve got so soon in. ‘Terrific honesty’ in my eyes was one nice comment – any guesses what I’m saying in the shot above?

The fact the kit lens goes to a relatively wide angle setting means you can get some really creative shots, too:

Having a bigger lens and bigger, better CCD than a PnS camera means you capture so much more light, and the pictures are correspondingly better – richer, more detail packed without you having to whack the saturation up or tinker with the levels in PhotoShop. I’ve done a lot better on Flickr, too (yeah yeah, I know it’s not a competition) but even so, I’m quite pleased – and I got picked for the Photojojo newsletter from this week, so I’m clearly becoming a better photographer, which is what I was aiming for.

One point I would make is that while Ken Rockwell has his fair share of detractors, his D40 set up guide is excellent – far better than the manual, and a good no nonsense walk through of the menus and the various options. Well worth checking out if you’ve just got a D40.