One of the interesting features of the D40 is it’s display of settings like shutter speed and aperture. Above you can see a close-up of the screen. For the photo, I set the camera into aperture priority mode. This means I can set how much light is allowed in through the lens. The left concentric circles both illustrate the shutter speed and aperture. In the outer circle we see the shutter speed and in the inner circle we see how open the aperture is. In the picture below, I closed the aperture up and it will help illustrate how the display changes.

As we can see, when we allow the camera to control everything except the aperture, it automatically adjusts the shutter speed, and thus the display shows a graphical representation of the settings. This isn’t the only time the camera helps you out. With a simple push of the help button, it will explain what a setting is, what the mode means, or even prompt you if the current settings might result in an underexposed image.

What you see in these few pictures is a small portion of help that can and will be displayed at a push of a button. There’s a lot more to find, and as I work more with the camera I’ll keep you posted on anything of interest. Next time, I’ll discuss the real truth about mega-pixels, and why 6.1megapixels is more then enough for 80% of people. I’ll also share some photos as examples that simulate real world scenarios for those of us without fancy lighting equipment.