D40X?

I have the D40 and it is an excellent camera, the pictures are amazing, and more amazing with a cpl filter...if you got the d40x, try to get one, it´s a must for the automotive pictures...

Buy the D40X you won´t regret with the buy...

 

Get the D40x over the regular D40 hands down, has 4 more MP and is a little beter the regular one.

 

It doesn't matter what model camera you have for automotive photography, well it does.. but its not like it will make a huge difference which one you have if its nikon or canon, i have a canon rebel XTi a 40D and a nikon D80, You just need the right lens that will make a difference, but like you mentiond a CPL filter, these things are amazing for car photography when you have the right lighting outside.

 

I would save the money and get a D40 and then save for some lenses. That 4MP is not going to matter one bit, unless you have a $1200 printer and are going to print posters. It truly isn't that much difference.

 

Even then.

I don't know the exact specifications of those cameras, but I'm guessing it makes no more than 2-3 inch difference in horizontal size (at a reasonable print DPI).

 

I don't know about the D40, but generally, you might want to take the camera with fewer MPs when it comes to regions of 5-10 Megapixels. With more MPs, the transistors on the CCD chip are more dense, thus the noise increases, and the quality gets worse. You see that effect dramatically with cellphone cameras, which have reasonable resolutions, but the image quality is crap. If the 4 extra MP is the only advantage the D40x offers, you should either try them out both at the store and look for the differences in image quality or wait until someone with more knowledge on the subject than I have chimes in here

 

I have a D40 (not X) and love it, I just got a 70-300mm and I also have the 55-200mm and then the 18-55mm. Don't get the 55-200mm. If you can afford it go with a D40 body only and get a 18-200mm, if you want few lenses, just don't get a 55-200mm.

 

with the d40 and d40x, you will be very limited with the lens/glass that you can purchase and still have autofocus.
since the d40/x does not have the dedicated autofocus drive on the camera itself, you arelimitied to those lens that have internal autofocus motors.
Bodies like the d50,d70/s,d80,d200 all have a/f motors
All of the nikkor/tamron/sigma lens will fit, but some will not autofocus, only focus manually

All of that aside, the d40/x is a great camera

 

^^^ MY only problem with it along with only 3 AF areas. The thing is, if you buy a D40 the lens that are available in your price range can pretty much all work.