Up Front
Figure 1.1 shows the Nikon D40/D40x from
the front view. To hold your camera steady
and keep all the major controls at your fin-
gertips, wrap your right hand around the
handgrip and place your left hand under-
neath, supporting the underside of the lens
with your thumb and index finger on the
zoom ring.
By using this grip, you can reach the shutter
release button with the index finger of your
right hand and quickly turn the camera on
or off with the same finger. While you keep
the camera steady with your left hand
(especially helpful under dim illumination
for slower shutter speeds), your fingers are
free to manipulate controls on that side of
the D40/D40x, including the zoom ring, the
focus ring (if you’re adjusting focus manu-
ally), the electronic flash flip-up button, and
the Function (Fn) button, which serves as a
short-cut to features you specify (see
Chapter 3). I explain all these controls later
in this chapter. Here you see two views of
the front of the camera, from left and right
angles (as seen from the photographer’s
position).
✦ Autofocus assist illuminator/
self-timer lamp/red-eye reduc-
tion lamp. This front-mounted
white LED serves three different
functions. When available illumina-
tion is dim, the lamp can flash to
provide enough light to increase
the contrast so the automatic focus
mechanism can function. (You can
disable this feature when it might
prove obtrusive or distracting.) In
self-timer mode, the lamp blinks
during the delay period, serving as
a countdown to the actual expo-
sure. When you’re using flash, the
front panel lamp can issue a burst
of light just before the exposure,
which can help contract the pupils
in your subjects’ eyes and reduce
the red-eye effect.
16 Part I ✦ Using the Nikon D40/D40x
1.1 A front view of the Nikon D40/D40x
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