This might help:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm
I havent even seen the Sony but the D40 is compact, light and v easy to use. Ive had one for 2 years and 4000 frames. I got one for the gf in Oct for £220 but the euro strength has pushed it up recently. It might get replaced soon as its been made for more than 2 years now, and the big 2 are turning over product cycles more quickly than that.

tell him to handle both, and others too if he can find somewhere that stocks them all. Canon, and Olympus both have models in that price range and theres a Pentax at a little more.

No SLR takes bad photos in the right hands, so its all about what feels best TBH.


Personal opinion, of those two Id take the Nikon. Sony lenses are too expensive for their performance whereas Nikors are generally very good and not overpriced. Of course Sony do have the advantage of Pentax like built in image stabilisation so its not cut and dried....

on the plus side you can still use M42 glass with a non-optical adaptor, the back focus distance on the Nikon F mount is greater than that on the M42 so you have to use an adaptor which acts as a short tele-converter unless you want to loose infinity focus.

Does the Sony anti-shake work with old glass? that would be another advantage if it does.