What would you recomend for a starter? D40 or D60?

Go with the d60 as a starter camera. better controls and better pictures

D40 should be sufficient for any person who's thinking about buying their 1st DSLR. Just do a quick search in Google or something for D40 vs d60 and you'll get plenty of comparisons between the two.

I don't think there are any Staples stores in Louisiana. So, why is it charging 35.28 tax at checkout?

Waitin' 4 dat anti-D40 guy 2 flame on.

The D40 is a sham, but not for any massive "Flame War" reasons. I find the "Best Part"(tm) of Nikons is the lens selection (YMMV). The D40s can only use a very small subset of the available Nikon lenses, and each is more expensive than the D60/80/etc counterpart. You "pay less" for the body, but are paying SO much more on the back-end for the limited lens selection and the price of each. Go with the D60 to start, I think the D60 can use all the lenses (Google that first to double check). The D70 and D80 can absolutely use almost 100% of all available (including 3rd party).

#6, D40 and D60 share the same limitations when it comes to lens selection. D80 is a different story.
I had both D80 (then sold it) and D40; both great cameras that tend to over expose a bit; this is easy to correct though
I find that 6mp D40 is good enough for what I need it for and small enough so I can carry it anywhere. IMO, $415 is a great deal on this camera

I think its only commpatible with autofocus lenses

I wonder who came up with camera model names for Nikon & Canon? This baconnaise can get really confusing. Canon's first gen DSLRs are the D30, then D60, now Nikon came out with D40, D60, D70, D80, D90, and on the Canon side 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, if you count the pros series from both, your head will start spinning...fine engineers those guys are, but stupid naming common sense.

Back to this camera, it's fine for a beginner, although I doubt this is a deal in around Xmas when all the new DSLRs are coming up and deals on Black Friday.

If you want a better selection of lenses, Canon trumps Nikon.
If you want a better on-board flash / lighting system, get Nikon.

I bought a new one on eBay comes with len and 4GB memory card, bag, tripod for about $460, minus Live.com 30% cash back, total was about $320 no tax and free shipping.

But this is a good deal if you don't want to go thru eBay, and Live.com.

We're close enough to Black Friday for you to wait.

People talk about how this thing's got less lens compatibility than other bodies, and how it's somehow crippling.

Here's the scoop:

The D40 has full functionality with the newest lenses (AF-S, AF-I, VR, and G lenses). They've been making these lenses since 1992.

The D40 loses AF capability with AF and AF-D lenses (it doesn't have the AF screwdriver). They've been making these lenses since 1986.

It has no automatic metering with Manual Focus lenses.

If you have these lenses, this may be an issue, but if you're starting fresh because you're switching from P/S or some other manufacturer, this isn't an issue.

Even without AF, Nikons have a "rangefinder" in the viewer that tells you whether you're in focus, or which way to turn the knob to get it into focus.

I highly recommend the D80 over the D60 (let alone D40, it's worth the "few extra bucks"). Virtually the same price, a crapload more features, and doesn't have any lens compatibility issues.

From the review on the D60:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond60/page30.asp

"the lack of 'mid range' features ... seem designed purely to push more serious users up the Nikon range to the ageing D80. ... In reality the biggest challenge the D60 faces is the competition; there's been an explosion of small, affordable entry-level SLRs in the 18 month or so since the D40 first appeared ... Cameras such as the Olympus E-410 (and its promising successor the E-420) offer a fuller feature set in an equally small (and affordable) body, and you can't ignore the imminent arrival on the shelves of Canon's seriously beefed-up (though pricier) forthcoming new entry-level model, the EOS 450D, not to mention the new Sonys or the Pentax K200D.

The D80 has dropped in price with the arrival of the D90, making it about the same as the D60. Check it out:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/page29.asp

The review basically says it right in the beginning of the conclusion ...

"The number of cons, and the fact that there... [Truncated]

Like #12 said - go check dpreview.com

I switched from film Canon to digital Nikon 2 years ago. Love 'em. Nikon has better LCDs, and I like the cropped format b/c your lenses are smaller (lighter, cheaper to make), you get more telephoto (but lose out on wide wide angles). Go with Canon if you have a Canon lens inventory, are in the studio (and so can control your lighting and don't need a great LCD), or have to shoot WIDE angle (12mm) a lot. Those are the points of intrigue I see between the two brands. YMMV. See kenrockwell.com to double your reading pleasure over dpreview.com...

Good price. I paid $439 for mine. As a P&S replacement, you can hardly do much better. The D40 is as light as a feather. Just don't think you can beat on it like a regular DSLR. It's not nearly as sturdy. The extra price for the D40x or D60 makes no sense to me.

Over the weekend I shot a bunch of pictures with the D40 in a dark crowded restaurant. I turned off the beeps, turned off the AF assist light, turned off the flash, and cranked the ISO to 3200. No one new I was taking pictures and they turned out better than I expected.

If you want access to the entire Nikon lens library, get a D80 or the new D90. But you won't get either for anywhere near this price.

#14,YOU are a LIAR! That darn thing weighted a POUND, did you really look at your pictures? At 3200 ISO with no noise? you can lool like B Pitt too, because no one can tell any different!That darn camera is great but, still, people can still hear the sound of shutter, come on man, it' just a D40.

PCconnection had it on sale for $389 a month ago then $399 a week ago with free shipping and no tax!

#14, I take the comment (s) above back, sorry, my was a 40DD not D40