Can you view the picture you're taking in the LCD screen using the Nikon D40?

Question

Or you have to look through the smaller view?

Answer 1

No, you can only view and compose the image through your viewfinder before it's taken. The reason for this is that in order to compose the image on the LCD, the light from the lens has to fall onto the sensor. In SLR cameras, there is a mirror directly in front of the sensor that bounces light up and through the viewfinder -- this mirror flips up for a split second when you press the shutter button and allows light to fall on the sensor. Some of the newest cameras do allow you to use the LCD (Called "Live View") because they have a feature that raises the mirror for that purpose, but Nikon does not have any camera similar to the D60 that does that at this time. In all honesty, the viewfinder will virtually always be better than your LCD anyways -- it is unmeasurably higher in resolution, gives the most accurate color, allows you to accurately manually focus outside of the strictest studio settings, and it keeps the camera next to your body to stabilize the shot. The LCD may be useful in strange situations, such as manually focusing in a studio setting in extremely low light, but that's about it. You're much better off with the viewfinder, and photographers have been getting by without Live View for decades.

Answer 2

No No No No

This isn't a point and shoot camera, this is a digital SLR, the d40 is a starter digital SLR and it doesn't come with a live view mode, because it's not essential to most photographs. With the d40, you have to assume what you're shooting through the viewfinder. Plus, live view isn't all that needed in photography. the live view on a digital SLR isn't like the Live view on a point and shoot camera.

when you use live view in digital SLR photography, you can't instantly get a picture, it's a rather complicating process. the mirror flips up to expose the sensor, and it gets more complicated after that. Also, there's a delay when using live view on a camera, it's around one-two seconds, and subjects can be long gone by then.

but, you're not going to have to worry about using live view, because you can't do so on your Nikon D40 digital SLR. i have a Nikon d40 too, and i don't feel i need live view with my SLR cameras at all.

Answer 3

No. That's a feature called live view. In an SLR, that's used mainly for tripod shots, as it's slower than the camera's usual functioning. The whole point of an SLR is that you are viewing directly through the camera's lens.

The Canon  XSi and XS,  Olympus E-420 and E-520, and Sony Alpha 350 all have some version of live view. The Sony live view is probably closest to a point-and-shoot camera in function.