Are you ready to graduate from your point-and-shoot camera but aren’t ready to plunge head first into the expensive world of professional photography?

Consider the Nikon D40 digital SLR. It’s the perfect camera for those testing the waters of digital photography as a serious hobby.

For less than $500 with prices slowly dropping every three months or so, this 6.1 megapixel camera comes with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX zoom lens, shoots 2.5 frames per second, and provides tons of in-camera processing options such as D-Lighting, Red-Eye Correction, Trimming and Overlay functions, and an array of filter effects.

Shooting modes include Automatic, Auto (Flash Off), Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Child, Sports, Night Portrait, and a variety of manual settings.

Price: $474.06 | BUY