Yes, it's normal..

You have a mirror inside your DSLR that let's you see through the viewfinder and lens in 1 way WYSIWYG. The prisma-mirror flips when you actually take a pic..

Greetings...

Your image review is turned off. It can be turned on in the main menu. Check your manual for image review...

Hokuri wrote:.

Am new to DSLR and just bought a D40. Problem (could be embarassing)but what the heck. When I want to take a pic it does not show on theLCD. Is this normal with Dslr's ? The manual does not have a greatdeal to say other than look thru the viewfinder ! Help..

Yes it's normal. P&S cameras have live view and DSLRs generally dont have it. In DSLR, the LCD is used to view camera setting and view images after they are taken..

Well, some new DSLRs have the live view capabilities.ThanksAyan (Sonian)..

D40 does not have "Live View".

There is not a way to turn it on since it does not exist in this model. In fact it doesn't currently exist in any of Nikon's models until you get up to the D300...

Thanks wchp for providing me with this information. I had a suspicion that this may have been the case especially when I could find absolutely no reference to "live view" in the manual. I don't actually regard this as a problem as I much prefer framing shots using the viewfinder...

One of the most difficult things in digital photography to get right is White Balance..

Set to Green mode and Auto WB will work just fine outdoors in sunlight and usually fairly well in cloudy conditions, but the minute you get indoors in Tungsten (Einstein Bulbs) or fluorescent lighting, add in window light during the day, your going to end up with orange, green or blue photos. The really nice thing you can do with the D40 is set it to P (program) mode and then do a manual WB shot..

Program the function button on the left side of the lens mount to access WB and then you can just push the button and select one of the presets, or set it to PRE and then hold the button, point it at something white and snap a picture to take a manual WB reading. Just don't forget to set it back when you start shooting somewhere else..

Great camera... I still use mine all the time...