Is nikon d40 a really good camera?

I was planning on getting a new camera for my birthday. ^__^;;

Yes, the d40 is a few years old in the Nikon digital SLR line, but it takes absolutely fantastic pictures and has lots of settings you can mess with. Has built in flash, you can hold the shutter to take a burst of pics, can be auto or manual focus, etc. Great camera, Highly recommended

It was and still is a good camera. It is old, however it is the newest dSLR that can synchronize with a flash unit at shutter speeds higher than 1/250th second

I have a colleague who uses one when shooting NBA games

If you thinking of buying this new there are newer Nikons than the D40. Look into D3100 it's about the same price from Amazon.com