Nikon D40 6.1 mp - good?

Using for high school photog class

Also how big does 6.1 print to (they say we need a 8 mp but we have never had to print bigger than A3 which is rare:/ so would this do)

Bad.

Nikon D40 digital SLR 6.1 mp
http://www.nikonusa.com/...0/D40.html
Compressed 12-bit NEF (RAW)
JPEG (Baseline Compliant)
___

MegaPixels
http://www.hugge.netg.se/java/MegaPixels.html

6.1 mp is ~ 2920 x 2190, as 40 x 30 inches at 72 ppi /dpi,
that is 9.7 x 7.3 inches for 300 ppi/dpi

A3 is around 16.5 x 11.7 in
http://www.papersizes.org/a-paper-sizes.htm
16 x 11 approx. ~ 4800 x 3600 pixels is around 16.5 mp

8 mp is 3344 x 2508 pixels, being smaller than A3, close to A4
so the resolution then would lower to 225 to keep at 16 x 11 size,

it should do, for basic 5x7 print, or 8 x 10,

if you need resizing slightly. For poster size, there are software tools for that,
update any software for camera from nikon online,
you have nef / raw option, use that for quality images,

Perfect Resize 7
http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/perfect-resize/
BenVista Photozoom Pro
http://www.benvista.com/main/content/content.php?page=ourproducts§ion=photozoompro_1

Ximagic Denoiser
http://www.ximagic.com/d_index.html

Qimage
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/
.

Ok, you have two answers, one from Hh that is absurdly wrong. Then the other answer is way too un-necessarily convoluted.

The simple answer is YES, it is fine for your class and as long as you have a properly exposed and sharp file, you can easily have an A3 or even larger print made from a quality pro level print service.

The D40 is perfect for your class. It will do A3 very easily.

It will be fine for school, but I wouldn't spend more than $150 on it.

It has all the features that an DSLR camera should have, and it will be fine for learning.

Also, 6mp will be sufficient for A4 printing.