Well I was at work two days ago doing a shoot for the GAs (graduate assistants) at my school's recreation center (I do all the photos for VSU's Rec sports
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vsu_recreation)
Anyways so yesterday at work my camera took a serious firmware plunge, worse than ever before. For the past almost two years every now and again my camera would freak out and think it is in auto mode while in M or A, randomly the built in flash will pop up even if a hotshoe flash is attached... yesterday however it was far worse than ever before, typically an off and back on would get it back to working semi normal, this wasn't the case. It took much longer and the flashes wouldn't cooperate and everything was failing on the spot, while everyone had to get back to work.
It is really funny to read about photography bloggers about.. oh you don't need such and such equipment, you don't really need a semi pro camera you don't even need an slr you don't need this you don't need that. Which as far as I have come in the world of photography.. the more equipment the better of everything. A normal person would NEVER go out and spend $2000 on a lens just to get some jollies out of it. I have used my D40 harder than any photographer I have personally met, it has been in situations bottom of the line cameras are never thought of to be in. Severe cold, heat, rain, constant switching and swapping of parts and always on the job, especially at work.
The D40 was made for a consumer to have an affordable dSLR. Within a month of owning it I had already abused that much of it. 3 years later it has been through so much more than one was ever intended. Amazingly however if you saw the camera you would think nothing of it, physically it is in absolutely mint condition. It has never been dropped or anything, but it has been through some rough times.
The shutter life is still fine on it, it has just passed 40,000 actuations earlier this week, Nikon guarantees up to 50,000, but the internals have just about had enough.
It has done well for the most part, leisurely speaking it has been great. Professionally it gets the job done, but I can't expect to much out of it, which is why I have quit reading many bloggers, especially Ken Rockwell and DPS (digital photography school). A camera is only made to withstand so much. I wouldn't say I abused that line, but I have taken beyond the full potential of the camera no doubt about it.
On a tangent, I hate it when people say something about the true potential of a camera. Especially when the line before that is along the lines of oh you don't need a great camera.... I don't know about them, but I know I do. If I could afford it I would have a D3x and a 200-400 f/4 and other amazing equipment.
Anyways so very soon my old D40 will be replaced with either a D300 or D300s and will make my 40 my backup for whatever reason. Between classes, my current job, and another job I am trying to get, having a camera that fails on you is not a good thing.
Just thought I would share my story!