I don’t really remember reading about this in the manual, but I stumbled across it, and thought i’d share it… you no doubt know about shutter priority and aperture priority if your into photography to any degree, where, in idiot terms, priority is giving to your choice of shutter speed or aperture. Focus Priority it is the same idea.

In the menu of the D60 ( should be similar on the D40[x] , it also works on the higher end cameras, but the process will be different),  go to ‘Custom Setting Menu’ and select item 12 “AE-L/AF-L” and set it to ‘AF-ON’.

From the same menu, choose option 3 “AF-Area Mode” and set it “Single Area”

Now for the confusing part. stand a few feet away from something ( just to demonstrate this ), and press the AE-L/AF-L button on the back of the camera, the camera will spring into life and lock focus ( hopefully ).

Now, back away from the object you focused on, ensuring nothing is the ‘focus zone’ and whack the shutter release all the way, what do you mean nothing happened ?

If everything is OK, nothing should have happened, now, with the shutter still held down, walk towards whatever you focused on, once that object comes into focus, the shutter fires !

A few things to note, at least on the D40/D40x/D60, this needs an AF-S lens in “A”, or “M/A”, but not “M” manual focus, i’ve also not tested how this works with the nikon remote, or Camera Control Pro 2 ( I doubt CCP2 will work, but i’ll try)

Let me know how this works out for you and if you use it to get any good snaps !