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Sep 21

Nikon Goes Mirrorless with the ‘1′ System

With their tiny sensors and slow lenses, it’s hard to see the appeal of Nikon’s new ‘1’ range

Nikon has at last gotten in on the mirrorless camera game with the launch of the “Nikon 1″ range. Currently consisting of two bodies and three lenses, the system will soon include an adapter to allow the use of Nikon F-mount SLR lenses.

First, the most important part: The sensor. Nikon has put a small 10.1MP one-inch sensor into the cameras. It is half the size of a Micro Four Thirds sensor, and roughly four times the size of a regular compact camera sensor. And this is where things start to go wrong. One of the best features of large sensors is that they allow photos with a shallow depth of field — pictures where the subject is sharp and the background blurred, for example. Coupled with the rather slow new lenses, you’re not going to be able to get much separation.

There are two bodies, the smaller J1 and the fancier V1. The J1 is a tiny thing, barely bigger than a decent compact, and shoots stills at 10fps, video at 1080p, and has a maximum ISO of 3,200.

The V1 is a lot more interesting. It adds a 1.4 million dot viewfinder, an accessory shoe which works with an optional flash, microphone or GPS unit. The V1 also has a hybrid AF mode which uses both phase and contrast detection for high speed and good low-light accuracy.

The V1 will also shoot a still photo while you record video, which leads to the rather gimmicky Motion Snapshot feature, which I like to call the Harry Potter mode. This “unites a frozen still image with a slow-motion movement set to a built-in audio soundtrack.” Tacky, right?

On to those lenses. The lineup consist of a 10mm (27mm equivalent) ƒ2.8 pancake, a 10-30mm (27-81mm equivalent) ƒ3.5-5.6 and a 30-100mm (81-297mm equivalent) ƒ3.8-5.6. These are sloooow. Even when the F-mount adapter arrives, you might not want to use your super-fast SLR lenses — with a crop factor of 2.7x, that nifty 50mm ƒ1.4 lens you own will turn into an almost useless 135mm ƒ1.4.

Lastly, prices. With the 10-30mm lens the J1 will cost $650 and the V1 $900.

Who will buy these cameras? I would seem to be the perfect target. I own a Nikon SLR and a clutch of great Nikon lenses, and I already use a Micro Four Thirds Panasonic GF1. But these Nikon 1 cameras don’t interest me at all. My lenses already work great on the GF1, and would be useless on these small-sensor bodies (the 85mm ƒ1.8 particularly so, turning into a 255mm monster), especially as the shake reduction is in the lenses, not the bodies.

Sure, these are a step up from the Nikon P7100, the Canon G12 and the Lumix LX5, but if you have to buy a whole new range of lenses anyway, why not go for the already established Micro Four Thirds system, or the giant APS-C sensor Sony NEX cameras? I think Nikon may have screwed this one up.

Available end of October.

Nikon J1 product page [Nikon]

Nikon V1 product page [Nikon]

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