Review of Nikon 1 J1: Latest Nikon Mirroless Digital cameras
The Nikon 1 J1 is really a stylish compact system camera with a 10-megapixel “CX” format sensor along with the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Boasting continuous shooting speeds up to 60 fps at full resolution, Full HD video capture, an ultra-fast hybrid auto-focus system, Smart Photo Selector and also a unique Motion Snapshot Mode, the portable Nikon J1 even offers more conventional shooting modes like Programmed Auto, Aperture and Shutter Priority, and also Metered Manual. Also up to speed is really a built-in pop-up flash using a guide amount of 5, a 3 inch rear display as well as an electronic shutter. Priced at $649.95 / 549.99 having a 10-30mm zoom lens, $699.95 / 599.99 having a 10mm pancake lens, or $799.95 / 699.99 within a double-lens kit with all the 10-30mm and 30-110mm zoom lenses, the Nikon 1 J1 is scheduled to be sale later this month.
The Nikon 1 J1 is usually made from aluminium with magnesium alloy reinforced parts and is also therefore heavier than you would think according to its size alone, weighing in at 234g for your body only. In addition, it feels better quality as opposed to official product shots maybe have you believe. By having an essentially grip-less design, the Nikon J1 is quite much a two-handed affair that will need you to hold the camera’s weight within the left hand, clutching the lens, and use your right hand for balance and operating the controls. This is actually the good thing as it can make you take note of holding you properly, which in turn goes quite a distance towards avoiding shake-induced blur in your photos.
The camera’s clean, minimalist front plate is dominated by the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Rather than as a scaled-down version on the classic F mount, it is a brand spanking new design that delivers 100% electronic communication between attached lens plus the camera body, thanks to endless weeks of frustration contacts. The same as within the manufacturer’s F-mount SLR cameras, there exists a white dot for quick lens alignment, while it has moved in the 2 o’clock position (when viewed front on) up of the mount. The lenses themselves have a short silver ridge around the lens barrel, which has to be in alignment with said dot to ensure that one to have the capacity to attach the lens for the camera. While this may necessitate some adjusting to, it genuinely makes changing lenses quicker and easier.
Without lens attached, you can view the sensor sitting directly behind the plane on the bayonet mount. Such as the mount itself, the sensor is brand-new. Measuring 13.2×8.8mm this “CX” format imaging chip has double area of the largest imagers found in compact and bridge cameras much like the Fujifilm X10 and S100FS, but only about 50 % the vicinity of any standard Four Thirds sensor. In linear terms, a Four Thirds chip carries a 1.36x longer diagonal than the Nikon CX imager. Provided that Four Thirds includes a 2x focal length multiplier, the CX “crop factor” calculates to about 2.72, meaning that a 10mm lens has approximately a similar angle of view as a 27.2mm lens on an FX or 35mm film camera. The Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm standard zoom is thus comparable to a 27.2-81.6mm (or, practically speaking, 28-80mm) FX lens with regard to its angle-of-view range.
Other Nikon J1’s faceplate is almost empty, featuring the lens release, a receiver for the optional ML-L3 infrared remote device, two narrow slits for that microphone each side on the lens, plus an AF assist/self-timer lamp. There’s no grip by any means for the front of the Nikon 1 J1.
There’s two means of powering for the Nikon J1. You can either use the on/off button sitting next to the shutter release or, should you have a collapsible-barrel contact attached, you can just press the unlocking button on the lens barrel and turn the zoom ring to unlock the lens, an act that produces the digital camera to modify on automatically. This is an ingenious solution since you need to unlock the lens for shooting anyway. Start-up takes just over a 2nd - not even attempt to write home about but nonetheless decent and entirely adequate.
It is possible to frame your shots while using the rear screen - there is no electronic viewfinder as within the V1 model, an integral difference between the 2. The LCD screen is a three-inch, 460,000-dot display that boasts wide viewing angles, great definition and accurate colours only so-so visibility in strong daylight. We missed the EVF aided by the J1 alongside the V1, either in bright sunlit conditions or with the 30-110mm telezoom lens as holding the digital camera around eye-level helped to stabilise the lens and steer clear of trembling camera.
The control layout is quite peculiar. The Nikon 1 J1 carries a small, rear-mounted mode dial that lacks most of the shooting modes that happen to be usually situated on similar dials - most notably P, A, S and M - community . has enough room to accommodate them. These modes can be purchased about the J1 but you must dive in to the rather long-winded and not entirely logical menu to seek out them. The J1’s mode dial just has four settings, Photo, Video, Motion Snapshot and Smart Photo Selector. The four-way controller also has four functions mapped onto its Up, Right, Down and Left buttons; including AE/AF-Lock, exposure compensation, flash mode and self-timer, respectively. Evidently this is not a bad choice of functions, the truth that there is absolutely no ISO button will doubtlessly cause a large amount of photographers thinking about getting the Nikon J1 to be unhappy.
There’s a button around the rear labelled “F” but alas, this is not a programmable function button. In Photo mode, it allows you to quickly choose from the continuous shooting modes, when it’s in Video mode it permits you to toggle between regular and slow-motion recording. There’s 2 more essential controls for the back in the camera, including a scroll wheel across the four-way pad and also a rocker switch marked which has a loupe icon. The scroll wheel is used to set the shutter speed in Manual and Shutter Priority modes (when you’ve found them within the menu, that is certainly), whilst the rocker switch controls the aperture. The key reason why it’s got a loupe icon next to it can be that this control is utilized to zoom in by using an image to test for critical focus in Playback mode. Last of all, you will find four small buttons throughout the navigation pad, flush against the rear panel from the camera, including Display Mode, Playback, Menu and Delete.
So what on earth are the ones shooting modes within the mode dial information about? The Photo or Still Image mode, marked with a green camera icon, is to try and may wish to be most likely. Together with the mode dial set for this position, you can pick your required exposure mode through the menu. The Nikon J1’s Scene Auto Selector is a great automatic mode the location where the camera analyses the scene facing its lens and picks exactly what thinks may be the right mode for any particular one scene. You can even pick one with the conventional PASM modes, which present you with full menu access along with the chance to manually set the aperture, shutter speed, or both (Program AE Shift is available in P mode). ISO and white balance may also be manually selected, only from your menu, as stated earlier.
Of course there’s AWB and auto ISO too, with the latter arriving three flavours (Auto 100-400, 100-800 or 100-3200) letting you specify how high you wish you to go once the light gets low. You can also choose from three AF Area modes, including Auto Area, in which the camera takes charge of exactly what focusses on (this is simply not an excellent mode to obtain when your default since the camera obviously can’t read your mind and might give attention to something else entirely than your actual subject); Single Point, that you can select among 135 AF points beginning with hitting OK then moving the active AF point round the frame while using the four-way pad; and Subject Tracking, that you pick your subject, press OK and permit the digital camera to monitor that subject mainly because it moves around, so long as it won’t leave the frame obviously.
The Nikon 1 J1 has an intriguing hybrid auto-focus system that mixes contrast- and phase-difference detection similarly because Fujifilm F300EXR did. This allows the Nikon 1 J1 to target extremely quickly in good light, even on a moving subject. The company claims the Nikon 1 system cameras would be the fastest-focusing machines on the planet, and this matches our experience - so long as there’s enough light. When light levels drop, your camera switches to contrast-detect AF which, though faster compared to most cameras, isn’t as soon as one other method. It really is the camera that decides which AF solution to use - the consumer has no affect on this.
In most cases, the J1 will most likely only use contrast detection when light levels are low. In good light, we had been capable of taking sharp photos of fast-moving subjects. The Nikon J1 certainly will not disappoint here. Manual focusing is also possible, even though Nikon 1 lenses would not have focus rings. In order to focus manually, first you should hit the AF button, choose MF, press OK and after that makes use of the scroll wheel to regulate focus. To be of assistance using this type of, the Nikon J1 magnifies the central portion of the image and displays a rudimentary focus scale down the right side of the frame - but those are definitely the only focusing aids you get. There is no peaking function available as on some rival models.
The J1 has an electronic shutter (the V1 boasts a mechanical shutter). Itrrrs very silent (the main objective confirmation beep is usually disabled on the menu) and allows the usage of shutter speeds you’d like 1/16,000th of your second and, with all the Electronic Hi setting selected, lets you shoot full-resolution stills at 60 fps. Note however that although this is a major achievement, it’s on a a buffer that will only hold 12 raw files. Additionally, the utilization of this mode precludes AF tracking - you will need to lower the frame rate to 10fps if you would like that -, along with the viewfinder goes blank as you move the pictures are being taken. Single thing that it application we can consider where shooting full-resolution stills at 60fps could really come in useful is AE bracketing for HDR imaging. When it reaches this rate, a few 5 bracketed shots could possibly be drawn in lower than 0.1 second, rendering small movements that can otherwise pose alignment problems - like leaves being blown within the wind - a non-issue. Alas, the Nikon J1 won’t offer such a feature - in fact no offer autoexposure bracketing in any way.
Trying out the video mode, the Nikon 1 J1 has some pleasant surprises here. Above all, you may be set to shoot Full HD footage, and you even arrive at select from 1080p @ 30fps or 1080i @ 60fps, depending on whether you’d like to help progressive or interlaced video. Unless you need Full HD, additionally, there are 720p @ 60fps, that’s really smooth but still counts as hd. Secondly, you get full manual treatments for exposure in video mode. It is really an option; it’s not necessary to shoot in M mode however you can if that is the thing you need. Thirdly, you will get fast, continuous AF in video mode, and delay well, specifically in good light. Movies are compressed using the H.264 codec and stored as MOV files. You will find separate shutter release buttons for stills and video, and because of this - plus the massive processing power of the Nikon J1 - you are able to take multiple full-resolution stills even while recording HD video. This works the opposite too - you’ll be able to capture a motion picture clip regardless of whether the mode dial influences Still Image position, by just pressing the red movie shutter release. We’ve learned that in this instance you will forever record it at 720p/60fps.
And also being effective at shooting regular movies in HD quality, the Nikon 1 J1 could also shoot video at 400fps for slow-motion playback. The resolution is gloomier and the aspect ratio is undoubtedly an ultra-widescreen 2.67:1, though the quality is adequate for YouTube, Vimeo and so forth. These videos are played back at 30fps, that’s a lot more than 13x slower compared to the capture speed of 400fps, allowing you to get creative and display to the world numerous interesting phenomena which happen too soon to look at instantly. The Nikon J1 goes a little more forward by offering a 1200fps video mode, but the resolution and overall quality is way too poor to the being genuinely useful.
The next icon within the mode dial symbolizes Smart Photo Selector. This feature allows your camera to capture no less than 20 photos for a single press on the shutter release, including some that have been taken before fully depressing the button. Your camera analyses the individual pictures inside the series and discards 15 of them, keeping just the five that it thinks would be best when it comes to sharpness and composition. This feature is usually genuinely useful when photographing fast action and fleeting moments.
Finally, there’s a so-called Motion Snapshot mode the place that the camera records a brief high-definition movie - whose buffering starts with a half-press on the shutter release, so again includes events which have happened prior to the button was fully depressed - as well as takes a still photograph. The movie plus the still image are residing in separate files nevertheless the camera can combine them to a single slow-motion clip with vocals. It’s fun but we’re not able to really envision people making use of this shooting mode frequently. (Should you observe the video on the computer, it will play back at normal speed, without sound, and this mode is actually only interesting should you view the clip in-camera or hook your camera around an HDTV with an HDMI cable.)
The Nikon J1 stores pics and vids on SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, and props up the fastest UHS-I speed class. You is run on a reduced EN-EL20 battery to its V1 your government, and it is consequently able to produce considerably less shots on one charge, managing around 230, even though it helps to create you body scaled-down. The camera’s tripod socket is manufactured out of metal and is also found in line together with the lens’ optical axis. And also this shows that changing batteries or cards isn’t feasible even though the J1 is mounted on a tripod, since the hinges on the battery/card compartment door are extremely nearby the tripod mount.
So, how did we love to while using the Nikon 1 J1? On one side, we liked it a lot. In good light, its auto-focus product is indeed faster than basically anything we’ve used until now, being able to track and lock target a range of truly fast-moving subjects, and yielding a great deal of sharp images in situations where our keeper rates have never been quite high. Additionally, its high-speed continuous shooting modes have allowed us to capture interesting moments that we’d have surely missed if we had used a slower camera. The built-in pop-up flash proved more useful that its modest guide number might suggest, together with the clever design minimising red-eye.
Conversely, the Nikon J1 have their own share of frustrating idiosyncrasies beginning from the person interface that makes you dive in the menu to access functions as basic as exposure mode, ISO speeds and white balance. While Nikon obviously cannot add extra buttons to a finished product, they can no less than make “F” button customisable by way of a firmware update. Also, as there is a dedicated button for exposure compensation - that is a a valuable thing - I didn’t are able to activate an active histogram, eventhough it would’ve made exposure compensation additional useful and to utilize. Again, this will more likely fixed in firmware.
We also missed the V1’s smooth, high-resolution electronic viewfinder, particularly bright light or aided by the telephoto lens which does not lend itself well to being held out at arms length. The J1 just has a glass dust shield because it’s defense against unwanted debris, as opposed to the more proactive sensor cleaning unit that this V1 offers, and also the smaller battery implies that you’ll need to buy another that you arrive at the day’s heavy shooting. Deficiency of an accessory port shows that almost not one of the Nikon 1 accessories are suitable for the J1, like the external flash and GPS unit.
Something else we would not like could be that the camera would always show the photo just taken for some seconds onscreen, and now we wouldn’t find a way to turn this instant postview function completely off (while you can at any rate cancel it using a half-press on the shutter release). Finally, as you move the camera is normally fast and responsive, you takes far too long to wake from sleep mode when it is idle for some time, producing a number of missed shots.
With that said, the Nikon 1 J1 can be a smaller than average compact, high-performance system camera that like its big brother might use several tweaks to the gui to improve suit the requirements serious amateurs. The intended target market of casual users will enjoy it because of its sheer speed, built-in flash, compact size and also the fun features it provides. Why don’t we now observe the Nikon 1 J1 fared in the image quality department.