Nikon 1v1, wow

I really enjoy Kai's reviews and this one was no exception.

Bob
 
I think that review was interesting. One guy was obviously a photographer and the other a gear-fondler. If you keep ISO at 1600 or below, the camera has some interesting features. Note that the photographer guy immediately went for the 10-100mm lens, which, although it makes the camera non-pocketable, is about the same size as the Zeiss 24/2 for NEX. He also poked fun at the hobbyists and their pockets full of prime lenses. He also enthused about mounting F lenses on the camera (???). If you use the 70-300 lens, the long end would be at 800mm-equivalent.

The gear-fondler shows off the "poor DOF" using a zoom lens at f/5.6. Duh.
 
To put things into perspective. The sensor is small, but not tiny. Its 3 times the size of a Canon G12 sensor, its half the size of a m43 sensor, its slightly less than a third of a APS-C sensor, and slightly larger than 1/8th of a full frame sensor.
 
jsrockit said:
But Andre, you do have to admit that certain P&S cameras have better ergonomics and are funner to use / more versatile.
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Ive honestly never used a small P&S that Ive liked. I have had one of those Nikon Px000's for a couple years now and loathe it. The slow focus and all internal menu system drives me insane. I find that the iphone's ergonomics are nice! It is relatively simple with all touchscreen commands and the tap to focus function.

That being said, Ive never used any of the "photographer friendly" P&S' like the G10 or the Ricoh GRD's. Maybe I'd like those better?
 
andredossantos said:
That being said, Ive never used any of the "photographer friendly" P&S' like the G10 or the Ricoh GRD's. Maybe I'd like those better?
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Yeah, you may like the GRD or LX5/DLUX5 better...but then again, who knows? They are ultimately still small sensor cameras that are ok.
 
fdigital said:
DigitalRev Nikon V1 review

Had to laugh at this - almost exactly mirrors my feelings about the camera.
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There were really two opinions in that video - to put it pointedly, that of a professional photographer who used it to take pictures and seemed quite impressed with how smoothly and fast it operates, and that of a professional gear reviewer who took shots of a bottle on a box at f/4.5 and f/5.6 to discuss bokeh, talked about "Lady Gaga styling", and made dick size jokes about the size of the sensor. Both people liked the quality of the images. Now which of the two almost exactly mirrors your feelings?

It seems that if you care about sensor size and spec sheet comparisons, the camera is not for you, but if you care about ease of operation, it might be. I must say I'm beginning to like the 1 system, if only for the controversy it generates.
 
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I think the new Nikon was primarily designed for the Japanese domestic market, primarily the female market. Recently photography has become more of a woman's hobby in Japan. There are several women-specific photography magazines currently being published, and there are programs on daytime TV discussing digital photography featuring things like compositiion and digital editimg.

The new Nikon looks like it was designed to be an accessory, easily decorated with stickers, ribbons and doodads (don't laugh, I've seen it often enough), and which comes in enough colors to be able to match your favorite name-brand bag.
 
Personally, I think a small sensor nowadays only make sense if you have a unique form factor that is very conducive to large DoF -dominated shooting style, like most street photography.

A very good implementation of this concept is the Ricoh GRD line of cameras, those have simple lines, less bells and whistle to attract attention to itself, compact with large hand-grip area like their ancestor, the GR-1 series.

The new Nikon, from all that I've read/heard/seen about it, is not one of these. It's more like me-too colorful P&S with ability to use different lenses. Totally depending on brand name recognition to push the sale (sail ?).

I'd even pick a NEX over this. :)
 
The only digital P&S I like (love?) is the GRD3. It has a fantastic 28mm lens, which performs great right from f.19 and means that more often than not, you will be shooting at low ISOs, where the small sensor limitations are less noticeable. That and size/portability, ergonomics, and customizability will often outweight the small sensor issue for me.

The Nikon 1 seems to fail on the size factor, especially with any lens other than the pancake. If you're getting APS-C sized body, might as well get the APS-C sensor as well. The super fast AF is nice but not enough of a selling point for me considering, again, size of body to size of sensor, and price.

EDIT: Shadowfox beat me to it! :)
 
andredossantos said:
Ive honestly never used a small P&S that Ive liked.
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I think the whole small sensor category is not worth spending money on and to do so is silly (See Fuji X10 - though it is damned cool looking...). Every one of them will result in small sensor IQ quality with little meaningful variance - which is good enough. What good are all these manual controls if you can't use them to do anything with them? You can't blur out the background to isolate subject or do anything very creative so they're largely pointless in this regard. Yet - every manufacturer has an "upscale" point-n-shoot category whose prices bump up against their unversally excellent APSC entry-level compact DSLR offerings. The PnS value is they take an nice pic and fit in your pocket. Period. They are truly "take anywhere slip in your pocket" cameras. And actually, these are good street photography tools, since they're more discrete than any Leica, completely silent, and fit in a shirt pocket. Alls I want in a digital PnS is 1. min f2.8 lens (there are faster lenses but they're not worth the extra couple hundred bucks for the spec. - See "can't do anything with it...") 2. and one that gives you a decent ISO 800 and 3. it has a contractible lens and the camera fits in your pocket comfortably. F2.8/800 covers a lot of ambient lighting ground, Got a used Fuji F20 (the "forgotten" Fuji F) - love it. $80 used, mint. F2.8, good ISO 800, great flash for this category with a "fill flash" mode that can isolate subjects using a flash fill light in lieu of bokeh. Let the suckers pay DSLR prices for manual controls you can't do anything with, really. I know there are newer/better compact point-n-shooters but I haven't kept up with it because I know they're not going to give me pics that are better to any real way than the cheap used F20 I've had a few years.

That said all said, I like this new Nikon. - Wouldn't spring for one but I think it's interesting how it blurs the line between still and motion capture and has a unique feature set. I always like when a manufacturer takes a risk and tries something new that's useful.
 
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The Nikon 1 system has some unique features combined with some compromises. Traditionally large sensors have had the advantage of better high iso performance and image quality. Things change quickly with digital and maybe that is changing too. The performance of this small sensor seems pretty good all things considered. It is not for everyone but to dismiss it out of hand at this point might be a bit rash.

Bob
 
rxmd said:
There were really two opinions in that video - to put it pointedly, that of a professional photographer who used it to take pictures and seemed quite impressed with how smoothly and fast it operates, and that of a professional gear reviewer who took shots of a bottle on a box at f/4.5 and f/5.6 to discuss bokeh, talked about "Lady Gaga styling", and made dick size jokes about the size of the sensor. Both people liked the quality of the images. Now which of the two almost exactly mirrors your feelings?

It seems that if you care about sensor size and spec sheet comparisons, the camera is not for you, but if you care about ease of operation, it might be. I must say I'm beginning to like the 1 system, if only for the controversy it generates.
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I agree with Kai's opinion. If you want a camera that can shoot video and still frames at the same time, or bad quality slow motion videos, the nikon 1 is interesting for you. If you want a camera that is small but has the same manual control and creative capability as a proper full-sized camera, the nikon 1 is not interesting. I am the latter. Hence why I use an x100 as my 'small camera', not a nikon 1.
 
Kirk Tuck bought one, and he's impressed.

In his second post on the camera he notes that:
I've read a bunch of comments on the web about these new cameras and it's amazing (and depressing). According to the "experts" this camera can't do much. And what it can do they suspect it can't do well. If you really want to know what a camera can do take one out and shoot some images with it. Because, as they say on the web, "Your Mileage May Vary."
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semilog said:
Kirk Tuck bought one, and he's impressed.

In his second post on the camera he notes that:
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I don't mean to sound like an A*hole, but Kirk Tucks older work done with medium format film cameras is SO much better than anything he has shot with a digital compact. I sometimes like to drop in on his blog and find his opinions interesting, but if anything his photos are further proof to me that format size matters.

I guess it depends on what you're into - the nikon would be fine as a little snapshot shooter I'm sure, but it won't do what his medium format film cameras did for him.
 
Tuck recently bought back into a Hasselblad film system and fundamentally he agrees. He says he likes the square, he likes film, he likes the lenses, and he likes the haptics of the Hassy. So fundamentally he agrees, I think.

But no one is seriously comparing the Nikon 1 with a 503, 180mm lens, and Tri-X in HC110... You may as well compare an F3HP with motor drive to a Toyo field camera.
 
I think we all look for the 'perfect' camera, all the while not realizing that what is perfect for oneself is anathema for others. That is why there are so many variations on a theme from the manufacturers, and why you see so many opinions here. Hopefully, the powers that be will not declare one certain model "The" camera, and abandon all other models, leaving us with little to choose from.

PF
 
I really, really wanted the mirrorless series to have a larger sensor.. that said, it is decent, but the controls and menu feel SO VERY CLUNKY

I had dreams about it being a digital S2, to take on Fuji ;)
 
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