I feel ripped off by Nikon 1 system

I love V1, as you can check by my nick but after seeing the price fall to $299 at B&H I feel ripped off. I could have added a couple hundred more and got the Fuji X100 but instead I went with V1 which is now almost worthless, in a span of less than four months.

I recently got the 18.5mm which I'm going to return tomorrow knowing I could buy that lens for less than $100 in a few months if I wanted.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Don't be a baby, do you really like the camera or not? The bodies have dropped drastically in price but the separate lenses not. On B&H the 10mm and 30-110 sell for the same price as when they were introduced. In a years time the 18.5 will probably sell for the same price as now and they aren't available as a kit lens either. All you will do by returning the 18.5 is to deprive yourself of its use. I paid a premium for the system and have had enjoyable use of it almost a year. Now I may take advantage of the price drop to get a second V1 or buy a used one. I also have the 18.5 on order and can't wait to try it. As for the X100, you would have had a nice but quirky camera with a fixed focal length.

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Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad

I think it depends on how many images you've shot with the V1. I got mine at the beginning of spring with my preferred (and more expensive) 10mm kit and a free SB-N5 flash. I have shot over 4000 pictures. So for me, I paid a premium of around $150 over the current discounted price for the privilege of capturing special memories during my most photographic part of the year. Isn't that something like what many people blow on coffee at Starbucks in the month?

I am getting ready to purchase a new camera. It will be either the V2 or the D5200. I will buy it after more knowledgeable people than I finish writing their reviews of the camera. I have the following control over this purchase:

1. Pick the time I will purchase the camera, and 2

2. pick the time. That is, when camera purchase and cost = The desire to have.

Purchase a car, computer, washing machine, calculator, smart phone or camera - you will find the market changing every day - you will always be buying old technology. The camera will work just as well at $300 as $600. Your dissatisfaction with the camera is, I think, misplaced. Be upset with Nikon. However, they are responding to the market and the competition.

One other thing to consider is if you had waited to by the V1 at $299, at a time when the V2 is just coming onto the market, perhaps you would rather have the V2. If you wait for the price of the V2 to drop, which it may or may not drop significantly, then the V3 will be on the market.

With that said, I would say that Nikon needs to know people are not happy about this situation and should consider this in future market strategies.

I can empathize with you and would be frustrated too. But just go shoot, make the camera worth what you spent on it with great pics. That's how you recoup value with rapidly depreciating electronic objects. In three years if you have several great pics of _________ you won't remember any of the figures.

Most people other than N1 fanboys would have given you their honest opinion that it was overpriced 6 months ago.  The V2 is similarly overpriced right now.  I'd be looking to buy a V2 in about a year's time, that is, if the G5 isn't an even better bargain by that time.

Do you drive? Have you ever bought a new vehicle? You just lost a few hundred due to everyone never being satisfied, so products change and upgrade by the day. If you have ever bought a new vehicle you would have lost thousands the day you drove it off the lot. The best thing to do if you aren't too old and have the time, buy later and buy used, then you are more likely not going to lose much if that is your biggest concern.   WC

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It's What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts !

How do you think B&H feels?

I wonder if Nikon issues some sort of a "credit" to B&H for such a drastic price cut? I can't imagine that their typical markup on digital cameras is much more than 20-30%. There's no way they could afford to lose that much $ on their inventory of V1's.

And, as I recall the Nikon "kiosk" is the first one you walk into as you enter their digital camera sales floor. I'm sure that Nikon doesn't want to let B&H management feel "ripped off" by the flagship 1 Series, V1.

Why do you have to call people names? what's wrong with you? His point is very valid, if you don't agree with it, it's cool, but whatever name you pick, it applies more to you than to the OP

The camera works the same when priced at $700 or $299...

Because it sounds childish to return a lens "knowing I could buy that lens for less than $100 in a few months if I wanted" when that hasn't been the case with any of the lenses. My opinion, sorry to offend.

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Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad

You have my deepest sympathy!

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Just glad I didn't pay as much as you did!

Jon

I feel just the opposite. Eight months ago, I bought my V1 twin lens kit here in New Zealand for exactly NZ$1690. I checked the price today at the same retailer, and see that they have put the price up - to NZ$1690.90.

So while you fret that the value of your "investment" has been slashed, I bask in a self-congratulatory glow, knowing that I have "invested" in that rare commodity, an appreciating electronic gizmo, which has returned a "profit" of 90 cents.

There are two points. The first is that the price paid for electronic goods is meaningless. If you were happy to pay what you paid, the only issue is whether you like what it does for you. The other point is that drug smuggling is now for schmucks. The real money is obviously in smuggling V1s from the US to NZ

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Apteryx

Sure, but if you bought a car at $100,000 when it was worth $50,000 and 6 months later that was exactly what your car was selling at because a newer model had come out, what would you think?  You sure as hell couldn't sell your 6-month-old $100,000 car above $49,999 unless you found a fool with lots of money - the depreciation you might have been expecting is thrown out of whack.

Obviously with tech everything depreciates, but the question is by how much and was it worth it at the original?  The OMD and NEX-7 haven't depreciated significantly despite lower end alternatives coming out, and you're very unlikely to see them selling at less than half price when the EM6 and NEX 7N (or whatever the replacements will be called) come out.  That's because they were originally priced much closer to the value of the internals.

Customers are paying for a mistake in Nikon's MILC strategy.  Nikon is making the same mistake with the J2/V2, so expect to see this thread again when the J3 comes out.

i always thought that these cameras had to compete not just with low end dslrs but also with high end point and shoot cameras...likely slot in between the two categories on price. as such, nikon's insistence on pricing the j1/v1 at the same price as some of their dx slrs was to me crazy, and i think they got stuck with inventory that is now being dumped. at $300-400 for the v1 with the kit lens it is the same or cheaper price now, and that seems too low to me. i think the v2 is going to have the same problem, especially with the v1 less than half the price of the v2 now...it might be better, but it is bigger and not likely worth the $750 it sells for now. i think the v2 is going to share the same fate as the v1. i use my system 1 camera for hiking and mtn biking mostly, but it takes perfectly good images in most situations as long as you don't push the iso too much.

so the v1 is a steal at $300 and they won't last....but the v2 is going to have to come down a long way before it will sell well, especially given the nasty resale experience v1/j1 owners have had.

I just so happen to own the V1 + 10mm/10-30mm/30-110mm/flash and an X100. I bought the V1 in January of this year so I paid full retail price for the 2 lens kit and I paid full retail price for the 30-110mm + flash. I can say that I love my X100 and that the IQ is superior to the V1, but I've never regretted buying into the 1 series system. The V1 still has great IQ (I'm not a professional, just an enthusiast so really the V1 exceeds my needs) and with the three lenses listed above and the addition of a flash that I can bounce, the Nikon is just so much more versatile. Have you ever tested out an X100? I started with the V1 and only recently purchased the X100. I didn't realize how incredibly fast the AF is (and accurate) until I started using the X100. I was really taking it for granted and spoiled by how easy it was to catch moments. As I said, I love the Fuji but if you are doing anything action oriented the V1 is hard to beat. I almost returned the X100 shortly after buying it because of the speed, but after learning how to get around the quirks I fell in love with it. Both cameras are great and the money that you spent in the past is just that, a thing of the past. There is no such thing as a perfect camera so as long as you enjoy what you have, that's all that matters.

-Alex

Isn't it always like this? We actually live in very quick changing times and especially all electronic based products and parts do change rapidly. Look how quick the cycles of new thrown out smartphones, tablets, computers, cams etc. are. Something you buy now and yet new, will be tomorrow rapidly be outdated or replaced by a newer model and so on.

Such are the times and if you always wait and do think it might get cheaper or there will be soon something newer or better lets wait, than you finally will never buy and use something in time!

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Valentino

Agreed, the V1's price evolution does nag earlier buyers. But is it is a given in the electronic world. At first glance it feels as if Nikon had much more V1 inventory than anticipated, and had to resort to fire sale pricing to push out the V2. We all wanted the features of the V2, but would not be prepared to pay higher than the V1's earlier street price. The feature set of the V2 is substantially better than V1. It is quite a radical step forward. Does not seem Nikon really had another option in order to empty V1 shelves.

the impact on me is that I am reluctant to get the V2, as I will not be able to resell the V1, and see no reason to end up with 3 Nikon 1 bodies (my spouse has the J1). Might get there later. That V1 is as good as it ever was.

And the V1 does partner really well with the 18.5mm, as I realised this week-end. Really nice combo!

No it wasn't always like this, but it has been for the last 20-25 years and it is getting worse.Things are moving way to fast, everybody (kids especially) are stressed right out.I remember having a Tandy computer with DOS and thought it was amazing,now I have a 21" Mac a 24" PC and have gone through 12 printers and 7 computers in those 25 years. We are in the throw away generation right now, we are the cause of all this having the newest and best today and not ever seeming to be happy because it doesn't have this or that.The manufacturers are playing games, having fun with us, making tons of money and we keep falling for it.There has to be a time somewhere soon I hope that things will level out and what we purchase lasts for more than a year or two.Best money I ever spent was on my 3 toilets, paid $600.00 for all 3 of them 30 years ago , they still work and do their job as good or better than the new ones.    WC

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It's What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts !

You're thinking about this completely backwards.
You only feel ripped off, because you think other people might be happier than you.  Which is a destructive way to think.  Why don't you realize one thing -- that Nikon did well enough on the Nikon 1 cameras that it ACTUALLY can lower the price now that the production costs have gone down.
This is exactly the same thing for new products in every single category.  Whenever a new product comes out, its production cost is HUGE compared to the revenue it brings in.  So to pay the bills, a higher price is set.  But when a product is found to become popular, it pays its own way, and everything else is gravy.  Instead of trying to capitalize on this, Nikon correctly realized that it was time to lower the price.

Furthermore, the camera itself is a consumer product.  Just like point and shoots.  There are new upgrades to point and shoots every single year.  People are not ripped off just because a Canon S95 is half the cost that it was 1 year ago.   I bought a Canon S95 for a crap load of money (I'm a Nikon D700 user but needed a P&S).  Canon quickly came out with the S100 and will come out with more cameras.  Am I angry or ripped off?  No.  I could have bought an S90, or some other older model for half their price.

In your case, you acted as an "early adopter" -- meaning that you purchased in the first generation.  So you and I have a lot alike (I bought an upgrade, even though I could have bought an older one).  You could have waited a year or two -- or at least waited for the Holiday sales, for gosh sake.  But you decided (just like I decided) to buy your camera when you did.

That's not being ripped off.
I know it hurts the pocket, but you have to remember that DSRLs and Mirrorless cameras are not about the body.  Those will be upgraded every year or year and a half, most likely.  Its about the lenses.
My D700 is worth 1/2 what it was when I bought it.
But my Nikon lenses actually went up in value.

I wasn't ripped off -- this happens to everyone.

If I buy a V2 for my next fun trip (since my crappy S95 isn't focusing right anymore and the D700 is so damn heavy/bulky), in about a year, my V2 will probably be being replaced as well.
That's not being ripped off -- its BECAUSE we buy these things that they are ABLE to go down in value later.  If we had not bought them originally, then Nikon would have stopped selling them or the price would never have gone down.  So the only question is -- how long do you wait for something that you really want?  
You're cameras not worthless as long as you make great pictures with it.  And my D700 isn't worthless just because a D800 is much much better and the D600 does pretty much the same thing plus video.
It is what it is, right?  

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Sincerely, GlobalGuyUSA