Nikon V1 and J1 - hands-on first impressions

I think we should wait until full scale testing and review of these cameras is completed before completely condemning them. I don't think Nikon's intention was to use their new mirrorless line to supplant their DSLRs, although many of us were dreaming of a digital Nikon S.

But I think for many of the reasons that SLRs made obsolete such rangefinders in the 1950's and 1960's---there's the contemporary issue of DSLR optical viewfinders versus the electronic view finder. Even with the current state of technology, such electronic viewfinders are poor performers in direct sunlight and for action photography.

So in view of this, would Nikon canabilize their DSLR market (or at least the lower range of this market) with a large body, large sensor, interchangeable lens mirrorless camera?

That might have been aesthetically pleasing, but impractical.

With all of that said, I think one thing that the critics have gotten right is the price--which is about $300 too expensive.

Superb products from Nikon. If the actual real life reviews are as good as I expect them to be, I will be getting the V1 plus the 10mm pancake for every day shots, the 10-100mm designed for video lens and the new mini strobe. When it becomes available I will also be getting the converter attachment so that I can use my 70-200 VRII plus teleconverter for a fast and inexpensive solution to wildlife and sports photography (equivalent to 1080mm).

The V1 will be outstanding for photographing my great nieces and nephews who never stand still and for macros of insects. I can just see now the photograph of a bee or a butterfly taking off from a flower captured with ease using the V1's AF capabilities and motion snapshot stills. Brilliant design from Nikon if it is as good as Nikon's publicity suggests and I love the plain design even though I will have to use a sub menu to access Aperture priority etc.

What can you expect from someone who wears a tie like that!

I am very happy with this new Nikon-system because there is no reason to get rid of my Pana G1 and Oly E-PL1.

Make the sensor smaller than the competition.

Make the price so high, the P&S crowd can't reach it.

It doesn't make sense.

Lots of great features, some unique (ultra fast AF and continuous shooting), though poor controls for anyone wanting to do serious photography with them. They aren't for that? Then why is the V1 so expensive and coming with premium features like the EVF? Other models will come and it's not only Nikon trying to dumb things down to make their cameras less intimidating. But by making such a loud announcement and disappointing a large part of their user base, I think it's best they announce, or at least strongly hint, of something to make up for it.

I'm a Nikon user and I don't know much about scpecs of these cameras, but for sure they look very ugly. Looks like coloured ex USSR production.

Current compact camera users who want to upgrade: way to expensive, will go for enthusiast compacts.
Current enthusiast compact camera users: will miss the external controls, will go for EVIL or DSLR.
Current EVIL users: will not downgrade from larger sensor, more controls, better looks etc.
Current DSLR users: will potentially buy an Oly/Pana/Sony EVIL with it's larger sensors & controls while not even being bigger than the new Nikon thing!
Everybody: appalled by ugly design.

So where is this huge market that Nikon has found? Outback bushwackers? Toddlers? Carthusian monks?

Good luck.

The General Manager of the R&D Department has ONE MONTH to come up with a better design...

It may be a fine camera but boy the black Nikon is ugly. it looks like a clay model prototype. I thought Steve Jobs drilled home the lesson that how it looks indicates how it works. The I Mac may not be a great computer but it looks like it should be a great computer. My Lumix GH2 is no streamlined beauty but it looks like what it is, a thoroughly professional well designed machine that is like an extension of my eye.

What I was expecting from Nikon was at least A full frame if not larger, mirorless system with a range of fast F 1,4 lenses. with a 30MP sensor maybe and combining those pixels by 2 and 3 to create a 10 MP image with great low light capabilities.
I was expecting of the shutter to be able to sync with flash up to 1/4000 for great daylight flash portraits.
Pity I was disappointed.
Lately I am enjoying film photography anyway.

Hey, do you want to see a photo if a guy who recently lost his job?

Scroll all the way to the top of this page.

It's worth pointing out that no-one seemed too upset about the Fuji X10 using a 2/3 sensor.

IMO, this is a beginning of future camera.... mirrorless, interchangeable lense, hybrid AF (contrast detect AF & fast phase detect AF), electronic shutter, hi-res EVF, fast lenses, hi IQ, capable of recording full HD movie & capturing full resolution still image simultaneously, hi burst rate....

It is have wrong names - not J1 and V1, it is 2B (too bad).

Go back to the drawing board Nikon, before it is too late.
You can do better than this!

this is aimed at the masses. Just like the mp3 is aimed at the masses. Quality can take a back seat as the masses don't know quality when they see one. Functionality is king in the commercial masses world. So give them something low quality, interchangeable lenses (functionality ie. wide angle, long range zooms) and put in some branding to justify the high price, and you've got yourself a winner.
Price is not an issue these days, in the asia pacific market that is.
People in this forum thrash this because they are discerning folks who care about IQ. Not so the average Joe out there. DOF ? if folks are happy with camera phones, what's DOF to them ? they just need interchangeable lenses.

Whatever might be good about this camera, it has a pathetic sized sensor and costs from £829 on pre-order from Warehouse Express.

Expect to see ZERO sold!!!!!!!!!!

Nuff said (other than Nikon obviously haven't heard about this thing called the recession and takes pro and newbie camera users alike for rich mugs!)

1. I use and love Nikon. So, I have no problems with DPReview defending a new Nikon product. But I don't see DPReview doing that in the past. It is interesting. I do wonder why though.
2. The sensor is much larger than the 1/1.7". However, wouldn't a small aperture negate the gain from the larger CX sensor? Is it quite true that technically, a small zoom with large aperture would not be possible?
3. I know that a lot of people like shallow depth of field. This is where DSLR can clearly beat the point and shoot. I, on the other hand, quite admire the "infinite" depth of field of small compact cameras. No more focus problem (of a Nikon D700), when almost everything in a small sensor camera is in focus.

I think it's worth trying it out before totally writing it off. This will never be my main camera either, but when you compare to the best compacts, you get a big jump in quality, maybe as big as M 4/3 or so, thanks to advances in the sensor and processing.

The best thing from the two cameras is that it will kick Pana- Oly to drop prices ( it has already started), introduce more in built EVFs and speed up their kit zooms or next generation zooms.

The j1/v1 will have most competition from the top end G12 / XZ1 / LX5 compacts and not from NEX, mFT or even NX.

Nikon copying Pentax?
Nikons developers are not well payed to be more creative.
Next innovation from Nikon could be a 645DX :P

Why do most not understand that these are aimed at P&S users that want a fast focussing and fast action (good iso 3200 and high fps)?
A great kid shooter.
I'll wait to see what Canon comes out with, but I won't hold my breath...!

I just upgraded my low-end Nikon SLR system with an Olympus E-PL2 due to the Oly's compact underwater house (I miss my old Nikonos, why did Nikon never release a digital one?). When I found that the Oly took better pictures than the Nikon, I was sold - and bought more Oly lenses. (You may see my simple tests at www.abamas.com/test) It doesn't seem that the Nikon 1 series would have made me act differently today. They seem to be aimed at point-and shooters rather than long-time SLR-folks. I am more curious to see what Nikon will release as a D3 series replacement. Would have been fun though to check how the Nikon 1 would perform in my little test-comparison.

The only thing Nikon needs to do is to get the machinery from the Nikon SP 2005 out of the warehouse stamp a FF sensor (from d700) on it with just WB,ISO and JPEG+RAW, a Screen (from d700 again) on it's back and that is it! Nothing else is needed.
Keep the S mount, and develop some fixed lens! Cosina from Mr. K already proved it works!!
Prove me wrong please!

Made in China so you know it is...

The system 1 cameras look great, but what I really DON'T understand are the lenses: they are bigger than the 4/3 lenses, and sooo slow.... What is the sense of using a minuscule camera with a huge slow lens ????
It used to be that improvements (in this case: fast AF) were first adopted by the top of the company camera lne, and then in time they would be passed down the camera line to the entry level cameras.... But in this case we see the opposite !!!!
However, looking at all the pink, green, red, blue, yellow, violet and emerald cameras it appears that Nikon introduced this camera with another type of buyers in mind....

Been at the Nikon presentation on the 21st.
While the cameras are cute, it seems to me, mainly from the presentation slides that it's been thought (?) to fill a niche on a graph (sic). Period. None of the pro's and the enthusiast (including me) photographers present there were impressed beyond the 'cute and fluffy' point. The others appeared to be slightly more interested, but they were from the 'dunno much about cameras but to push the button' crowd with $ to spare.
I for one, if&when will look for a mirorless camera I'll lean towards Oly/Panny, Sony (24 mpx/APS-C = brr) or even Samsung. Even compacts like X10 or S100 are way more appealing to me.
But don't mind me, i just spent a few hours toying around with a X100 yesterday and fell in love. IF it had interchangeable lenses, it would have been absolutely perfect. As it is, it's only great.
IMO if Nikon would have replaced D3100 with a single compact mirorless APS-C model they would have had my full attention.