J4 + 10-100?

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, coming over from Nikonians. I'm already in deep with the 1 system, but also have a D7000 + assorted lenses.

I saw BuyDig selling the J4 + 10-100 for $450, which seems like a pretty good price. My goal was to get my hands on the 10-100, but now I'm thinking about whether the J4 would be worth keeping.

I take mostly pictures of my 3 year old, and then some street/nature photography when I have a moment.

I already have:

• V1
• 10 2.8
• 11-27.5
• 30-110
• 18.5 1.8
• .75 WA teleconverter
• 10-30 (mostly just not worth selling)

I also considered getting a SB-N5 or SB-N7, or even a Sigma 17-50 2.8 for my D7000. I often find myself wanting a sharper/more versatile portrait lens for indoors. I have several primes, but bringing/changing lenses can be a hassle. The 10-100 was also attractive just to reduce lens changing between 11-27.5 and 30-110.

Thoughts? Will the 10-100 give me the versatility I want, and is this a pretty good price point?

Will I want to keep the J4?

Personally,

I would get it and sell the J4. I really don't think J4 add much to your V1. Maybe you can sell both and get a V2?

I use the 10-100 more than any other lens. the next most used lens is 70-300 and 18.5...10-30 and 30-110 are slightly better but not enough compared to convenience. the only reason I have not gotten rid of them is that during some of my family trips we carry 2 N1 cameras.

Thanks. I was checking out your gear list. I gather you use the 10-100 for outdoors/all purpose and then if you're going to be indoors, you go for D700 or 18.5 1.8?

Personally, I wouldn't be considering yet another lens at all.

Especially one whose range you already have well-covered.

Get another V1 body. Maybe two of them! ( :

Interesting thought. I had thought about selling my current 11-27.5, 10-30, 30-110 trio if I bought the 10-100, or maybe keeping one as a lightweight option.

How do folks around here carry two v1s + lenses? I've got bags galore... maybe 5-6 if I count them all up, but my DSLR backpacks (or even my Thinktank Retrospective 7) seem like overkill, and even the ones designed for a single DSLR are probably too small. Retrospective 5, perhaps?

desertcroc said:

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, coming over from Nikonians. I'm already in deep with the 1 system, but also have a D7000 + assorted lenses.

I saw BuyDig selling the J4 + 10-100 for $450, which seems like a pretty good price. My goal was to get my hands on the 10-100, but now I'm thinking about whether the J4 would be worth keeping

Thoughts? Will the 10-100 give me the versatility I want, and is this a pretty good price point?

Will I want to keep the J4?

Click to expand...

Like you, I wanted the 10-100mm lens and almost went for the J4 w/10-100mm lens for less than the going price of the lens alone. But just before ordering it, however, I checked ebay and found a Canadian seller who was offering new V2+10-100mm lens kits for $515 (no tax and free shipping). Since receiving the camera, I have been doing test shots and have found the 10-100mm lens more than adequate in terms of sharpness. I also much prefer the grip (helps with the larger, heavier 10-100 lens) and controls of the V2 to the V1, which makes the V2 10-100mm a real joy to use.

I suspect that you would probably feel the same about the V2, but I don't think you will want to keep the J4 however.


- Jon

desertcroc said:

Interesting thought. I had thought about selling my current 11-27.5, 10-30, 30-110 trio if I bought the 10-100, or maybe keeping one as a lightweight option.

Click to expand...

I did that and am very happy with the 10-100mm non-PD. Most recent trip was Key West and had great results.

desertcroc said:

How do folks around here carry two v1s + lenses? I've got bags galore... maybe 5-6 if I count them all up, but my DSLR backpacks (or even my Thinktank Retrospective 7) seem like overkill, and even the ones designed for a single DSLR are probably too small. Retrospective 5, perhaps?

Click to expand...

Think Tank just allowed me to review the new Urban Approach 15 mirrorless backpack. I easily had two V2's (the 10-100mm mounted on one and the 6.7-13mm mounted on the other); the 10mm, 18.5mm and 32mm; and a MeFOTO DayTrip Tripod. It is a very nice solution.

I use the D700 for portraits, snapshots in caves, indoor sports. General indoor pictures depends on the DOF I need to decide between N1 vs D700. Occasionally I may even use the Samsung EX2F if I need everything to be on focus.

For indoors I may also try to use J1 more than V2 as the higher ISO images looks less digital or cooked on the J1/V1 than V2. I have been considering selling my J1 to buy a V1 but nobody wants J1 (you can get a new one for $99).

I also use FT-1 with 50 mmF1.8 and sigma 50-150 and 24-70 f 2.8 for indoor pictures on occasion (like my daughters concert if they are recording at the same time as N1 can be completely silent.

Nice review! The Urban Approach looks HUGE for a mirrorless bag, considering it has a middle section empty after putting in two V2s.

I too am considering this amazing deal on BuyDig.

What I'm wondering is, what's the battery life like on J4?

Thinking as a vacation camera at like Disney etc.

I wish it used EN EL15 batteries like my V1 and D750.

Thanks

I pulled the trigger on this deal (to score the 10-100) and a V2. Both of them are kits that I was planning to de-kit and sell portions on eBay.

It seems like there's a fair arbitrage business to be done by de-kitting bundles and selling them on eBay. In some cases, even de-kitting eBay bundles to resell them on eBay. But only making $30-50 at a time.

So at the moment, I have a V1, V2, and J4 on my hands. So far, the J4 is an interesting beast. It feels like a smaller V1, with similar availability of settings buried in the menus in about the same format. It's noticeably smaller. I have small/medium sized hands, and there's barely enough space to grip to keep it in my hands with a heavier lens (10-100). I haven't measured it next to my V1, but I suspect it won't be smaller enough to warrant keeping it as a travel camera. The V1 already seems small enough, will being easier to hold.

I also have two 10mm 2.8mm. Testing them side by side in my living room, I've discovered that for whatever reason (extreme DOF?) they can have inconsistent focusing, although not to the extent it might be noticeable with normal use. I ended up doing a 45-degree focus chart test, and in two tests, each one both front and back-focused the same target at f/2.8. So on one test, one back-focused. On the next test, the same one front-focused. It was noticeable on objects within 6 inches from the main focus point. However, the actual focus point was within the in-focus range, so it's more an issue of where the margins of your DoF end up.

More startlingly, the two lenses don't point at the same center point. There is very clear left/right shift in the image that equates to around 1-2" when pointing at a wall about 3 feet in front of the camera.

I also caught a color shift between the two. I'm terrible at identifying color casts, but it was pretty noticeable, even after resetting both to the same white balance in Lightroom. It's the strangest thing. I would guess one is a recent-ish copy and the other manufactured ~2 years ago, but I wouldn't have expected that level of variation.

Overall, I still love the lens and assume these issues will never be noticeable in everyday use, and I'm indifferent as to which one I end up keeping.