I couldn't actually find any decent sentence for the subject, as there are so many unknowns with Nikon's compact camera system - many more than the number of question marks I placed :)
It is not a review! If you need one, go here. It is only my humble opinion, but I decided to speak it out, in case one extra pebble would trigger an avalanche. It's been boiling under the surface for some time, and I think now it is the best moment, as J2 is already available, and apparently announcement of V2 is due in a week, and should shed some more light on the subject.
I'm not a photographer, just a camera user who happens to take photos (like probably at least 95% of digital camera buyers), maybe recently a bit more educated, but nevertheless not a 'pro' with 'gear'. Terms I use may sound geeky, but it is only after disaster with J1 I got seriously interested in reviews and tutorials, and these terms are used there a lot (and for reason). Actually for comparison and reference I'm using my beloved Panasonic TZ7 - a great compact, but with some limitations getting more and more apparent witch each new generation of cameras. It was (and again still is) my only digital camera. Before I had Panasonic LX2 (yes, I sort of downgraded), earlier Konica-Minolta Z3 and some experience with film using an idiot-camera as well as a Russian FED viewfinder.
The reasons to look for an upgrade came from necessity - my boy started crawling, then walking, and since mastered that, it appeared there is no chance to catch a still image of him - low light capabilities and shutter delay on TZ7 disqualify it. I did switched to movies, but it isn't exactly what I prefer (although it adds a lot to saving memories, and again proves how good choice of camera choice this Pana was).
Another type of photos I take, are trains: mostly when passing through landscapes. As they are usually long creatures, and background (landmarks) is as important as the subject, great depth of focus is an advantage. So there were really 2 main requirements for a new camera (price aside): to be fast and with not too big sensor. The latter is probably a bit unusual, but both me and my boy need to grow up to portrait photography, so really no point thinking about it now (especially with a new dawn of full frame, it might be the best time - to hold on). Knowing already that typical 1/2,3" sensors, even with recent advances of technology will not produce miracles in low light conditions, I could only think about something in between: compact system camera. To be honest, I was already biased towards one of Panasonic or other micro 4/3 system products, but when doing quick price comparison, something else popped up: Nikon 1 J1.
With 1" sensor it has got even greater depth of focus than m43. Being phisically smaller, pixel number limited to 10 million guarantees, that the noise is at acceptable levels. The killer feature though is build-in phase detection and fast readout - resulting in 5 fps with continuous autofocus, and up to 60 (full resolution!) frames with some linitations. I got hooked.
Why not V1 ? For a lot more money I'd get a viewfinder (I'm brough up with compacts, not used to, so no advantage) and bulkier body, although with bigger battery, but no more with built-in flash - all the rest is the same.
Unfortunatelly it took me only a couple of days to develop somehow strange feeling towards it - both love and loath. I bought it just before going for vacation and once back, after just two weeks, it was put on sale...
I believe Nikon 1 system is a great idea, but it got so screwed :(
What I love:
Images (and that is I believe the most important thing about any camera):
- the sensor: sensible resolution at this size, interesting alternative to other systems, great features. I don't know though whether kudos should go to Nikon (if they worked out the best balance ind found people to produce the chip) or Aptina (sensor manufacturer, if the invented it and convinced Nikon to base a camera system around it).
- image processing: fast readout is backed by a large buffer, so with fast card I was able to shoot these 5 fps for long seconds (with RAW+Jpeg/Fine !), Jpegs being up to 7Mb from 10Mpix sensor, so plenty of detail, RAWs of only 10Mb, so not much space wasted. In-camera image processing is so good, that RAWs I actually keep for archiving, maybe one day I'll use them for some HDR.
Size: it generally is small, although quite large flange-to-sensor distance means it is not significantly smaller that cameras of other compact systems (especially when you take V1 for comparison)
What I hate :
Controls: Nikon (yet again, about that at the end) managed to create the most useless contol set for the camera of the time.
1. 'Control' dial. Four useless positions:
- Motion snapshot - useless: it takes still photo, then records 'about' 1 sec of movie. In playback, it plays the movie in slow motion (x0.4), and finishes with the still, all accompanied by a tune. The idea actually is ok, but there are major flaws: it only works when playing back on the camera, it doesn't generate any single movie file containing that 'snapshot' you can use on any other device; if the intro photo is poor, you cannot replace it, also the meaning of the scene can be altered by showing intro photo afert movie in playback. The worst is though, that there is no way to add any other tunes than these 4 sad ones picked by Nikon.
Better can be achieved by using standard movie option, with stills taken during recording, and edited afterwards (in-camera edit option please!).
- Smart photo selector - useless: why would you let the camera pick 'the best' photo? Of course, you can define some features so it calculates and returns the result (actually the manual honestly states: based on composition and motion), but it has got nothing to do with the artistic side of the process, and as practice shows, its fail rate (face obstructed, closed eyes) is not so low.
Better can be achieved with standard continuous shooting and best shot picked manually.
- Movie mode - useless: 'select movie mode - frame the opening shot - start recording. I know TZ7 was one of the first to include dedicated 'movie record button' but I can see it is now a standard feature. Not for Nikon 1 though. Why an extra button then? Shutter button could be used (as in good old times of selecting movie mode) to start/stop recording, but is has got different function: you can take up to 15 still images (full resolution) when recording. I'm not going to ask philosophical question 'why 15 is the number'. Full size stills when recording movie is better than any camera on the market and I was happy like a child, till the moment I played the movie back: the sound of the shutter was there. I'm not sure if it was an interference from the electronics, or simply click of the button - but it is there.
- still image - the only left - so useless :)
Here you can read more about these groundbreaking default options.
Lack of direct access to PASM modes is the thing immediately pointed out everywhere you read about the camera. Although Nikon targets 1 system at compact camera users, many of them actually are equipped in dial with access to these modes. Nobody forces you to use them (I actually never switched to iA on TZ7), but why to limit access to them? Let's say I can understand it on J series, but V being apparently more 'pro' (for sure on the price tag) without it? It must have been deliberate action of compromising too good concept.
2. Zoom-in/zoom out lever: but the zoom is manual, so it acts as the third option (after pressing and rotating multiselector) of scrolling, and zooms actually only in playback mode.
3. F- button: you have to press this button, choose your option with 'zoom' or multi selector and then press OK - 3 buttons to perform one task. And the same can be chosen from menu. It would actually make more sense to combine F with zoom as one-axis joystick
4. Movie button - see above.
So the Nikon could actually simplify the camera control much more (I will not claim patent rights if you want to use it), without compromising the operation any more.
Really, the best solution for Nikon would be to hide the arrogance (as 'We know better what you need), keep the existing features (just polish them, and they will become gems), and add P,A,S,M, Hi (Continuous) and Slow motion movie mode to the wheel - there is enough space! That way they could give quick access to ALL the most important things the camera offers.
5. Menus - why is playback settings menu shown as the first, when capturing the picture? Why is camera setup menu one of 3 on the main screen, if used only occasionaly? That way, instead of quick access depending on the camera state (capture/playback), with setup hidden somewhere at the end of those 2, you loose at least an extra click to go through the menu. And then the biggest surprise - where is everything? I might be a dumb compact user, but setting image size as 3rd option, and placing focus mode on the 3rd page (way behind color space selection -anybody changes it more often than once in the lifetime?) makes me think that the designer has never actually used one... Especially that you can't jump pages, only scroll through the list, so it is 12 presses away...
6. Exposure compensation: when turning the dial/pressing the selector.toggling 'zoom' lever nothing happens until pressing on the selector- I believe Nikon 1 are the only cameras ever not to have exposure compensation preview. Another (not so) funny ergonomics flaw is that exposure compensation is located to the right, so when rotating the dial clockwise the finger moves down, an the bar moves up. Obviously you don't know it that makes the picture darker or brighter, as there is no live preview....
7. Bracketing: no bracketing. At all. Whatsoever. In any form. On TZ7 it is a must, as metering is poor. On J1 it is way better, and there is always RAW recovery option. White balance bracketing could be usefull nevertheless. But with that speed of processing, in-camera HDR, focus bracketing, or any other use of combinig quickly captured images would be another great feature pulling customers (or at least levelling competitors offers). But no. No bracketing.
8. Customization. Of course when you get 4 useless buttons, you don't need any more? Oh, maybe the forgotten bin/trash button, which has no use in capture mode, do you?
It is actually not that funny, especially there is 1 thing you can choose: operation of AE-L/AF-L position on the dial. Because that is something compact users cannot live without. As well as let's say custom white balance settings. I'm not complaining these are included. It just makes me feel there is something schizophrenic in the approach.
9. Display messages: when sensitivity set to let's say ISO Auto 100-800 it says ISO Auto 100-800. I don't need a reminder, I need current ISO setting, so I can decide whether I can gain on speed by increasing noise or not (even though it means crawling through poor menu system). If you insist, add current info side by side - there is a space occupied only by buffer frame counter, but when it writes, I won't be able to change ISO anyway.
All the messages are white, including Hi and Lo alarms, so they are easy to missed
10. Last but not least: the camera could be power on by retracting the lens, but collapsing would only put it to sleep. That way, the battery kept being drained, and there was plenty of confusion, as slow blinking tiny LED was easy to miss, and camera wake up time was so long, I coudn't figure out if it woke up, or is completely off or maybe died? Why would somebody do that I have no idea, especially that retracting the lens is faster than camera wake-up anyway, so there is no advantage of putting it to sleep. Clearly another attempt to make as many enemies among customers as possible.
Lenses:
Nikon 1 is a system: camera bodies and camera lenses. The former will change annualy, the latter should serve for some time. Having good lens would actually sweeten any issues with a body, as inevitably that would be replaced as soon as possible. Having great lens would help to stand out from CSC crowd, especially when jumping on the bandwagon as the last. So what do we have:
1. Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 VR
Kit lens. And that's about it. Not much to complain about - standard range, standard speed, not too big nor heavy. Exactly as m43 kit lenses. I know optics size does not scale lineary with sensor size, yet Sony managed to put on RX100 a 10-37mm f1.8-4.9 which is less that 40 mm long at short end. If Nikon made it 2.8 - 4 at the same size and reach as this kit, everybody would praise it for being as small (as other kits), yet faster.
2. Nikon 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 - not my pair of shoes, as I like flexibility. Obvious though, if you start with limited selection, make the prime standing out. So we got: 27mm equivalent - neither wide, nor portrait, and actually covered by the zoom lens. Aperture f/2.8. Only half a stop faster than kit. Again, borrow from Sony (with zoom!) 1.8 - now you have both speed for poor light and control over depth of focus, to silence all those wanting small camera small sensor and 'bokeh'.
3. Nikon 1 Nikkor 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 VR
Included in dual kit or sold separately. On paper it does not distinguish from crowd of other kit stuff. Yet Nikon needed 18 elements in 12 groups to make it happen. That is for sure world record in complication of a simple thing. It can't be compact then, and it can't be cheap to make. And it has got other features, especially internal reflections. At first I didn't know what is wrong, and blamed polarizer. But then I saw this:
For comparison 12x zoom compact PanaLeica lens of TZ7:
(Left not resized, to see how huge difference in noise is visible).
That immediately explained why the hood is as big as the lens (at some point I actually thought, if it was made of rubber, it could be a great camera bag - seriously). If you don't carry it - well then the Earth can have more than one Moon. If you do, stretch your fingers to rotate polarizer, the compact system stays compact on the badge only, and when reversed, you can collapse the lens, but won't be able to retract it.
4. There was/is also a 10-100 behemoth available - actually quite interesting choice (size- and pricewise) for the beginning.
To sum up: first two options decent, but nothing to joy about, another too - below standard.
3. Handling:
-I'm used to oparate TZ7 with one hand, fed through the strap: its eyelet is small and round, and there is a hump to catch the camera with fingers. On the J1 the eyelet for the neck-strap is big and square, and with the hand going through the loop, a stretch of strap of double thickness (for lenght adjustment) is being trapped under the palm, and there is no grip on the front whatsoever! Hovever there is a piece of rubber around the 'control' dial, so there must have been some intention to hold the camera in one-handed manner. One can argue, that the camera needs to be operated with both hands (left to zoom the lens), but:
- that is not valid for primes (then only 10mm available, but as an alternative kit lens), and that being addressed (possibly?) at street photographers should assume one-hand operation
-with the left hand supporting the lens, the bottom front edge actually cuts into the palm, and after long use makes it quite uncomfortable sensation. More round finish would be welcome.
It looks like the 'retro' look won over ergonomics (again..). Luckily it is not Leica class, so it isn't as bad as with M9 ;)
-the battery charger as big as the camera. Especially in th UK version, which actually adds an adaptor to default US unit (with pins folding down for storage) it creates an awkward L shaped brick.
4. Price: in body + 10-30 zoom lens the system started with J1 at £549.00 and V1 at £829.00. I had mine dual kit at £499.00, which was just a bit lower than Olympus E-PL3 with two lenses. J1, though bit pricey, was able compete with offers like that mentioned, but I can't imagine V1 being bought due to any other reason than strong passion at its price level.
Another bad thing though is how much the value depreciated (or how much it was bloated in the beginning) over time: now, with release of J2, the J1 body + 10-30 zoom kit is at £249.00: less than half ot the original price in a year! If I invested in the Nikon 1 system, and wanted to change body, when selling a 1 year old camera I wouldn't get more than around 1/3 of its value! I took a hit when selling mine, but I treat it as 'rental' (makes me feel better), and actually would be worse off keeping it and trying to sell now...
Those were the facts, now time for questions. Maybe more facts first:
There is now an all-new J2 camera available. There are 2 changes:
-Model number changed into 2
-there are 2 times more pixels on the LCD.
I'm not far for being honest... I liked the LCD with 460k px anyway, much better than TZ7. The body - identical in form - is now metal (was plastic, but didn't feel like) and some new funky colours can be chosen. There is new position on the control dial - Creative mode, which adds and enables access to presets like panorama, selective colour or miniature effect, as well as PASM modes. No, not individually, you still need to keep navigating to choose the one you want. But J2 can be shut down by collapsing the lens, and there is 2 frame HDR option available
It actually shows that J line of Nikon 1 system is basically matured now, and J1 was almost perfect (from Nikon's point of view for sure), so not very much had to be changed. I quite like that approach, it defines the target customer for the camera, and makes all the other potential buyers sure, there is nothing to expect in the future. At lower starting price (£490) J2 is a tiny bit more sensible offer than J1 was, but will be competing with cameras like Olympus E-PM2/E-PL5 (around £500 initially).
Introduction of J2 pushed J1 price down to as low as £249.00 and with that in mind, it is actually a bargain for what it offers (if neither of the 'features' mentioned above are firm no-nos). Paying twice as much for J2 doesn't make sense, and I wonder for how long more Nikon will be able to cash in on the charm of 1 series - because apart from all the flaws, the sales apparently aren't bad. (Because of that though, there is no rush for serious upgrades, as J2 example shows).
With J2 two new lenses arrived (hooray!): 18.5 f/1.8 and 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 The former seem to be indeed very interesting (pity that wasn't the choice for the initial lineup) the latter - intriguing: it is smaller than 10-30, but also have smaller range (30-74 mm equivalent), is still slow, and has no stabilization! Cannot count it as a important addition to the range, especially as it is not beign offered as part of a kit with J2, so suffers silly price syndrome.
No more facts! Just questions? Maybe introduction to the final part:
Nikon 1 J1/J2 can be considered to purchase by somebody looking for a small camera, with capability of shooting moving objects (especialy children!), in point-and-shoot style. The J line survived this year, as nobody was willing to take attack on its only distinctive feature: phase detection autofocus. Apart from that, it lags behind competitors. So the good news is, many more parents will get Nikon 1 cameras for Christmas. The bad news is, with J1 worth maybe a £100 next year, nobody will buy J3 with touch screen and maybe wifi for £500 - all other cameras have that now, and will have PDAF next year.
Where is the Nikon 1 system going now then? We'll know for sure with release of V1. There are though some worrying rumours, that the only upgrades will be wifi and GPS. I'm affraid there is already a camera having all these features, including PDAF: Sony NEX-6. It actually is within the same price bracket, though with better viewfinder, is more compact and stylish, and with the new kit lens it promises to offer much more in terms of image quality, than V1 now.
What else could happen?
Small sensor and fast autofocus would make Nikon 1 system great for action telephoto (bird/animal/sports car) shooters. Gain on the lens size should be more visible then. True, that would cost 4 digit price, but still would be a fraction of DSLR lens price, and cost of a 'lens cap' in a form of Nikon 1 camera would be negligible.
There is readily available Sony CX 20Mpix sensor, so that could be used to branch out into slower, but more detail-rich camera.
And there is an option to create another branch of Nikon 1 system, with camera body having buttons and dials so the user can actually decide how the photo should be taken.
The more people bought in the system, the more chances it will survive.
If Nikon actually cares, cause it shows attitude of deaf ear towards most of the issues being mentioned by serious reviewers. But J1 is unlikely to get a firmware update, especially that you have to pay to have those few changes in J2. Apparently Nikon chose CX sensor size not to cannibalize its DSLR sales. So I tried Nikon CX, and it failed. Should I try DX camera, worth much more, with that experience?
Anyway, if I could get J1 at good price (especially with twin lens kit) during after-christmas sale, I'd probably buy it. For the right price, you can't complain. Especially when all the pros and cons are known.
When looking for some ideas of what would the 'dream V2' look like, I looked at preview of Nikon's P7700. If you swapped the sensor and add 1 mount instead of fixed optics - that's about it. So they can do it! But when read more, I got to the review of its predecessor P7100, mentioning the first of the line: P7000, and found these sentences:
'Sadly, although it was capable of producing excellent image quality, the P7000 was plagued with poor operational speed and frustratingly glitchy on-screen menus. The overall impression was of a camera which was almost, but not quite finished for public release. It was a camera that we wanted to love, but just couldn't. '
So, if Nikon chose to go the same painful route, maybe there is some hope for '1' ??
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