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The Nikon 1 J1 is really a stylish compact system camera using a 10-megapixel “CX” format sensor as well as the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Boasting continuous shooting speeds of up to 60 fps at full resolution, Full HD video capture, an ultra-fast hybrid auto-focus system, Smart Photo Selector along with a unique Motion Snapshot Mode, the portable Nikon J1 now offers more conventional shooting modes like Programmed Auto, Aperture and Shutter Priority, along with Metered Manual. Also up to speed is usually a built-in pop-up flash which has a guide variety of 5, a 3 inch rear display as well as an electronic shutter. Costing $649.95 / 549.99 using a 10-30mm the len’s, $699.95 / 599.99 using a 10mm pancake lens, or $799.95 / 699.99 in the double-lens kit while using 10-30mm and 30-110mm zoom lenses, the Nikon 1 J1 is scheduled to be sale later this month.

The Nikon 1 J1 is generally made from aluminium with magnesium alloy reinforced parts and is also therefore heavier than you would think dependant on its size alone, weighing 234g to the body only. What’s more, it feels higher quality compared to the official product shots maybe have you believe. Having an essentially grip-less design, the Nikon J1 is quite much a two-handed affair that requires one to support the camera’s weight within the left hand, clutching the lens, and make use of your right hand for balance and operating the controls. A great a good thing mainly because it can make you pay attention to holding the digital camera properly, which goes a considerable ways towards avoiding shake-induced blur with your photos.

The camera’s clean, minimalist front plate is dominated by the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Instead of as a scaled-down version from the good old F mount, it’s really a new design providing you with 100% electronic communication between attached lens and also the camera body, thanks to 12 contacts. Much like within the manufacturer’s F-mount SLR cameras, there exists a white dot for easy lens alignment, eventhough it has moved through the 2 o’clock position (when viewed front on) to # 1 from the mount. The lenses themselves have a short silver ridge for the lens barrel, which needs to be in alignment with said dot to enable one to be able to attach the lens for the camera. Although this may need a bit of acclamating yourself with, this process makes changing lenses quicker and simpler.

Without having lens attached, you will notice the sensor sitting right behind the plane of the bayonet mount. Such as mount itself, the sensor is fresh. Measuring 13.2×8.8mm this “CX” format imaging chip has double the surface of the biggest imagers utilized in compact and bridge cameras just like the Fujifilm X10 and S100FS, but only about half the area of the standard Four Thirds sensor. In linear terms, a Four Thirds chip features a 1.36x longer diagonal than the Nikon CX imager. Since Four Thirds carries a 2x focal length multiplier, the CX “crop factor” breaks down to to around 2.72, meaning that a 10mm lens has approximately the same angle of view being a 27.2mm lens by using an FX or 35mm film camera. The Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm standard zoom is thus the same as a 27.2-81.6mm (or, practically speaking, 28-80mm) FX lens with regards to its angle-of-view range.

All of those other Nikon J1’s faceplate is actually empty, featuring exactly the lens release, a receiver for that optional ML-L3 infrared handy remote control, two narrow slits for the microphone each side with the lens, and an AF assist/self-timer lamp. There is no grip in any respect around the front of the Nikon 1 J1.

There’s 2 methods for powering around the Nikon 1 J1. You can either use the on/off button sitting next to the shutter release or, when you have a collapsible-barrel zoom lens attached, just press the unlocking button within the lens barrel and turn the zoom ring to unlock the lens, an act that produces the camera to exchange on automatically. This is an ingenious solution because you require to unlock the lens for shooting anyway. Start-up takes about a second - nothing to write home about however decent and entirely adequate.

You are able to frame your shots using the rear screen - there isn’t any electronic viewfinder as on the V1 model, an integral distinction between the 2 main. The LCD screen is often a three-inch, 460,000-dot display that features wide viewing angles, great definition and accurate colours but only so-so visibility in strong daylight. We missed the EVF with the J1 alongside the V1, in bright sunlit conditions or aided by the 30-110mm telezoom lens as holding you up to eye-level helped to stabilise the lens and get away from trembling camera.

The control layout is very peculiar. The Nikon 1 J1 incorporates a small, rear-mounted mode dial that lacks most of the shooting modes which are usually seen on similar dials - such as P, A, S and M - even though it has enough room to allow for them. These modes can be obtained around the J1 however, you need to dive to the rather long-winded instead of entirely logical menu to find them. The J1’s mode dial just has four settings, Photo, Video, Motion Snapshot and Smart Photo Selector. The four-way controller has four functions mapped onto its Up, Right, Down and Left buttons; including AE/AF-Lock, exposure compensation, flash mode and self-timer, respectively. Although this isn’t a bad selection of functions, the fact that there is no ISO button will doubtlessly result in a wide range of photographers serious about buying the Nikon J1 to become unhappy.

You will find there’s button on the rear labelled “F” but alas, it is not a programmable function button. In Photo mode, it enables you to quickly select from the continuous shooting modes, when it is in Video mode it lets you toggle between regular and slow-motion recording. There are two more significant controls within the back of the camera, including a scroll wheel throughout the four-way pad and also a rocker switch marked that has a loupe icon. The scroll wheel is employed to line the shutter speed in Manual and Shutter Priority modes (once you’ve found them within the menu, that is), as you move the rocker switch controls the aperture. The reason why it has a loupe icon close to it can be that it control can be used to zoom in while on an image to evaluate for critical concentrate Playback mode. Last of all, you will discover four small buttons round the navigation pad, flush against the rear panel with the camera, including Display Mode, Playback, Menu and Delete.

Precisely what are the ones shooting modes within the mode dial information about? The Photo or Still Image mode, marked using a green camera icon, is the place you will need to be usually. With all the mode dial set to the present position, it is possible to pick your required exposure mode through the menu. The Nikon J1’s Scene Auto Selector is a smart auto mode the place that the camera analyses the scene before its lens and picks exactly what thinks is the right way of that one scene. You can even find out with the conventional PASM modes, which supply you with full menu access and also the capability to manually set the aperture, shutter speed, or both (Program AE Shift is available in P mode). ISO and white balance may also be manually selected, but only through the menu, as stated earlier.

Of course there’s AWB and auto ISO also, together with the latter to arrive three flavours (Auto 100-400, 100-800 or 100-3200) helping you to specify how high you would like the camera to look once the light gets low. You can also select three AF Area modes, including Auto Area, when the camera takes control over what it really focusses on (this isn’t a great mode to obtain when your default because camera obviously can’t read the mind and will concentrate on something else entirely than your actual subject); Single Point, in places you can pick certainly one of 135 AF points frist by hitting OK and then moving the active AF point across the frame with all the four-way pad; and Subject Tracking, the place you pick your subject, press OK and enable you to track that subject because it moves around, so long as it won’t leave the frame of course.

The Nikon 1 J1 comes with an intriguing hybrid auto-focus system that combines contrast- and phase-difference detection likewise because the Fujifilm F300EXR did. This will give the Nikon 1 J1 to target extremely quickly in good light, even using a moving subject. The business claims the Nikon 1 system cameras are the fastest-focusing machines on earth, which matches our experience - as long as there’s enough light. When light levels drop, your camera switches to contrast-detect AF which, though faster compared to most cameras, isn’t as fast as one other method. It is the digital camera that decides which AF strategy to use - the consumer does not have any impact on this.

Normally, the J1 usually only turn to contrast detection when light levels are low. In good light, we had been capable of taking sharp photos of fast-moving subjects. The Nikon J1 certainly won’t disappoint here. Manual focusing can be possible, although Nikon 1 lenses would not have focus rings. If you would like focus manually, you first need to hit the AF button, choose MF, press OK and after that utilize the scroll wheel to modify focus. To help you out using this, the Nikon J1 magnifies the central section of the image and displays a rudimentary focus scale along the right side from the frame - but those will be the only focusing aids you get. There is no peaking function available as on some rival models.

The J1 comes with an electronic shutter (the V1 has a mechanical shutter). Itrrrs very silent (the attention confirmation beep is usually disabled on the menu) and allows the usage of shutter speeds as quickly as 1/16,000th of your second and, with all the Electronic Hi setting selected, helps you to shoot full-resolution stills at 60 fps. Note however that although this is a major achievement, it’s on a a buffer which could only hold 12 raw files. Additionally, using this mode precludes AF tracking - you need to lower the frame rate to 10fps if you need that -, as well as the viewfinder goes blank while the pictures are taken. One application we are able to think about where shooting full-resolution stills at 60fps could really be convenient is AE bracketing for HDR imaging. At this rate, some 5 bracketed shots could be taken in a lot less than 0.1 second, rendering small movements which could otherwise pose alignment problems - like leaves being blown from the wind - a non-issue. Alas, the Nikon J1 doesn’t offer a real feature - actually it doesn’t offer autoexposure bracketing in any respect.

Trying the playback quality mode, the Nikon 1 J1 has some pleasant surprises here. To start with, your camera might be set to shoot Full HD footage, so you even arrive at select 1080p @ 30fps or 1080i @ 60fps, depending on whether you want to assist progressive or interlaced video. If you do not need Full HD, additionally, there are 720p @ 60fps, which is really smooth yet still counts as high-definition. Secondly, you obtain full manual control over exposure in video mode. It becomes an option; you won’t need to shoot in M mode and you can in the event that’s the thing you need. Thirdly, you receive fast, continuous AF in video mode, and delay well, particularly good light. Movies are compressed while using the H.264 codec and stored as MOV files. You’ll find separate shutter release buttons for stills and video, and because of this - and also the massive processing power of the Nikon J1 - you are able to take multiple full-resolution stills even when recording HD video. This works vice versa too - you are able to capture your favorite shows clip even when the mode dial is in the Still Image position, by simply pressing the red movie shutter release. We’ve found out that in such cases the digital camera will record film at 720p/60fps.

In addition to being efficient at shooting regular movies in HD quality, the Nikon 1 J1 also can shoot video at 400fps for slow-motion playback. The resolution is gloomier and the aspect ratio can be an ultra-widescreen 2.67:1, however the quality is adequate for YouTube, Vimeo and so on. These videos are replayed at 30fps, and that is a lot more than 13x slower than the capture speed of 400fps, helping you to get creative and show the world an array of interesting phenomena that happen too soon to watch in real time. The Nikon J1 goes a little more forward by providing a 1200fps video mode, but the resolution and overall quality is simply too poor to the being genuinely useful.

The next icon within the mode dial means Smart Photo Selector. This feature allows the camera to capture at least 20 photos at the single press in the shutter release, including some which were taken before fully depressing the button. The camera analyses anyone pictures in the series and discards 15 of which, keeping just the five it thinks are best in terms of sharpness and composition. This feature is usually genuinely useful when photographing fast action and fleeting moments.

Finally, there exists a so-called Motion Snapshot mode where the camera records a quick high-definition movie - whose buffering starts for a half-press with the shutter release, so again includes events which had happened prior to button was fully depressed - and as well has a still photograph. The movie and also the still image are residing in separate files but the camera can combine them in a single slow-motion clip with vocals. It’s fun but we can not really envision people applying this shooting mode all the time. (When you look at the video over a computer, it’ll play back at normal speed, without sound, which means you mode is absolutely only interesting should you comprehend the clip in-camera or hook the digital camera as much as an HDTV via an HDMI cable.)

The Nikon J1 stores pics and vids on SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, and props up fastest UHS-I speed class. You runs on a reduced EN-EL20 battery to its V1 government, and is also consequently capable of producing considerably less shots using one charge, managing around 230, eventhough it does help to create the camera body smaller. The camera’s tripod socket is manufactured out of metal and is also in line with all the lens’ optical axis. This too implies that changing batteries or cards is not possible whilst the J1 is attached with a tripod, because the hinges from the battery/card compartment door are too near to the tripod mount.

So, how did we love to using the Nikon 1 J1? On one hand, we liked it a lot. In good light, its auto-focus technique is indeed faster than just about anything we’ve used until now, having the capacity to track and lock target a variety of truly fast-moving subjects, and yielding lots of sharp images in situations where our keeper rates haven’t ever been very high. Additionally, its high-speed continuous shooting modes have allowed us to capture interesting moments that we’d have surely missed when we had used a slower camera. The built-in pop-up flash proved more useful the reason is modest guide number might suggest, together with the clever design minimising red-eye.

In contrast, the Nikon J1 does have it’s share of frustrating idiosyncrasies beginning from an individual interface that makes you dive into the menu to reach functions as common as exposure mode, ISO speeds and white balance. While Nikon obviously cannot add extra buttons to a finished product, they are able to at the very least result in the “F” button customisable by using a firmware update. Also, nevertheless there is an avid button for exposure compensation - which is a advantage - Some be capable of activate an active histogram, even though it would’ve made exposure compensation a lot more useful and straightforward to make use of. Again, this will likely to end up fixed in firmware.

We also missed the V1’s smooth, high-resolution electronic viewfinder, specifically in bright light or when using the telephoto lens which does not lend itself well to being held out at arms length. The J1 just has a glass dust shield as it is defense against unwanted debris, as opposed to the more proactive sensor cleaning unit that the V1 offers, plus the smaller battery shows that you’ll need to buy an additional someone to arrive at the day’s heavy shooting. The possible lack of an accessory port ensures that almost not one of the Nikon 1 accessories are works with the J1, such as external flash and GPS unit.

Something else we didn’t like could be that the camera would always show the photo just taken a couple of seconds onscreen, therefore we failed to try to turn this instant postview function completely off (while you can at least cancel it using a half-press in the shutter release). Finally, as the camera is generally fast and responsive, you takes overly long to arise from sleep mode gets hotter continues to be idle for a short time, leading to a number of missed shots.

That being said, the Nikon 1 J1 is usually a small and compact, high-performance system camera that they like its our government could use a number of tweaks to its interface to improve suit the requirements serious amateurs. The intended target market of casual users will require to it for its sheer speed, built-in flash, lightweight along with the fun features there is. Allow us to now see how the Nikon 1 J1 fared inside the image quality department.