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Author
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Tord S Eriksson
Tord
Registered: July 2010
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Posts: 41
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Review Date: Tue March 20, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $1,400.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Small, rugged, fast, and sharp!
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Cons:
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No fast Series 1 lenses, yet! Surprisingly heavy, almost a pound!
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This is a camera you easily fall in love with, as it is small, lightning fast, sharp, and rugged. Quirky, unusual, and with three minute lenses that have gotten full points with every lens tester. Think MFT (aka M4/3rds) lenses, and then make them 30% smaller!
Very much a poor man's Leica, where you for a tenth of the price of the Leica (with three lenses) get a kit that very much reminds of the famous camera.
The ISO range is better with the V1 (its simpler sister J1 has no viewfinder), the sensor is comparative to the M8's in size, both cameras's lenses are among the best on the market.
Focus is lightning fast with the V1, and it can take a series of shots in zero time, and so on.
As yet, the main disadvantage with the Nikon 1 Series, as yet, is that there are no fast lenses, the best is the 10/2.8, but better things are in the works, according to Nikon, who seem to have been surprised by the camera system's success!
For day's with heavy overcast, and when I need longer focal lengths, I've invested in the TF1 adapter, which allow you to use 'normal' Nikon lenses, with fully functional auto focus, as long as they have a focus motor (G models). Even VR lenses have working VR, as long as they are genuine Nikon lenses. For instance, Sigma lenses work as long as they are non-VR, while, say, Sigma 150-500 OIS does not at all!
As the sensor is very small (smaller than MFT, but bigger than compact's), a complete camera kit with the three available lenses (covering, in FF/FX terms, 27-297mm), weighs less than a kilogram (close to two pounds).
According to Ken Rockwell, the Nikon guru, the sharpest Nikon zoom ever, was the classic 80-200/4.0, which on the V1, with the TF1 adapter, is pretty amazing, equalling a zoom range 216-540! I also have used it with a well-used AF-S 18-70/3.5-4.5G (just great), and have bought a new AF-S 50/1.4G for it, all three lenses very popular with reviewers, like SLR Gear.com, or Photozine.de .
The viewfinder is surprisingly clear (if not quite in NEX-7 class), and the display is just as good (if, with my copy, with a minute green tinge), and the switch is automatic between the two, as you approach the viewfinder with your eye. Works well with glasses, too!
The battery id hefty, and seem to last for ever, unless you use the flashgun (optional extra). There is also a GPS (optional), about which I know nothing ;-(!
The bad things, then?!
Well, the arrangement of thumb wheels, and buttons, is unique, and a bit quirky, so many have taped over the selector wheel on the back, so you not accidentally choose movie, or animated postcard mode.
It occasionally chooses a too low ISO, so the shots become fuzzy, but it can also, at times, choose a too high ISO, so the shots become grainy.
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Tord S Eriksson,
enthusiast for everything done outdoors, including photography, and reading a good book!
Pentax K-x, K-7 & K-5, plus a heap of lenses from Pentax, Tamron & Sigma
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JoeFaraday
Registered User
Registered: June 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 4
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Review Date: Mon July 9, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Size, Speed, IQ, Build, Ease of use.
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Cons:
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Primes needed.
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A surprise package, the V1 is much better than I thought it would be.
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