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Nikon Mirrorless cameras (1 Viewer)

gandytron

gandytron

Well-known member
Nikon have just announced the J1 and V1, the company's first venture into mirrorless cameras.

Whilst I don't really understand much about the whole mirrorless hype, there is one fact that may be interesting for bird photography, namely that Nikon have produced a mount that allows you to attach an f mount (ie DSLR) lens onto the new Mirrorless bodies....

These bodies have a crop factor of 2.7x, so my 300mm f4 AF-S lens will become an 810mm lens (as opposed to a 450mm on my D90)...and I'm guessing it remains as an f4 (?)

Any body else got views on this?

Very best wishes

Dave
 
IF Nikon's new sensor offers IQ equal to or better than m4/3 this camera will fly out the stores. With the F mount, even the inexpensive 70-300mm will be razor sharp across the frame. Imagine the EFFECTIVE focal length possibilities with the 300/500/600m primes + TCs.... up to ~2300mm @ f5.6! But I wonder how battery life will be when driving a big AF-S lens with VR?
 
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RJM said:
IF Nikon's new sensor offers IQ equal to or better than m4/3 this camera will fly out the stores. With the F mount, even the inexpensive 70-300mm will be razor sharp across the frame. Imagine the EFFECIVE focal length possibilities with the 300/500/600m primes + TCs.... up to ~2300mm @ f5.6! But I wonder how battery life will be when driving a big AF-S lens with VR?
Click to expand...

I second this one. Provided even AF and VR can even work! For instance, the Olympus 4/3 to M4/3 adapter only allows its 4/3 lens to have painfully slow AF. Sony have only recently announced an adapter that allows its DSLR Alpha mount lenses to work on its NEX mirrorless cameras with AF, and even that adapter seems to have its own power unit, judging from its size relative to the NEX camera body.

On the other hand, I hope sensor size does not let Nikon down as the sensor is way smaller than a M4/3. Shooting rate is impressive, but little info is available on these cameras' buffer. Fast shooting but poor buffer leads to nowhere. The high crop value may lead to vignetting though.

Just my 2 cents worth :t:
 
The FT1 mount adapter does have electrical contacts to run the AF and VR motors. Buffer depth is 44 frames in RAW and 58 frames in JPEG or 42 frames in RAW+JPEG. BTW, Nikon Direct Japan shows an MSRP of ~20,000 yen for the FT1 mount adapter.

None of the F mount DX or FX lenses should vignette. When using an F mount lens, images should be corner-to-corner razor sharp, distortion free and evenly illuminated.
 
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OK, I stand corrected. As for the adapter, Nikon's link cautions that the AF performance may vary with lenses that are used. It has its own tripod mount. I hope it can be used with Nikon's telephotos. For instance, a bare 300mm F4 will give an effective 810mm focal length in 35mm equivalent terms.
 
Obviously since there is no motor or screw drive in the camera it will only AF with AF-S lenses.
 
The thing to do is take a 70mm-200mm 2.8 to a shop and asks to shoot some sample images.

Not convinced the set-up will be balanced in the hand but worth a go.

I think that’s it’s the only realistic way of judging whether the sensors quality is up to much.

I’ve not ploughed through all the spec, does it say if it takes an electronic remote?

I can imagine that it’s probably been slagged-off on the web. I actually do like the clean look of the thing, not too sure on the colours though.
 
It can use the ML3 IR remote. The thing Nikon always seems to flub with their P&S cameras is the software interface. This camera does PASM exposure modes but the mode dial does not seem to access them. I hope the Expeed III is smart enough to really figure out what you are trying to shoot/do as going to a soft menu to make even minor changes in camera settings will be really annoying.
 
RJM said:
It can use the ML3 IR remote. The thing Nikon always seems to flub with their P&S cameras is the software interface. This camera does PASM exposure modes but the mode dial does not seem to access them. I hope the Expeed III is smart enough to really figure out what you are trying to shoot/do as going to a soft menu to make even minor changes in camera settings will be really annoying.
Click to expand...

As a rule, automatic modes (all brands that I have tried) always seem to assume I am trying to take portraits of people and therefore focus on leaves instead of the bird :-C

(and obviously I have not tried this camera, just thinking out loud with regards to the chance of this being what I would want)

Niels
 
Looking at the out of camera JPEGs under Still Life and Noise sections here it seems like the J1 CX sensor performs "good enough" up to ISO1600. Panasonic REALLY needs to work on their JPEG output.

I updated my NX2 soft to v2.2.8 and the NEF files I've found elsewhere also look pretty good. Maybe this explains the premium pricing?
 
There is a revealing interview with the head of product development at DPReview. His take is that the new nikons are intended for P&S upgraders and not for serious photographers, mentioning words like "the lower end of the market", "the company will focus on compact camera users as the target" etc. That combined with a wheel where "There's just a single position to cover all aspects of conventional stills shooting" does not in my mind bode well for the use of this camera for bird photography for example. My experience from other cameras is that the automatic modes usually assume a different style of shooting than the one I use for birds.

That does not mean that Pana could not use a little improvement in their jpg's with a little lighter/brighter output and less blue -- however, I find them easy to correct in post processing (I have the GH2). G3 is supposed to be a step up in jpg quality.

Niels
 
I hope he means "low end" in terms of external user control as there is certainly nothing "low end" about the MSRP. The D3100/D5100 kits sell for less! Certainly we know the standard PASM modes and the very powerful Picture Controls and D-Lighting are available in the soft menu. On the otherhand, I would welcome ANY simple ways to make a camera carry out my artistic vision rather than the current arcane and antiquated exposure methods used now.

Anyway, as with any new product, probably best to wait for V2 or V3.
 
Two comments: real users having this in hand will tell us more than any interview;

and secondly, in the pana range, GH2 and G3 were the first entries that attracted me as a bird/nature photographer, the others were too slow and the 100-300 only appeared around the same time. If the nikon product develops similarly, you will most likely be right that we will see third iteration before it becomes attractive to me (if it does).

Niels
 
The one promising thing is the EXPEED-3 processor with a phenomenal processing rate of data (as things stand now). I hope Canon can match this with its new DIGIC V (only available in P&S and Superzooms for now).
 
gandytron said:
...and I'm guessing it remains as an f4 (?)
Click to expand...

Well, I guess it will not be an f4 anymore.

Since those "translucent" mirrors are beamsplitters that send some light to the imaging sensor and some to the AF module you one will loose some light for picture taking. So even if a f4 is still a f4 only x% of the available light will reach the sensor. By how much depends on the split ratio of the "mirror".

Another potential problem that hasn't been raised yet is dust. We all are familiar with dust on the sensor. With these new mirrorless cameras dust and debris on the mirror will add another problem. So far we have seen those mirror dust bunnies only in the viewfinder, now they will be on the image as well. And if the sensor is not properly sealed and dust get to it there will be no easy way to clean it up .....

Ulli
 
Personally, I don’t think any of the manufacturers have got it right. There are three more names to enter the market, Fuji, Canon and Leica. If you park the Leica to the side, because you just know it’s going to be engineered but at a cost and concentrate on the rest.

Once Fuji and Canon come in you can then get a ‘feel’ for where everybody’s going. This way the user can choose what aspect appeals to them the most, i.e. cost, weight or image quality. They then can choose which brand suits their needs.

If we regard everything as a 4/3rd system then we have differing sensor sizes, physical dimensions and functions, because of this comparing individual models is going to be a nightmare.

Brand loyalty will play a part, but not significantly as in the DSLR market.

4/3rd is not going away, it will have an impact on the sales of entry level of DSLR, how the main two protagonists react is going to be interesting.
 
gandytron said:
guessing it remains as an f4 (?)

Any body else got views on this?

Very best wishes

Dave
Click to expand...

So far as I am aware an f4 lens for 35mm cameras remains an f4 on the smaller APS C sensor and via adaptors on a 4/3rds Sensor so it should remain as an f4 on the Nikon mirrorless sensor.
 
speckled wood said:
So far as I am aware an f4 lens for 35mm cameras remains an f4 on the smaller APS C sensor and via adaptors on a 4/3rds Sensor so it should remain as an f4 on the Nikon mirrorless sensor.
Click to expand...

The difference will be caused by less light hitting the sensor 91/3 stop being diverted to the EVF). The aperture remains the same.

By the way, I have noticed several sources where users complain of the noisy images that result from the SLT series. Is this a side-effect of the decreased light hitting the sensor by virtue of the beam-splitter?
 
Hor Kee said:
By the way, I have noticed several sources where users complain of the noisy images that result from the SLT series. Is this a side-effect of the decreased light hitting the sensor by virtue of the beam-splitter?
Click to expand...

I have not noticed any apparent difference between the noise on my a550 or SLT a33, same sensor on both cameras I think.
 
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