Eerste review Nikon V1

[Starred]

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/nikon-1-v1-mirrorless-compact-camera-review-17548

The Nikon 1 Series is like a more compact mirrorless system, with a smaller sensor than the Micro Four thirds system, it allows smaller lenses, and the 10 megapixel sensor achieves an amazing 60fps shooting, high speed video and full HD recording. Nikon has used the high speed sensor to develop "Motion snapshot", a combination of video and a photo, as well as Smart Photo Selector that chooses the best 5 photos from 30 taken at 30fps.

Whilst this may be useful for a number of people who want to make sure they capture the moment, and gives them both video and high speed photo, it's the 60fps shooting and high quality video that are most likely to interest readers of this site. Continuous shooting is excellent: 60fps at full resolution is generally unheard of except in high end video. Does anything even come remotely close to this? Although it seems a shame that there is not the option to use the high speed shooting for other things, such as auto exposure bracketing, auto-HDR, and auto-panoramic modes, options strangely missing from the camera.

The lens line up is lacking in bright aperture lenses, and it will be good to see if the future lenses address this. The camera features hybrid AF, with contrast and phase detection built into the sensor, and provides extremely fast focusing, although perhaps focusing isn't always as quick as intended, with the Panasonic GF3 / Olympus PEN Mini focusing more quickly at times.

Image quality is very good, with great colour, and detail, although ISO noise is not as impressive as M43 cameras, but noticeably better than serious compacts, such as the Nikon Coolpix P7100, particularly at higher ISO settings.

The price of the V1 seems expensive compared to other mirrorless cameras and the consumer orientated features (lack of AEB, Manual controls on the mode dial, etc) could be a disappointment to some. If you can live without the EVF, and don't mind a smaller buffer then the J1 appears to be much better value for money, although with a shorter buffer for continuous shooting.

I can imagine the 1 series being very popular with consumers and people who want the high speed and high quality video, and the Nikon 1 V1 certainly delivers that. Or for those that want a more compact mirrorless camera, the kits lenses available so far (10mm, 10-30mm, 30-110mm) are very compact thanks to the pancake design and collapsible zooms. However, I suspect that more serious photographers or more adventurous may find some of the limitations a little puzzling.