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The Nikon 1 J1 is often a stylish compact system camera featuring a 10-megapixel “CX” format sensor as well as the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Boasting continuous shooting speeds all the way to 60 frames per second at full resolution, Full HD video capture, an ultra-fast hybrid auto-focus system, Smart Photo Selector and a unique Motion Snapshot Mode, the portable Nikon J1 offers more conventional shooting modes like Programmed Auto, Aperture and Shutter Priority, and also Metered Manual. Also fully briefed is often a built-in pop-up flash that has a guide number of 5, a 3 inch rear display as well as an electronic shutter. Pricing $649.95 / 549.99 using a 10-30mm standard zoom lens, $699.95 / 599.99 using a 10mm pancake lens, or $799.95 / 699.99 within a double-lens kit using the 10-30mm and 30-110mm zoom lenses, the Nikon 1 J1 is scheduled to go on sale later this month.

The Nikon 1 J1 is generally constructed from aluminium with magnesium alloy reinforced parts and is therefore heavier than you would think depending on its size alone, coming in at 234g for your body only. What’s more, it feels higher quality than the official product shots would have you believe. By having an essentially grip-less design, the Nikon J1 is quite much a two-handed affair that requires someone to support the camera’s weight in the left-hand, clutching the lens, and use your right hand for balance and operating the controls. A great a good thing because it pushes you to pay attention to holding you properly, which in turn goes far towards avoiding shake-induced blur within your photos.

The camera’s clean, minimalist front plate is covered with the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Rather than to be a scaled-down version with the traditional F mount, it is a fresh design that delivers 100% electronic communication between the attached lens and also the camera body, due to several contacts. Just like on the manufacturer’s F-mount SLR cameras, you will find there’s white dot for convenient lens alignment, even though it has moved through the 2 o’clock position (when viewed front on) to the top in the mount. The lenses themselves use a short silver ridge about the lens barrel, which has to be in alignment with said dot in order for one to have the capacity to attach the lens to the camera. Of course this might need a little bit of adjusting to, this process makes changing lenses quicker and simpler.

With no lens attached, you can view the sensor sitting directly behind the plane on the bayonet mount. Just like the mount itself, the sensor is new. Measuring 13.2×8.8mm this “CX” format imaging chip has quantity expanse of the biggest imagers utilized in compact and bridge cameras much like the Fujifilm X10 and S100FS, but only most the spot of any standard Four Thirds sensor. In linear terms, a Four Thirds chip carries a 1.36x longer diagonal than the Nikon CX imager. Considering the fact that Four Thirds incorporates a 2x focal length multiplier, the CX “crop factor” computes to about 2.72, and therefore a 10mm lens has approximately a similar angle of view as being a 27.2mm lens with an FX or 35mm film camera. The Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm standard zoom is thus comparable to a 27.2-81.6mm (or, practically speaking, 28-80mm) FX lens when it comes to its angle-of-view range.

The other Nikon J1’s faceplate is almost empty, featuring just the lens release, a receiver with the optional ML-L3 infrared remote control, two narrow slits for that microphone either side from the lens, along with an AF assist/self-timer lamp. There is absolutely no grip whatsoever around the front in the Nikon 1 J1.

There are 2 options for powering on the Nikon 1 J1. Either utilize the on/off button sitting near the shutter release or, should you have a collapsible-barrel the len’s attached, you can just press the unlocking button for the lens barrel and turn the zoom ring to unlock the lens, an act that triggers the digital camera to exchange on automatically. It is really an ingenious solution since you need to unlock the lens for shooting anyway. Start-up takes approximately a second - not even attempt to write home about but nonetheless decent and entirely adequate.

It is possible to frame your shots while using the rear screen - there’s no electronic viewfinder as within the V1 model, a vital distinction between both the. The LCD screen can be a three-inch, 460,000-dot display that features wide viewing angles, great definition and accurate colours only so-so visibility in strong daylight. We missed the EVF when using the J1 alongside the V1, in both bright sunlit conditions or while using the 30-110mm telezoom lens as holding the digital camera approximately eye-level helped to stabilise the lens and avoid trembling camera.

The control layout is very peculiar. The Nikon 1 J1 features a small, rear-mounted mode dial that lacks many of the shooting modes which can be usually seen on similar dials - particularly P, A, S and M - community . has enough room to match them. These modes are available about the J1 and you need to dive into the rather long-winded and never entirely logical menu to seek out them. The J1’s mode dial only 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. Even though this isn’t a bad number of functions, the reality that there’s no ISO button will doubtlessly spark a lot of photographers thinking about getting the Nikon J1 for being unhappy.

You will find there’s button about the rear labelled “F” but alas, this is not a programmable function button. In Photo mode, it lets you quickly select from the continuous shooting modes, whilst in Video mode it lets you toggle between regular and slow-motion recording. The two main more valuable controls for the back in the camera, together with a scroll wheel throughout the four-way pad plus a rocker switch marked having a loupe icon. The scroll wheel can be used setting the shutter speed in Manual and Shutter Priority modes (after you have found them inside the menu, which is), as you move the rocker switch controls the aperture. The reason it’s got a loupe icon beside it really is that control can be used to focus on an image to check on for critical focus in Playback mode. Last but not least, there are four small buttons throughout the navigation pad, flush up against the rear panel from the camera, including Display Mode, Playback, Menu and Delete.

So what are the ones shooting modes within the mode dial information about? The Photo or Still Image mode, marked with a green camera icon, is to try and should be usually. Together with the mode dial set to the present position, you are able to pick your desired exposure mode in the menu. The Nikon J1’s Scene Auto Selector is a great auto mode the location where the camera analyses the scene in front of its lens and picks what it really thinks is the right mode for that specific scene. It’s also possible to pick one with the conventional PASM modes, which offer you full menu access as well as the power to manually set the aperture, shutter speed, or both (Program AE Shift can be found in P mode). ISO and white balance can also be manually selected, but only through the menu, as stated earlier.

Certainly there’s AWB and auto ISO also, 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 search when the light gets low. You can also pick from three AF Area modes, including Auto Area, where the camera takes management of exactly what focusses on (it is not an excellent mode to possess because your default as the camera obviously can’t read your brain and could focus on something different than your actual subject); Single Point, that you can decide one of 135 AF points starting with hitting OK and after that moving the active AF point throughout the frame using the four-way pad; and Subject Tracking, in places you pick your subject, press OK and enable the camera to monitor that subject because it moves around, as long as it doesn’t leave the frame certainly.

The Nikon 1 J1 has a intriguing hybrid auto-focus system that combines contrast- and phase-difference detection in a similar way as being the Fujifilm F300EXR did. This will give the Nikon 1 J1 to concentrate extremely quickly in good light, even using a moving subject. The organization claims the Nikon 1 system cameras include the fastest-focusing machines on the globe, and this matches our experience - given that there’s enough light. When light levels drop, you switches to contrast-detect AF which, though faster compared to most cameras, isn’t you wish another method. It is you that decides which AF approach to use - the user doesn’t have affect this.

Usually, the J1 usually only make use of contrast detection when light levels are low. In good light, i was capable of taking sharp photos of fast-moving subjects. The Nikon J1 certainly will not disappoint here. Manual focusing can also be possible, even though the Nikon 1 lenses do not have focus rings. If you wish to focus manually, you initially need to hit the AF button, choose MF, press OK and after that utilize scroll wheel to modify focus. To help you using this type of, the Nikon J1 magnifies the central area of the image and displays a rudimentary focus scale down the right side from the frame - but those are the only focusing aids you get. There isn’t any peaking function available as on some rival models.

The J1 has an electronic shutter (the V1 also has a mechanical shutter). It’s totally silent (the target confirmation beep can be disabled from the menu) and allows the utilization of shutter speeds you wish 1/16,000th of the second and, together with the Electronic Hi setting selected, enables you to shoot full-resolution stills at 60 fps. Note however that although it is a major achievement, it’s restricted to a buffer that could only hold 12 raw files. Additionally, the usage of this mode precludes AF tracking - you must lower the frame rate to 10fps if you’d like that -, plus the viewfinder goes blank as the pictures will be taken. About the only application you can consider where shooting full-resolution stills at 60fps could really come in handy is AE bracketing for HDR imaging. As of this rate, several 5 bracketed shots could possibly be taken in under 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 won’t offer this kind of feature - in fact it does not offer autoexposure bracketing whatsoever.

Getting to the video mode, the Nikon 1 J1 has some pleasant surprises here. Most notably, the camera can be set to shoot Full HD footage, and you also even reach choose from 1080p @ 30fps or 1080i @ 60fps, dependant upon whether you prefer to work together with progressive or interlaced video. If you don’t need Full HD, there is also 720p @ 60fps, which is really smooth yet still counts as high-definition. Secondly, you obtain full manual treating exposure in video mode. It is deemed an option; you don’t have to shoot in M mode nevertheless, you can if that is what you require. Thirdly, you receive fast, continuous AF in video mode, and delay pills work well, particularly good light. Movies are compressed while using the H.264 codec and stored as MOV files. You can find separate shutter release buttons for stills and video, and due to this - in addition to the massive processing power from the Nikon J1 - you’ll be able to take multiple full-resolution stills whilst recording HD video. This works vice versa too - it is possible to capture a film clip regardless of whether the mode dial is with the Still Image position, merely by pressing the red movie shutter release. We’ve found out that in such a case your camera will record the video at 720p/60fps.

And also 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 lower along with the aspect ratio is surely an ultra-widescreen 2.67:1, even so the quality is adequate for YouTube, Vimeo and stuff like that. These videos are replayed at 30fps, that is a lot more than 13x slower compared to capture speed of 400fps, letting you get creative and display to the world a multitude of interesting phenomena which happen straight away to see or watch instantly. The Nikon J1 goes a step forward by offering a 1200fps video mode, however the resolution and overall quality is too poor with the for being genuinely useful.

The 3rd icon for the mode dial means Smart Photo Selector. This feature allows your camera to capture no less than 20 photos at the single press with the shutter release, including some that have been taken before fully depressing the button. The digital camera analyses the person pictures in the series and discards 15 of them, keeping only the five who’s thinks are best with regard to sharpness and composition. This feature is usually genuinely useful when photographing fast action and fleeting moments.

Finally, there is a so-called Motion Snapshot mode the location where the camera records a concise high-definition movie - whose buffering starts at the half-press with the shutter release, so again includes events which in fact had happened ahead of the button was fully depressed - and also takes a still photograph. The film along with the still image are stored in separate files however the camera can combine them to a single slow-motion clip with background music. It’s fun but we not able to really envision people by using this shooting mode frequently. (In the event you view the video on a computer, it’ll play back at normal speed, without sound, which means this mode is really only interesting should you observe the clip in-camera or hook your camera around an HDTV with an HDMI cable.)

The Nikon J1 stores pics and vids on SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, and sports ths fastest UHS-I speed class. You operates on an inferior EN-EL20 battery to the V1 larger, and is also consequently capable of producing considerably less shots for a passing fancy charge, managing around 230, even though it helps to generate the camera body smaller sized. The camera’s tripod socket is manufactured out of metal and is particularly situated line together with the lens’ optical axis. This too shows that changing batteries or cards isn’t feasible while the J1 is mounted on a tripod, since the hinges in the battery/card compartment door are far too near the tripod mount.

So, how did we love to using the Nikon 1 J1? Similarly, we liked it a lot. In good light, its auto-focus technique is indeed faster than essentially anything we’ve used until now, being able to track and lock consentrate on a variety of truly fast-moving subjects, and yielding a lot of sharp images in situations where our keeper rates never been extremely high. Additionally, its high-speed continuous shooting modes have allowed us to capture interesting moments that we’d have surely missed as we had used a slower camera. The built-in pop-up flash proved more useful that it is modest guide number might suggest, while using clever design minimising red-eye.

Conversely, the Nikon J1 has its share of frustrating idiosyncrasies you start with an individual interface that makes you dive into the menu to access functions as common as exposure mode, ISO speeds and white balance. While Nikon obviously cannot add extra buttons into a finished product, they are able to at the least have the “F” button customisable by way of a firmware update. Also, you will find an avid button for exposure compensation - which is a good thing - I didn’t try to activate a live histogram, though it would’ve made exposure compensation additional useful and to utilize. Again, this could probably be fixed in firmware.

We missed the V1’s smooth, high-resolution electronic viewfinder, specifically in bright light or with all the telephoto lens which does not lend itself well to being held out at arms length. The J1 has only a glass dust shield because it’s defense against unwanted debris, as opposed to the more proactive sensor cleaning unit how the V1 offers, and the smaller battery means that you should buy an additional that you get to the day’s heavy shooting. The possible lack of an accessory port ensures that almost none of the Nikon 1 accessories are suitable for the J1, like the external flash and GPS unit.

Something else we would not like could be that the camera would always show the picture just taken a couple of seconds onscreen, therefore we would not find a way to turn this instant postview function completely off (although you can at least cancel it by way of a half-press on the shutter release). Finally, as the camera is mostly fast and responsive, the camera takes way too long to wake from sleep mode if this has become idle for a time, causing numerous missed shots.

In fact, the Nikon 1 J1 is usually a small , compact, high-performance system camera that they like its big brother can use a number of tweaks to its user interface to increase suit the requirements serious amateurs. The intended market you work in of casual users will cherish it due to its sheer speed, built-in flash, lightweight and the fun features it provides. Allow us to now discover how the Nikon 1 J1 fared inside image quality department.