Photographers: What do we think of the new Nikon 1 system?

Well the DxOMark scores above suggests worse ISO performance but better dynamic range and better colour depth, so it may come down to what you like to take pics of. The few preview reviews I’ve seen suggest the autofocus is rather good on the Nikon too.

surely just for Nikon fanbois brand loyalists?

Brand loyalty makes a degree of sense tho (beyond simple fanboism) – the controls and output will be similar across the models, you can share some accessories and lenses, and you can use the same software workflow to deal with the images.

Personally I’d love a really capable Nikon compact to compliment my D80 – not sure if this is it though. I’ll wait for more definitive reviews.

At low iso the nikon sensor does better the olympus. So a tie I guess.

Given that the olympus sensor is 3 years old and the crappy sensor is an ongoing gripe from users I don’t think Nikon has much to be proud of in this respect.

Personally I’d love a really capable Nikon compact to compliment my D80 – not sure if this is it though. I’ll wait for more definitive reviews.

As Nikon use sony sensors in most of their dslrs you could just buy the Nex7 and pretend it’s a Nikon. 😉

It’s what Nikon should have made.

As Nikon use sony sensors in most of their dslrs you could just buy the Nex7 and pretend it’s a Nikon.

True, though that would sort of fail on all the points I made regarding brand loyalty. 🙂

Incidentally it sounds like the Nikon 1 sensor was developed by Nikon, so perhaps they are starting to bring sensor design in-house?

Good interview with a Nikon guy here that covers a few of the design decisions:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1316730752.html

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone admit brand loyalty. Well done. I think.

I get it with new dslrs, but why a completely different system? It’s not like you’ll be reusing lenses or even having familiar ergonomics.

Incidentally it sounds like the Nikon 1 sensor was developed by Nikon, so perhaps they are starting to bring sensor design in-house?

If that’s the best they can do you’d better hope not.

GrahamS – Member

Personally I’d love a really capable Nikon compact to compliment my D80 – not sure if this is it though. I’ll wait for more definitive reviews.

GrahamS – have you seen this…..?

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikonp7100/

If they have sorted out the issues of the P7000, this could be a great camera.
I am tempted, depending on how the price comes down as I’ll be able to use my flash with it.
It is a similar size to the Canon G series of cameras though and seeing one of those the other week in Dixon’s at the airport it didn’t look terribly compact sat next to cameras like the Panasonic TZ-20.

I get it with new dslrs, but why a completely different system? It’s not like you’ll be reusing lenses

Well they offer an F mount adapter, so you can actually reuse lenses.
And I’m guessing it can probably work in Commander mode for Nikon flashes.

But my main motivation would be workflow. I process RAWs in Nikon’s (superb) CaptureNX, so sticking with Nikon would mean I wouldn’t have to buy and learn some other software.

If that’s the best they can do you’d better hope not.

Really? Very fast phase detection AF embedded on the sensor with 73 AF points, capable of shooting at 10fps with tracking AF and 60fps fixed AF (fastest in the world)?

I don’t think they’ve done too badly!

stumpy01: yeah (in fact I mentioned it earlier in the thread 🙂 ) it does look rather nice.

The best comment on Nikon 1 I have seen is here. Essentially, it is that the big winner from the Nikon announcement is micro-4/3.

But my main motivation would be workflow. I process RAWs in Nikon’s (superb) CaptureNX, so sticking with Nikon would mean I wouldn’t have to buy and learn some other software.

Yeah, that’s a mighty fine reason. Lack of e-p2 support on DXO is an ongoing irritation for me.

capable of shooting at 10fps with tracking AF and 60fps fixed AF (fastest in the world)?

I guess I can see the point of shooting at 10fps but 60? Who wants to go through hundreds of shots to find a good one? I dunno, I’m sure this will be a good camera as Nikon generally make good cameras, but it doesn’t make me even consider switching from m4/3. The NEX7 looks great but the lens range still isn’t as good as M4/3.

Ooh shiny and pretty!

Is non-interchangable lens though? 🙁

Who wants to go through hundreds of shots to find a good one?

Potentially quite useful for grabbing “perfectly timed” sports shots without having perfect timing 😀

I believe they also have an automatic Best Shot Selector mode, which shoots 20 shots for one shutter press and then suggests the best one.
Plus there is some kind of cunning “Slow Motion Movie + Still” mode which sounds “interesting”.

I think as long as they implement the UI well so you can quickly flip through to select the perfect shot and discard the rest from the 120 you’ve just machine-gunned off then it is potentially quite an interesting feature.

Oh Graham (and anyone else what may be interest) I’ve posted a link to some pix what I done t’other day on the DSLR thread.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/digital-slr-info-buy-now-or-wait-for-new-stuffs/page/6#post-3012668

I was at the in house launch of these, so do know a little about them (when I say a “little” I do mean a little).

The best shot selector does choose the best one for display. I believe you can also set it to display the best one and keep another 5 before discarding the rest.

And yes, sensor design is being brought in house.

I actually thought the Nikon 1 camera may be interesting for slinging in your bag to go biking with (although the standard of the Nikon compacts is now so much better that I will take my little P300 out with me next time I want to take a camera biking rather than the D300 with lenses).

Ricoh GRD III, FTW.

It may not have all the latest sensors and whatsits, but it’s easy to use and actually does fit in your jeans pocket, unlike most of these interchangeable lens things that are just slightly too big – in which case, you might as well carry a proper camera.

I don’t know anything about photography by the way. I just love my little Ricoh.

unlike most of these interchangeable lens things that are just slightly too big – in which case, you might as well carry a proper camera.

*sigh*

sigh why?

Because you haven’t seen the light?

A more obvious question is “Why would anyone own a compact camera when they have a phone?”

Which is why they make EVIL/MILFs.

MILFs?

sigh why?

It’s just a tired argument, usually espoused by people with little experience of these cameras, and it was dealt with earlier in the thread.

Lack of e-p2 support on DXO is an ongoing irritation for me.

It may be hackable – I managed to force mine to accept E-600 ORFs as E-620s.

MILFs?

Mirroless Interchangeable Lens Format.

It may be hackable – I managed to force mine to accept E-600 ORFs as E-620s.

It may be but they changed the sensor coatings between versions so I doubt it’ll be that great.

Grum- out of interest- what % of shots on the gf1 do you use the 20mm for? I’ve got that and seem never to use the 14-42

Yeah I think I use the 20mm probably 90% of the time – I often go out with just that. It’s such a nice lens, and it’s definitely true that M4/3 makes the most sense with the compact lenses – I like to shoot with low f numbers a lot as well.

I’m actually thinking I will sell my 14-45, as I just got the 14mm 2.5 pancake – again, it’s very compact, and I found I used the 14-45 at the wide end most of the time anyway.

You can get the 14mm pancake for ‘only’ £145 from here (unboxed) – http://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=33936
🙂

Have you seen the new panasonic pancake zoom?

Yup, I mentioned it earlier in the thread 😉

I think properly compact lenses (as long as they still have great IQ) really make the most of the M4/3 system. Dunno if I’ll get one but it could be great for video.