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The Nikon 1 J1 is often a stylish compact system camera having a 10-megapixel “CX” format sensor along with the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Boasting continuous shooting speeds as high as 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 now offers more conventional shooting modes like Programmed Auto, Aperture and Shutter Priority, along with Metered Manual. Also agreeable is really a built-in pop-up flash which has a guide quantity of 5, a 3 inch rear display and an electronic shutter. Pricing $649.95 / 549.99 with a 10-30mm standard zoom lens, $699.95 / 599.99 having a 10mm pancake lens, or $799.95 / 699.99 in the double-lens kit together with the 10-30mm and 30-110mm zoom lenses, the Nikon 1 J1 is scheduled to take a sale later this month.

The Nikon 1 J1 is generally crafted from aluminium with magnesium alloy reinforced parts which is therefore heavier than what you know already determined by its size alone, coming in at 234g for that body only. Furthermore, it feels higher quality than the official product shots would have you believe. Through an essentially grip-less design, the Nikon J1 is extremely much a two-handed affair that requires someone to contain the camera’s weight inside the left-hand, clutching the lens, and make use of your right hand for balance and operating the controls. This is really a good thing the way it makes you look closely at holding the camera properly, which in turn goes a considerable ways towards avoiding shake-induced blur with your photos.

The camera’s clean, minimalist front plate is dominated by the all-new Nikon 1 lens mount. Rather than as being a scaled-down version from the traditional F mount, it’s really a brand spanking new design that provides 100% electronic communication between the attached lens and the camera body, courtesy of twelve contacts. Similar to for the manufacturer’s F-mount SLR cameras, there is a white dot for straightforward lens alignment, even though it has moved on the 2 o’clock position (when viewed front on) to # 1 with the mount. The lenses themselves have a short silver ridge about the lens barrel, which needs to be in alignment with said dot in order for you to be able to attach the lens towards the camera. Even though this might need some becoming accustomed to, this process makes changing lenses quicker and simpler.

Without any lens attached, you can view the sensor sitting right behind the plane on the bayonet mount. Like the mount itself, the sensor is brand-new. Measuring 13.2×8.8mm this “CX” format imaging chip has double the surface area of the biggest imagers employed in compact and bridge cameras just like the Fujifilm X10 and S100FS, but only about 50 % the spot of your standard Four Thirds sensor. In linear terms, a Four Thirds chip carries a 1.36x longer diagonal as opposed to Nikon CX imager. Provided that Four Thirds includes a 2x focal length multiplier, the CX “crop factor” calculates to about 2.72, which means that a 10mm lens has approximately the identical angle of view like a 27.2mm lens while on an FX or 35mm film camera. The Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm standard zoom is thus the same as a 27.2-81.6mm (or, practically speaking, 28-80mm) FX lens regarding its angle-of-view range.

Other Nikon J1’s faceplate is actually empty, featuring merely the lens release, a receiver for your optional ML-L3 infrared handheld remote control, two narrow slits with the microphone both sides on the lens, as well as an AF assist/self-timer lamp. There is no grip at all around the front with the Nikon 1 J1.

There are 2 options for powering on the Nikon1 J1. You can either use the on/off button sitting near the shutter release or, should you have a collapsible-barrel zoom lens attached, just press the unlocking button about the lens barrel and turn the zoom ring to unlock the lens, an act that creates the digital camera to switch on automatically. It is an ingenious solution since you need to unlock the lens for shooting anyway. Start-up takes approximately another - not even attempt to write home about but nevertheless decent and entirely adequate.

You’ll be able to frame your shots utilizing the rear screen - there is no electronic viewfinder as around the V1 model, a key difference between the 2 main. The LCD screen can be a three-inch, 460,000-dot display that boasts wide viewing angles, great definition and accurate colours but only so-so visibility in strong daylight. We missed the EVF with all the J1 alongside the V1, in bright sunlit conditions or with the 30-110mm telezoom lens as holding the camera around eye-level helped to stabilise the lens and prevent camera shake.

The control layout is quite peculiar. The Nikon 1 J1 incorporates a small, rear-mounted mode dial that lacks the majority of the shooting modes which can be usually found on similar dials - especially P, A, S and M - community . has enough room to match them. These modes can be purchased on the J1 however you ought to dive into the rather long-winded instead of entirely logical menu to find them. The J1’s mode dial merely has four settings, Photo, Video, Motion Snapshot and Smart Photo Selector. The four-way controller boasts four functions mapped onto its Up, Right, Down and Left buttons; including AE/AF-Lock, exposure compensation, flash mode and self-timer, respectively. Evidently this is not a bad number of functions, the fact there is no ISO button will doubtlessly result in a great deal of photographers thinking about acquiring the Nikon J1 being unhappy.

There is a button around the rear labelled “F” but alas, this is simply not a programmable function button. In Photo mode, it permits you to quickly choose from the continuous shooting modes, during Video mode it allows you to toggle between regular and slow-motion recording. The two main more vital controls on the back from the camera, together with a scroll wheel throughout the four-way pad along with a rocker switch marked having a loupe icon. The scroll wheel is employed setting the shutter speed in Manual and Shutter Priority modes (once you have found them in the menu, that may be), even though the rocker switch controls the aperture. The reason it’s got a loupe icon alongside it can be that this control is employed to focus upon an image to confirm for critical focus in Playback mode. Last but not least, you can find four small buttons about the navigation pad, flush resistant to the rear panel on the camera, including Display Mode, Playback, Menu and Delete.

Just what exactly are the types shooting modes around the mode dial exactly about? The Photo or Still Image mode, marked with a green camera icon, is to try and would want to be more often than not. While using mode dial set to the position, you’ll be able to pick your desired exposure mode through the menu. The Nikon J1’s Scene Auto Selector is a brilliant automatic mode when the camera analyses the scene in front of its lens and picks just what it thinks may be the right way of that specific scene. You can even make a choice of the conventional PASM modes, which give you full menu access along with the chance to manually set the aperture, shutter speed, or both (Program AE Shift will come in P mode). ISO and white balance can even be manually selected, only from your menu, as stated previously.

Of course there’s AWB and auto ISO at the same time, together with the latter coming in three flavours (Auto 100-400, 100-800 or 100-3200) enabling you to specify how high you need the camera to search if the light gets low. You can also pick from three AF Area modes, including Auto Area, in which the camera takes control of exactly what it focusses on (this isn’t a great mode to own because your default as the camera obviously can’t read your brain and may even focus on another thing than your actual subject); Single Point, in places you can make considered one of 135 AF points frist by hitting OK and after that moving the active AF point round the frame using the four-way pad; and Subject Tracking, in places you pick your subject, press OK and enable you in order to that subject since it moves around, providing it doesn’t leave the frame obviously.

The Nikon 1 J1 posseses an intriguing hybrid auto-focus system that combines contrast- and phase-difference detection in a similar way since the Fujifilm F300EXR did. This will give the Nikon 1 J1 to focus extremely quickly in good light, even with a moving subject. The business claims the Nikon 1 system cameras will be the fastest-focusing machines on earth, which matches our experience - provided that there’s enough light. When light levels drop, your camera switches to contrast-detect AF which, though faster compared to most cameras, isn’t nearly as soon as the other method. It certainly is the camera that decides which AF strategy to use - the person doesn’t have influence on this.

Normally, the J1 usually only head for contrast detection when light levels are low. In good light, we were capable of taking sharp photos of fast-moving subjects. The Nikon J1 certainly will not disappoint here. Manual focusing can also be possible, although Nikon 1 lenses will not have focus rings. If you would like focus manually, you initially ought to hit the AF button, choose MF, press OK and after that utilize the scroll wheel to alter focus. To help you out on this, the Nikon J1 magnifies the central part of the image and displays a rudimentary focus scale down the right side on the frame - but those include the only focusing helps you get. There is no peaking function available as on some rival models.

The J1 has an electronic shutter (the V1 even offers an analog shutter). It is absolutely silent (the attention confirmation beep is usually disabled through the menu) and allows the use of shutter speeds as soon as 1/16,000th of a second and, with all the Electronic Hi setting selected, allows you to shoot full-resolution stills at 60 frames per second. Note however that while it is a major achievement, it’s limited by a buffer that may only hold 12 raw files. Additionally, the utilization of this mode precludes AF tracking - you will need to lower the frame rate to 10fps if you want that -, plus the viewfinder goes blank even though the pictures are being taken. One application you can consider where shooting full-resolution stills at 60fps could really be convenient is AE bracketing for HDR imaging. When it reaches this rate, some 5 bracketed shots could be consumed a lot less than 0.1 second, rendering small movements which could otherwise pose alignment problems - like leaves being blown in the wind - a non-issue. Alas, the Nikon J1 does not offer such a feature - in truth it does not offer autoexposure bracketing whatsoever.

Trying film mode, the Nikon 1 J1 has some pleasant surprises here. To start with, you might be set to shoot Full HD footage, and you even are able to select 1080p @ 30fps or 1080i @ 60fps, dependant upon whether you would like to use progressive or interlaced video. Should you not need Full HD, in addition there are 720p @ 60fps, which is really smooth nevertheless counts as hi-def. Secondly, you obtain full manual treatments for exposure in video mode. It is an option; you won’t have to shoot in M mode however you can in the event that’s what exactly you need. Thirdly, you get fast, continuous AF in video mode, and it works well, particularly good light. Movies are compressed while using H.264 codec and stored as MOV files. You will discover separate shutter release buttons for stills and video, and because of this - as well as the massive processing power with the Nikon J1 - you are able to take multiple full-resolution stills even when recording HD video. This works the opposite way round too - you may capture a movie clip even if the mode dial is with the Still Image position, simply by pressing the red movie shutter release. We’ve discovered that in such cases you will forever record the video at 720p/60fps.

And also efficient at shooting regular movies in HD quality, the Nikon 1 J1 may shoot video at 400fps for slow-motion playback. The resolution is gloomier and the aspect ratio is definitely an ultra-widescreen 2.67:1, though the quality is adequate for YouTube, Vimeo etc. These videos are played back at 30fps, which is a lot more than 13x slower compared to capture speed of 400fps, enabling you to get creative and show the world numerous interesting phenomena which happen prematurely to look at instantly. The Nikon J1 goes further by a 1200fps video mode, nevertheless the resolution and overall quality is way too poor to the to become genuinely useful.

The next icon around the mode dial stands for Smart Photo Selector. This feature allows the digital camera to capture no less than 20 photos in a single press on the shutter release, including some that have been taken before fully depressing the button. You analyses anyone pictures in the series and discards 15 of these, keeping merely the five that it thinks would be better regarding sharpness and composition. This feature might be genuinely useful when photographing fast action and fleeting moments.

Finally, we have a so-called Motion Snapshot mode in which the camera records a concise high-definition movie - whose buffering starts at the half-press of the shutter release, so again includes events which had happened ahead of the button was fully depressed - and as well requires a still photograph. The movie along with the still image are residing in separate files nevertheless the camera can combine them in to a single slow-motion clip with music. It’s fun but we not able to really envision people making use of this shooting mode regularly. (If you view the video over a computer, it is going to play back at normal speed, without sound, so this mode is basically only interesting should you view the clip in-camera or hook you around an HDTV with an HDMI cable.)

The Nikon J1 stores photos and videos on SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, and props up fastest UHS-I speed class. The digital camera runs on a smaller EN-EL20 battery to the V1 larger, and is particularly consequently able to produce considerably less shots about the same charge, managing around 230, while it helps to produce the camera body small. The camera’s tripod socket is made from metal and it is found in line with the lens’ optical axis. This also signifies that changing batteries or cards isn’t likely as the J1 is attached to a tripod, as being the hinges of the battery/card compartment door are way too near the tripod mount.

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

However, the Nikon J1 have their share of frustrating idiosyncrasies you start with an individual interface that forces you to dive in the menu to get into functions as basic as exposure mode, ISO speeds and white balance. While Nikon obviously cannot add extra buttons to your finished product, they might at the least have the “F” button customisable via a firmware update. Also, nevertheless there is an avid button for exposure compensation - which is a a valuable thing - Some are able to activate an active histogram, even though it would have made exposure compensation a lot more useful and easy to utilize. Again, this will oftimes be fixed in firmware.

We missed the V1’s smooth, high-resolution electronic viewfinder, particularly bright light or while using the telephoto lens which does not lend itself well to being held out at arms length. The J1 merely has a glass dust shield as it’s defense against unwanted debris, as opposed to the more proactive sensor cleaning unit the V1 offers, along with the smaller battery ensures that you will have to buy an added that you get through a day’s heavy shooting. The possible lack of an accessory port ensures that almost none of the Nikon 1 accessories are works with the J1, such as external flash and GPS unit.

Another thing we did not like was that the camera would always show the picture just taken for a few seconds onscreen, and now we would not be capable of turn this instant postview function completely off (even if you can at least cancel it by way of a half-press with the shutter release). Finally, as you move the camera is normally fast and responsive, you takes way too long to awaken from sleep mode if this has been idle for a while, causing a number of missed shots.

With that said, the Nikon 1 J1 can be a small , compact, high-performance system camera that like its our government are able to use a number of tweaks to its gui to better suit the requirements serious amateurs. The intended audience of casual users will require to it for the sheer speed, built-in flash, lightweight along with the fun features there is. Allow us to now observe the Nikon 1 J1 fared within the image quality department.