Finally DPreview (Click here) posted the much expected Nikon V1 and J1 review. A must read! The cameras are amazing for shoot moving subjects in good light. And image quality is almost on par with the Micro Four Thirds cameras (and that’s also an amazing result considering the smaller sensor). But also Dpreview recognizes that the price is still too high when you compare it with other cheaper and more featured cameras like the Sony NEX-5n.
Nevertheless, at least in USA the Nikon 1 cameras are selling well (Check here the Amazon US ranking). I guess this has also to do with their strong marketing campaign and retailers network. Anyway, I am pretty sure Nikon is already preparing the launch for new Nikon 1 cameras. Can’t wait to see them!
52 Responses
Yeah, something m43 needs to learn. They need to market their products better. Most people don’t even know these cameras exist. However, they know Ashton Kutcher uses the Nikon 1!
People at work know me as “the photography guy”, and they’ll ask me what I think. When I have said something about the Nikon 1, I have actually been asked, oh, is that the one in the Ashton Kutcher ads?
The ranking of amazon the nikon v1 means nothing. Windows is the best seller operating system for PC’s.
Well..that was a really stupid comment…
+1
I think the main reason Nikon 1 system cameras sold so well in the US had as much to do with the UNavailability of competing cameras over the holidays as anything else.
Ty, that’s exactly the reason. For the price of the v1, I might just as well buy the nex7 for a small premium.
Most of the people who buy a J1/N1 wouldn’t take a NEX 7 as a gift. Very few people are Serious/Enthusiast hobbyists, they just want to e-mail some photos to Grandma.
The three cameras above the Nikon V1 are older models being sold at a steep discount.
Olympus and Panasonic have a distribution problem. Nikon doesn’t. Simple as that!
In southern California (a Hugh market), there are more Nikon dealers than Honda dealers. Within a 75 miles radius of me, there are almost no Micro 4/3 dealers.
Well, if it’s selling well, hopefully, they’ll be encouraged to do an aps-c version. If Pentax will have 2 mirrorless systems as rumored, no reason why Nikon can’t.
BTW, here in Asia, it isn’t popular and it’s the NEX and PENs that are selling well.
An excellent color rendition!
Something to learn for other brands.
“And image quality is almost on par with the Micro Four Thirds cameras (and that’s also an amazing result considering the smaller sensor)”
That just shows that Micro Four Thirds is in urgent need of a more capable sensor. It’s not just Sony, new Fuji and Canon sensors are more than two ISO stops ahead. Yes, they’re bigger, but not that much. Yes, high ISO maybe overrated, but it’s directly linked with DR performance of the sensor and it’s one thing when it’s proportionally worse on a smaller sensor and another when it’s way behind all competitors.
“And image quality is almost on par with the Micro Four Thirds cameras (and that’s also an amazing result considering the smaller sensor)”.
That is NOT what Dpreview says. It is the older Olympus 12 Mpix sensors that fares badly against J1/V1. DPreview says specifically that J1/V1 does not beat the newer m43 sensors such as on GX1.
What makes J1/V1 not so appealing to me is:
High price.
Not so small.
Ergonomics – no grip.
No desirable prime lenses available.
Controls are dumbed down.
PDAF only works in bright light.
I think Nikon 1 has potential in the long run. The sensor size may be a good compromise in many situations.
JesperMP evidently havent seen SLR Gear.com reviews of the threee excisting lenses, one of which is a prime. The 10 prime is compared to NEX’s 16 a wonder in sharpness and size, and the zooms are among the better zooms for any camera.
I am a Pentax man, and thought I would continue to be so, for the foreseeable future, but first came the NEX-5N, whose pictures can show the opposition a thing or two – not least my beloved K-5, and then came the V1.
I didn’t think I would get attached to the V1 (some buttons are a bit weirdly arranged, very un-K-5-ish, if you get my meaning), but my what nice pictures it takes (especially in good daylight) – with a little assistance from me!
In many ways it is a poor-man’s Leica (the J1 in black looks even more like the X1 than the V1), where the lenses are affordable!
I hope a truely wide, and fast, lens arrives one day, and a longer tele, but till then you can use the adapter and use ‘normal’ Nikon lenses.
The AF-S 55-200 is not the best lens around, if used on a Nikon DSLR, but on the V1, which only uses the central part of the lens, it is brilliant, simply amazing!
So now I have the three Series 1 lenses, the dedicated flash, three AF-S G lenses (one bought used), and an old manual 80-200 (according to Ken Rockwell the sharpest zoom ever produced by Nikon, and he should know!). Total cost for a complete, superb, V1 camera kit less than $2500. Try that with a Leica, or a Fuji X-Pro1!
What a lot of people are forgetting is that Nikon is a business; a business, like every other well run business, with the primary purpose of making money. What they have done with the V1/J1 is to exploit a gap in the market for a small sensor, compact mirror less system. And they have succeeded; you only have to look at the sale figure not only in Asia, where culturally this compact format was always going to be successful, but also in the UK and US where I’m sure even Nikon were surprised by amounts shifted.
For those of us with DSLRs who were waiting for Nikon to give us at least an APS- sized mirror less, this is of course disappointing. But fortunately, Fuji and Sony appear to be leading the way here, so we should quit complaining about what Nikon has and hasn’t done and look to invest our cash elsewhere.
Of course they want to make money, and of course they sell well on the Nikon name. However, they could have sold a lot more if the cameras hadn’t been dumbed down.
The Nikons are not as promintent in Europe as in the US ait seems. Here it is NEX and m43s mainly, but you can get the Nikons almost everywhere. Most salesman I spoke advise NEX or m43. Not the Nikon, but that is just locally.
NX system is few and far between.
Review: in text fdair and clear. It performs like the old m43, but cannot compete with the new m43s sensors. AF is goodin goodlight and bad in less light (not even low light). I tried a coupel of these camsd in a showroom and it was pretty clear the Nikon was far worse than the m43s.
Score seems low if you read the review though.
For me it is a hell of a difference between old MFT (aka m4/3rd) cameras, like my wife’s E-PL1, and the V1, as it runs circles round it, in every respect. With comparatively fast lenses it just is eons in front.
If the very latest MFT cameras will beat it is not yet known, as I’ve seen no tests side by side, but I myself hope to do one, when my wife’s OM-D arrives ;-)!
I friend of mine has the J1 and he loves it (and he has the D7000 on the other side for more serious work) so he compares it to the D7000 in terms of IQ or ISO.
well the typical american is not the brightest bulb around.
so i do not wonder it sells well in america….
so it´s a nice camera for outdoor sunshine shooter.. but sucks indoor.?
No you’re wrong because the target market wants a ‘dumbed’ down product. The average punter who purchased the J1/V1 wants something small with easy to use features that looks a bit different and dare I say it, cool to them.
I lived in Japan for a couple of years and when I saw the first design of the Nikon 1 I knew exactly that it was targeted for the Asian market. The Nikon 1 stands at shops like Yodobashi were packed with punters fawning at the Nikon 1, because everything about the size, design etc was targeted at them: they wanted a small, interchangeable system that that could take decent photos and then store it away in a bag or pocket. What Nikon didn’t expect was for it to sell in droves over in the West.
So, what you’re saying is that they got it wrong and would have sold more with a bit of advice from experts such as yourself. Because, I take a look at the sales figures from Asia, Europe and the UK and say that they got it pretty much bang on.
I don’t like the camera any more than you do. But they again, Nikon didn’t target the camera for the likes of us.
Haha… I was in Osaka last week … and in Yodobashi the only camera that was always being played with was the GX1 !
Sure you were Steve. LOL.
Do carry on by all means.
Nikon 1 is very good product from marketing side and Nikon is using this advantage. They developed camera which is cheap to produce (enough profit so they can have marketing paid) and because of cheap technology is this camera average in every aspect except fast focusing. So far most people don’t know that mirrorless cameras exist, but after heavy Marketing from Nikon 1 they know that is Nikon 1.
I was in two local stores looking for Samsung NX200 and I was taken twice right away to Nikon 1 by sales man and try to convince me that Nikon 1 is the best, because he returned from Nikon training two days ago. So they know how to sell!
The Sharpness is not even comparable to LX5/XZ1. A lot of sharpening done here. Look at the checkered squares in the upper corners: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikonv1j1/page16.asp
This is veeeeery bad! But on the other hand impressive noise & DR performance. Maybe its possible to reduce sharpening, at least in RAW…
The rumours are that dpreview were asked by Nikon to hold back on their detailed review of the Nikon 1 until after the Christmas/New Year period so it woudn’t affect sales. The conclusions and overall scores of 69% and 67% (Average to Good) are not particularly good. Sales of the Nikon 1 have been very good in the UK, the saturation advertising in December had a lot to do with that no doubt.
It’ll be interesting to see how Canon approach the mirrorless market, do they simply copy Nikon or will they be more like Fuji ?
I saw the Nikon 1 in red and white, and it’s a good looking camera, well design metal and modern look, Oly and Pana don’t have the same appeal/waf factor. It’s from a well known camera maker, and he take good pictures and videos automatically. The success is not a surprise, only the price is on high side for me and there is not enough direct control. Those camera are for p&s shooter who want’s better pictures and videos with the same simplicity of use.
All the review says, at least to me, is: let’s wait for the V2 and the J2.
Too little value for the asking price. Lens catalog is too immature (and for the asking price – ridiculous).
“The image quality is almost on par with the Micro Four Thirds cameras”
and something goes wrong with the dpreviewers….
Sensor size is not the only factor when it comes to image quality. The size and quality of pixels count for a lot as well. Not to mention that the Nikon V1 has a 1.4 mil EVF..something no other “rangefinder styled” csc except for NEX 7 and not out yet Fuji x1 pro has. Having an ep2, I’d be happy if olympus just put in a 600k EVF in their pen cameras..but noooo, they want 1400 for a csc like that but in a om shape. Who’s gonna pay 1400 for a m43 om looking camera when dslrs are right around the corner? Olympus marketeers must be a some mind altering shrooms.
As for the Nikon V1, I’m willing to bet that most people who look down on it have never tried them at all. Yes, the price is a bit much, but it is what it is.Just because m43 sensors are larger doesn’t mean that the cx sensor can’t come close to par with it..perhaps even have a better looking image. The m43 fans are using the same argument they aps-c crowd has with the m43 sensors.
It will never end.
Understand why Nikon made the cx sensor size. Think, its a CSC camera. COMPACT system camera.People who like compact cameras value just that…compactness. If you want utmost resolution with big fat lens stuck on the cameras, then go get a dslr. CSC’s will NEVER beat dslrs for those purposes. I defy anyone to try and hold a nex 7 or a m43 camera with a 600mm f4 lens.I used to think that manufacturers didn’t understand what users want. Now, looking through many forums i can see why..it’s cause most users don’t know what they want.They ask for small camera bodies but with big fat sensors in them, then cry when the lenses are too big. Give them smaller lenses and they cry that the sensor is too small.Give them the right blend of size and performance and they cry that their aren’t 1.4 1.2 lenses. Give them a great lens system and they cry that they can’t use old manual focus Leica lenses. Can you blame the camera makers for not knowing what to do? I suspect that the manufacturers have given up on the techno sensor nerds and concentrated on the users that will buy cameras, the soccer moms, the hip youngsters, the trendy adult spenders. After all, why make cameras for some cheap elitist who will just buy your camera body so they can use their old Leica lenses on them.? Nikon sure as hell aint getting royalties from Leica.If I was Nikon I’d make more white and pink cameras for the ladies purses, cause most likely the ladies are the actual ones who go out and buy the cameras instead of debating sensor size on forums.
The sensor has replaced what film was. Film back in the 60′ and 70’s compared to modern day film is utter crap. If photographers back then nit picked over film like what many people do today with sensors , there wouldn’t have been anyone shooting photos. My guess is that the people who nit pick over sensors today don’t do much shooting at all.
You kind of glossed over the negative findings in DPR’s review, don’t you think? Poor AF in dim light, blurry images in low light because of auto-selected (too) slow shutter speeds, poor user interface and lack of any significant user control options. Reading your little summary you’d think there were no flaws in these cameras other than the price.
The evident problems (poor choice of ISO, and idiotic choice of shutter speed with long lenses) are only a major irritant when you shoot in auto mode – I use A, and set the ISO myself. End of problems. Not too good at autofocusing in low light, but that’s what the manual focusing is for, isn’t it?!