Nikon does not follow Sony and announces a “small sensor” mirrorless system.
Let’s just give me an update about one of our main competitors (and sensor partners). Nikon just announced a completely new CX mirrorless camera system based on a 10 megapixel 2.7x crop sensor. The sensor is four times bigger than the small compact camera sensor but a lot smaller than our NEX sensors. You can read the full news coverage at MirrorlessRumors.com.
I don’t know yet if the system uses Sony sensors. But at first glance I wouldn’t say this is a serious NEX competition. It’s a camera made for the compact camera “upgraders” but with $599 (for the J1 at Amazon) I find the entry price too high! I would buy the Sony NEX-5n at that price….without the clicking issue please 
Related Posts
Share
Recent comments
Comment from Froo: It was written in jest for sure, but the...Comment from acolyte: But that's not what happened :\ Critique...
Comment from SonyA77: So we can take the piss!...
Comment from Steve Jones: Many astrophotographers use videostreams...
Alfonso Cuitiño
9 months ago |Nikon fanboys are trying hard to see the bright side of these cameras, but that sensor is crap lol
z
9 months ago |No, actually most, if not all, nikon fanboy I know gave up and say this camera is shit.
SonyA77
9 months ago |It does appear that only the most fan-boy’ish of the Nikon fan-boys have supported this announcement. It’s as though even the fan-boys have been let down by Nikon.
hernan
9 months ago |This is bad news!… For SONY users! Why? If this camera is indeed shitty, then sony doesnt really has the motivation to give sony users better things like better lenses or features! We NEED competition…Theres no way you are going to other system becouse they are shitty!
shigzeo
9 months ago |There can simply be no fanboys after this announcement. This Nikon fan has seriously contemplated NEX7 for his next digital camera, and will keep his 58 1,4 lens only for use on film. Forget Nikon’s fat, heavy, big, pointlessly opulent digital SLR’s that at the D200-300 level, almost double the weight of the venerable F, F2, and even F3 professional cameras. Nikon are out of control, being egged on an engineering department run by pituitary giants.
Chris
9 months ago |this is dumbass camera..let alone for that price..??? hahahaha..well done nikon..you are joking..hahaha..
no one can stop NEX system..!
Carl
9 months ago |No one can stop Nex, only Sony by not having decent lenses. Nikon’s mirroless is a joke just like Pentax’. I’m still considering which one to get it. Most probably Nex5N, but the lenses…argh perhaps Samsung? dk yet.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Woh, it’s the happiest day for Sony since quite long time. Nikon, one possible huge competitor on this market just has eliminated itself from fight for clients! LOL
Vlad
9 months ago |ABsolutely true, but I am wondering about that number “1″. Leaves space for “2″
SonyA77
9 months ago |and we all know how bad a number 2 smells.
Steve
9 months ago |I am a Nikon user so I was hoping for something… anything… but it seems it has just one special mode that’s new ( combo video/still mode ) and hybrid af, which Fuji introduced a while back. Yes, there’s an f mount adapter but … oh well.
The price is too high, the sensor is too small, and the lenses are too big.. indeed, it is hard to find anything positive to say.
Why oh why isn’t it aps-c ?
So it seems highly likely I’ll b getting an nex when the g lens comes out next year, hopefully with the nex6 – sensor of the nex5 & controls of the nex7.
Ben
9 months ago |As a latecomer to the mirrorless interchangeable market, I think Nikon has tried to carve out a unique slice of the market (in terms of sensor size, etc.) rather than compete on the terms of prior entrants who have already had time to refine their offerings. In time, serious photographers will have to come to grips with the fact that Nikon was not thinking of them when they designed this line, but were instead focused on luring a narrow segment of the market with compacts who are considering a step up and also responsive to an established brand such as Nikon.
ns9rt
9 months ago |If thats the case then whats going on with the price???
Worse camera for same price??? Consumers arent *that* dumb.
Ben
9 months ago |Brand can still mean at least something to consumers without having to label them as dumb. There are also some features such as PDAF and slow motion that Nikon marketing probably thinks justify a premium.
As a happy NEX user, I know this camera is not for me, and many existing Nikon users will probably feel the same or at least a little let down.
Of course, we have to realize that not all cameras are made for the pro, pro-sumer or enthusiast crowd even if they have interchangeable lenses. Nikon is able to command a lot of shelf space at retailers and so it might win a lot of business just by being more visible than some of its better spec’ed competitors. Remember that perfect competition doesn’t exist unless consumers have equal and full access to all information, and this is not the case in reality. When existing P&S shooters are looking to upgrade they won’t necessarily do their homework online but walk into an electronics store and see a familiar brand name and get all the marketing speak from a Nikon rep.
ns9rt
9 months ago |I guess the thing is, if your entire selling pitch is based on brand as opposed to substance, its only a matter of time until that brand erodes.
I don’t contest the point that this camera will undoubtedly sell in reasonable numbers, however to become a market leader in a field takes more than brand alone.
digitalia
9 months ago |I work at a large camera store in the dc area and Nikon gives the most financial reward to the salespeople. If a customer walks in and says I am interested in purchasing a new camera I would steer them to a camera with the highest spiff amount. Which is usually a Nikon or Olympus. Sony gives very little money on their equipment. Try to walk into a store and buy a sony cz or g lens. Good Luck. You could walk into a sony style store and I doubt vey much they would have a huge selection of Sony lenses. Sony needs to work on having stores carry thier product they could force the issue but they do not. Sony management is someting to be desired I should know I used to work for them as well.
Steve
9 months ago |NS9rt is right. The J1 is the same size as the E-PM1 but the latter has a better range of lenses, a larger sensor, more megapixels and is otherwise going to seem very similar to the Nikon. Yet it costs US$150 less. Do you really think brand name alone enough to overcome this ? For fools, it may, but most will just see the price difference and not think it’s worth it.
Ben
9 months ago |Rather than “fools,” it might be more a case of less-informed or less-fussy consumers who, when forced to make a decision, will go with whatever brand they know best.
Yesterday my hair-dryer broke, so I jumped on Amazon and got another of the same brand. To be honest I care very little for all the negative-ion emitters and “care for delicate hair” features on today’s hair-dryers, and it is possible that a competing hair-dryer offered better performance for a lower price. I don’t think that makes me a “fool,” just a different demographic.
acolyte
9 months ago |=) We have fanboys here also
REVENGE
9 months ago |Small sensor? Ok… But what’s up with the slow ass, bulky glass? They should’ve just joined M43 and brought along any hybrid autofocus / video innovations.
Henk
9 months ago |+1
Jesse Lim
9 months ago |If I don’t hear people complain about the big lenses on the Nikon 1 system (Which in contrast, whereby many people just like to complain how big the Sony NEX lenses are), I will just say that you guys out there better don’t pick on Sony anymore and you’re just a bunch of fan-boys who don’t care about photography, but rather a bunch of gear head~!!!
calxn
9 months ago |You sure sound like a disgruntled fanboy. The 1 was just announced a few hours ago, and yes, people are laughing at the size of the Nikon 1 lenses. And yes, Sony needs smaller lenses. The Nex lenses are ridiculously huge.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |ridiculously huge? Did you ever have an occasion to actually hold NEX with it’s lenses? They ain’t huge. Nex with kit lens or Zeiss is something you can easily put into pocket, and that’s the most important thing IMO. Ok, maybe the new zoom lens isn’t a pocketable lens but I don’t use 200mm zoom lens as a walk-around one anyway.
People overreact to NEX lenses size, perhaps because bodies are so small?
Ben
9 months ago |I’m not sure what the real definition of a “pocket” fit is anyway. Sure, it won’t slide into a tight pair of jeans, but most of the E-mount&body combinations will happily go into a jacket pocket. Even if not pocketable, you get significant weight reductions making less fatigue from extended use and a smaller form factor which is less obtrusive during street photography. Those should count as well.
Jesse Lim
9 months ago |I work with Canon DSLR, Play with Sony DSLR, and occasionally have an affair with Nikon DSLR. I can’t really say I’m a fanboy of which, but then this is what I feel people are treating Sony.
I just feel like whenever Sony introduced any new features/solution, many people just get hay-wired and get negatively frantic as if they’re feeling the stress or threaten. It is a strange phenomenon where you don’t see on other camera manufacturer. The reaction is just so overwhelming
mma173
9 months ago |The size of Nex lenses is justified by the big APCS sensor (1.6x crop). On the other side (Nikon 1′s), nothing justifies the big lenses on the much smaller sensor (2.7x crop). Nikon 1′s lenses are even bigger than the ones of the M43s (2x crop).
Keen
9 months ago |Maybe they just like Minolta too much(Like my mother…), LOL.
SonyA77
9 months ago |Not as huge as the Nikon lenses!
Lester Tse
9 months ago |Just what I want to say. You are the man. Why these guys just want the already existed products being labeled under the name Canon or Nikon?? Otherwise they won’t buy anything. Keep wishing fan-boys.
Alexo
9 months ago |all i have to say is… LOL
matgay
9 months ago |let me see…
Nikon J1 kit = $649usd, 10megapix, coolpix sensor
nex5n kit = $699usd, 16megapix, apsc sensor
I’ll take the…???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg
passer-by
9 months ago |David vs Goliath? Hehehehe.. with faith(from hardcore loyalists) David will be able to overcome a larger opponent of course.
Canikon
9 months ago |Nikon fanboys are now hoping Canon brings out something good…
You guys should read the comments in DP review.
This is priceless!
I reckon after the Sony announcement of the NEX 7 and Alpha 77, Nikon engineers shat their pants.
They should have bought the sensor from Sony, just like what they did with the D7000.
I <3 it when nikon fanbois trash Sony, yet some of their cameras uses the same sensors..
savic
9 months ago |Last rumor for canon mirrorless is that will have 2x crop similiar to m4/3 with 3:2 aspect. Sony will win mirrorless market easly…
calxn
9 months ago |Nikon try to claim APS-C was good enough vs Canon’s FF years ago before they finally relented. They just don’t seem to learn. As a Nikon DSLR users, I had no hopes for them in mirrorless. It’s very interesting Canon has been waiting in the shadows to see what Nikon releases. Canon (and maybe Fuji) is the only player left standing between mirrorless market domination for Sony in 2-3 years. The only thing I can see that can beat the Nex 7 is maybe a FF Nex-9. Oh, yes, please do.
TophBoogie
9 months ago |LOL. Nikon just completely handed Sony the market by drawing more attention to it with their “fan-base” – Now anybody with common sense that is looking into that system will compare the price/specs of these cameras and see the Nikon is a rip-off. Good one, Turbo lol
Alpha55
9 months ago |How can it have phase detection AF??
Sky_walker
9 months ago |AFAIK it has center PDAF sensor and 72 CDAF points. PDAF is embedded into sensor by covering half of photo-diode in several thousands of them, and than by comparing the images from different angles of the lens you can get effect like in standard PDAF sensor. Look for Fujifilm PDAF on sensor description for more details.
This tech sadly isn’t anything near the real PDAF. Although likely it can perform better than CDAF.
Jacky
9 months ago |It has 73 points Focal plane phase detection AF.
Hybrid AF: Single point 135points AF area.
http://www.nikon-image.com/products/camera/acil/body/nikon1_v1/features02.htm
Beer_Stalker
9 months ago |I bet the dpreview servers won’t crash after this announcement
SonyA77
9 months ago |LOL
Alpha Mark
9 months ago |Sony 1, Nikon 0
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Sony: 5 (NEX 3,5,C3,5N,7)
Nikon: 0, 0. (J1, V1)
AT
9 months ago |+1
Pacman
9 months ago |+5
Raul S.
9 months ago |+1
dangerbane
9 months ago |The high speed video and PDAF is the interesting part for the camera however the high speed video its just for fun to use … despite its low resolution
The sensor … well I will judge for its output however for sure the DoP would be very deep ….
c.d.embrey
9 months ago |The Nikon V1 allows you to use both a flash and a EVF at the same time – something I can’t do with my NEX 5n.
zstan
9 months ago |Get a NEX 7 then.
*runssss*
Raul S.
9 months ago |NEX-7 allow you to use both an EVF, a flash, have a good sized sensor and more direct manual controls. Something You can’t have on Nikon V1.
Froo
9 months ago |Well, when you have a large sensor, crappy flashes aren’t needed.
Enjoy your noisy images!
adam
9 months ago |don’t fell for this…nikon is playing magic trick only.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Ok, so, spec-wise:
What I like:
- AF Illuminator (very nice feature)
- High-FPS video (just for fun)
- 1/ 16 000s electronic shutter
- attempt to make PDAF on sensor (even if it doesn’t work well – I still shall appreciate the attempt)
What I don’t like:
- Price
- Sensor size
- Lenses (nothing bright, everything big, lack of UWA lens, lack of pancakes or adapters to get pancakes on camera)
- Ergonomics (looks like taken from coolpix, although this requires checking the camera personally to make any real judgment)
- Camera+lens size (with this sensor I expected something closer to Pentax Q, not in size of Nex C3)
- Movies saved as MOV
- Movies with MONO sound?! (we are in ’80s or what?)
- The fact that competition has FAR better cameras for FAR lower prices. There’s no way I or anyone aware of what’s going on in photography market would buy this “thing” IMO. Nikon 1 system is number 1 in worst price to features factor.
G700
9 months ago |Whats special about that?
AF illuminator exist on nex 5n
high speed FPS Video, Sony does it faster 1080p60 nex 5n vs 1080p30 nikon
1/16.000 shutter is useless specially with that tiny sensor and lack of fast lens
the electronic shutter exist for nex 5n too
The only questionable thing is the AF thingy
But the camera will have crap iso performance/dynamic range/etc compared to sony lol might as well stick with panasonic LX5 or so for small sensor.
The samples of photos taken with the camera from nikon is bad
Dennis
9 months ago |Hey, you guys are all complaining about the small sensor, the high price and the size. Shame on you! There’s a fourth obvious reason not to buy this camera…
its UUUUUGLYYYY!
(Both the cameras AND the lenses, except the 10-100mm, which is enormous.)
The whole system doesn’t appeal to me as I don’t see a soul in these devices.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Yes it is: http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/img/dcw/docs/479/026/html/036.jpg.html
Gabriel
9 months ago |OMG ! The Paris hilton girly camera, a vision of hell on earth
Michal
9 months ago |Good camera… for 300$
Pacman
9 months ago |A toy is always a toy! LOL
Carl
9 months ago |It doesn’t seem completely bad in all respects, but it strikes me as awfully “me too”, without much though to the long term.
They seem to be making the same mistakes Sony did in being too focused on the P&S upgrader. While Sony was somewhat forgiven for that due to their largish sensor, I suspect most of the enthusiast sensor will see “2.7x crop” and tune out, irrespective of how good the cameras end up being. The fact that the cameras are no smaller than the ones from Panasonic and Sony adds to their woes.
I’d wager that if Nikon had made a camera system very close in form and feature to the NEX, and merely added a “Nikon” logo to it, they’d be outselling Sony merely on the power of their brand.
Alexey Ozerov
9 months ago |With such sensor and design 199 or even 99 for body max price. But 599 is something mindless. Camera that can win prize for dumbest handgrip – and i think that it will be N1 for visiting service – “Help my camera falled dawn”
Kaisern
9 months ago |may be the only advantage of able to use the legendary F lensese is the “1″ system does not need to develop a lot of long lenses given the small sensor, but most of the currently avaialble F lenses will be rather useless on this system. In comparison the larger sensor yet still compact NEX system made the lens adaption much more sense. I think there is a reason why in the last many years Nijon has not done well in compact system.
SonyA77
9 months ago |In 10 years time look back at today, you are witnessing the beginnings of the demise of Nikon’s enthusiast inter-changeable lens market share.
Nikon are so concerned about not damaging their dSLR business, they have let the Coolpix team run riot on this useless mirror-less.
This one is only for Nikon fan-boys.
Carl
9 months ago |I’m not so sure. Nikon was late with both auto-exposure, auto-focus and digital, their early cameras had poor ergonomics compared to their competitors, and they’ve made a lot of other missteps throughout the years, but they always seem to belatedly deliver the goods in such a way that their customers keep coming back. Their circuitous approach to success may well carry over to mirrorless as well, it just depends on how quickly they see the errors of their ways. The 1 may just end up being joining the ranks of the F3AF and D2H as another camera that “seemed like a good idea at the time”.
SonyA77
9 months ago |Nikon will lose market share for the very same reason that canikon fan-boys criticise Sony. Sony and Samsung are electronics companies and now is the time of the electronics companies, not “camera” companies.
In the inter-changeable lens market a decade from now, I reckon Nikon will become a niche manufacturer such as Leica and end up catering for just the professionals.
Carl
9 months ago |We’re also in the age where electronics are commodified to the point where you can take a design to a company like Foxconn, tell them you want 100,000 pieces, and they’ll make it for you for much cheaper than you could in your own factories. As long as Nikon retains enough market share to maintain that scale, they don’t even need the engineering capacity of Sony or even Canon. If they lose it, they’ll become another Pentax, though.
SonyA77
9 months ago |It’s more of a company culture thing rather than a manufacturing capability thing, if you see my point?
matgay
9 months ago |sony + zeiss. what a sweet partnership.
techpriester
9 months ago |Does this thing actually have no PASM modes?
Only these 4 point ‘n shoot modes?
Seriously?
Froo
9 months ago |PASM is accessible from the menu AFAIK.
Adamski
9 months ago |Some companies produce cameras from the marketing point of view. Some companies innovate and put a lot of risk at stake (Canon with the introduction of EF mount, Sony with SLT and NEX systems, Apple with many products). Some companies unfortunately produce cameras from the stiff corporate point of view.
Nikon failed for years with introduction of FF, now they refuse to put any usable video in their cameras or to produce a real competitor to 5D Mark II which even though it’s three years old, still sells like hot buns these days. Now they totally failed with this joke of a camera… The only cool thing about it is that on the front it looks a bit Leica’ish. But feature wise it’s just a joke…
Agent.Pires
9 months ago |I know you guys are laughing and knocking it. (I’m a NEX-5 user) but this might be pretty damn good for people that do Astro photography. Especially the fact that it does 1200fps. If it does full 10MP shots at that speed (doubt it) might be very handy especially if you want to take shots of the moon, but as a replacement to the NEX hmm maybe not.
techpriester
9 months ago |Ok, how in the world has astrophotography anything to do with high fps?
The objects that you shoot there are moving reeeeeeeally slow from our point of view.
Astrophotograophy is more about long exposure times.
And the j1/v1 does 1200fps only at a very poor resolution (less than VGA).
Steve Jones
9 months ago |Many astrophotographers use videostreams containing up to hundreds of frames and use stacking software (like astrostack) to combine these to produce images with better dynamis range and noise characteristics. Indeed many people do this with modified webcams. The results can be very impressive. This is an alternative approach to performing very long exposures, which can introduce its own problems.
Stacking can, of course, be used with still images, so a (relatively) high resolution camera which can take a large number of frames over a period of many seconds would be of considerable value.
Matt
9 months ago |1200fps at full res!? You have to be joking? Maybe check the price of a phantom camera. This does do 60fps at full res, which IS rather impressive! I know that the X10 does 30fps at 6mp, but only does it for one second – does anyone know how long the ’1′ can do the 60fps full res for? If it could do 10seconds I would be pretty damn happy (but doubtful). The 1200 fps on this is like 320×240 or thereabouts.
Alexey Ozerov
9 months ago |2 Agent.Pires
(plus reduced-resolution video capture at up to 1200fps) – it can be even 640 х 480 for such speed.
KingRenas
9 months ago |Quite disappointed with Nikon, I thought they could bring something that the Pro World would expect but instead is turning into the consumer market at lower level with 10MP camera plus new lens format.
I know it is a very compact camera, but it doesn’t come close to C3 and there is one that I like in the camera, is the slow motion recording.
The V1 looks like a Pro model but far from NEX-7 the camera that I’m expecting to get in January plus a few accessories for it.
Probably Nikon is studying their own market and see the outcome as Sony did before, let us see what Canon will bring in the next days and probably something better in the market since we know they can bring things that can overwhelm the masses.
Apart from the big guns I’m happy with Sony for their innovative NEX system, and I know the future will bright for them. Right know they have a step ahead against Nikon and Canon.
Joel
9 months ago |The mom and pop consumer market pulls in a great deal more money than the pro market does. I don’t blame both Sony and Nikon for chasing those dollars before upgrading their pro lines.
erwinkfoto
9 months ago |For this one, not even Ken Rockwell will find an excuse for…
Pacman
9 months ago |classic classic ken rockwell. rock on rockwell! LOL
william leong
9 months ago |hahhaha, Ken oh Ken, what do you have to say this time?
SonyA77
9 months ago |Did you see his “BAD” for the A55?
Distracting number displays never come off the viewfinder LCD to allow careful composition.
Sloppy menu system for everything. It handles like a point and shoot.
Only one control knob.
Dinky kid-sized grip. Not big enough for a man’s hands. My fingers can’t wrap-around it without hitting something, but my kids love its tiny grip.
Cheap-feeling grip materials.
Playback is sluggish while the A55 takes a long time to write a stream of still images to the card.
Beeps are on by default, typical for a hobby camera.
Too many ugly stickers and tags to have to peel off before use, as if this is just another piece of disposable consumer electronics.
No program exposure shift!
Small rear LCD, only 2.6″ effective.
Indexed rear lens caps only attach one way, not several ways as do Canon and Nikon’s rear caps.
Playback zoom is horrible: when zoomed, only a fraction of the screen is used.
The FORMAT CARD command is hidden in its own menu. There are no FORMAT buttons as there are on Nikons.
Look out: there is no hot shoe, only a terminal for Minolta or Sony’s dedicated flashes.
SonyA77
9 months ago |Bugger, you have me checking Ken’s site for updates now. I can’t wait to see him bluster his way through his review and come out saying it beats the crap out of Sony NEX…
www.MilosJanata.com
9 months ago |Ad says it all : “an intelligent camera” for dumb people I would add..
The camera chooses best picture for You
Joel
9 months ago |This camera is not meant as a DSLR replacement or a NEX competitor, so I’m unsure as to why people are comparing it as such. It’s a camera that is small enough to fit in your pocket (show me a NEX that’ll do that) but gives quality superior enough for shooting street or holiday images.
No doubt it’ll be popular with the demographic it’s aimed at.
EvanZ
9 months ago |These don’t look pocketable at all.
Joel
9 months ago |I guess you havent seen the 10mm 2.8 pancake lens. I’d recommend that you perhaps do a little research before making unqualified blanket statements without knowing the first thing about the product in future.
Matt
9 months ago |And a NEX-C3 is pocketable with the 16mm 2.8 – So what is your point here?
zstan
9 months ago |+1
EvanZ
9 months ago |The J1 is 1.2″ thick. Tack on a 10mm lens, it’s 1.6″ thick. That’s not very pocketable. And that’s just one lens, and it’s 27 mm, which isn’t even that wide.
The Canon S100 is 1.1″ thick, including the lens. That’s pocketable, but still uncomfortable.
A cell phone at 10-15mm (1/2″) is what I call pocketable.
huh
9 months ago |at that price i dont think so.
Hellven
9 months ago |its bigger then a nex, small is the pentax Q
EvanZ
9 months ago |Nikon is trying to squeeze in between the LX5 and S100 point-and-shoots and the MFT/NEX ILC market.
That market is about as big as the market for Dell’s 5″ tablet that is no longer in production, which is to say, no market.
Joel
9 months ago |Bit like the iPad was squeezed between the laptop and the smartphone market when it was first released?
Matt
9 months ago |Actually it is more like trying to squeeze into the gap between say a GF3 and an LX5. I wouldn’t classify a smartphone as a ‘consumer computer’ and a laptop as an ‘enthusiast or semi-pro’ computer. They are two quite different beasts.
If you were going with this analogy of the smartphones – it would be like comparing a dumb phone (point and shoot) to a mid range smartphone (basic entry mirrorless).
I am intrigued however at the speed of these, I think that is overlooked in importance in forums such as this – everything is always about size!
EvanZ
9 months ago |Computers and cell phones are still two very different markets. There was clearly room in between for tablets.
David
9 months ago |Ken Rockwell has covered every product announcement, including the new Nikon P&S cameras, the new canon P&S but made ZERO mention of the huge number of Sony announcements. He’s a total dick.
Ben
9 months ago |Probably best that he doesn’t mention them, because he is just not capable of looking at Sony products objectively. But that’s okay, because I would never look to him as an authority on photography and I would not decide on any purchases on the basis of what he has covered or not covered. I like to think of him as a blogger who documents his personal experiences with a selection of equipment in a subjective way which sometimes doesn’t make sense.
David
9 months ago |And fwiw, I think this will sell well. It looks pretty good, it has a Nikon badge and the spec list LOOKS good. It’s a different market to NEX really, though I agree that it’s very over-priced.
NEXfive
9 months ago |OMG, I’d really expected Nikon to bring a full frame alternative to NEX
CK Dexter Haven
9 months ago |As I thought when the rumors were posted: this is just stupid.
Anyone who cares about the size of the sensor will still need/want a LARGER sensor. The reason to have a larger sensor- people typically say things about Noise and such. But, it’s about having real control over DOF. And, there’s a point at which sensors are too small to effectively manage that. APS-C seems to be the starting point.
With this, you’re just getting a bulkier version of a Canon G12, which will, no doubt, be more convenient and ‘friendly’ to a casual user than this Nikon.
It’s a shame that a company like Nikon chose to dedicate so much of it’s R&D resources on a New Niche Platform that was both unnecessary, ‘un-needed,’ and unwanted. Who was asking for this MIDDLE thing?
And, yes, the lenses are too big. It’s a matter of CONTEXT, not ‘relative size’ or actual size.
Nawaf
9 months ago |Making a wide angle lens is going to be a bitch. Looks good but the sensor is worthless IMHO.
So when will we see the Nikon vs Nokia comparison?
Wait and see what Fuji will bring to the APS-C table, now that would be news.
Matt
9 months ago |I find this camera intriguing I do. I think the sensor is big enough and low enough pixel density. I like the speed of it as well. However:
1. It is way too expensive
2. It gets even more expensive and rather unwieldily to just have an articulated display
3. Slow lenses – surely they can make them faster considering the size of the sensor and their physical size
4. Where the hell are all the controls – yes we can look at NEX series here, but I would be happy with the sensor size if it had manual dials etc like p7100.
5. Did I mention the price? If the V1 were say $499 or $549 I would consider it. Or if it had a fast kit lens a-la X10 (though arguably not a ‘kit lens’ per-se).
I will check the bargain bins in a few months – that’s how I ended up with a W3 as a toy
awmenard
9 months ago |The only thing that interest me in this system is the 1 SB-N5 Speedligh, I think the size would be perfect for the nex-7 if it performs well of course.
i guess Nikon knew they could not match the 3C/5N or 7 so they just gave up and gave customers the 1… I guess numbers do mean something lol
john
9 months ago |Reminds me of Three Dog Night’s song..
One is the loneliest number.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ab8BOu4LE
Hurl
9 months ago |Nikon is trying to open new markets. People complain about the sensor size, but keeping the resolution below 12MP is more or less the same density that we have in the new Sony cameras. If you don’t need a big resolution and like having a small good camera, the new Nikon is an option. I’m sure it will have a good IQ, maybe not in super high ISO situations, but it will produce great picture in most of the cases. Anyway, I agree that it is a bit priced. They should cost as much as the NEX-C3. I’ll remain with my NEX3 for the moment
Carl
9 months ago |The problem is that it isn’t smaller, and costs more.
If it was the size of a Pentax Q and cost $250, the reaction would be more favourable.
Biff
9 months ago |All you bashing Nikon should remember a lot of Nikon users are posting better pictures, and a large percent of Nikon users make a living as photographers, and not as soccer moms.
You call them “fanboys”, which not only shows how mature you are, but also that you care more about technology than the photograph and experience itself.
If you want fanboys, go to DPR’s forums and look at all the Sony posters and their pictures of mailboxes, bookshelves, and cats at ISO 1600. You will never see that on Nikon & Canon forums because their too busy shooting, getting their working in galleries, making money with their crappy Nikon camera’s, ALL of which you Sony fanboys wish you could do.
Now get back to taking a shot of a tree branch with your new pancake lens (cover story on this website), and I will get back to editing my images so I can get paid.
PS. Always loved Sony, used to shoot with the A700 & A100 till they died, learned photography back in the film days, left for the Nikon digital world for better lenses, to surround myself with more pro shooters, and to get away from gimmicks and meatheads.
Zstan
9 months ago |Hello professional. Nobody here is condemning the nikon dslr’s. Everybody here are just discussing about the new nikon mirrorless.
You aren’t very mature yourself either. Anyway, typical attitude from someone who jumped ship. Have a nice day editing photos.
william leong
9 months ago |At least there are more “fanboy enthusiasts” out there compared to Togs making a living out of photography even with both Canon and Nikon combined. And there’s where the market share lies. So now, you can quietly get back to your editing and drool over how clean your ISO 512000 shots are. Cheers
Ben
9 months ago |Photography is a form of art. You don’t automatically get more credibility because you “surround” yourself “with more pro shooters.”
> a lot of Nikon users are posting better pictures
Better than what? Completely illogical statement.
> and their pictures of mailboxes, bookshelves, and cats at ISO 1600
Showing a lack of understanding of the diversity of photographers who use all brands, Sony and Nikon included.
SonyA77
9 months ago |Biff, you do realise that professionals (i.e people who sell their work) use Sony gear? They also use Pentax and Olympus too. Now you may be trapped in some Nikon bubble, but the rest of the photography World certainly isn’t.
You can’t hang around the Nikon and Canon forums much, they are full to bursting of “pictures of mailboxes, bookshelves, and cats at ISO 1600″.
There is nothing worse than evangelicals who think they have seen the light after swapping brands. I’ll expect you to have swapped to Canon in a few years time and end up mocking Nikon users.
You are simply a pathetic fan-boy who needs to look in the mirror sometime.
Clyde
9 months ago |This Nikon’s biggest competition will be Cell Phone cameras.
Sure they have pancake lenses… but at 10mp and the crop factor, those who want small can almost get the same from cell phone cam. And cell phone cams are getting better and better all the time. This is designed for flicker posting… not print makers.
Nikon should enable calling and team up with Verizon or T-Mobile.
loverhd
9 months ago |Nikon could be a winner, but it decided not to be the one.
The initial Nikon’s idea, I presume, was to create the
- low weight
- small size
- camera which can provide acceptable for FullHD TV screens photo
- and be much more advanced than the all the existing semi-pro FullHD videocamera’s in video.
This would be the killer combination.
What is needed:
- tiltable screen (a lack of it is a big failure) for video (and photo)
- optimized for video high magnitude optical and electronic video stabilization (NEX video stabilization is extremely ppor, almost not existing). Small sensor and lens size make it technically possible.
- FullHD 1080p 60 fps autofocus video
- bining of the matrix pixels, no pixels skipping, to make the faltless FullHD video. (NEX has some moire in video)
- high actual resolution 1080 lines in FullHD video (NEX has some 600 lines)
Chris
9 months ago |I CAN STOP LAUGHING EVERYTIME I SEE THIS ARCTICLE..!! HAHAHA.. LMAO.. xD
Andy
9 months ago |Nikon will sell thousands upon thousands of these.
Froo
9 months ago |> Nikon will sell dozens upon dozens of these.
FTFY
Chris
9 months ago |@^..cmon..face the fact..this is the year of SONY..
acolyte
9 months ago |Just don’t be too overly happy..
Keep pushing for those small and more NEX lenses..
Man, there’s not that many SAR threads like this where posters are just proud of Sony – and that’s it.
Ben
9 months ago |I think the sentiment is misplaced. It is those NEX-7 and a77 announcement threads in which we should all rejoice and feel proud of Sony. You shouldn’t need the perceived missteps of a competitor to feel good about whatever brand you are invested in.
acolyte
9 months ago |But that’s not what happened :\ Critiques is all we see there. No tethering, no wired remote, bad pixel peeped quality, not enough buffer size. So on.
Gunnar
9 months ago |its really ridiculous how Nikon can create almost everything, and everyone(gadget sites and reviewers so far) is all whoohoo about it, while Sony can innovate as much as they like and still gets booed.. the 10/30/60 FPS shooting is simply in 1080p res as far as i see ..which is roughly 3Mpixels.. and the same 3mpix for stills while shooting video.. whats revolutionary about that??
i allmost wonder what would happen if Canon would put out a Evil with a point and shot sensor.. it would probably become the holy grail.
anyhow, i`m just glad i went down the Sony road, as Alpha and Nex work so well as a team!
Doug
9 months ago |The Nikon 1 system is a joke. I predict that it will be a very expensive failure for Nikon.
knurd
9 months ago |Man, everyone on here is as bad as the Nikon whiners. This camera isn’t even out yet and everyone is treating it like a child molester.
william leong
9 months ago |Probably it’s because Sony never had anything to be able to trump over the big2 before this (well, nothing major at least apart from QLV, SLT, QSB just to mention a few). And since the 1 is sort of a direct competitor over the NEX, Sony fanboys aka ‘us lot’, is having a nice time bashing up Nikon over it. It’s rare occasion this is, Nikon shooting themselves in their feet.
Ben
9 months ago |Bashing Nikon won’t make your NEX take any better pictures.
Ben
9 months ago |Not everyone, but I think the tone here could be a little more grown up. Any new mirrorless entrant is going to enhance competition in the industry as a whole, and the winner will be us consumers. We should be applauding the fact that a new challenger has entered.
William
9 months ago |Couldn’t agree more.
ns9rt
9 months ago |Personally I think the response (same on other sites btw – its not just sony fanboyism), is just one of surprise/disappointment.
Most people expected a genuine competitor to m4/3 / NEX but to be honest these cameras looks to be much more like compacts in spec but comparable to m4/3 and NEX in price.
Just looks like Nikon has been overly scared of cannabalization and instead has gone for a perplexing point neither one way nor the other.
If these cameras were priced between m4/3 and compacts then Nikon may have been onto something. As it is, aside from the brand, what exactly is the point?
Psychic
9 months ago |LOL @ NIKON
They really did the no. 1 on every fanboi, Can’t hardly wait till they do the No. 2 on them.
Gotta take a photo of this… It will last longer…
spacegoret
9 months ago |Interesting size comparison between the Nikon J1 and the Sony NEX-5 in the gallery at the bottom of this article:
http://www.journaldugeek.com/2011/09/21/impressions-photos-nikon-j1-v1/
Froo
9 months ago |Oh these are happy times. The Pentax Q was stupid, but that is a quirky company, and the camera is at least very small (but crazy expensive and ugly). And here I feared Nikon would actually compete in the arena! And then they release the ugliest camera ever, with a small sensor useless for adapting their own lenses, a high price, and larger than the competition! Wonderful times! This gives us another year until Nikon realizes their mistake and releases the “2″ series with a larger sensor.
SCHADENFREUDE!
Matt
9 months ago |Hmmm, I don’t really see that happening – unless the mount and the glass support a larger sensor, then this is it. Companies don’t often bring out systems that are so fleeting as what you describe. I mean unless it doesn’t sell at all and they abandon it completely.
I have read, despite it’s obvious flaws, the Pentax Q sells really well in Japan. So there is every chance that this will be a big success for Nikon, just not for those few people that post in forums like this.
Froo
8 months ago |It was written in jest for sure, but there is a kernel of a strategy there.
Of course that would mean a completely new mount and glass, yes. However, as a longer term strategy to tap into the market it might be fruitful — slow convergence of mirrorless and SLRs.
jon
9 months ago |+1 SCHADENFREUDE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-X_xiSB0XQ
passer-by
9 months ago |Expensive. BTW, what is Nikon’s camera doing here in SAR?
SonyA77
9 months ago |So we can take the piss!
Bandrews
9 months ago |Check this out: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/42175/nikon-v1-vs-sony-nex-5n
Are they serious?
admin
9 months ago |Thanks! Will post that soon.