Hellbent on Whizzbang | Nikon releases 1 System
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 10:17 AM 
Be forewarned: this is going to be one of my rants.
See, while having breakfast this morning I stumbled on the unveiling of Nikon’s new J1 and V1 cameras, part of the new 1 System. I thought “Hmm... Mirror less, new system... Let's see what this looks like”.
Or not. Or maybe. I don't know.
Nikon is releasing an entirely new ecosystem and I'm at a damn loss to understand why. New lenses, new format called CX (with a 2.7X crop factor), new flash units... The whole deal. And — unless I'm wrong — no backwards compatibility with existing Nikon gear. Wow.
You'd think the runaway success of the X100 would clue other companies to the need for a simple, well-constructed, high quality camera. It's not like there isn't room for improvement. But instead we get plastic red and pink bodies, a smaller sensor than micro four thirds and highly desirable features like Motion Snapshot: which mixes a still image with a short burst of slow-motion video to create the effect of a "living" photo with its own soundtrack. Or Smart Photo Detector: a feature that pre-shoots images and selects the best one of five automatically... Because we all know how great a camera’s brain must be at replacing a photo editor. It's all just about focus and exposure anyway right?
Whizzbang. Step right up.
What about the system itself? The lenses? Here we go: 10-30mm (27-81mm equivalent) f3.5-5.6 1 Nikkor lens available a launch. Later, 10mm f2.8 pancake ($250), a 10-100mm f4-5.6 lens with powered zoom ($750), and a 30-110mm f3.8-5.6 ($250).
Lacklustre apertures to say the least.
The “pro” V1 model is priced at $900US and has an electronic viewfinder.
Electronic. Viewfinder. This one only comes in black, because — you know — it's for Pros.
Ok, I might be wrong and these could become the next big thing. A year from now we may all be scrambling to shoot Harry Potter style “living photos” for all I know. And there's some intriguing stuff in there like simultaneous movie and still capture or 60 frames/second in focus locked burst mode.
But I can't help longing for Nikon to relax their consumer offerings just a tiny bit. I mean, the D700 should've been updated two years ago. Yes, the D7000 is impressive but the ergonomics aren't on par with pro bodies and I sure as hell don't need a program mode. The money they must've spent developing 1 System is probably staggering. But was it really necessary?
I just wish they'd stop and focus on the basics again. But maybe that time has passed.
More info on 1 System here.
Reader Comments (10)
It's a weird decision to choose this path and try to sell a small chip sensored ecosystem. Their goal is to close the 'gap' between compacts and M4/3 but was that necessary? I don't think so. They saw that competing with Sony, Pana and Oly is too hard and just find this exit. I won't even think and recommend this one while there is a mature system like M4/3.
My feelings exactly. I guess they're betting on the speed of these cameras? Or all these new "features"… But at the end of the day it's still a very small sensor and I think that area's pretty much covered already. A $900 "pro" camera in this range makes no sense to me.
Call me perplexed.
From our standpoint I agree with what you are saying. However, they will sell boat loads of these once the system is complete... share prices are going up... The target market is not us... personally I had hoped for a similar product to the X100 with a selection of lenses to go with it. Really I just want an M9 for for around $1500 with a great 35mm f/2 :)
The more I look at these mirror less systems the more I think my "smoke and mirror" system may be a 5D Mark II with a Zeiss ZE 35 f/2 :)
I know. You're absolutely right. They're going for the mass market and that's fine - time will tell if they'll succeed at those prices though. But while we may be the minority, we still tend to spend quite a bit of money, usually beyond the initial camera purchase. And we can drive mindshare as well.
While the current pro line-up is no slouch, it's still a few years old and technology moves along. Seeing the parade of consumer and prosumer cameras from Nikon these past years (we are talking years here) is leaving me with a weird sense of being left behind. Especially when I look at what I'm getting out of the X100.
Second that on a $1500 M9 :)
It could have been interesting if the sensor had been bigger. Too bad I can't find where I got this (either in comments in one of the stories on NikonRumors or engadget) but the "1 System" branding might actually be a nice hint that Nikon might do more advanced versions in the future (the "2 system" with a sensor close to a DX and a "3 system" with something like a FX sensor). If and when that will come, that's a good question. I would probably be interested in the 2/3 systems.
Oh, and for backward compatibility, you might be interested to know that Nikon is making an adapter for F mount lenses (http://www.nikon.com/news/2011/0921_acc_03.htm).
Good catch with the F mount adaptor. For some reason Safari kept crashing on that page this morning and I missed it.
I think the sensor size and crop factor are also what have me the most puzzled. Why develop yet another format? But that 1-2-3 suggestion is certainly interesting... Time will tell I guess.
Mmmm… Zeiss. Have you seen David Charlwood's work with a Zeiss 50mm f2 Makro Planar? I swear it creates a radial blur… Pretty impressive stuff. He's at http://charlwoodphotography.wordpress.com/ . I think you'll like his work. Very talented.
“living photo with its own soundtrack" Cartier Bresson would have cried, or would he? So many decisive moments every second. Have fun editing that.
The "convergence" thing is interesting though... I just for the life of me can't see where it's going. Maybe I'm behind the times but I believe a photograph is enjoyed at leisure while video is enjoyed in the moment.
Anyway, I'm off to tend my aching joints and grumble about the youth of today.
Don't worry, I don't think it's age — more like taste ;)