Which nikon j1

Novice shooters probably don't notice all these things well, they'll notice that the mode dial keeps getting reset. They use a lot of "auto" functions and rarely change or override the camera's settings and decisions. So, in one respect, Nikon got that part right: all auto shooters will probably find the camera pleasant enough in handling. But the minute you rise above that, you've got to think a little harder about how you use the camera and where you access various things.

Put a different way: I had to change my behavior to meet the camera, not change the camera's behavior through customization to meet mine. One word: yuck. But nevertheless, I manage. One last thing on handling: watch the defaults. Nikon, as usual, has picked some questionable ones.

Just so I'm clear, let's go through those:. How's it Perform? Battery: The J1 is not a winner in the battery Olympics. It's decidedly compact camera in nature here, with a smaller battery to start with and the constant drain of the LCD chewing up what's available.

Think shots, less if you use a lot of flash. Video users are going to find it difficult to get much above an hour of recording per full battery, though I did manage 90 minutes once.

Heavy J1 users should acquire a couple of extra batteries, but everyone should have at least two. Focus: Compact cameras are notoriously slow to focus and poor at tracking focus. DSLRs are fast to focus and track well especially as you move up the model lineup. So where's the J1? Surprise, it is more in the DSLR realm than you might expect. The phase detect sensors built into the imaging sensor coupled with the high frame rate of the sensor and all the computational horsepower in the J1 seem to do the job.

Certainly in bright light you might be fooled into thinking you're shooting with a DSLR assuming you're out of the default settings, as I note above. With one exception: you need a subject that has contrast in it. It appears that the focus system on the Nikon 1 tries to confirm that it found focus by looking at contrast information.

If you don't have any contrast under the area the camera is focusing on for instance, the side of a dark ship , all bets are off. Obviously, this problem is bigger in low light with non-contrasty subjects think black cow at dawn. I'm not going to answer the "birds in flight" question in this review. I think that's more appropriate in my upcoming V1 review.

The J1 is a low-end camera, after all. But a very respectable low end. Again, the J1 needs some contrast to confirm focus, apparently, but as long as you've got that in your subject, the J1 beats my E-P3 even in single servo autofocus, but especially when continuously tracking. The next question tends to be focus for video. Here I'd call the J1 respectable.

Better than most Nikon DSLRs in tracking focus in video, but not as good as some dedicated camcorders. That's good, because manual focus isn't really an option with the J1. Manual focus is controlled by the dial around the Direction pad and there's no focus aids available. Overall, focus performance wasn't something that concerned me with the J1, especially given its target user.

If there is a downside, it's going to be more sophisticated users who want more direct control of the focus system. Exposure: I'm a bit surprised that others haven't written much negative about the J1's exposure. It has a slight tendency towards "hot" in matrix metering. This seems pattern dependent to me. I'm starting to recognize that if I have a lot of white in certain areas away from the center of the frame I'm going to get blown highlights.

Curiously, this doesn't seem to be as simple as "if there are a lot of white clouds they'll blow. Since we don't have a real-time histogram, this is an issue: you've got to pay close attention.

Likewise, video seems to expose a bit hotter than stills. We're probably only talking a third of a stop, but it seems to be consistent on my camera. The above sample image was taken with my J1 on a recent trip.

Left to its own devices, the camera overexposed by almost a full stop. At times when the sun broke through, this produced unsightly blooming remember, the J1 has an electronic-only shutter and an unusable image, in my opinion. For this shot, I actually set exposure compensation to I was dealing with the sun peeking in and out so set a very conservative compensation; in this example the result is probably two-thirds of a stop underexposed.

Noise is clearly visible, but not objectionable and easily dealt with. An intersecting element is that the Nikon 1 Picture Controls default to Standard, which has a slightly boosted gamma that pushes midrange a bit higher than I think most people will like. Yet another intersecting issue is that blooming tendency on high-contrast light sources in the scene.

Between all these things, I found that I tended to set the J1 to lower exposures than it wanted to shoot at, even when I switched Picture Controls. The fact that we can't monitor exposure in real time is problematic, too. The proper words for exposure are these: trust but verify.

A J1 is not as dead on with exposure as my D3s. It has a tendency to go slightly hot, and that produces bad edges with light sources in the shot. Which brings me to a question: given the target customer for this camera, why is central weighted and spot metering even an option? Odd choices, Nikon, odd choices. Image Quality: One thing that Nikon has gotten very good at lately is making a broad range of cameras with different sensors that all produce essentially the same looking images.

That last sentence has both good and bad in it. The good is that Nikon's JPEG files are generally quite clean, free of color noise even when they do show noise, have somewhat more accurate color than most cameras at the least fiddly settings Standard, Neutral , and have almost no JPEG artificating to be seen, even when pushed to the limit.

The bad is that Standard and especially Landscape and Vivid are a bit contrasty, sharpening is understated even when boosted , and "accurate" color isn't actually what most people are attracted to. I start from relatively defect-free pixels therefore, and can move the color, contrast, and sharpening as I see fit.

In general, there's nothing to fault with the image quality. The goods far outweigh the bads, and the bads aren't really bad to someone who is willing to post process. Noise: Pixel peepers won't be happy with the J1, everyone else will. It's a small sensor camera. In a scene with a wide range of lighting, keeping exposure to retain highlights may push you down into the lower ends of its dynamic range where some noise lurks.

That said, I was surprised at how little noise we see and how well controlled it is. HI 1 ISO is borderline usable, and certainly not where accurate colors or detail need to be preserved.

One bad piece of news is that Nikon is cooking raw files above ISO There's some form of noise reduction happening above that ISO value in raw data that can't be turned off. I see no hint of amp noise in the maximum two-minute image you can take with the J1 on the somewhat misnamed "Bulb"--why Nikon didn't just add 60" and " to the shutter speeds, I don't know. However, with Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned off and at ISO , there is a wide sea of hot pixels, and I see some regularity to these, which indicates that even two minutes may be pushing this sensor.

With Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on, the camera is unavailable for another two minutes, and most, but not all, of the hot pixels are taken care of. Note that I tested at ISO because above that raw files are cooked by Nikon, so you can't actually see what the sensor was doing.

Curious news : try taking a very long shot 2 seconds or more with the lens cap on you'll have to set Manual focus. Oh-oh, light leaks. Now hold your hand over the lens cap and repeat: no light leaks.

In fact, I can take the black lens cap off my V1 and put it on my white J1 and get no light leak, and vice versa, so it's the white lens cap that's the issue.

Final Thoughts As usual, I've been pretty rough on some of the features, design, and performance of a Nikon product. User reviews. See all user reviews. Gear list. Product description. Announced Sep 21, Discuss in the Nikon 1 System Talk forum. Product timeline.

These are the 20 most important cameras of the decade and one phone. Nikon promises 'brighter lenses for better total performance' from 1 system. Interview: Tetsuya Yamamoto of Nikon. Just Posted: Nikon 1 V1 and J1 review.

CES Nikon stand report. Mirrorless Roundup Just Posted: Preview and first impressions of using the Nikon V1. I think the J1 handles color more accurately at the higher ISO sensitivities than many competitors, but I'm not sure this crowd is looking for color accuracy or the desaturation you see in low light so much as they are looking for pop.

However, in all other respects--notably lens sharpness, exposure and metering, and color--the J1 delivers consistently and accurately. The tonal range doesn't look particularly stronger than that of competitors, but I suspect it's compressed out of the JPEGs or may only be used for raw files.

The video quality is also quite good: sharp and saturated. And the autofocus system works exceptionally well--quickly, quietly, and accurately--when shooting video. The stereo mic acquits itself well, and there are a few sound-level options and a wind filter. The performance rating of the J1 was a really tough call.

Ultimately I came down on the side of excellent, because it really does feel pretty fast. On one hand, it's got the least shot lag--time to focus and shoot--of any camera in its class, plus a fast burst rate. But then it gets bogged down a bit on sequential shots, which slows down your overall shooting experience.

It takes about a second to wake up and shoot, which is just OK. The roughly 0. And the center-point autofocus is quite accurate, as well as fast. But the shot-to-shot time rises to about 1. Add flash and that rises to 1. Its 5 frames per second in standard burst mode is also very good, and the camera allows you to start another burst quickly rather than pausing while it saves to the card. Other aspects of the performance drag it down a little, however. Product variations. Tech Specs. Effective Pixels Megapixels Sensor Size Image Sensor Format CX.

ISO Sensitivity -. Monitor Size 3. Dimensions Width x Height x Depth 4. Weight 8. Optical anti-dust mechanism. Still Images aspect ratio 3, x 2, 2, x 1, 1, x 1, Smart Photo Selector aspect ratio 3, x 2, 2, x 1, 1, x 1, Motion Snapshot aspect ratio 3, x 2, Electronic [Hi]: Approx. Timer duration electronically controlled. Delayed remote 2 sec.

Quick-response remote. Matrix Center-weighted: Meters 4. On Off. Fill-flash Red-eye reduction Rear curtain with sync Rear curtain with slow sync Slow sync Slow sync with red-eye reduction. Lights when built-in flash unit is fully charged.