The good: Excellent image quality for its class; natural-looking colors; fun slow-motion video. The bad: No in-camera processing; mode dial has limited options. The bottom line: Providing excellent image quality for its class, the J1 produces pleasing colors without being overly saturated. Available in several eye-catching colors, the shooter will appeal to fashion-conscious photographers looking for a slim ILC as a step-up from their compact cameras.
Review:
Compared with bulkier dSLRs, interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) are slowly gaining favor with shutterbugs thanks to good image quality and compactness. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Nikon has jumped onto the bandwagon with its own Nikon 1 series, namely the J1 and V1 cameras, targeted at entry-level users.
Incorporating a new Expeed 3 image processor, the J1 features a new proprietary CX-format CMOS sensor with a crop factor of 2.7 times--smaller than the Micro Four Thirds sensor but bigger than that of the Pentax Q. It also sports an Advanced Hybrid AF system which uses a combination of phase and contrast AF detection that Nikon claims will provide speedier autofocus performance. Capable of 1080p/60 full-HD video, the shooter can also capture images at 60 frames per second.
Design And Features
Compared with its bigger brother (the V1), the J1 sports a more compact chassis and has a slimmer profile. This is especially so when paired with the 10mm F2.8 prime lens, making it a neat, little package.
The J1 comes in a variety of colors--the white, red and pink models are coated with glossy, eye-catching finishes while the black or grey should appeal to those with more conservative tastes. We think that the glossy colors may do well with fashion-conscious shutterbugs as they feature visually-appealing colors which make them stand out from the crowd.
Though it doesn't have the V1's inbuilt electronic viewfinder, it comes equipped with a pop-up flash which can be brought up like a periscope. It also has a rocker which is handy for changing aperture values or zooming in and out of images. At the camera's rear, you'll find a four-option mode dial, tabs, and four-way direction keypad with a scroll wheel.
The J1's mode dial features four modes--Movie, Still image, Smart Photo Selector and Motion Snapshot. We felt that the mode dial was limited and could be better utilized, especially when advanced compacts have PASM as the norm. Changing between aperture-priority and manual modes just took too much effort. One had to go into the menu and enter the exposure mode tier just to get to that option. It would have been much simpler for users to be able to do that with a flick of a dial.
One of the highlights of the J1 has got to be its unique shooting modes particularly the Motion Snapshot and Smart Photo Selector options. The Motion Snapshot mode allows users to capture a set of still images at high speed and then plays it back in 0.4x slow motion with music in the background. Additionally, the Smart Photo Selector mode captures 20 images at 30 frames per second and automatically chooses the five best images in terms of quality and composition.
Apart from its 60fps burst-mode shooting capabilities, the snapper has 73 autofocus points that come in handy when capturing fast-moving action. The J1 comes with a new Advanced Hybrid AF system which Nikon claims will provide faster autofocus performance using a combination of phase and contrast AF detection.
With companies like Panasonic and Olympus implementing image-enhancing filters, we were surprised that the J1 did not come equipped with special-effects filters for processing images in-camera--a tool which may be useful for those who want to share their images without the hassle of post processing on a computer.
Differences Between The V1 And J1
In terms of cosmetics, the J1 sports a slightly slimmer and sleeker design compared with its chunkier brother, the V1. Despite lacking the V1's built-in 1,440k-dot TFT electronic viewfinder (EVF), the J1 comes with a periscope-like pop-up flash while V1 users would need to purchase an optional SB-5N external flash.
The J1 only has an electronic shutter while the V1 gives users the option of a mechanical and electronic shutter. The benefit of a mechanical shutter are faster flash-sync speeds. In terms of battery life, the J1 only does 220 images compared to the V1, but we think that's probably due to the J1's smaller battery that's made to fit its slimmer chassis. Though both J1 and V1 sport 3-inch LCD screens, the J1 features a 460k-dot LCD screen compared with the V1 which comes with a higher resolution 912k-dot variant.
The Nikon 1 cameras does not come with hotshoes, but the V1 does sport an multi-accessory port which allows users to mount optional accessories such as a GP-N100 GPS module or an external ME-1 mic. On top of that, only V1 users would be able to attach an external stereo mic to the V1's 3.5mm audio jack.
The J1 kit (with 10-30mm kit lens) is S$300 cheaper than its bigger brother the V1 which goes for S$1,299 in Singapore.
Performance
The J1's autofocus system acquires focus swiftly, which probably has something to do with the new dual-autofocus system, similar to the one found in the V1--explaining the close similarity in performance.
Time-to-first-shot (time taken to capture the first shot upon powering on) was clocked at 1.6 seconds while shot-to-shot time (how long it takes to shoot one frame after another) was 1.5 seconds. With its minimal shutter lag of 0.33 seconds, users shouldn't have a problem capturing active kids or running pets. For fast-moving action, the snapper's blistering 10fps burst mode capability should suffice, but it takes a few seconds for the camera to record the images once the buffer is full.
Image Quality
Utilizing the same 10.1-megapixel CMOS image sensor, the J1 performed as well as the V1 in terms of color and noise performance.
Images produced by the J1 displayed pleasing and natural color rendition without being over the top. Though the out-of-focus regions may not be as defocused as larger-sensor shooters, the J1 makes up for that by delivering images with crisp details and excellent sharpness. From our tests, one can expect the best quality pictures from ISO 100 to 400, which is typical for compact cameras.
From ISO 800, there's a hint of noise with much of the image detail retained. At ISO 1,600, image detail is further reduced with some noise scattered around. By the time you reach ISO 3,200, you'll notice that edge detail is softened with an overall drop in contrast. What's impressive is that the sensor manages to retain some image detail at higher ISOs despite the increased grain and digital artefacts.
Video Quality
Since the J1 shares the same image sensor and processor as the V1, it's not surprising that video quality is the same. Like the V1, the J1's 1080p full-HD video impressed us with its clarity and natural-looking colors. Autofocus speed during video recording was above average and could track faces easily with the Face-Priority AF function activated.
You'll notice that the ILC records in either 1080p full-HD or slow-motion video. Among the two modes, slow motion video was our favourite. It was really fun to experiment with and it's amazing to view detail in action that would typically be too fast for the human eye to catch such as the falling of individual drops of water.