Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP HD Digital Camera System Review, Specs, Price, Buy, Pros Cons


Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP HD Digital Camera System. Looking for Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP, Is Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP worth to buy? Before you decide to buy Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP, read first my reviews below. I hope my reviews could give you enough information.

Nikon 1 J1 10.1 MP Details:
- Bring your images to life with Nikon's new Motion Snapshot
- Bundle Kit Includes: 10-30mm VR 1 NIKKOR Lens, 8 GB SD Card, and Camera Case
- The Nikon J1 is faster than you are with the world's fastest autofocus among cameras with AF

> See more specs


For starters, this is not a point and shoot. The automatic modes are nice, but they won't do anything you can already do with much cheaper point and shoot cameras. That said, if you are willing to do the work and learn the camera, you will be rewarded. I am really happy with the pictures I am getting, but it took me weeks to get used to it.

Ergonomics:

The camera is basically a slab, it doesn't have contoured edges or soft grips. I find it really comfortable, it fits in my hands just fine but some will get nervous at using this camera without a wrist strap. I only used the strap that shipped with the camera for a few days until I received my Gordy strap, which works extremely well. I like that it is pretty much impossible for the camera to power up just from sliding within a case, unlike the Sony DSC-HX9V which did this all of the time. There's a downside to this, it is very hard to find the power button by touch (the camera will wake up if you have a lens with a lock button and you engage it). The shutter button is exactly where I expect it, unlike again the Sony.

Camera body/controls/etc:

This camera is beautiful, it draws a lot of attention, which may be the opposite of what you want. I imagine the silver and black bodies from a few feet away will look like any other camera, but the white version just stands out too much. The fit and finish are really nice, I am not a fan of the pop up flash but it works. The flash cannot pop up unless you unlock it manually. The bottom door for the battery and memory card access has a decent latch and has yet to open accidentally. The cover for the micro HDMI and USB is hard plastic, no idea how log it will last if you actually use these cables a lot. I only used them once to test the HDMI cable.

The back controls are extremely simple, they took very little time getting used to. The main command wheel does NOT include PASM, those are accessed through the shooting menu. The main command wheel actually looks kind of naked, since it only has four modes. The second command wheel has a nice texture and the spinning element has a notch action, again a nice touch.

Lenses:

I bought the kit with the 10mm prime and the 10-30mm VR zoom. I spent a lot of time agonizing over this choice, but I am really happy that I got the prime instead of going for the kit with the two zooms. The only downside is that the prime doesn't have VR. As part of a Christmas promotion Amazon gave me a free memory card and a remote, the remote came in really handy while I was learning to get used to the 10mm prime, since this was the first time in years that I was shooting a camera without built-in optical stabilization and/or vibration reduction. After a few weeks I got the hang of it and shake is no longer an issue, it was just a matter of unlearning bad habits I picked up from spending so much time with point and shoot cameras.

The 10-30 is a sweet little lens. It is very small, and it has a lock mode that allows it to collapse for storage. This means that the camera is not really that much bulkier when carried with the 10-30mm than with the 10mm prime. My personal preference is to keep the 10mm on as default, unless I know I will be shooting video or that available light is not going to be an issue. I am dying to get my hands on the 10-100 VR lens, which right now costs as much as what I paid for the camera, the 10mm and the 10-30VR.

Pictures/Video:

The pictures are disappointing if you are expecting the camera to do all the work. It pays to dig into the manual and venture into the PASM mode, it was a lot less painful than what I expected. You can do some really impressive work with PASM modes with really little work. I wish I could do more than +/- 2EV adjustments, and it won't let me auto bracket, but except for those two things it has been a joy to shoot. Also, with the sound effects muted it is completely silent, which is awesome for candid shots. As for the autofocus, it is as fast as advertised. My only issue with the autofocus was while shooting video, and I am not done experimenting with the different custom settings for that.

Two of the auto modes are more for show. There is a mode that will shoot a very short video and then freeze at the end, and it adds some background music. There is also a mode that shoots a high speed burst, then tries to pick the 5 best pictures of the batch. This mode is slow and cumbersome, to me it is mostly as a way to demo the capabilities of the camera. The plain vanilla auto mode is decent, but creative types will soon end up leaving it set in one of the PASM modes instead.

This camera cannot shoot 1080p video at 60p, it either does 30p or 60i. At 720p it will do 60p. You can also shoot fast speed videos at either 400 or 1200fps, which are encoded to be played at normal speed and yields some interesting slow motion effects. I have not had issues posting these videos to Youtube but I noticed that the Xbox 360 channel for Youtube won't display the high speed burst videos.

Overall:

This is not a camera for a newbie, or somebody that spends most of the time in full auto mode. Think of this as a camera for somebody that would rather have a DSLR and a dozen lenses but doesn't want to lug all that gear around. I actually freaked out when I realized that I could have had a Nikon D3100 and the 18-55 kit lens for $150 less, but in reality this is the form factor that I needed, I don't like hauling around a big camera. Also, keep in mind your color choice if you would rather blend into the background when taking pictures because the white camera attracts a lot of attention (I imagine this is going to be 10 times worse if it is the pink one). I doubt anyone will blink twice at the silver or black versions.

Purchase this Camera and Save up to $150 on Select Nikon Lenses:
- Save $100 on the Nikon 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8 lens (Black or White).
- Save $100 on the Nikon 1 NIKKOR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 VR lens (Black or White).

>>>CLICK HERE TO FIND THE BEST DEAL<<<

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