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I am a professional photographer and have been for a long time. I also write books about photography. I like cameras and own many different kinds, from medium format film cameras to super zoom compacts. But I've been very interested in the whole category of mirrorless cameras for the two years. I own three different Olympus Pen cameras, including the new Pen EP3, so it was a little bit counter-intuitive for me to pick up a Nikon V1 as well. I was originally attracted to the camera because of the industrial design which (unlike just about every one else on the web) I like very much. It's clean and to the point. I like cameras with high resolution EVF's because it makes the process of shooting (and especially shooting video) seem very much like using the traditional cameras I grew up with. I cannot understand the fad of holding a camera at arm's length and trying to compose a good photograph. Just doesn't work for so many reasons.
I've shot with the Nikon in the studio (using LED light panels) and outside for the last five days. It focuses very, very quickly and with the mechanical shutter engaged it shoots at 5 fps. You can also use the electronic shutter to shoot 10, 30 or 60 fps. Amazingly fast. The EVF works very well in bright sun and in low light.
The camera is small and light and the video specs are very good as well. There is even a high speed video mode that allows you to shoot very short clips at 400 fps. When you play back at a normal 30 fps the footage becomes incredibly slow slow motion. While the video lacks a bit of finesse in the audio realm the test clips I've shot at regular 1080i and 1080p are sharp and the color is great. There is a standard socket for an external microphone and variable sensitivity settings in the menu. Just not fine tuned control over manual sound levels.
The two lenses I got are the standard kit lenses and both of them work well, provide great Vibration Reduction and seem sharp even when shot wide open. I hope they flesh out the offerings to include some high speed prime lenses as well.
The camera, when used with the electronic shutter, is 100% silent in operation.
What are the flaws? 1. You should be able to turn off the image review but you can't. That means, when shooting in single shot mode, the camera will show you a review image after each push of the shutter which slows your shot to shot time down to about 2 seconds. If you were able to turn off the review the camera is completely capable of shooting very, very quickly. In the continuous mode there's enough shutter delay to throw you off your game if you've been shooting with a $5,000 sports camera. If you are upgrading from a point and shoot, you won't notice it at all. The cure is to go electronic and set the camera for 10 fps and then shoot in bursts. No lag and you're pretty much guaranteed to catch some peak action
The menu is much less detailed but much more straightforward than the menus in the Olympus Pens which is both good and bad. The Nikon is easier to learn (especially for people coming from Nikon SLR's) but the Olympus menus give you more fine control over just about every setting.
I've had great luck with the images that come out of the camera. The jpegs are well exposed, full of good detail and the colors are right on the money. Just as good as the "famous" Olympus Jpegs. I'm waiting on Adobe to implement the new nef raw files into ACR and Lightroom so I can start shooting raw files. You can use the supplied software for now but the workflow is so much slower I just can't stand it.
I'm certain that Nikon will do well with this system because it's quite a huge step up from cameras like the Panasonic LX-5 or the Canon G12 and lets you interchange lenses. When they add a pro model and an ultra wide angle the ball will really start rolling.
For me it's the new "compact" camera. I take it with me everywhere and it takes great images without much intervention on my part. Is it as good as my Canon 5Dmk2 or Canon 1DS mk2 full frame cameras? No. The files aren't as detailed and they don't have the same sense of depth. But the iSO of the Nikon is close to my 1ds2 and that camera was $8,000 only a few short years ago.....
If you are a parent and your kids play sports like football and soccer this might be the ultimate camera for you. It's easy to use and the longer zoom lens is sharp and locks focus quickly. Coupled with a fast frame rate and you fix all the stuff that cheaper DSLR's and point and shoot superzooms tend to muff.
I just wish they had supplied the flash in the same shipment as the cameras....I want to try using it as a trigger for my studio flashes.
The mirrorless cameras represent a new direction for camera makers and I think, for users as well. The handling and image quality is more than enough for most of the stuff we want our cameras to do. And the Nikon is in the same league with the m4:3 cameras from Olympus and Panasonic.
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