Amin
Hall of Famer
Today Nikon announced the 1 System, a new compact system camera (CSC) platform based on a 1-inch (2.7X crop) sensor, which size-wise falls squarely between 1/1.7" sensors like the one in the Canon G12 and Four Thirds.
The initial cameras for this system are the V1 (integrated electronic viewfinder, $900 MSRP including standard kit zoom) and J1 (no EVF, $650 MSRP) pictured below:
The J1 also comes in pink, silver, red, and black. Both cameras use the same 10MP CMOS sensor.
In addition to the two cameras, initial system offerings will include:
Exhaustive coverage of the announcement can be found at the excellent 1001 Noisy Cameras.
Not surprisingly, much of the reaction to the announcement has been negative. The loudest voices in our echo chamber have been asking for larger than 4/3 sensors, not smaller ones. Even DPReview wrote an opinion piece saying that this makes sense for Nikon because they needed to get into the CSC space without jeopardizing their DSLR sales.
I'm not nearly as negative on the new Nikon system. As far back as 2007, I have been calling for 1-inch sensor cameras, which can offer a substantial increase in sensor performance over today's small (2/3" and smaller) sensor cameras (a segment being eroded by phone cameras) at a substantial size savings to 4/3-and-larger sensor cameras. For a fixed-lens camera with a zoom lens, it makes good sense.
On the other hand, I'm not sure that this sensor size will work well for interchangeable lens cameras. We've already seen some very small bodies and lenses for Micro 4/3 and even APS-C CSCs. The new Nikon system will have to offer substantially smaller lenses than even Micro 4/3 to be compelling in this rapidly growing market. That said, a nice flat little 35mm f/2 lens plus the existing 10mm f/2.8 could make for a truly pocketable two-lens combo. Lots of Nikon DSLR shooters would be interested, and so would I.
DPReview has photos of a number of prototype lenses which signal Nikon's plans for this system: Hands-on images from the Nikon 1 launch, including mock-up lenses
The initial cameras for this system are the V1 (integrated electronic viewfinder, $900 MSRP including standard kit zoom) and J1 (no EVF, $650 MSRP) pictured below:
The J1 also comes in pink, silver, red, and black. Both cameras use the same 10MP CMOS sensor.
In addition to the two cameras, initial system offerings will include:
- Kit lens -- 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens (kit lens)
- Pancake lens - 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8 lens ($249.95)
- Zoom lens - 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 lens ($249.95)
- Nikon's first power zoom (ideal for recording movies) -- 1 NIKKOR VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 ($749.95)
- SB-N5 Speedlight is $149.95
- GP-N100 GPS unit is $149.95.
Exhaustive coverage of the announcement can be found at the excellent 1001 Noisy Cameras.
Not surprisingly, much of the reaction to the announcement has been negative. The loudest voices in our echo chamber have been asking for larger than 4/3 sensors, not smaller ones. Even DPReview wrote an opinion piece saying that this makes sense for Nikon because they needed to get into the CSC space without jeopardizing their DSLR sales.
I'm not nearly as negative on the new Nikon system. As far back as 2007, I have been calling for 1-inch sensor cameras, which can offer a substantial increase in sensor performance over today's small (2/3" and smaller) sensor cameras (a segment being eroded by phone cameras) at a substantial size savings to 4/3-and-larger sensor cameras. For a fixed-lens camera with a zoom lens, it makes good sense.
On the other hand, I'm not sure that this sensor size will work well for interchangeable lens cameras. We've already seen some very small bodies and lenses for Micro 4/3 and even APS-C CSCs. The new Nikon system will have to offer substantially smaller lenses than even Micro 4/3 to be compelling in this rapidly growing market. That said, a nice flat little 35mm f/2 lens plus the existing 10mm f/2.8 could make for a truly pocketable two-lens combo. Lots of Nikon DSLR shooters would be interested, and so would I.
DPReview has photos of a number of prototype lenses which signal Nikon's plans for this system: Hands-on images from the Nikon 1 launch, including mock-up lenses