Very recently, I defied my waning bank account and once common sense, and bought a Nikon J1 camera with two lenses: the 10mm prime and the 10-100mm zoom.
The camera has one big advantage with the 10mm pancake lens: it is small. It is so small that it fits in a trouser pocket. Almost. I cannot actually walk or sit down with the camera in the pocket, but I can push it in, and with some effort I can usually pull it out. The fact that the camera is only almost small enough, is one of the frustrating things with the camera. Realistically, I need to carry it in its strap or in a jacket pocket.
Then there are all the other limitations. Forget about zoom. Forget about flash - especially off camera flash. Forget about quick adjustments of ISO, aperture, shooting mode (PSAM) or auto-focus options. There is no nice grip, no swivel screen and the battery life time is not very good. If one wants any of that, one has to use another camera.
But if one wants to simply take a picture, it works fine. It is easy to take sharp pictures that are not too grainy. And there is one unexpected bonus: Nikon's ML-13 remote control happens to work. With a Gorillapod or a Manfrotto table tripod 709B attached, it is extremely easy to just put the camera on a table or floor and trigger a photo with the remote.
10mm is slightly too wide for my taste, but it works. One just has to take one step closer to the target. 10mm on a J1 is roughly equivalent to a 18mm lens with a DX sensor or 28mm with an FX sensor.
Then there is the 10-100mm lens. The range is almost the same as the DX 18-200mm lens or the FX 28-300mm. There is no way the camera will fit in any normal pockets with that lens on. In fact, with the 10-100mm lens, you can forget about the camera's size. The camera is just a little adornment at one end of the lens. The best way to hold the whole thing, is to put the lens in a comfortable position in your left hand, and then fumble around with your right hand, until you get to the little camera at the end, and press the trigger button.
This lens is sturdy. The zoom is electric, but very, very quiet. It is apparently built for movie recordings, so we still photographers pay a lot for features that do not matter that much. But just hearing the absence of sound when you zoom, or feel the weight in your hand is a pleasure. And I love lenses that have internal zoom, so they do not change size when you zoom in and out.
It would be silly to complain too much about the weight and size of the 10-100mm. It is much smaller than Nikon's 70-200mm for example. When it is switched off and retracted, it is shorter than 100mm. (There is a function to keep it expanded, even when it is switched off, to save battery.) However, considering the large diameter of the 10-100mm and the fact that there is no good grip on the J1 camera, it is not that convenient to carry it around in your hand, especially not if you have short fingers.
All in all, the J1 with the two lenses is acceptable for travel shooting, at least for destinations where you can come back later with a DSLR and take some serious photos.
The camera has one big advantage with the 10mm pancake lens: it is small. It is so small that it fits in a trouser pocket. Almost. I cannot actually walk or sit down with the camera in the pocket, but I can push it in, and with some effort I can usually pull it out. The fact that the camera is only almost small enough, is one of the frustrating things with the camera. Realistically, I need to carry it in its strap or in a jacket pocket.
Then there are all the other limitations. Forget about zoom. Forget about flash - especially off camera flash. Forget about quick adjustments of ISO, aperture, shooting mode (PSAM) or auto-focus options. There is no nice grip, no swivel screen and the battery life time is not very good. If one wants any of that, one has to use another camera.
But if one wants to simply take a picture, it works fine. It is easy to take sharp pictures that are not too grainy. And there is one unexpected bonus: Nikon's ML-13 remote control happens to work. With a Gorillapod or a Manfrotto table tripod 709B attached, it is extremely easy to just put the camera on a table or floor and trigger a photo with the remote.
10mm is slightly too wide for my taste, but it works. One just has to take one step closer to the target. 10mm on a J1 is roughly equivalent to a 18mm lens with a DX sensor or 28mm with an FX sensor.
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| 10-100mm lens. 31mm focal length. ISO 100, f/5.3, 1/1250s. There is no denying there is some potential for bokeh in this camera and lens. It is not much, but it is much more than none. |
Then there is the 10-100mm lens. The range is almost the same as the DX 18-200mm lens or the FX 28-300mm. There is no way the camera will fit in any normal pockets with that lens on. In fact, with the 10-100mm lens, you can forget about the camera's size. The camera is just a little adornment at one end of the lens. The best way to hold the whole thing, is to put the lens in a comfortable position in your left hand, and then fumble around with your right hand, until you get to the little camera at the end, and press the trigger button.
This lens is sturdy. The zoom is electric, but very, very quiet. It is apparently built for movie recordings, so we still photographers pay a lot for features that do not matter that much. But just hearing the absence of sound when you zoom, or feel the weight in your hand is a pleasure. And I love lenses that have internal zoom, so they do not change size when you zoom in and out.
It would be silly to complain too much about the weight and size of the 10-100mm. It is much smaller than Nikon's 70-200mm for example. When it is switched off and retracted, it is shorter than 100mm. (There is a function to keep it expanded, even when it is switched off, to save battery.) However, considering the large diameter of the 10-100mm and the fact that there is no good grip on the J1 camera, it is not that convenient to carry it around in your hand, especially not if you have short fingers.
All in all, the J1 with the two lenses is acceptable for travel shooting, at least for destinations where you can come back later with a DSLR and take some serious photos.
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| 10-100mm zoom lens, 58.2mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320s, F5.6. Handheld. There was no problem at all to get this sharpness. I in fact got much more keepers with the J1 in this Marathon than I usually do with my D300 and a 70-200mm lens. |
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| 10mm prime lens. ISO 100, f/7.1, 2.5 seconds. Taken with an ML-13 remote and a Manfrotto 709B tripod. |
3 comments:
I have a question for you - understanding some of the limitations - if you were able to get 3 batteries and the camera body with the middle size lens for $250 - is this still a bad camera?
Most reviews I read state that for the price you can do better, but that was when the camera was $600... how about for $250?
I just bought a Nikon J1 with two lenses (10-30 and 30-110) refurbished from eBay. It cost USD 200 and I feel like this is a steal. Check it out, I don't know how long that will last. I think that is a steal, and really look forward to getting it here. Even though it is not pocketable each lens is much smaller than the equivalent in the traditional SLR form factor. Image samples I checked on the internet look great (even those in this page). I am still trying to understant why there's so little love and so much contempt for the Nikon 1 line (except for the outrageous launch prices, I guess).
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