The Nikon 1

[Franglais]

Played with one this evening. It was working but I couldn't get any photos out of the camera. The image below was done with my Canon S95 compact, of which more later.

It seems like when you turn it on the 10-130mm grows in length so what you have in your hands is actually quite a big package.

The electronic viewfinder on the V1 is nice and clear. As soon as you press the shutter release it starts displaying yellow rectanges around faces. Focussing was quick but not startlingly so. Both cameras I had were set up to shoot video when I got them (perhaps an indication of the direction things are going).

When I switched back to stills and did a shot something happened in the viewfinder, like it was slightly jittery. I'd already forgotten that it was an electronic viewfinder, and the jittery effect was the camera doing a string of 20 shots in quick succession as I pressed the shutter release, so that I was sure of getting the best shot. (Wow. See what I mean about video?)

I switched over to a camera with the pancake lens, and compared the size with the S95. The V1 body is about the same size, but thicker and the pancake lens adds more to the thickness. It would still fit in my day bag like the S95 - but then the S95 has the equivalent of a 28-105 f2-f4.5 lens, not a 28mm f2.8.

Looked at the camera controls - the user interface is nothing like the Nikon DSLR's (no PSAM modes). It looks to me like this camera is targeted at consumers and not at experts.

Someone else did my photo on the V1. We looked at it closely on the LCD screen. It was really good. It had that smooth look about it, my grey hair came out looking grey and beautiful not burnt out as the S95 has rendered it (shot below was done on the S95)