While I have been a Nikon user for several years I chose to buy a Panasonic G3 as opposed to the V1. I just bought it a few months ago, and have been happy enough with it. However I am still wondering if I should have gone with the V1 instead especially after I saw the announcement about the new 18.5mm f/1.8 lens.

I now own a D3 and D300 and will be selling one or the other soon. I also own the 28-70mm and 80-200mm AF-S lenses.

My question is to those folks who have owned the V1 for a while now. What are the primary features that you like the best and least?

Did any of you switch from MFT to the V1?

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

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Graham,

I've been going through a similar problem. I wanted a small, capable camera to travel with. So I bought an Olympus E-p2 and Panasonic zoom last year. Liked the lens, hated the camera. The menu system was a complete disaster, in my opinion. After selling that, I bought a Fuji X10 - got one with orbs and terrible auto white balance. It was a very nice camera, though. It felt great in the hand, had very good ergonomics, a great lens, and an optical viewfinder. The VF was useful, but not terribly accurate. I thought about having the camera repaired, but wound up just returning it, but found a good deal on the V1 and bought it. I've only had it a couple of days and haven't been able to thoroughly test it yet, but it has promise.

What I've found so far is that the sensor is noisy, but cleans up pretty well in Capture NX2. The viewfinder is very good, and the photos seem sharp and well focused. The menu system is pure Nikon, so it is very intuitive to me. I especially like the fact that I can use my existing software and workflow without having to change to another system to edit the photos. I'm firmly locked in to Photo Mechanic, Capture, and occasionally View. I've tried LR and never really liked it, but would be pretty much forced into using it with the Fuji. But so far, I haven't fallen in love with the V1. In all fairness, I haven't taken anything but a few shots around the house, so I haven't really given it a chance. It's nice, but it hasn't grabbed me - yet. I'll update this post in a day or two to let you know what I decide.

But I have a couple days to decide whether to keep it or not. I'm going to Europe next week, and wanted a small backup to my D700, so I'll need to decide before I leave. Choosing a P&S is really hard after living with a DSLR Nikon. I just sold my LX3 which I liked a lot - even though many of it's features weren't very intuitive to me. It was a great backup on travel and had really great IQ.

Rich
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EDITED TO ADD

Graham,

Been doing a little shooting as I have time, and I'm liking the camera better. The one thing I'm noticing, though, is a tendency to blow highlights/light colors if you aren't careful (I haven't been). I'm posting a shot that I worked over fairly extensively in Capture, along with one that's completely untouched (except to resize and save as jpeg), and the same photo adjusted in capture. It took a good dose of highlight protection and minus exposure compensation, but definitely starts looking acceptable. Unfortunately the light was overcast, so that didn't help matters a lot. I'm beginning to lean toward keeping the camera, but with the knowledge that I may have to work a little harder on V1 NEF's than those from the D700.











There are two things I don't like about the V1, though. One, it has no built-in flash, only an external add-on for $160. For a travel camera, I want a flash so I can take pictures out at dinner, etc. Second, I'm not really wild about building ANOTHER system of camera and lenses. I had this same objection to u4/3. So, I'm still considering. Tomorrow will be decision day.

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Rich, you seem to reflect my sentiments exactly. I think the people moving up from the P&S world are thrilled with the mirrorless cameras no matter who makes them. OTOH, folks like us (and I'm not trying to be a snob here) who have been using DSLR cameras have a very different expectation. For instance, the Panasonic G3 has an electronic VF which has to be nice for someone who is used to holding a camera at arms length and looking at an LCD screen. However, the EVF is not as good as the optical VF on SLRs. In low light indoors the EVF takes on a yellowish tinge.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

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I'm quite happy with my V1 using it for what it is... a handy walk around camera. I use my D700/7000 for when I specifically go out to shoot. When we go away with friends for the weekend or any other non-shooting event, I bring along the V1.

I previously had an EPL-1 for this purpose but never really warmed up to the camera. It felt "cheap" to me and the color wasn't Nikon color. The V1 feels like a quality camera, particularly with the addition of the Faniec grip (http://www.kleptography.com/rf/#camera_nikon1v1). While there is certainly more noise than a full or crop frame sensor, it's quite manageable. I also find the camera handles low light well (routinely shoot at ISO 2000), has very fast autofocus, is compatible with my full frame lenses for amazing focal lengths, and has most of the controls one would want. Negatives? The stupid little cap for the shoe keeps falling off. (I've finally taped it into place since I don't like flash.) The controls are, for the most part, menu driven. (I sure would like to change shooting mode with a quick turn of a dial.)

All in all, I think it's a real good camera for its purpose and I am much happier with it compared to the Oly.

Good luck with your decision!

Regards,

Bill

I've had the V1 for several months now. It's best feature, for me, is the FT1 adapter. If they didn't have that then I wouldn't have bought into the system. And I haven't had a m4/3 so I can't answer that.

So what do I like best and least...

Best: FT1 adapter, light, small lenses, 5 fps, good quality
Least: mandatory image review, slower lenses, dials too easily moved

I own a J1 as well as an EPL-1, so I'll comment from an image quality perspective.

The larger sensor on the 4/3 has some advantages, but that doesn't translate into as large a margin of performance as you'd think vis-a-vis Nikon 1.

I can get very comparable results using the J1 at similar high ISOs. In fact, I'd hold up that CNX2 provides a superior optimization of NEF files versus Olympus dreck of a RAW converter. So it's the combination of the hardware and the software that will lead you to better image quality.

Pros for 4/3 - lenses lenses lenses. And IBIS (image stability) if you're talking about Olympus. Ergonomics are better as well.

Pros for Nikon 1 - AF performance, both static and tracking, and full integration into CNX/NEF workflow. Unlike the NRW format on the high end Coolpixes, if you've shot NEF on DSLRs, then you'll know what to do with the Nikon 1 files. And your PP is much simplified IMHO.

The 18mm f1.8 is a good start - but need a fast wide and a fast short tele. Eventually, they'll have to cough up fast zooms to cover the popular 24-200 range.

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I've had my V1 for a few months and I really like it. (Even though it's in the shop at the moment)

Coming from a D7000 (and a D90 before that among others) I like that the menu system feels very familiar. I have found it quite easy to navigate. I have also found the image quality to be perfectly fine for what I have been using it for. The video quality is quite good as well.

I like the light weight. I like the EVF for the most part. But if you want to shoot multiple images fast the EVF doesn't keep up which is annoying.

I like the electronic shutter. The super slo mo video mode is fun to play with.

Personally I have not found the FT1 to be as useful as I had hoped. But I bought the 3 basic N1 lenses (10mm 2.8, 10-30mm and 30-110mm) which cover what I want to do most of the time pretty well.

Sorry this is a bit stream-of-consciousness. I have used it for some night shooting that turned out pretty well (with a tripod). And I have used it for HDR shooting which is not as convenient as a DSLR with bracketing, but changing the exposure compensation is pretty easy once you get the hang of it (although I always turn the dial the wrong way as it seems counterintuitive).

I love that I can shoot RAW with it and process the images in CNX2 or PS.

Since the big price drop I think the V1 is even more attractive.

Glenn
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One drawback I seem to have found is sports/action shooting. My understanding is that the camera will shoot at 5 fps(?) but that the EVF blacks out while shooting. Is that correct? If so how can you follow your subject?

Also, with the FT-1 adapter and AF-S lenses I think I read that one cannot use AF-C, but must use AF-S and center focus point.

How bug of an issue is this with sports? I sometimes shoot HS football and being able to use my 80-200 f/2.8 would be really cool, but I need to be able to see the players while I am shooting at 5 fps.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

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yeah, sports is a problem if you want to shoot bursts for the reason you mention. And it takes a few seconds for the EVF to come back.

I managed to still get some decent shots for our adult soccer league. But its primary value there was for video, frankly. I did find that shooting in the Smart Photo Selector mode helped quite a bit. In bright, daylight you can set a fast shutter speed and the pictures can be quite good. Under stadium lights which are quite dim in most cases it is definitely more of a challenge.

Once again I will say that shooting the super slo mo video is a boon for sports even though it is a little gimmicky and the biggest problem I have with that mode is the reduced resolution and ultra-widescreen format. It's still fun to play with.

I tried my 70-200 f2.8 (Tamron version) with the FT1 but it just didn't really work out. Part of the problem was that 70 (times 2.7) just starts out as too big of a zoom on this camera. Any action closeby is impossible to capture when you are right close to the field. But the focusing was also very slow. So what I typically do is shoot stills with my D7000 and either the 70-200 or sometimes my 85mm 1.8 and use the V1 to shoot video with either of the N1 zooms.

Glenn
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Thanks Glenn. I always bring two cameras myself, one with the 80-200 and the other a 20-35mm. The last time I had the 80-200mm on my D300 and the Panasonic G3 with a 14-45mm lens (28-90mm equivalent). That camera does 4 fps and still allows me to see through the EVF. That's kind of a shame about the V1 because I was thinking about selling the G3 and going with the V1. I may rent one from LensRentals together with an adapter just to try it out.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Another issue with the V1 is its dedicated flash that seems to have a very puny GN. This is the first time that I have seen a camera that allows for an external flash, but yet doesn't have a hot shoe. I want to be able to shoot indoors if I need to, and it would seem that, other than a tilt head, the SB-N5 isn't much better than a simple pop-up flash.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

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Graham,

That is one of the deciding factors for me, as well. I finally decided that I'm not entirely sold on the image quality, and not having an onboard flash in a Point & Shoot (and that's how I would use the camera) just don't cut it for me. I'm returning the camera. Don't know what I'll do for a replacement, but may go back to the Fuji X10. This has been a very frustrating exercise.

Rich

Rich

I stopped by our local Ritz Camera today during their going out of business sale. They had a V1 in stock as well as the flash unit. After playing with it for a bit I decided that it is not the camera for me. Even the salesman told me I would be better off with my Panasonic G3.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I really don't use flash much so for me this was a non-issue. But, yeah, I don't know why they didn't just stick a pop up flash on it instead.

I have no complaints about IQ. If it just doesn't work for your type of photography though, then it doesn't work.


Glenn
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Hi,

I have used my V1 for some months.
Good things: Nikon quality, FT1 (although I sold all my other lenses), GPS.

Drawbackes: poor eyesight when wearing glasses, too limited flash, no bracketing, not the (hoped for) shorter lensens (like 6 mm or so).

If you own another Nikon with lenses the V1 with FT1 is a MUST though.

I have changed to Sony Nex-7 and love the eyefinder. Will try it for some months too before giving my full experience.

Willem

Sony Nex-7

>Hi,
>
>I have used my V1 for some months.
>Good things: Nikon quality, FT1 (although I sold all my other
>lenses), GPS.
>
>Drawbackes: poor eyesight when wearing glasses, too limited
>flash, no bracketing, not the (hoped for) shorter lensens
>(like 6 mm or so).
>
>If you own another Nikon with lenses the V1 with FT1 is a MUST
>though.
>
>I have changed to Sony Nex-7 and love the eyefinder. Will try
>it for some months too before giving my full experience.

The NEX-7 has a feature called, I think, focus peeking, which I hear is a big help in manual focusing. The supposed downside of the Sony MFT cameras is their lens quality.

Graham
From St. Augustine, FL. "I like photographers, you don't ask questions." Ronald Reagan to White House Press Photogs

<http://www.ancientcityphotography.com/>

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

>>I have changed to Sony Nex-7 and love the eyefinder. Will
>try
>>it for some months too before giving my full experience.

>The NEX-7 has a feature called, I think, focus peeking, which
>I hear is a big help in manual focusing. The supposed downside
>of the Sony MFT cameras is their lens quality.

It CAN show the sharp areas chosen from 25 points on the screen, yes. Bu I prefer the flixible point: 1 point which you can mover over the screen (like my former Nikon D3X, that was what I used most).

The quality of the lenses I will have to see for some time to judge, but there are Zeiss lenses, and in my experience Zeis is ruperior to even FX Nikon lenses, but MF.

Willem

Sony Nex-7

Glenn and Graham, not sure if this already got covered elsewhere in this thread or elsewhere as a followup point. The work-around to continuous shooting blackout is as follows:

- obtain focus on your subject, and when you are ready to start your burst press and hold that shutter button down and hold on for dear life until you have tracked the subject as far as you wanted.
- you tend to end up with far more frames than you might have intended, but the V1 buffer stands up remarkably well to this solution.
- this was first pointed out by the Calgary photographer Rob Galbraith (Little Guy Media) who has a great review up.


Best regards, SteveK

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Graham, I have a similar set-iup to you (d700 and d7000) and I bought the full V1 kit. IIMHO it is a great advanced pont and shoot with interchangeable lenses. The 10mm 2.8 is really good. However, I would not compare the image quality to either of my main cameras. Nor did I expect it to be so. I did recognize the need for a lighter set-up when I just did not feel like carrying the DSLR kit. The V1 fills that bill admirably. If possible, I would advise keeping your current DSLRs and getting the V1. I'm even thinking of selling the Fuji X100, excellent though it is. Hope this helps, Ray
PS love St. Augustine and its many great photo ops.

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