Final month the Nikon Z system celebrated its third birthday… however we’ve simply handed one other Nikon anniversary that slipped quietly beneath the radar. As I waxed lyrical concerning the Z system in a earlier opinion article, I joked Nikon was a little late to the mirrorless celebration (opens in new tab), however that’s not completely true… The Massive N first dipped its toes in mirrorless waters simply over a decade in the past, when it launched the Nikon 1 J1 and V1.
Again in 2011 the business mirrorless market was nonetheless very a lot in its infancy. Olympus and Panasonic’s Micro 4 Thirds system was practically three years previous, and each Sony and Samsung had launched their first APS-C mirrorless choices the 12 months prior. However anybody hoping Nikon would launch a DX mirrorless digicam must wait one other eight years for the Z50 (opens in new tab) (although it was undoubtedly value it!).
As a substitute, Nikon took a daring gamble and launched the Nikon 1. The Nikon 1 system launched on September 21 2011 and was developed round a tiny 1-inch ‘CX’ CMOS sensor with a 2.7x crop issue. At present, in fact, 1-inch sensors are extensively utilized by Sony, Canon and Panasonic in some fairly severe compact cameras; again then, it simply wasn’t taken significantly.
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The J1 and V1 featured a brand new hybrid AF system that boasted the world’s quickest autofocusing and the cameras packed 10Mp sensors, 60fps high-speed steady taking pictures (think about!), full HD video and uncooked taking pictures. The Nikon 1 V1 had a barely higher spec due to its digital viewfinder, sizzling shoe, microphone port and prolonged battery life.
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Neither had been vital darlings and regardless of the 9 further cameras launched for this technique over the following few years, the Nikon 1 vary was given the chop shortly earlier than the Z mount’s 2018 debut.
Now at this level you may be questioning why I’m harping on a few now redundant mirrorless system given the rise and rise of the mighty Z mount.
Effectively, I don’t assume Nikon 1 was a nasty idea – I believe it was misunderstood. At a time when megapixels had been nonetheless very a lot the advertising and marketing buzzword, it’s potential customers by no means took to the system’s 10Mp (and later 14Mp and eventually 20Mp) sensors. By the point the Nikon 1 J5 arrived with 20 million pixels, it was most likely too late – the Nikon 1’s window of alternative was gone.
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And that’s an amazing disgrace as a result of I nonetheless imagine there’s a spot for an reasonably priced compact interchangeable lens system with a 1-inch sensor. In a world the place smartphones have taken chunks out of the compact digicam market, even one of the best digicam telephones (opens in new tab) merely can not contact the flexibility of the Nikon 1’s surprisingly complete roster of 13 Nikon-branded lenses.
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Let’s not overlook simply how swanky the unique J1 and V1 look even now, in 2021; there aren’t many trendy cameras (not to mention 10-year-old examples) that look half as slick right this moment. An enormous promoting level for mirrorless cameras has at all times been smaller and lighter our bodies, and the J1 and V1 had been launched because the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens cameras (the previous weighs simply 277g).
Simply check out the Nikon 1 J5 above and picture its 21MP sensor again within the unique Nikon 1 J1 on the high of this text. With these appears to be like and a correct sensor, simply think about what might need been…
Nikon has moved onto larger and higher issues, however that gained’t cease me from questioning how a 1 collection digicam would fare had been it launched with all of the mod cons we’ve come to anticipate right this moment.
The Nikon Z fc (opens in new tab) might be the closest non secular successor to the Nikon 1 right this moment, however despite the fact that the Z fc is super-cute, it is undoubtedly a nod to the previous, whereas the Nikon 1’s clear, minimalist design appeared to the longer term.
Learn extra:
The perfect digicam for novices (opens in new tab)
Finest Nikon Z lenses
(opens in new tab)The perfect Nikon lenses
(opens in new tab)The perfect Nikon digicam (opens in new tab)
