What is the reason to change the mount type in Nikon 1 series?

Question

To use Nikon F-mount lenses, Nikon 1 series require an adapter.

Moreover, the flash unit mount is a custom one too and it seems that there is no adapter at all, but maybe I'm wrong.

What is the technical reason to use custom mounts for this new brand, while there are obvious disadvantages of not keeping the mount which already exists for a half of a century, and the hot shoe which is largely compatible with most manufacturers?

Answer

The Nikon SLR lenses are designed such that the image circle falls on the sensor/film plane based on the distance from the sensor to the mount (flange focal distance). For an SLR, this distance includes the space needed for the mirror. As the Nikon V1 doesn't have a mirror, the distance from the sensor to the mount point is substantially smaller, so in order to use an SLR lens you need an adapter to create the distance. This adapter does just that.

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Could the Nikon V1 be a good camera for sports photography?

Question

I think the new Nikon V1 looks promising as a camera for sports photography:

• it has lots of auto-focus points and focuses quickly
• it has a fast continuous shooting frame rate
• it is small and might even pass for a point-and-shoot (for non-accredited photographers, anything that looks like a DSLR with a big zoom is often not allowed into venues)

However, it also:

• doesn't have a fast zoom lens (F2.8) yet
• has a smaller sensor (2.7 crop factor)

I'd also like to know how it well it handles high ISO (low light) shooting.

The 30-110mm zoom (~80-300mm equivalent) is only F3.5-F5.6, but is also only $249!

I know that professional sports photographers will turn up their noses at this camera, but for the amateur/enthusiast, I think there might be something here.

What are some other things to consider when evaluating the Nikon V1 for use in sports?

Answer

The Nikon V1 has a sensor that is smaller than even the Micro Four Thirds cameras currently, and that alone may be the biggest threat to it becoming a serious contender in any higher end application. Yes the sensor is larger than point-and-shoot style cameras, but it is not nearly the surface area of even APS-C or DX sensors.

On the other hand, the camera does excel in some other areas such as its hybrid autofocus system. It allows 10fps with autofocus, or 60fps with focus locked, both utilizing the electronic shutter. With the mechanical shutter you can achieve a very respectable 5fps. One very interesting feature is that with the electronic shutter, you can dial in up to 1/16000 shutter speeds, quite impressive.

The hybrid AF system is quite revolutionary as compared to other mirrorless cameras. The camera not only provides contrast detection AF, but also phase detection, utilizing 73 point phase detection AF in continuous AF mode. This could be a huge benefit when tracking moving subjects such as in sports.

The speed of the AF system comes thanks to the fact that, unlike competing mirrorless cameras which rely solely on contrast detection to determine focus, the Nikon V1 has a hybrid system that combines both phase-detection and contrast-detection capability. The operating mode is chosen automatically as appropriate to the shooting conditions, and a generous array of 73 phase detection AF points are available.

The camera uses the Nikon 1 lens mount, but it is compatible with Nikon F-mount lenses via the FT1 adapter.

Two Nikon 1 mount specific lenses would be applicable to sports photography, and that is the Nikkor VR 30-110mm f3.8-5.6 and the 10-100mm f4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM. The first offers a range up to 297mm eqiv, and the second 270mm eqiv. The downside may be that they only offer f/5.6 at that range, but it would be usable depending on the lighting.

Due to the sensor size, achieving an out of focus portion of the frame will be difficult. That, paired with the fact that the widest aperture available in these zoom lenses is f/3.8, may mean a very wide depth of field.

Overall, I feel as though this camera will be excellent for enthusiasts to use for sports photography. Due to the limiting nature of small the small sensor, and the range of lenses currently available, I do not see this becoming a replacement for APS-C based bodies in the near future.

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What makes the Nikon 1 V1 different from Nikon's existing DSLRs?

Question

I stumbled across the Nikon 1 V1 in my web travels, and it sounds as though it's completely different from Nikon's DSLR cameras.

The Nikon website explains some of its specifications but what technical feature is in it that means that it can take shots so quickly (apparently up to 60 fps) and have "the world's fastest autofocus", according to their website?

Answer

1. The Nikon 1 V1 is not a DSLR. It is does not have a reflex mirror.
2. The V1 has a smaller sensor with 2.7X crop compared to full-frame.
3. The previous two points make it much smaller than a DSLR, particularly when including lenses.
4. It does not have an optical viewfinder, instead it uses an EVF with 1.4 megapixels. This gives it a larger and brighter view than most cropped-sensor DSLRs (D3100, D5100, etc) but smaller than a full-frame (D3X, D3S). Like professional models, it gives 100% coverage.
5. It uses an electronic shutter instead of a mechanical one. Since it has no mirror to move either, it can shoot continuously without any moving parts. As you noted it can do so at up to 60 FPS but also does 30 FPS and 10 FPS with continuous AF.
6. The electronic shutter allows a maximum shutter-speed of 1/16000s, twice as fast as the best DSLRs on the market.
7. It uses a different lens mount called Nikon 1 mount with 4 lenses presently available. To use Nikkor AF-S lenses an adapter is planned but not yet available.
8. It can use fast phase-detect autofocus while recording video. No DSLR can do that which is one reason AF for video is quite disturbing (contrast-detect forces the lens to move back and forth to determine focus).

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