By : Nikon School Blog | 21 Feb, 2018 |
SLRs are the most successful cameras Nikon has manufactured since 1959. However, changing times often call for new thinking, and in 2012, the Nikon 1 series was launched by Nikon to fill a gap which then existed in the enthusiast digital camera market.
Right from the beginning, the Nikon 1 series fuelled intense interest and enthusiasm from both professionals and enthusiasts. The first Nikon 1 models, the Nikon1 J1 and the Nikon 1 V1 generated a lot of media interest worldwide. They introduced us to many innovative features, including a fast continuous shooting speed of 10 fps in the V1, an electronic shutter mechanism, slow motion movies, smart photo selector mode and a unique ‘motion snapshot’ mode.
High image quality and compact size factor combined to give the Nikon 1 cameras the edge they needed at launch. Many travel photographers opened up to the mirror-less concept for the first time after testing the Nikon 1 cameras. Even wildlife photographers expressed their satisfaction while using these small imaging machines while coupling them with traditional NIKKOR lenses using the FT-1 adapter specially designed for the Nikon 1 cameras.
After the initial success, the Nikon 1 line up has evolved quickly to cater to customer’s growing requirements. The present Nikon 1 line up boasts amazing features like 60 fps continuous shooting (J5 and V3, with focus locked, for a burst of 40 images), 105 phase detect focus points, and upto 4K videos with Electronic vibration reduction.
Keeping up with modern needs, touch screen operations and built in Wi-Fi for wireless image transfer have also been added.
A later addition to the line-up, the Nikon 1 AW1 series is the world’s first waterproof, dustproof and shockproof interchangeable lens camera. It is designed to take on challenging environments, including snow and underwater situations.
For any camera system, the lens line up is equally important. Nikon has ensured that those who get into the Nikon 1 system do not feel the lack of adequate lenses. The 1 NIKKOR lens line up offers all the necessary lenses needed for general purpose, portraiture, low light, and high zoom requirements. In addition, the FT-1 mount allows the use of NIKKOR F-mount lenses too.
The Nikon 1 system uses a CX-format digital imaging sensor. This sensor has a crop factor of 2.7 and fits snugly into the space between the DX format and the compact camera sensors. It is small, yet offers high image quality with rich colour tones.
The success of the Nikon 1 system has made Nikon’s position stronger as a global imaging giant. Along with the FX and DX format interchangeable lens cameras, the Nikon 1 system will surely get more followers in the coming years.