Yucca amongst the names, Garden of the Gods, Colorado. I used the 18.5mm f/1.8 1-Nikkor lens for this shot, hand-held at f/2.0.
Along with the Nikon 1 V2 announcement in October 2012, Nikon also released a new 1-Nikkor prime lens, the 18.5mm f/1.8 1-Nikkor. This lens, designed for the Nikon CX-format sensor has an angle of view roughly equivalent to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera body.
With the Nikon CX format, fast lenses are important for two reasons. First, the small format makes depth of field control hard, so anything with a fast aperture will help to deliver subject isolation and soften backgrounds. Second, while the ISO performance of the Nikon 1 cameras is excellent overall, these cameras are still noisier than large-sensor DX or FX DSLRs. That means anytime you can shoot with a faster aperture, your camera will be able to use a lower ISO for any given shutter speed. Read on for my review… Continue reading Hands-on Review: Nikon 18.5mm 1-Nikkor Lens→
Nikon 1 V2 (left) compared to the Nikon 1 V1. Other than the larger viewfinder, the V2 is actually smaller and lighter than the V1.
For the last year, I’ve used the Nikon 1 V1 as my primary travel/family camera. In general, I found it to be a good camera with some ergonomic quirks. In late October, Nikon announced the V1’s successor, the Nikon 1 V2. I took delivery of my V2 a few days ago and while I haven’t done complete testing, I thought I’d offer up some of my first impressions, especially with respect to what I thought the shortcomings of the V1 were back in February.
Main New Features
The Nikon 1 V2 offers a 14 megapixel CX-format sensor. The camera’s base ISO is 160, and is expandable to ISO 6400.
The body design and control layout is totally new and more in line with Nikon’s DSLRs.
The Nikon 1 V2 can shoot at 15 fps without any metering or focus limitations (as far as I can tell).
The V2 sports a small built-in flash unit.
The Nikon 1 V2 uses a different battery than the V1, the EN-EL21. This battery is smaller and lighter than the EN-EL15, and uses a dedicated charger. The battery life is good for around 300 shots, according to Nikon. Continue reading Nikon 1 V2 Hands-On First Impressions→
