The Nikon 1 V3, announced this evening, is finally a camera worthy of the Nikon name. But is it enough to breath life back into the fundamentally flawed Nikon 1 product line? Maybe. But probably not.
Of course, the company hasn’t introduced a larger sensor to their Nikon 1 line, so it will never fulfill the needs of the bokeh-loving, high-ISO shooting large-sensor crowd. The Nikon 1’s smallish sensor will never produce the shallow depth of field that can so easily be achieved with compact cameras like the Sony A6000 or Fujifilm X-E2, much less the (somewhat less compact) Sony A7. But for those people who are perfectly happy with the depth of field they get from their iPhones (and that’s a lot of people), the Nikon 1 V3 can offer some dramatic improvements in performance.
What’s Worth Attention?
In a word: SPEED. The camera can shoot full resolution images at 20 frames per second with full autofocus tracking capabilities, and an incredible 60 frames per second (that’s TWICE as fast as broadcast video) with fixed focus, but these are full 18 megapixel frames.
Similarly, when it comes to video, the V3 is an impressive performer. Shooting 1280 x 720 HD video? The V3 will let you do it at 120 frames per second, full 1/4 speed slow-motion playback. At 1080p, that number slows down to 60 fps, which is still remarkable for a compact camera. However, there is no 4K video; it will be interesting to see whether that’s added with a firmware upgrade in the future.
Flash
Frame rates like this indicate that the camera uses an electronic shutter rather than a purely mechanical, which also suggests that the camera may be able to sync flash at any shutter speed, which would be great for strobists. However, Nikon currently reports a sync speed of 1/250th second. Unfortunately (and contrary to early speculation), this camera does NOT have a standard hot-shoe for use with Pocket Wizards and more powerful Speedlights.
Lenses
A new addition to the Nikon 1 line is the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6, which may not seem very exciting until you consider the field of view for a sensor this small, and the lens becomes a 200-800mm lens! Roughly speaking, in any case… to be precise, it’s equivalent to a 189-810mm. An 800mm f/5.6 lens is something that many nature and sports photographers would love, not to mention the surveillance and paparazzi markets.
Alternately, you can use the FT-1 mount adapter and use any Nikkor lens on the camera, with a 2.7x field of view crop.
A Few More Details
The V3 doesn’t have a viewfinder, which is annoying, but Nikon will sell you a separate electronic viewfinder for it that conveniently fits into the camera’s hotshoe (convenient, that is, unless you want to actually use the hotshoe for its intended purpose). There’s also a grip for it that doesn’t add anything but more bulk to hold onto.
Prices & Availability
The Nikon 1 V3 itself will be available in a kit with the 10-30mm lens, viewfinder, and grip for a little less than $1200, and it should start shipping in mid-April. The 70-300mm lens will run you another $1000 or so.
