Nikon puts the system 1 to bed | News and opinions

Nikon made the death of his mirrorless camera system official .

Launched in 2011, the small sensorless mirror system had a follow-up niche, but never made much noise in the market. Rumors are running that it will be replaced quickly, but instead of using a relatively small 1 inch image sensor, Nikon will opt for the full 35mm frame format for its next shot at enter the market without a mirror.

It's like As well as time to go back to System 1 and bury it, maybe even add a little praise, and see it up. 39, where the mirrorless technology has progressed since its inception

Nikon has devoted a lot of effort to the announcement of the system 1. Imagine a sumptuous press conference in New York, with the presence of Japanese executives, crowned by a performance of Adam Duritz playing the classics of Counting Crows.

And the first pair of cameras, the J1 and V1 did not have the time – both offered an electronic shutter with flash sync, 60fps burst capture modes and Motion Snapshot . It combines slow motion video and a still image and has a similar mind in Live Pictures of Apple, introduced many years later.

But the size of the 1-inch sensor, which has since found a better home in fixed-lens cameras and long zoom bridge models, have suffered in comparison to rival systems without mirrors. It was smaller than the popular Micro Four Thirds system and the APS-C sensors found in mainstream DSLRs and rivalless mirror systems from Sony and (at the time) Samsung.

For this reason, regarding J1 and V1. They were closer to point replacements, with the advantage of interchangeable lenses. But as with any new system, the selection of lenses was rare. Nikon promised that there would be others, and he has released a dozen over the years, but there were big holes in the lineup. The system 1 has never had a dedicated macro lens, for example

A year after Nikon showed the first 1 cameras, Sony released the RX100. True point-and-shoot system with a fixed 28-100mm f / 1.8-4.9 lens and a sensor with twice the resolution, the RX100 has shown the benefits of camera design to fixed lens. It did not provide a shallow depth of field, but it is possible that the backgrounds are blurred. Nikon's zooms were more modest, the 3.5-5.6 designs did not arrive there, although they were supplemented by some large-aperture lenses.

[19659005] Of course, the newer cameras have more robust features than the J1 and V1. Nikon has released five models in what would become the mid-range J series – you can read our review of the J5, which can still be found at retail. A retractable lens makes it a little more compact than the first inputs, and its 20MP sensor still manages to capture RAW images at 60 frames per second, but only 20 frames at a time.

niche call. Wildlife photographers who shoot under the sunlight enjoyed the long range telephoto and high-end performance offered by newer models like the V3. By associating it with the 70-300mm zoom, we get a lightweight kit with a zoomed field of view similar to that of a 800mm lens on a full-frame camera and 20 frames per second with the followed by the development.

AW1. While there were only two waterproof lenses available (a 10mm first and a 11-27mm zoom), it could use any compatible lens on dry land. The 1-inch sensor offered better image quality than other waterproof cameras, making it an attractive option for divers and divers who did not want to use a larger camera with an external casing to get a better picture. better point of view. shots. Since its release, we have only seen a single waterproof compact camera with a 1-inch sensor, the SeaLife DC2000.

I have not called the system 1 a success. Like the short-lived Pentax Q system, it has shown that smaller sensors and interchangeable lenses make sacrifices in terms of quality and compactness. But this has paved the way for a premium point-and-shoot generation that marries the same size sensor with fixed lenses. Sony started the trend, but was joined by Canon, Leica and Panasonic. Nikon has developed and previewed its own 1-inch point-and-shoot camera series, the DL series in 2016, but citing technical issues, Nikon chose not to market DL. It was officially canceled in 2017.

So, what is the next step for Nikon? It should be noted that he has a new system without a mirror under development, and that he will use a full frame format sensor. Rumors are circulating that it's coming soon. We will just have to wait and see.