Christmas is finally here!

Beef Brisket Noodle.

The Lost Nikon Mirrorless Chapter

The Nikon 1 camera system was a niche product space painstakingly crafted out in the already-tight product range of Nikon in 2011. And a niche I must say captured the imaginations of many photographers.

The outlook resembles a small rangerfinder (The Black J Series especially), the size being reasonably compact with a spectacular image quality relative to the sea of compacts in the market then. Nikon is careful to ensure that the Nikon 1, however, will not cannibalize her own DSLR product range, without it appearing crippled at the same time. It was a meticulous operation that Nikon could not have pulled it off any better in my opinion. The niche feature set of having a brilliant AF and a telescopic 2.7x gave Nikon 1 a very cost-effective edge.

But this same niche feature set was soon confirmed to also serve only a niche market, forcing the camera maker to ditch her novelty for desperate product road-mapping. Nikon 1 J2 and J3 flooded the markets soon after. Nikon 1 S1 appears to be like the original J1. The Nikon 1 V2 looks like a Nikon P520. God knows what’s happening within Nikon! Retailers were explicitly told to strip each new set of Nikon 1 to sell it used. Price structure collapsed. Most owners bailed (I kept mine though). It was a PR disaster for Nikon.

In the process of time, Nikon Engineers lost their original principle of keeping the Nikon 1 system compact with the Nikon 1 V2, along with the mistake of adopting a poorer image sensor. The Nikon 1 V2 is both bulkier, and came equipped with a more inferior image sensor compared to the V1 – a fact that ironically brings about a resurging appeal to prosumers like us to want to get our hands on priced-to-kill clearance stock of the Nikon 1 J1 and V1.

Would I grab another new Nikon 1 V1 at USD230? Or a Nikon 1 J1 at USD149? Sure I would! 

A nice, intense Nikon chapter that comes with a twist indeed!

Trusty Duo