From: Camera sales, February 2015 data, Quiet Corpse – Personal View Talks.
Category Archives: Cameras
Nikon 1 J5 20.8 megapixel compact camera announced
The J5 is the newest in the Nikon 1 series camera (J1, J2, J3, J4, AW1, S1, S2, V1, V2, V3), and notably upgrades to a new 20.8 megapixel image sensor. It’s priced well too, at under US$500.
I am a fan of the Nikon 1 camera, owning a J1, J2 and recently buying a used V2. The results from these cameras have amazed me and I greatly enjoy the freedom of carrying small cameras and small lenses – the Nikon 1 compact camera system features Nikkor interchangeable lenses.
The new camera and lenses are now available for order from Adorama and will begin shipping on April 30, 2015.
The new J5 specifications are available here and sample images here.
I love my Nikon 1 cameras (fyi – I also shoot micro four thirds – I really like compact mirrorless cameras!)
Nikon 1 V2 with kit 10-30mm lens and Hoya +2 close up filter.
Nikon 1 V2 with 1 Nikkor 30-110mm lens.
Nikon 1 J1 with c-mount lens.
Nikon 1 J1. I was sitting at Starbucks while the RCAF Snowbirds rehearsed for an upcoming air show. Here they attempt the Starbucks high-speed drive through window maneuver.
Related articles
Nikon is running a huge rebate sale, through Saturday, March 28, 2015
List of lenses with rebates is here at the Adorama web site. There are also deals on Nikon cameras.
The Lumix 45-200mm lens is not so sharp – at the long end
A week ago, I shot several photos using a Lumix GH-4 and the Lumix 45-200mm lens, and then shot the same photos using a Nikon 1 J1 with the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm lens. Much to my surprise, the Nikon 1 photos were consistently sharper and better looking! That’s a surprise because the Nikon 1 has a 10.1 megapixel Super16mm film sized sensor while the Lumix GH-4 is 14-16 megapixels on a 4/3ds sensor!
I did some testing and the Lumix 45-200mm lens is not so sharp at the long end (but see the update below!). When I replaced that lens with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 – or even an ancient Vivitar 135mm Minolta MD/MC mount lens – I obtained sharper results in my test photos. I also found my old Sigma 28-70mm Minolta mount lens, and the Minolta 50mm f/1.4 lens (at f/4) were sharper.
The Lumix 45-200mm is inexpensive and its optical image stabilization is quite good. The GH-4 has a far better auto focus mechanism than did the GH-2 and does a great job of auto focus with the 45-200mm lens.
Update: Early version of the lens firmware had a soft focus problem at the long end; this was fixed with a subsequent firmware upgrade. I also observed, now, that the lens is sharp, but just not as much at the 200mm end. Based on comments from others, good suggestions are to:
- Avoid using the full 200mm, unless you have to. Backing off to 150-175mm significantly improves sharpness.
- Use a tripod. The 200mm image stabilized lens is equivalent to a 400mm full frame lens. That’s a lot of magnification for a handheld shot.
- Possibly use manual focus to avoid any auto focus issues.
Here’s a photo I took at the shorter end of the lens, using a Lumix GH-4. If you click through the image to Flickr, you can see the full size image – and the sharpness is excellent. It seems the best step to take is, if possible, back off a bit from the 200mm end to improve sharpness.
The next photo was taken at 200 mm and the sharpness is decent, albeit softer than the above. I did have to increase contrast and add image sharpening in Lightroom for this photo, but that had more to do with the conditions at the time the shot was made.
I have other photos were the sharpness is less than the above – and I think it may be due to either a handheld shot or that the auto focus was not nailing the focus perfectly.
The Nikon 1 cameras and the 1 Nikkor lenses are amazingly sharp with excellent contrast. Like most camera and lens combinations, it is up to us to figure out the characteristics of the pair and learn to optimize those for best results.
How important is lens sharpness?
Perhaps not as much as we’ve been led to believe: Lens Sharpness.
Ken Rockwell points out that in most real world scenarios, lens sharpness is just fine. Today we pixel peep to the absurd dimension, finding limitations that may not matter. And once we find the limits, there are often simple work arounds – such as stopping down the lens by a stop.
He also notes that sharpness tests are too often done by photographing a flat test chart, which bears little resemblance to our 3D world where everything is not always in perfect focus. There is a lot of interesting info in the above linked article.