Nikon Unveils EVIL Plan to World With First Mirrorless, Interchangeable Lens Camera Announcements

Today, Nikon unveiled their much-awaited entrance into the  mirrorless camera market with the announcement of the J1 and V1-- the first two models of thier "1 series".

The two models are similar, with the V1 intended to be the higher end of the model, with a more rugged magnesium alloy construction and 1.4m dot viewfinder.  The biggest difference for underwater shooters is that the V1 has the ability to switch between a mechanical and electric shutter, which could have a big implication on external strobe sync speeds. The advantage of a electric shutter is the ability to sync strobes at high shutter speeds, which is priceless for photographing  sunballs.

Both models include a 10.1 MP CMOS sensor,  1080p/30fps HD video, an impressive 73 point auto focusing system (Look out Olympus!), 3" LCD screens and a cool sounding 1200fps slo-mo capture mode.  

The most striking spec was the announcement of the CX sensor, which weighs in at only 13.2mmx 8.mm with a 2.7x crop factor.  It enters the ring against  the significantly larger APS-C (Sony) and Micro Four Thirds ( Olympus and Panasonic) sizes.  Upon hearing about the CX sized sensor, the ruthless world of the tech blogosphere partook in some serious Nikon hating.  However, while serious shooters may scoff, it actually makes sense for Nikon.

Why Did Nikon Make A Mirrorless Camera With Such A Small Sensor?

While most of the world was baffled by Nikon's CX sensor,  DP Review offered up an explanation for this seemingly odd sensor size -- Nikon does not want cannibalize on their SLR sales. This makes a lot of sense. Unlike Olympus (which has basically abandoned their SLR line ), Panasonic and to a slightly lesser extent, Sony, Nikon is a leader in the SLR market and they don't want their faithful users to think they have lost focus in their core segment.

The CX sized sensors are still larger than those found in their high end P series compacts,  and so this new CX size sensor essentially bridges the gap between compacts and their F-mount SLR series.

So now we have a range of classes in the mirrorless camera market -- with Nikon introducing this 1 series line for the  amateur user who enjoys photography, but probably wont use their images for anything other than sharing on Flickr.  This, of course, raises a major question -- what will Canon do?

The Nikon 1 Series For Underwater Photographers

Unfortunately, unless you plan on copping the anticipated F-mount adaptor and using the existing line of F-mount lenses, you wont have much use for 1 Series underwater for a while. The initial lenses are not underwater friendly, with the 10mm f/2.8 being the only piece of glass that even sounds appealing -- until you consider the 2.7x crop factor.  Hopefully we will see some more options in the future.

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