For DSLR shooters moving into the brave new world of mirrorless cameras, it's nice to know that the glass you've collected over the years won't go to waste. Olympus and Sony have both released adapters for legacy lenses, and now Nikon has your back as well — the FT1 adapter for the new Nikon 1 system goes on sale in Japan on December 22nd for 23,310 yen (about $300). This will let you use "almost all" F-mount lenses on your Nikon J1 or V1, with AF-S lenses even able to employ the 1 series cameras' impressive autofocus system. It's not quite the perfect fit, though, as the relatively tiny sensor of the J1 and V1 mean that your lenses will be subject to a 2.7x crop factor — for example, a 50mm prime lens will magically turn into a 135mm equivalent telephoto when used with this adapter, and the wide end of an 18-55mm kit lens will jump to 49mm. You won't be doing much wide-angle shooting with this kind of setup, then, but bird watchers might just be in luck.
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Is it just me, or this Nikon 1 Series is a disappointing useless PoS?!
i mean it’s really close to the NEX in terms of price, but no where near it’s performance and functionality!
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 7:22 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Not disappointing at all. Just extremely overpriced.
The NEX has the edge in sensor size and the related low light IQ, dynamic range and shallow depth of field.
But the 1’s lenses are sharper, the autofocus is way faster and much more accurate (actually the fastest of any compacts), metering is spot on, lens and zoom lens are way smaller then the NEX+zoom lens, battery life is longer, the V1 has a viewfinder…
There are plenty of reasons for both cameras.
The NEX is awesome with legacy lenses but you can’t always focus manually. I doubt that Sony will release good lenses for the NEX system since this would cannibalize their DSLR sales. Same goes for Nikon with the sensor size of the 1.
If Nikon releases fast primes for the 1’s and drops the price by 20% this system would be beautiful travel gear.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:25 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Sony’s E-mount lenses aren’t bad at all. They are actually pretty sharp – the kit 18-55 lens is a good example. Sure they’re not perfect, but they’re small and light. Also, I’m sure if you compare them at a narrow aperture they are at least as good as the Nikons. Because that’s how you want to compare them, not at larger apertures (because the pictures are totally different then).
1’s autofocus – of which I have no experience – may be faster, but that must be because the smaller sensor and deeper DoF imply that much less work is needed to actually focus the picture. It is not a coincidence that the fastest autofocus camera ever is just a pinhole camera – which you don’t even need to focus.
Besides I find the 5N to focus very accurately.
Size and weight are hands down in favor of the Nikons, but that’s at the expense of sensor size, so that’s not really satisfactory. What about m4/3 cameras then? They are average-size and 2x crop factor sensor, which is halfway. I would definitely go with one of those if size and weight was an issue (but again, 5N+18-55 is way smaller than any DSLR with kit lens).
I think Nikon wanted to be cool with a great looking, small sized, interchangeable lens, badly priced camera – like an Apple of photography. But the 1 system doesn’t look like something that people who actually care about photographs will appreciate.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:39 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You know, all I want is a compact & sharp 35mm 1.8 for the NEX and I would be happy.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 2:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The dilemma here is this.
The Nikons are great cameras, but they are designed for people who know nothing about photography. If you give someone who knows nothing about photography a the Nikon V1 or the Sony NEX-7 and said “go shoot your kids birthday party”, at the end of the day, the Nikon will give you better photos. If that user knew how to use a camera well, the Sony would have done a better job.
So the problem is anyone who that camera is designed for, won’t have F-mount lenses.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:57 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
i don’t think this is 100% true. there’s plenty of people out there with DSLRS that know nothing about photography. although i doubt many of those have anything other than their f/dark kit zoom.
i’m still not sure about the 1 system, but with this adapter i can see it being useful if you do macro or birding and already have the appropriate lenses, as it will just extend their capabilities. you could just pick up a body only and this adapter.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 11:42 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
But why would you? If your birding, you know what your doing, and the 1 system is a poor choice. The 1 has great features for new photographers, like taking several pictures before and after the one you think you want to take.
If you know what your doing, and you want interchangeable lenses, pick up a Panasonic or Sony. They are far more capable cameras for accomplished photographers.
Posted on Dec 14, 2011 | 10:07 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I wish you could edit these things…
I meant to mention they have adapters for F to E mounts, so you can put your Nikon Lenses on a NEX camera.
Posted on Dec 14, 2011 | 10:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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