Nikon V1

It’s neither a compact camera nor an SLR. But it’s highly portable and takes great pictures

What sets this Nikon apart is that it is a lifestyle camera. It looks good while you click pictures, and looks pretty when it is just sitting on a table.

My camera came bundled with a 10-30 mm lens. It can also work with a range of other lenses that are easily available in India. The camera is encased in a magnesium alloy body and has excellent build quality.

And it only gets better from here on. It starts clicking pictures as soon as you half press the shutter to focus. And by the time you press the shutter fully, to capture what you consider the picture-perfect moment, the V1 has automatically captured 20 images and saved the best five. You can later choose which image to save, and avoid pictures with closed eyes or raised eyebrows. It also ensures that you don’t miss that perfect moment that prompted you to pull out the camera in the first place.

The images can be saved in JPEG and RAW formats. For storage, it takes an SD card. Display is over a 3 inch LCD. The top of the camera has three buttons: ‘power’, ‘shutter’ and ‘video record’. Next to the LCD is a mode selection dial, which gave me some trouble because it tends to change modes even with a light touch of the hand. I got over the problem by remembering to check the picture mode before clicking my pictures.

The dial lets you select from Still mode, Smart Photo mode, Movie Mode and a new mode called Motion Snapshot. This new mode can capture videos at 400 to 1,200 frames per second (fps). When you replay them later at a slower fps rate of 24 or 30, you can watch in slow motion. Some of my friends loved this mode, while others found no use for it.

The V1 can also shoot full HD (1920 x 1080) videos at up to 59 fps. And like many other cameras, it can capture still shots while shooting videos. It also has an accessory port for attachments like flash and GPS, which have to be bought separately. The only let-down is that you can use only one accessory at a time.

Regardless of that, the V1 is a great camera because it is really fast for a compact and has the advantage of changeable lenses.

cameraNikon V1SLR