Hello folks,
I've been interested in getting into photography, but I don't really know much and would rather not spend much to get started.
I spotted a Nikon 1 V1 for sale second hand in a local shop at what seems like a fair price (judging from Ebay mostly).
Does anyone have any thoughts on this camera? Would it be a good entry-level camera for learning about photography?
I'd be grateful for any responses, Fantom.
hey mate. Great that youre getting into photography! :)
I depends on how much youre going to pay for the V1.
The V1 is quite old now and has rather dated technology. Dont get me wrong, it still takes great images. But I think you might be better off with a current Nikon J5 instead of the older V1 because it has a newer sensor, better dynamic range and some other feautres you might like.
If you could stretch your budget, an entry level DSLR would probably be the best way to go. The Nikon D3300 is a really good camera for the money and offers a larger sensor than the Nikon 1 range. This will yield even better image quality. Not to mention the huge library of lenses and upgrade paths should you wish to further pursue photography.
I don't see a point in system cameras with a sensor that small, m4/3 would be my minimum and APS-C is much more reasonable.
If you like kind of small cameras on the cheap, look out for a used Fuji X-E1. Those go for less than 150,- Euro here in Germany and should be cheap everywhere. APS-C sensor (like the smaller Canon and Nikon DSLRs), mirrorless (meaning small and light) and the native lenses are absolutely amazing.
Going to ruffle some feathers. Walk into the store and try them all! Here's what to concern yourself with:
If you can answer yes to the first 3 then you've got a solid beginner's camera. Notice I said beginner's camera. Photography is built on depth of skill, not tools. Therefore, min-maxing the purchase is unneeded overhead between you and taking your first images. The only concern I'd have for any used camera is damage, thankfully there is no shortage of articles to help identify potential problems. If you find something better, great! If not, that's fine, you're learning and what better tool than a beater you can drive into the ground.
As for the 4th question, don't worry about it. You'll never know until you start shooting for several months and find your niche. So take any decent camera, and build up the necessary skills to take a good photograph. The camera is just a hunk of metal, glass, and plastic; the real magic is you.
I agree with Noenken, stay away from anything smaller APS-C sensor. However, I would like to add, don't worry about buying a camera, buy into a series of lenses because over time camera bodies change along with their features, but lenses are lenses and you can never go wrong with good quality glass.
I like Nikon lenses because you can get older prime lenses that work on all of their modern DSLR cameras as long as you don't mind manual focus.
Also, for a cheap entry level camera, look into a mirrorless cameras like the sony a3000 series cameras. You can get them really cheap and buy an adapter that will let you use Nikon, Cannon or whatever brand lens your prefer, then later step up to a DSLR camera preferably with a full size sensor.
That is why I recommend Fuji. They don't have bad lenses.
There used to be a time where "professional" photographers would insist that 4x5 inch negatives were too small for professional results. Then professional camera systems started using the 4x5 inch format. 6x7 centimeter negative were definitely much too small to be useful though... Then 6x7 and 6x6 centimeter formats became the professional standard... Leica started using 35mm cinema film strips instead of actual photographw pellicule for tiny 35x24 mm negatives... that was definitely too small, a pro would never use that... until they did and it became the professional standard, called "Kleinbildformat" ("Small Image Format")... that format was too large for digital sensors, so the standard for professional digital camera systems became APS-C. Later on, it became technically possible to make larger sensors, and the "Small Image Format" suddenly was renamed by marketing departments to "Full Frame Format"...
It all means absolutely nothing at all. Different formats of sensor just offer different starting points to get a different magnification. There is always a lot of talk about aperture and sensor size and other "features" that boost product prices, which is OK, the camera and lens business is not easy. But in reality, there is so much crap being told, because the only thing that really matters is the magnification, the proportional size of the projected object on the sensor in comparison to the real perceived size of the object. Smaller sensors can have benefits in certain applications.
I actually prefer APS-C for small image format sensors, not "full frame", because in practise, APS-C offers the right magnification standard for the kind of pictures I take.
I also often use smaller sensor sizes than APS-C, m43 or CX. Nikon's CX format is the so-called "1 inch standard". It is used by many popular cameras, and is a valid and very useful sensor format that makes sense.
The Nikon 1 V1 is a bit older, and that means that it will not perform as well in low light as newer camera systems, but it outperforms analogue film technology in terms of both resolution and low light performance, and the fact that a newer system comes out doesn't mean that the older system is suddenly bad. The Nikon 1 V1 has a nice rendering, nicer than many more modern cameras. The CX system does not have a big ecosystem, the Nikon 1 series is not the most successful, and maybe it will be discontinued in the future. That is a more important argument than the sensor size. It is an argument that for me would make the Nikon 1 system uninteresting.
To get into photography, you can spend very little money to get great image quality. A new APS-C DSLR is now sold for less than 300 EUR (Canon 1200D), and lenses for such systems are still the cheapest on the market because there are so many of them. A used APS-C from Canon or Nikon is generally less than 100 EUR and is everything you will ever need for professional results. M43 camera systems are really nice because practical, but they are fashionable and thus relatively expensive in comparison to APS-C DSLR systems, but mirrorless systems are more conducive to creativity than DSLR's because of the live viewfinder preview, whereas DSLR cameras definitely are conducive for a faster workflow, for reportage for instance.
The reason I don't like 1" or smaller sensors is simple: you don't have as much options to throw stuff out of focus. And I don't even mean bokeh whoring portraits.
I agree, I also like APS-C. Mainly because it can deliver quality that is perfectly fine to be printed even as a large poster and doesn't completely break the bank or the back.
Thanks for all the great responses!
I will certainly be on the look out for the specific cameras you mentioned, to see what they are going for second-hand etc.
The store is selling the V1 for £135 (the 10m sensor and the 10-30mm lens). Does this sound like a reasonable price?
Also, what should I look out for when buying second-hand such as damage?
Seems to be ok but nothing special. It is NOT a killer deal you won't find again next week.
Take a look at other cameras first.
100 quid gets you a mint used canon dslr with 18-55 zoom with almost twice the resolution and almost twice the higher iso image quality of the nikon 1 v1, or a comparable Nikon.
But again, it all depends on what you're looking for... are you a colour freak, or a bokeh freak, or a sharpness nerd, etc... for me the most important feature of a digital camera is colour, because that's the big handicap of digital cameras in comparison to analogue cameras. There are some digital cameras that have superior colour rendering: first gen X-trans Fuji MILC's, Leica modern M-series, Canon 5D MkI and MkII, Nikon D3100/D700/D300s, medium format digital cameras, etc... but most digital cameras are meh at best in terms of OOC colour rendering. Other people want resolution above anything (sensors without optical low pass filter).