Nikon 1 V2 - Still Fast, Handles Better

Introduction

Coming one year after the Nikon 1 V1, the V2 is Nikon's answer to all the photographers who griped about the V1's handling. Not much has changed from the V1, most of the differences lie in the camera's ergonomics (that big grip, a Mode and control dial) and a built-in flash. Internally, the V2 comes with a new 14MP sensor, but has the same high-speed frame-rates and impressive number of AF points as the V1. The battery is a new model but it's rated for 40 less shots, not more.

You could say that Nikon's new flagship mirrorless system camera is what the V1 should have been all along, with its more pro-like body for shooters who like having manual control at their fingertips. So how much of a difference does the new body make, and is it enough to entice new users to buy into Nikon's 1 system? Follow us into its review, after checking out the V1 and V2's key specs (main differences highlighted).

Design & Handling

The Nikon 1 V1 was knocked for being too simplistic in the way it handled. While it was supposed to be the 1 series' 'pro' model, it handled far too much like the entry-level J1, too automatic and not enough manual. The V2 looks like it was designed with that feedback in mind, introducing a Mode dial with PSAM modes and a control dial.

Also, that protruding front grip. Let's face it; it doesn't make the V2 look any better and gives it a chunky look. The old saying is "form follows function", but we wish Nikon hadn't taken the principle quite so literally when designing the V2. The grip certainly does make the V2 much more comfortable to hold than the V1, but in all our time with the V2 there was never one moment when we looked at the camera and thought "that looks nice."

It's not all bad - the paint job on our white model is quite pleasant. After a couple of weeks of use, our V2 is still clean and free of nicks. Its construction feels solid and dense (just like the V1).

The V2 tries to absolve the sins of the father by building in more manual controls, and it helps - to a degree. Whereas the V1 hid the PSAM (Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Manual) modes inside the on-screen menu, the V2 has built them into the Mode dial, which has been re-positioned to a much more convenient spot on the top plate.

On the top right is a control dial, which functions much like the ones found on DSLR cameras. Together, these two controls make getting into manual modes and controlling them much easier than it was on the V1. While in full Manual mode, the control dial gives you shutter speed, while the back control wheel handles aperture. Perfect.

But Nikon doesn't quite go the full length. An F (Function) button sits in-between the Mode and control dial, and pressing it goes into a list of common settings like ISO, AF and metering modes. But the icons representing these commands are scattered all over the screen in what looks like a random arrangement. Like, totally random - Picture Mode and White Balance sit on top, AF Area is represented by a small icon under AF Drive, Metering Mode sits by itself in a lonely bottom right corner and ISO lets it all hang out in the middle bottom of the screen.

It forces you to look all over the screen, searching for that one icon, when ideally you want to look at your scene as much as possible and controls as little as possible. Nikon, there's really nothing wrong with having all your icons in a row - less confusion, more clarity. Better yet, why not just adopt the solution you've already found in your DSLR cameras; a consolidated Quick menu with all your settings put together. Just a thought.

Three things stand out to us about the menu. It's the same as it ever was on the 1 series' cameras, a simplified design which you'll either love or hate (the minimalist in this reviewer likes it). The second is how needlessly complicated changing frame-rates is; you can't switch between the different frame-rates using the overlay menu which appears when you tap left on the d-pad. Instead, you need to dive into the menu and select which frame-rate you want, 5, 15, 30 or 60fps, and that option will then appear as the only one on the overlay menu. It's just restricting in a way that doesn't need to be.

The last is perhaps a bug: AF-C (auto-focus continuous) doesn't work with frame-rates above 15fps. At 30 and 60fps, the camera can only shoot with AF-S (auto-focus single). But the display doesn't change to reflect that, which is misleading and a real bummer if you were shooting a moving subject and didn't read the manual.

One more thing: The Power switch is a curious control which flips around the shutter release. You flip the switch around, it turns the camera on (or off) and then swings back to the default starting position. It works just fine, but it's loose and too easily triggered by accident. There were times when we opened our bags to find that the V2 had turned on from moving the bag around. It would have been nice to have it behave like Nikon's DLSR cameras, which flips to On/Off and stays there, instead of swinging back to default.

Overall, the changes made to the V2 make it easier to access manual controls than before, with a grip that feels more comfortable and secure. But from our usage, the digital controls need a little more work to really bring out the best in the camera's usability as noted above.

Image Performance

Nikon's 1 series mirrorless system cameras come with a smaller sensor compared to its peers; the helpful Wikipedia graphic below shows you by how much (it's the Nikon CX). While the CX sensor is larger than sensors found in advanced compact cameras like the 1/1.7" sensor found in the Panasonic Lumix LX7, it's smaller than the ones found in the Micro Four Thirds cameras like the Olympus E-M5 and APS-C mirrorless cameras like the Sony NEX.

Further more, sensor technology has evolved to the point where we now have a compact camera, the Sony RX100, with a large sensor that's the same size as the ones found in the 1 series, measuring 13.2 x 8.8mm. It's not too far off a prediction that we'll see even more advanced compact cameras catching up to the CX sensor's size in the next couple of years. The drive for bigger sensors isn't just about compensation (nudge, nudge) but - all things being equal - larger image sensors give you better image quality all around.

The Nikon 1 V2 captured a score of 2200 LPH (horizontal and vertical) on our resolution chart, which is higher than the V1's 1400-1600 LPH (horizontal and vertical) and means it's capturing more image detail. Not unexpected, seeing that the V2 has a 14MP sensor compared to the V1's 10MP. But ISO performance is where the V2 falls short. At lower ISO settings, you can already see noise in the picture, which starts to become obvious if you zoom in at ISO 800.

The V2 does an admirable job of keeping grain as fine as possible, reducing the damage to fine detail. ISO 1600 seems to be the peak balance you can strike between noise and detail, while ISO 3200 is noticeably noisier. We'd keep out of using ISO 6400, as the picture becomes too muddy for us.

The Nikon 1 V2 as a Sports Camera

The Nikon 1 V2, like the V1, has an insanely high frame-rate: 15 frames per second with AF-C (Auto-focus Continuous). 30 and 60 fps speeds are also possible, but only with AF-S (Auto-focus Single). There are limitations though, at 15 fps, the maximum number of images you can shot in a single burst is about 45, while at 30 and 60 fps the maximum is about 40 (which means that you'll never really be able to squeeze off 60 shots in a second). Still, 15 fps with AF-C is no slouch, the flagship Nikon D4 shoots 10 fps with AF-C, and no other competing mirrorless camera comes close.

Add to that, the Nikon CX system has an odd but far-out 2.7x crop factor. Coupled with the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm lens that means we have a reach of 81-297mm in a really tiny package, compared to a DSLR rocking the same focal length.

So we had to wonder: How would the Nikon 1 V2 hold up as a sports camera? The answer: It depends, but generally speaking, not really.

First, the positive: The Nikon 1 V2, as well as the rest of the 1 series, has the best auto-focus system among mirrorless cameras today. It's fast, accurate and nails the subject pretty much in almost every image shot. That rings true even when shooting in bursts with AF-C, something other mirrorless cameras still struggle to do. There do tend to be missed shots in-between a series where focus is off, but that can happen even to the highest-end DSLR cameras.

In low-light however, the V2's AF tends to hesitate, making your shots always a half-second late. This is one reason why it doesn't function well as a sports camera. Another reason is that, no matter how many bursts you shoot, the camera always displays a black screen after and takes a second or so to recover, probably writing to and from the buffer and the memory card. This will always cost you a couple of seconds' worth of shooting time - in which case, if something cool happens in front of you, your camera isn't ready to shoot with.

To be fair, professional sports photography is not something the V2 was probably built for - definitely the high frame-rate capture comes in handy for some fast action, but not quite the purpose of sports photography. If a future V3 can overcome these two problems - hesitating in low-light and the black-out after every shot - then perhaps it'll be an attractive alternative for the sports photography enthusiast looking for a super-quick camera with a super-zoom lens in a super-small package. There's so much potential, but the V2 is not quite there yet.

If you like the idea of firing multiple shots but don't want to go through the hassle of selecting them, like the V1 the V2 comes with the Smart Photo Selector mode. Like the V1, we wish we could review this properly, but (from the V1 review): "because the camera automatically deletes the fifteen out of the twenty shots that it thinks aren't as good, we don't have a way to compare the camera's final five selects against the fifteen rejects and benchmark its taste. Because of that, we stayed out of this mode and shot normally for the purpose of proper imaging evaluation for our article. So while we didn't want the camera to decide the 'keepers' for us, we can definitely see the benefits for casual shooters who don't want to review hundreds of photos after a shoot."

One last strike against using the V2 as a sporting camera is the lack of fast lenses, the 30-110mm we mentioned has a maximum aperture range of f/3.8-5.6. At this moment, there are no fast telephoto lenses for the 1 series, forcing the V2 to reach into high ISO settings when shooting in low-light, which is not a good idea with its low tolerance for noise. You can mount some Nikkor DSLR lenses onto the V2 with the optional FT1 mount adapter, but then you lose the advantage of size, and not all auto-functions are supported.

Sample Photographs

These are sample photographs shot with the Nikon 1 V2. The photos have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. Click for the full-resolution images.

Conclusion

Like with the Nikon 1 V1, we struggle to define just who the Nikon 1 V2 is for. It offers a few advantages over the V1, like increased resolution from 10MP to 14MP, increased clarity in its images, a built-in flash, an improved grip and better manual handling. But none of these strike us as particularly enticing for owners of the V1 to upgrade, especially since the V1 is only about a year old. Of course, Nikon is merely improving the proposition of the V-series and is likely targeting users who haven't yet made the jump to a mirrorless camera system.

The V2 is not a bad camera, in fact it offers quite a few features unique to the Nikon 1 mirrorless series. Its auto-focus is, in our opinion, the best among mirrorless cameras today. Not only is it fast and accurate, but it's able to keep up with moving subjects when shooting in bursts, something most other mirrorless cameras still struggle with. 

Its quick, multiple frame-rates are useful for capturing those fast moments, something parents with active children might find useful. Yet, those bursts will cost you a second or so of the camera locking up after each burst, and the camera AF does hesitate a bit in low-light (something other mirrorless cameras also struggle with). These points make the V2 still not quite ready for serious sports photography.

The handling is much improved over the V1, the V2 gives you quicker physical access to manual controls, but its Function digital menu still needs some work. While resolution has been improved, the V2 suffers from image noise which can be seen even at low ISO settings. It doesn't compare with the brilliant ISO performance of the latest generation of Micro Four Thirds sensors found in the Olympus E-M5 and E-PL5, not to mention the APS-C sensors found in the Sony NEX and Canon EOS M cameras. 

And compared to the Nikon 1 J2 which has a dismal battery life of 220 shots, the V2 has a longer battery life of 310 shots (but it is still 40 shots less than the V1's battery life).

But if you're not missing shots due to quick moving subjects, or don't know what 15 fps in AF-C means and you're still nailing most shots in focus, then you might not need the insane frame-rates that the V2 is capable of. In other words, the camera as a tool should fit the kind of photography you do, for instance if all you're shooting are landscapes, then you won't need to capture multiple bursts of one (unless your mountain moves). If that's the case, then other cameras in the same price bracket can offer you better image quality, especially those with larger image sensors.

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