borgis_karl_johan1

I acquired the newer 500mm Nikkor mirror lens long ago. Used it on a New Zealand trip with slide film and good results. No complaints about sharpness when and if I can avoid camera shake and focus is perfect. Which is the problem of course. A compact lens to carry for non-crucial tasks and if you like out- of -focus doughnuts. Excellent files with a D750 even today.

Fun to hear the Novoflex follow-focus lenses mentioned. I had a 400 mm in the 70ties - last century- and used it quite a lot. Push-processing 400 ASA Tri-X to 1600 in HC 110 (if memory serves) allowed for action-stopping shutter speeds. A useful and fun lens for action photography though optics were so-so. Anyone spoiled by recent super-teles that split the whisker of the bear would throw a faint if asked to use it nowadays (I think later triplet versions were somewhat superior). With integrated bellows you could get as close as 1,8m and photograph sparrows sand-bathing... Those were the days.

45mm P 2,8 with polarizer and graduated filter + 70-300 mm AF-P lens were most used and served me well on a recent trip to Cuba. With a D750 though. I dislike manual focus tele lenses for traveling as you will miss too many shots. The 20mm f4,0 lens of yore serves well on a 24 Mp sensor. The 3.5 sample I had long ago was not so hot, probably sample variation.

I used this lens on my D750 with the earlier firmware 1:13 and found no restrictions in use. Updated to 1:15 after my return from a 3-week trip to Cuba. Great trip. Great lens with lightning quick AF. Quite brilliant optics.

No, I think -and this was well published at the time- that the 70-200 mm (version1) lens has this atrocious tendency to flare maybe because of more lens elements and the coating Nikon used. The hood of the 20-200mm AF-D lens was even shorter but flare with that lens was rather moderate.

I´d give it the test of time considering the price you paid. For many uses the uneven sharpness might be less important. My confidence in Nikon service is not overly high due to former experience. I have one that is fine and have never minded the corner softness. For absolute image quality -with analogue film at the time- I used to feel the 80-200mm D was slightly superior. The glaring weakness in my eyes is inordinate sensitivity to adverse light, i e the sun or another strong light source shining into or nearly into the lens barrel. Then my sample used to flare horribly.

Orange would rather be Dutch :-)

...and quite an excellent small camera to boot(the J5 that is). I caught the "half and half".

In white the V1 does remind you of products from Cupertino. Goes well with those I felt at the time...

The J5 no-finder body with 20Mp sensor and 6,7-13 mm lens is capable of excellent images. Some other lenses are rather good too, the 32mm and 30-110 mm telezoom come to mind. Yes, I have and frequently use those lenses and body when I need something light and compact. Nikon was vaccillating and seemed unable to find a really good provider for the sensor untill the end. Well-known problems with marketing, the wish not to hurt sales of low-end DX cameras and technical mistakes killed the system. Autofocus and the shutter were class-leading when the system was lanced. A reasonably priced V4 might have sold and earned profits given the already established lens system. And no, a smartphone is not an alternative.

I joined in 2000 according to the file but read this forum from the beginning when Björn from Norway was still a contributor, the tone was milder and things generelly more interesting. Nikon has been in a downhill slide for quite a while, hopefully the coming management shakeup can change things for the better. Many photo enthusiasts suffer from the Last Camera Syndrome- for me my D700 has served well and continues to do so. I have no real use for huge files- even an Iphone 6 image can look really good on an iMac screen and 12Mp files serve well. The promising system 1 has been left to a lingering demise, killed by high prices, an initially too weak sensor and by some unfortunate design features. Thus I use a microFT system when weight and size is an issue. When releasing new products Nikon always has an anxious sideways glance : "will this hurt the sale of something further up the line?" rather than : "is this something the customer wants in this form and for this asking price?" A little more excitement and software improvements might go a long way. I expect the Nikon forum will continue to highlight features and unsolved mysteries of the Nikon system if it survives the next 20 years.

<p>Size and weight are important when travelling.. close to home my D700 serves marvellously. Abroad for carry-on purposes and just walking I prefer my lighter mirrorless stuff.<br> Sad that Nikon did not manage the 1 system well enough in spite of good lenses.<br> A light full-frame camera might just tempt me.</p>

<p>A new CX body with attractive maybe even nostalgic but common-sense design, some cutting-edge features and competitive sensor might sell quite well, considering there are a number of good lenses produced for the"1" series. And weight and size within the system remain limited. V4 DF anyone?</p>

<p>I think it should have video capacity. Don´t use it if you don´t want it. My five cents.</p>

<p>What i was trying to say in an overly simplistic way, maybe with a sprinkle of humor, is that cameras the way they are built now and have been for more than a decade -50 years if you include the analog era- hold little immediate attraction to a crowd that carries a smartphone at all times. With an excellent lens and sensor and no extra weight to carry.<br> With integrated photo apps there is a lot you can accomplish. If depth of field and bokeh are not utterly important which they may not be. I produce a travel calendar every year for family and friends and find that Iphone images stand a very fair chance of being included.Even in a race against images taken with high-performing lenses (Nikon, Olympus).<br> Yes, I do love the way my 24mm f1,4 draws and allows me to separate from a mellow background. I wish though that I could seamlessly and directly play with the images in-camera with an app of my choosing and then transfer them effortlessly to wherever I wish them to be.<br> The upcoming camera generation should be more open to software interaction of that kind. I realize that software developers are far more numerous in a companies like Apple or Microsoft and that the Japanese companies are hard-pressed on that point. Thus in the end the short end of the stick may rest with them. Sadly that is and in spite of their optical prowess and skill in building camera bodies. </p>