Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Nikon 1 J5 Mirrorless Digital Camera w/ 10-30mm PD-ZOOM Lens (Black)

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2015

Color: SilverStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

I LOVE this camera. I bought it because I don't want to lug around a DSLR all the time and I found myself missing out on photos. I also wanted slow mo video, but at higher resolution than the iPhone 6. This is my purse camera instead of the iPhone.

It's an AMAZING value for $499! You can shoot in Raw, it's 20.8 megapixels, SO, FAST, it shoots up to 60 frames per second, whoa, that blew me away. It also has slow motion video which is so much fun. I haven't tried the 4k video yet.

I've only had it for a two days and I can't stop playing with it, ha, except now I ran the battery out I haven’t experimented with everything yet. The fold out flip screen is so cool for creative ways to shoot a scene. I like macro photography and the screen angles save a lot of wear and tear on the back and knees, when taking photos low on the ground.

I thought the lack of a view finder and only a monitor might be a real negative for me personally, however it's not so bad, because of the flip out monitor.

There are a lot of features to explore and it’s easy to use. I'm really surprised it was only $499, with the 10-30 lens. I bought the Nikon FT-1 F-Mount Adapter so I can use my higher-end nikon lenses, I haven't tried them yet. Since ran the battery down playing with it, and the spare battery hasn't been released yet, it's on the charger as I am writing this review.

I was thinking of buying the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 II, however the reviews I read, mentioned it didn't perform that well for fast moving subjects. I have kids and a dog, so that was a deal-breaker. Plus, I have a lot of Nikon lenses, so I decided to wait for the release of this camera and pre-ordered it with the 10-30 lens.

Cons: Raw files: there isn’t Adobe support for it yet, and DNG won't convert the raw files either. Nikon software is a little lame in my opinion, not a fan. I use the Adobe Creative Suite professionally and have used Photoshop since it it came out in 1990, so I’m probably biased on that.

Noise, a little more than I expected in the shadow areas.

Bottom line for me, there are a lot of cool features packed into such a small camera, and at $499, it's a STEAL! I love it.

60 people found this helpful

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Jorge L. Ortiz

Great little camera

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2023

Color: SilverStyle: Body w/ 10-30mm + 30-110mmVerified Purchase

I got it with 2 zoom lenses, the 10-30mm kit lens and the 30-100mm zoom lens, which zoomed in a lot better than I expected. It's so small and cute, it's inconspicuous for the most part.

It's a fun camera with some cool features: time lapse, slow motion, fast motion, retro film look, b/w, sepia, and there's even a fisheye lens simulation that works quite well. The kit lens isn't too bad with extreme close ups of flowers or insects (macro).

It's got a great spot for your thumb on the back and fore fingers on the front side edge to hold onto easily.

It takes great photos in general especially for having a small 1 inch sensor. Auto mode works well more often than I expected but I also use aperture priority just as much and shutter priority a little bit to get shots that auto won't let you get.

One downside is that it's not the best in low light situations but it does have built in flash. The ISO seems a bit limited to me and there were so shots I couldn't get even with ISO and aperture opened to the max. I might need to improve my photography skills some but I do suspect I've also pushed this little camera beyond what it can do. Still, I love it in spite of its limitations (or perhaps mine). The battery life could be better but it's OK overall.

The size makes it a great everyday carry camera. The menu didn't take long to get used to. It's my first Nikon so I wasn't aware the lenses screw in backwards but I am getting used to it.

All in all, a very fun, very portable camera that takes better photos than expected most of the time.

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Tpf

Cool and enough settings

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2021

Color: SilverStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

As you can see in the picture, my phone takes terrible pictures, that's why I bought this camera. Which with the strap I got for it looks very vintage. For a non-professional camera user is great because I can take it to all my social events and dance or be in a bar without looking as over doing it. Is like in the early 2000s but with a much better image quality. I use it to osot my pictures in social media and I can't tell the difference with the more professional cameras. Another advantage is that you can learn a lot. Once I manage to understand about the manual mode (basic ISO, exposure time, shutter speed etc) I can change the lenses to a more suitable one for different situations. It is great to go from beginner to professional. If you don't work in the photography business, I recommend this

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Warning!

Nikon Finally Steps into the Same Ring as Competition.

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2016

Color: BlackStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

It's a shame this camera isn't getting more exposure! I know the vaunted Sony RX100 line is probably the most popular standard bearer at this class (yes, I know it doesn’t have interchangeable lenses, more on that later), but NIkon has finally gotten it right with this one! Up front, I will disclaim that I am NOT a professional, not even an amateur photographer by most accounts. I did decide to upgrade from smartphone though a few years back, and got the Nikon J1. My conditions were picture / image quality obviously, size (travel friendly), and price. Generally speaking, the J1 was bad in terms of balancing those 3. After some time passed, it made up for it with a very reduced price, which is when I got it. The thing was way better than most point and shoots, and better than smartphones, but way behind the competition. It's a good thing I got it cheap just to try out the world of "real" cameras. I upgraded and added the 18.5mm f/1.8 lens that I shot with exclusively, which bumped up the J1 to the pro-sumer tier for me. It was still lacking some ease of use features, and of course resolution and image quality were not as good as they could have been. I bought a Sony RX100 Mark 3 at the same time for work (corporate card hehe), so was measuring the J1 up to the flagship device of that size and class, and it wasn’t. Well, then along came the J5, and it definitely caught my eye:
Form – The entire point of using the smartphone cameras was due to convenience and travelability/size. This was an important criteria when I chose the Nikon 1 series; a camera is no good if it’s not with you because you don’t want to bus around 20lbs. of gear! The J5 is a tiny bit bigger (I think), insignificantly so, I don’t notice enough to change it on my scale of packability/travel. In summary, the Nikon 1 series always scored well and ranked up there with the competition for this category, and the J5 was no different. It looks fine too, got the new trend of retro looking body style, which I’m general neutral about.
Function – The J5 is superior in every way to the J1 in terms of operating it as a pro-sumer camera. The aperture, shutter, exposure, and ISO are all far more accessible and easily changed on the fly for each picture, which allows me to actually start learning about photography and getting the most from the hundreds of dollars I paid rather than leaving it on auto. The sensor got some upgrades, and at 1” it’s not the biggest (but far more travel friendly) mirrorless interchangeable, but far more than sufficient for my purposes. No complaints at all, and I can guarantee you that with my 18.5mm lens I couldn’t tell you the difference between a 4/3 sensor and mine by looking at a picture. I get far superior results than pretty much any of my friends without DSLR’s, which is all that matters .
Image Quality – This is what all the improvements are leading up to. I can’t describe the improvement in technical terms, and probably don’t need to as there are tons of resources available from other reviews and websites, but I can describe it in layman terms: WOW. I’m blown away, and can’t begin to describe the results on my pretty subjective non-photographer level. In comparison to that RX100 Mark 3 now, it is superior, but I can only say this WITH the 18.5mm lens which is about another $200. Key is, this camera is a platform, and can still be further upgraded such as with the f/1.2 32mm lens that supposedly jumps this camera to a whole other tier, also the 10mm pancake lens that makes even more packable, but retains image quality. The Sony lacks that flexibility, and nobody wants to pay $800 to upgrade to the next Mark 4 (sales are poor) when it’s just a small incremental improvement. I’ve written enough, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

17 people found this helpful

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S. Christian

Make sure you know why you're using this camera and it could be great for you

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

I bought this primarily because I was really interested in such a small interchangeable-lens system. I also was pretty excited about the continuous shutter speeds. One of the things you will read in some reviews of this camera is that the 1" sensor makes it terrible. I was a little worried about the 1" sensor, but I saw a lot of great photos online. Plus there are some great 1" sensor cameras in addition to the J5. So I didn't and wouldn't worry about that.

Pros: I do love the size and the styling. (Style counts for something.) The colors are accurate and just a little punchy, really nice I think. It's easy to understand the menus and how to work the camera. It has speedy focus and exposure. It's very lightweight but doesn't seem like it will break. Colors are great.

Although it is fast, for me, I had problems trusting the focus and exposure, though. It will take great snapshot-type photos, where your subject is more or less on the same horizontal plane--a group of your friends, a landscape, a picture in a museum. The kit lens can be super-sharp in these situations. When I started getting into depth-of-field choices, or moving objects (well, cats in my case) I couldn't count on focus all the time. As far as exposure goes, the cons for me were a fair amount of softness and noise. It's hard to predict when you'll get softness. Noise is probably in the eye of the beholder.

I'm a super-picky photographer, and I wanted this to be my travel kit. I may just have to tote a bigger camera. However, this might just be the right thing for you, especially if you have only used a phone or an under-performing point-and-shoot. You will be impressed by the speed and capability. Interchangeable lenses are a huge step up. I would just suggest reading enough online forums and reviews so you really understand the way the camera works. Look at lots of photos on Flickr to get an idea of what it can do. Then you'll know if it's for you.

19 people found this helpful

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Kreacher Rocks

Great Photos, but One Fatal Flaw

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

I purchased this camera as a compromise between two others that I own: a D5300 with an assortment of lenses, and a point-and-shoot. Since my wife uses the D5300 for product photography, it is a bit of a hassle taking it off its setup and putting it back on. The point-and-shoot, while good, gets you pictures of quality nowhere close to that of an SLR, quite obviously. So a good camera with good portability was the need of the hour.

Enter the J5. I bought the variant with the 10-100 mm lens, and the photographs it takes are gorgeous, under a wide range of settings - bright light, low light, portraits, landscapes etc. But then I discovered a rather horrifying flaw. I noticed that some photos we were taking had a shadow cast on the lower half. I initially thought that the shadow was the head of the photographer, cast by a light behind. So I changed positions and retook the photo, but there was no difference.

After a fair bit of experimentation I found what the problem was: the 10-100 mm lens is pretty big, and the inbuilt flash of the camera sits somewhat low. So, when we take a photo with the flash, it casts a shadow of the lens on the lower portion of the subject. My guess is that for smaller lenses this issue wouldn't occur because the lens will not get in the way of the flash. However, for big lenses this is going to be a major showstopper in case of flash photography.

I did look for external flashes to alleviate the problem, but apart from that somewhat defeating the purpose of a compact form camera, I also wasn't able to find any such attachment (not to mention that I don't see any place to attach the flash).

28 people found this helpful

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Eckmando

Better than buying a new Telephoto lens

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2016

Color: SilverStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

Very fun camera. What makes it fun?

1. The look. The black and silver retro styling, combined with the diminutive size makes people notice when your taking pictures of them.
2. The speed. Isn't it more fun driving a Ferrari than a Civic?
3. The touch screen. It's so natural these days to want to touch the screen, and Nikon did a good job. Very intuitive and works well.

Bought the FT1 adaptor and using my Nikkor 18-200mm lens to get almost a 600mm zoom lens! Wish it had a view finder, but you can't have it all.

15 people found this helpful

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D L Lane Photography

Very nice

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

My expectations have been exceeded. This is the 2nd mirrorless camera I tried. I did try the Sony a6000 1st, and it was OK, but seemed the colors were not true and even with the white balance at higher temperatures it still looked too cool. The 1j5 however has nice true colors. The controls and menu are very easy to use and once you have set up the wifi (on iPhone at least) it is very easy and has a fast response. The raw files are not supported in lightroom yet which is the norm for any new model camera that comes out, so I am shooting jpeg for now and with that I went back to using aperture priority and adjusting the exposure with exposure compensation (since I can't fix any of my booboo's yet). The butterfly was shot with aperture priority at 5.6, I had the picture set for vivid. My other cameras are a d3300 and d610 which are both awesome cameras in there own way. I got the 1 j5 for the small form factor and light weight, I bought the 10-100mm separate from this kit and that is the lens I am using. I did notice a potential problem in regards to over heating, as when the camera is on and shooting for a long time (45 mins or so) there is a white hot spot that shows up in the bottom right corner, once the camera cools down again it goes away. I just need to keep that in mind and if i plan on doing a whole lot of shooting pick up one of the dslr's. I have ordered the ft1 adapter so that I can use the 28-300 lens on it to get a reach of 810mm. All in all very pleased with this little cutie!

100 people found this helpful

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Jeff O'Kelley

An awesome camera that fits in your pocket.

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017

Color: SilverStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

As a professional photographer, I own several Nikon DSLR cameras. I selected this model as a smaller, more convenient option when traveling for pleasure, rather then business. I'm am impressed by the features and flexibility offered by this camera, especially the ability to switch to manual mode. Most point-and-shoot type cameras restrict you to choosing from a pre-set scene which can limit your ability to create custom images. With this said, the scene choices are also very useful when I am trying to capture a snapshot or image and don't intend to alter it with Photoshop.

Some surprises include the ability to shoot continuously up to 60 frames per second or select a 1/16,000 sec shutter speed. Not sure where I'll use these features on vacation, but I'm ready if the opportunity arises. The built-in WiFi is also a great feature that allows me to download to my tablet without carrying another bulky cable.

My only disappointment so far is the lack of a viewfinder. This option is available on the Nikon 1 V3 model, but not on the J5. While the tilting display is very clear and allows for shooting over your head or down low, it can be quite difficult to see in brightly lit areas.

24 people found this helpful

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Man in the Middle

Useful upgrade from the J4

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2016

Color: BlackStyle: Body w/ 10-30mmVerified Purchase

I'm just back from our first vacation with this camera rather than our previous J4, and I am very pleased with this upgrade. The killer new feature is the ability to tilt the rear view screen either up or down, a trick I found myself using constantly outdoors in difficult lighting, and to shoot from an unusual position, such as with the camera held way over my head to see over a crowd.

The extra 2 megapixels of resolution over the J4 were also much appreciated, allowing a bit more cropping later when needed. Naturally, I'm glad all my Nikon 1 lenses still work well on this new model.

The one thing I still want is an electronic viewfinder. Even with the display brightness all the way up at +3, there were several sunlight landscape shots where I could not be sure at the time what was and was not in the frame, so had to plan on cropping later. Whenever Nikon gets around to offering an upgraded electronic viewfinder model, I expect to get that too. Meanwhile, I'm delighted with this camera.

6 people found this helpful

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