Mirrorless Pics: Local shots with a Nikon 1 V3

The Nikon 1 V3 was the ultimate iteration of the high-end V-series of the Nikon 1 compact mirrorless cameras. Released in 2014, it was a big improvement in image quality and video capabilities over the V2 and introduced a tilting rear screen to the Nikon 1 series, but had some quirks. 

Unlike the V1 and V2, it did not have a built-in EVF. You could get a detachable EVF that mounted to the hot shoe, but that precluded the use of a flash. Further, it had only a notional grip unless you purchased and attached the separate GR-N1010 grip.

With the EVF and grip attached, it was a bigger camera than the Nikon 1 V2 it replaced. Without them attached, it looks a little silly with the big 1 Nikkor 10-100mm f/4-5.6 VR PD-Zoom lens attached.

Mirrorless Pics: Squirrels with the Sony a7 II

The Sony ecosystem was my first whack at using full-frame mirrorless for work stuff. I'd used an NEX-5T and an NEX-7 (in Hasselblad Lunar drag) for most of a year and decided to take the full-frame plunge. I dabbled with an a7 for a month and then went all-in on an a7 II.

That experiment lasted about a year before frustration with the tiny NP-FW50 batteries drove me back to Canon DSLRs for work. Even with a battery grip on both the a7 II and the backup a7, I'd have to walk around TacCon or SHOT Show with a pocketful of spare batteries if I wanted to do a whole day's worth of shooting.

The Pentax Q-S1: A Review

Pentax iterated its Q-series of tiny small-sensor mirrorless cameras extremely quickly. The original Pentax Q was announced in June of 2011, and a new replacement followed each subsequent year until August 2014's debut of the Q-S1, which wound up being the terminal Q.

Internally, the Q-S1 was functionally identical to the preceding year's Q7, right down to the 12MP 1/1.7" BSI CMOS sensor.

The external controls and software menus were unchanged since the original Q, so you can refer to my review of that camera for a rundown of the buttons.

What was different was the plastic external shell, which had a more "rangefinder-esque" shape, rather than the "mini DSLR" look of the Q10 and Q7.

Alas, this meant that the finger grip disappeared from the front of the body. Not a huge loss, since you can pinch the whole camera comfortably between thumb and forefinger and the body weighs a minuscule 7.16 ounces, but still...

That's my Q-S1 with a full kit of 01 Standard Prime, 02 Standard Zoom, 06 Telephoto Zoom, and the 03 Fisheye. The whole ensemble easily stows in the Think Tank Event Messenger 100, which will normally hold a regular DSLR wearing a travel zoom and maybe two smallish lenses. With the Q system, you could pack a light lunch in there along with the camera and all the lenses.

Indiana World War Memorial, 03 Fisheye lens at ISO 3200

It held the price line from the previous model with a $499 price tag, while still offering forty different color combinations.

The Q-S1 lingered in the Pentax catalog for years without a replacement being announced, so when it was discontinued in 2019, that was pretty much the end of the line for the Tiniest Interchangeable Lens Mirrorless.

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Mirrorless Pics: Huck the cat with the Pentax Q-S1

The Pentax Q-S1 that debuted in 2014 would turn out to be the final iteration of the Q series. It was basically a Q7 with the outer shell re-sculpted into more "Leica-rangefinder-esque" contours.

I was headed out the door yesterday with the Q-S1 & 8.5mm f/1.9 01 Standard Prime lens in my jacket pocket when I noticed Huck napping in the window seat looking adorable, so I snapped a couple photos.

The upper one is taking the .dng RAW file and running it through Photoshop's RAW convertor, and the lower one is a monochrome .jpeg straight out of the camera.

Mirrorless Pics: Olds 88 with the Pentax Q-S1

A 1994-'95 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight Royale, straight-out-of-camera monochrome JPEG with the Pentax Q-S1 and the 15-45mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom.

Since the shortest 15mm focal length gives the same field of view as a 70mm lens on a full-frame camera, this kinda limits the lens's usefulness as an all-purpose walking-around lens. If I were really committed to the Q system, I'd carry two bodies, the 01 Standard Prime, the 02 Standard Zoom, and the 06 Telephoto Zoom and swap lenses on the bodies as needed. I'd keep the 15-45/2.8 on one body and swap back and forth between the fast prime and kit zoom on the other based on whether I was indoors or outdoors.

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Mirrorless Pics: Red Squirrel with the Pentax Q-S1

Another local nature shot with the 06 Telephoto Zoom on the Pentax Q-S1. This one's 1/400th of a sec, wide open at f/2.8 at ISO 200. The in-body image stabilization ("SR" for "Shake Reduction" in Pentax-speak) worked dandily, which is unsurprising since Pentax was a pioneer in the field.

Wide open there's a bit of purple chromatic fringing around the edges, but it still delivers pretty sharp results in the center, especially considering the tiny size of the 1/1.7" 12MP sensor.

You can make out individual hairs on the squirrel quite easily. Not bad for a lens the size of a shot glass.

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Mirrorless Pics: Red-Tailed Hawk with the Pentax Q-S1

I happened to have the Pentax Q-S1 with the 15-45mm f/2.8 06 Telephoto Zoom on it in my jacket pocket yesterday when a red-tailed hawk alit on a street light right in front of me.

On the little 1/1.7" sensor, that lens is the equivalent of a 70-200mm on a full-frame.

The image above is lightly cropped. Un-cropped shots look like this.

EDIT: My birdwatching friend tells me this is probably a red-shouldered hawk.

Mirrorless Pics: Lotus Evora GT with the Nikon 1 J4

Two shots of a Lotus Evora GT with the Nikon 1 J4 & 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 lens.

Mirrorless Pics: Indiana World War Memorial with the Nikon 1 J4

One of the best things about the Nikon 1 J4 is it lets me use the word "antepenultimate" in a sentence, because after its launch in January of 2014, Nikon only released the Nikon 1 AW1 and the 1 J5 before discontinuing the entire Nikon 1 line of cameras. Their first attempt at a mirrorless system had been a marketplace failure.

"Antepenultimate" happens to be my third favorite word. Anyway...

On a visit to the Indianapolis World War Memorial the other day, I mounted the little 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 lens on the 1 J4 and tucked it into the space in my Lowepro Event Messenger 100 bag that normally holds the long 30-110mm zoom lens.

On the 1" Nikon CX-format sensor, the 10mm lens offers the same field of view as a 28mm lens on a full-frame camera. Wide angle, to be sure, but not crazy wide. I can always use the practice with a wide angle lens, because I don't really "see" images at fields of view much wider than the one offered by a 40 or 50mm lens.

I keep the Nikon 1 cameras set up to save each image as both a high-res monochrome JPEG and also as a RAW file. The photo of the World War Memorial above is an unedited JPEG straight out of the camera.

The photo below is lightly cropped. It shows off the level of detail that can be delivered by the 18MP 1" sensor, especially at its base ISO of 160.

After exploring the inside and outside of the Memorial, we ventured a block south to University Park.

It was a gorgeous day for early November in Indy. Nearly sixty degrees by lunchtime with a bit of a breeze and hardly a cloud in the sky.

I still don't really have that eye for wide angle lenses I'd like, but I'm getting a better feel for them.

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