Wednesday 24 October 2012

Nikon 1 V2 and the new battery rant

Nikon had announced Nikon 1 V1 CSC camera, a replacement for existing V1 model. Based on specs, the new model got few attractive features such as as thumb dial, mode selection dial and build-in flash. Pixel count went up to 16MP. I bet there are other improvements inside the body. The previous model was / is very capable camera. Surprisingly the V2 runs on new EN-EL21 battery (V1 has EN-EL15 and J1/J2 both need EN-EL20). The previous V1 model runs on batteries used in some Nikon DSLRs such as D7000. I bet the ability to swap the batteries between camera is very attractive feature for many Nikon DSLR owners who want to have an additional small camera with good image quality. With the new EN-EL21 battery the V2 can fire 300 shots on a single charge while the EN-EL15 is certified for 350 shots on the previous model. Nikon got praised for a good battery life in their top model. Not anymore. It is strange decision considering the presence of a big grip on V2. The only explanation I came with: maybe new Nikon DSLRs will use the same battery. The updates for D5100 and D7000 models are expected to be released in nearby future. I just cannot believe that someone in the design team had decided to remove one of the attractive features of V1 without any obvious reason.

I wish Fujifilm would produce a camera with 1" sensor and non-removable fast zoom lens as a replacement of X10 that would run on batteries used in X100, X-Pro1 and X-E1. No hassle with multiple chargers, no need to have tons of different spare batteries. I bet people would be happy to pay extra money for convenience. Considering the popularity of X100 and the huge interest in X-E1 (it is still in top ten viewed cameras on dpreview), Fujifilm can sell such cameras as a part of a system. It would be so nice to have one type of batteries in a household that can be used in "family camera", DSLR and / or CSC cameras. As a bonus, it would be possible to get more than pathetic 200 frames on a single charge.

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