Nikon1 V1 & Cine Lenses

The Nikon1 V1 and some of my best C-mount lenses.

In 2013, I bought a Nikon1 V1 new for very cheap, and as soon as I tried my collection of old C-mount Cine Lenses with it, I felt in love for the combination. Since then, for my personal work, I am using the Nikon1 more than any of my other cameras (Nikon D800 and Panasonic GH4), despite the fact I am forced to shoot everything in full manual mode.

Photos by Franc Peret (Photography Teacher)

To see more pictures about this topic, check my album posted there Flickr

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Don’t search for it in a store, the Nikon1 V1 is not sold new anymore. Nowadays the third version, Nikon1 V3 is on the shelves but I have no idea how good it is.
I am going in this post to present my lenses and to show some of the shot I had done with them attached to the Nikon1 V1, last summer, back to France.

In term of sale, the Nikon1 V1 had a very difficult start due to a very high price tag (in 2011) for what it was offering compared to a well established strong competition (M43 Olympus and Panasonic Lumix).

Some reviewer on the net criticized its lack of external control (for exposure compensation, ISO or White Balance for example), others judged its sensor too small (1 inch) to be attractive with not enough pixels (10 millions) to impress.
At its original high price, it was difficult to understand what was the idea behind this camera.

Logically, after such a bashing, this camera sold badly, and therefore it got highly discounted when the new model came out (V2).
And this gave me the opportunity to give it a try for very cheap, less than 200 USD (1/3 of the original price).

My first motivation was its CX format sensor, equivalent to 16mm film camera, which is smaller than my M43 camera (Panasonic GH) and I thought it might be a perfect match for my C-mount lenses which were vignetting too much on my Lumix.

At first, what I liked the most about The Nikon1 V1 is its efficient simplicity.

The Joy of Nikon1 V1

Its viewfinder is clear and sharp (sharp enough to be able to manually focus).
Its long lasting battery (a day of shooting) is the same model I am using in my professional camera (Nikon D800).
Its menu is short and logical and its body fits perfectly in my hand with a nice high quality feel.
Globally, it has been a joy to use since day 1.

Holding this camera is a delight.
Also, its Sensor is very special, delivering great vivid and natural (accurate) colors which remind me my film time. And 10 millions pixel are enough for me who is not going to print big anyway.

Another film analogy is the ISO limitation, I never push the Nikon1 V1 sensitivity higher than ISO400, as noise starts to be on the way. Actually it is a pleasing type of noise which also looks like film grain… In my film time, I was 90% of the time shooting with ISO100 slides.

And I am working the same way with the Nikon1, using bright lenses, my Cine Nikkor series and some other high quality old lenses matching the 1 inch Sensor size (which is similar to 16mm movie camera). The fastest aperture of my set of lenses is ranking from f1.8 to f0.95!

The magic of C-mount Cine Lenses

Second hand C-mount lenses were often used on old type of cameras such 16mm for film and documentaries, TV News video camera, and surveillance cameras.

14 years ago, I had the idea to shoot a short film with on board video-surveillance camera (no Go pro at that time) and I started to buy high quality C-mount lenses to get the best image possible, especially at night. I bought bunch of them on Ebay for very cheap prices as nobody were using it anymore.
Once, I had a box full of lenses for less than 80 USD and some are worth a lot more nowadays.

Among my collection, I get some jewels, such as a series of Cine-Nikkor Lenses which were used on 16mm film camera. They are very rare, but I succeed to get almost a complete collection, ranking from 6.5mm f1.8 to 50mm f1.8 (which means 17.5mm f1.8 to 135mm f1.8). Compare to full frame camera the cropping factor if the Nikon1 is x2.7.

Those lenses reach professional standard with a sturdy build and a very practical design for film making: For example, they all have the same length to ease the placement of accessories around them (filter holder with matte box, follow focus…).

Despite little bit of dust, oil and wear inside the glass (they all need a serious cleaning), the optical quality is great with a very sharp center even wide open and most of the frame getting sharp when the aperture is closed down.

The Full Manual challenge

They have lots of character, a greenish tint to them which is easily corrected in post. They are a match (in term of color and optical rendition), which is important for cinematographer concerned by continuity.

I love those lenses and the result I get out of it, despite the great difficulty to use it on my Nikon1 V1 as there absolutely no assistance from the camera in term of manual focus (no peaking, no green light in viewfinder) and exposure.

Everything is completely manual and for 2 months of daily use, I had to guess the exposure and check it out after the shot on the histogram. I am quit good now to guess the needed exposure in many different situation.

This complex process remind me my early works in photography back to 1986.
Beside my Cine-Nikkor, I am having also a glorious Angenieux 25mm f0.95 and a tiny Tamron 25mm f1.6.
I am going to start with this lens for presentation.

To see more pictures, check my album posted there Flickr

Lenses Presentation

Tamron 25mm f1.6

Angenieux 25mm f0.95

Nikon Cine-Nikkor 50mm f1.8

Nikon Cine-Nikkor 25mm f1.4

Nikon Cine-Nikkor 13mm f1.8

Nikon Cine-Nikkor 6.5mm f1.8

To see more pictures about this topic, check my album posted there Flickr

Franc Peret is teaching Essential Photography Classes and Advanced Photography Workshop in Shanghai