V4: When will it get here and what will it include?

rmp

With all the patens on new lenses, I'm beginning to think a V4 might be in the works. What do you think?

manhattanboy

I wish that were the case, but honestly its been more than a year that we have seen ANY action in the Nikon 1 space and all the new DLs are not even going to be released until months in the future.
Its possible that the Nikon 1 team has nothing to do given no imminent releases and is just designing cool stuff for themselves, hence the patents like a wide angle prime or a PF zoom. Alternatively, maybe they know the new DLs will flop and management will come back to Nikon 1 system.

heartyfisher

What wide angle prime? and what PF zoom? links?

The Nikon1 reminds me of the pentax 110 system.. too advance, before its time ! Had pentax stuck with it a few years it would have been a great base for a DSLR system.

Re V4, It may never come... but we now have the D500, so never say never.

donaldejose

I would think Nikon's priorities now are

1. D810 replacement later this year with a 50+ mp sensor.
2. 2. D3400 replacement this year.
3. 3. Mirrorless DX and or FX body.
4. 4. Nikon 1 V4. It is just a matter of money and bragging rights.

An FX sensor with more than 50 megapixels will restore their bragging rights. A D3400 body will upgrade a large seller and boost income. A DX and/or FF mirrorless body will give them a product to compete with all those crop and full sensor mirrorless bodies which seem to be all the rage now. The Nikon 1 system seem to be unloved and unlikely to sell well anymore.

s.smith

I don't think they made the D800 to compete with the 5D3. Just like 5D2 doesn't compete directly with the D700. They are for different uses. D800 is for those who need that resolution, not for those who need cheap high ISO camera. D4 is the camera for high ISO.

brownie314

Too bad for Nikon 1. It was a spectacular system that just never was priced and marketed right. I have had/sold it twice now - just could not make it work for me. But it IS really good. If a V4 comes out at a decent price, I could be tempted again.

Ironheart

"The report of my death was an exaggeration" - Mark Twain
Nikon hasn't abandoned the N1 line. We will see a new camera and a new lens in this calendar year. I'm betting on trickle-down from the D5/D500 tech.

manhattanboy

Ironheart said:

"The report of my death was an exaggeration" - Mark Twain
Nikon hasn't abandoned the N1 line. We will see a new camera and a new lens in this calendar year. I'm betting on trickle-down from the D5/D500 tech.

To some extent they have abandoned the N1 line. If general users such as @brownie314 have sold off their camera and lenses because they do not anticipate any future products, then practically speaking the N1 line is dead.

This kind of reminds me to the 300S situation where many people assumed (correctly) that the pro-DX line was discontinued and moved onto something else like Canon or full frame. While the D500 proved there was indeed a market, remember that delaying the D500 launch for many, many years was NOT part of Nikon's plan. In an interview earlier this year, Nikon management stated that they decided to make the D500 because of persistent consumer demands, not because it was part of their master plan.

I am not sure that there is enough enthusiast demand that Nikon will acquiesce and produce a V4. Nikon should just stop trying to produce a 1 series camera and focus on the only thing the Nikon 1 trumps every camera in right now... and that is the sensor readout speed of the silent shutter. If I were Nikon, I would make the body and viewfinder much bigger (make the viewfinder FX big), make the battery huge so it lasts all day, make the buffer long so you can shoot for 20 secs at >10fps, and then rebrand the camera the DS1, with the the DS standing for Digitally Silent. There is a market for a professional silent camera, even if the sensor size is relatively small. Nearly every week I wait for news that some company has perfected the sensor read out speed to allow for silent shooting. I love my D500, but that sound from continuous shooting is extremely annoying.

spraynpray

My mate bought the N1 AW for a Caribbean holiday. He tried to like it, but underwater you have less light so he was having to use it at 400-800 ISO but found the noise unacceptable. The build quality was poor - something about the battery trying to escape from its compartment all the time.

Disappointing.

donaldejose

I think the Nikon 1 line will die off because the sensor is just too small; just too much problem with having to use higher ISOs and the resulting noise as spraynpray says. It will be replaced by DX sensor mirrorless bodies and a new line of lenses whenever they start to arrive over the next few years.

spraynpray

I hope so.

WestEndFoto

I also think that the Nikon 1 line will die off. It just is not "better enough" than a cell phone. However, if I may offer a prediction (also known as a wild guess informed by current facts):

1.
Nikon's new mirrorless system will be full frame.
2.
It will utilize the f-mount, enabling Nikon to instantly market their mirrorless camera has having the best lens selection of any mirrorless system. This will also give mirrorless cameras a shot in the market, as the "what is the lens selection" question will be taken out of the equation.
3.
They will start with full frame mirrorless equivalents of the D3xxx and D5xxxb series (so two). The feature set will closely resemble those lines, but the ergonomics will be different. The size and weight will be similar to these models (remember, DX DSLRs use the f-mount - so there is not much of a weight savings that comes from the smaller sensor).
4.
The introductory model will be bare bones and include Nikon's 24 megapixel sensor. This will keep the price as low as possible and may be the first full frame camera sold for less than a $1000. Nikon will utilize the economies of scale that come with volume to keep the sensor cost down. As sensor costs come down, Nikon will phase out DX cameras that currently use this sensor.
5.
Nikon will market mirrorless cameras to amateurs first. As focus quality increases, they may slowly make their way into the "enthusiast" realm. However, unless Nikon can invent a focussing system that rivals the systems in the pro and prosumer models, Nikon will not compete in this space against pro or semi-pro DSLRs. To do so will risk reducing DSLR volume to uneconomical levels and halt production. This will cause people for whom focussing is important to move to Canon. For the same reason, I believe that Canon will also do this. If you are a sports, action or news photographer, as far as focussing has come in mirrorless, it is still a joke compared to a top line DSLR.

Further predictions (now I am really getting sucked into the crystal ball):
1.
The D6 will utilize the 24 megapixel sensor and since it is produced in such high volume, will reduce the cost of the D6. The question is whether Nikon will pass that savings on or pocket the difference.
2.
The D820 will have all the refinements currently on offer for the D5/D500/D750 plus whatever iterative improvements are made. However, they will retain the 36 megapixel sensor so that frame rate can be increased. Note that the D810 can shoot at 7fps in DX mode.
3.
Nikon will launch a D900 with a 72 megapixel sensor and a selection of high quality expensive lenses (perhaps using fluorite lenses) to exploit the sensor resolution. Think a D810 on steroids.
4.
The D750 line will focus on improving frame rate and the only real limitation is the speed of the Expeed processors. When the frame rate increases to within one FPS of the D500 and the pixel density is the same or matches current lenses, the D500 line will no longer have a point. This will occur in 6 to 8 years.
5.
At which point, DX will be dead.
6.
When they are able to produce a professional body for less than $10,000, Nikon will introduce a format with a square 60mm by 60mm 200 megapixel sensor in mirrorless format with a range of primes from 30mm to 400mm. The market focus of this very expensive system will be landscape, portrait, commercial and fashion photographers.

Ironheart

Or in my universe, they come out with a V5, skipping the V4 entirely. The V5 will use the same (likely exmor) sensor tech in the D5/D500, it will have amazing noiseless high ISO, 4K @ 60p & 120p, and 120fps quiet mode, and we will all live happily ever after

heartyfisher

I hope the N1 is not dead.. I like them.. I have the V1 .. Its a nice kit. I hope the V4 will be a tweaked V1, instead of being based on the V3/V2 ..

Hope the DL range is also successful. The new BSI sensor in the DLs and J5 looks good. Hope for a new AW2 with the new sensor and a more streamlined body ! There has been 2 sensor generations between the AW1 and the J5 so improvement in Sensor IQ will be a significant jump especially if you add the new expeed into the mix.

rmp

I hope the V-Series is not dead. I love the small size. But, the I seldom use my V3 because of the poor ISO performance.

heartyfisher

"At which point, DX will be dead." Don't think so ... The D500 may be the last Pro DX DSLR .. but the D500 replacement in 5-6 years time will be DX It may still be a DSLR but more likely it will be Mirrorless with the new nikon mount.

There is no need for a mirror less F mount.. All current DSLR are "Mirrorless" in live-view mode. The on sensor based AF will improve on DSLR to have all the small advantages of mirrorless on a FMount, so might as well keep the Mirror&fmount system. Sure taking out the PentaPrism/Mirror and Mirror and Mirror-AFmodule saves some money but a D3300 is so cheap that those modules together don't seem to cost that much. If you do remove them, might as well go the whole way and have a Whole new mount. Cant see Fmount&mirror system going away in the next 5 - 10 years .. sure a new Nikon Mirrorless mount may be here next year.. but Fmount lenses will be there for many many years to come...

WestEndFoto

Yes, my D800 seems like an adequate mirrorless in live view. Maybe a new mirrorless camera will be in DX, but there is a lot of competition in that space.

manhattanboy

Nikon is waaaay behind in the mirrorless space. They would be a fool to introduce a mirrorless camera that doesn't use the F mount, but I think they might anyway. They have no on sensor PDF other than the Nikon 1 so their highly regarded focusing would not be in any new full frame mirrorless. Their is no ibis so that puts them behind as well. As I mentioned above the only thing that Nikon has is fast sensor readout speed on the Nikon 1. There is little advantage to using a mirrorless camera that is full frame is you need to shoot action unless the sensor readout is fast enough to eliminate the shutter to allow for operating in complete silence. If I am going to sound like a machine gun then I would prefer an optical viewfinder like in the D5, etc