What's new

Nikon 1 s1 - is it the best choice for capturing those moments of my 3 year old kid?

umetnic

TPF Noob!
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Slovenia
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
Hello everybody, newbie here! :)

I am looking for the best pocketable camera with integrated flash that will allow me to capture my kid during play. It needs to be as small as possible, so I will have it with me more often than not. Hence I believe the flash should be all ready built in. If I would need to mount external flash before taking the pictures, this would take more time and I could miss some precious moments just because of that. External flash would also mean more things to carry with me and if possible I would really like to avoid that.

Majority of photos will be taken in our living room where the lightning isn't very good.
The distance to the kid will be from 0,5 to 4 meters maximum.

So I figure I would need a camera that would

1. have as WIDE lens as possible to capture more of surrounding toys etc...
2. as lower aperture settings as possible to get better pictures in darker room
3. focus and make photos supper fast, to not miss those precious moments
4. Built in flash
5. reasonably priced...it should allow me to get as much as possible for as less money as possible.

So currently I am thinking the Nikon s1 would maybe be the right choice for me.

My question is, do You agree and if not, what would You suggest instead?

Thank You for all your help! :)
 
For what you need I think a point and shoot will be better then a mirrorless.
Few good point and shoot are out there and I own Canon G15, good camera, gives you full control just like a DSLR, has very fast lens, is good in low light (for a camera in this size and price range) has of course build in flash and view finder.
Picture quality is excellent, can do in macro mode pictures from 1 cm away from subject.
 
I would agree with the above. If you did want to go mirrorless, I would recommend the Sony system. I was VERY unimpressed with the Nikon1 on a number of fronts (build quality, sensor-size, price, lack of controls) when I looked at it.
 
BUDGET: I could go up to 400€-500€ if I would postpone the purchase for a few months.

Currently i can get Nikon S1 11-27mm KIT for 250€ here in Europe.

And G15 I could get for as low as 380€.
 
Last edited:
I read a lot of positive reviews for Canon g15 now and I can clearly see that this is a great and more suitable camera for my needs. Guys, thank You a lot for pointing me in that direction!
So this is one i am getting If I don't get even better match...

The only thing that Canon g15 is lacking is fast continuous shooting. In continuous mode it seems it can only shoot 2 FPS. As a newbie it's harder for me to completely visualize how continuous shooting will play in practice.
Could that 2 FPS be enough for capturing all the stills when my Kid jumps in the Air for example?
 
I bought a J1 for exactly the same thing you described... capturing those moments with the little one. I have the 10mm f/2.8 and it's perfect for what I bought it for. Nice picture quality, good video, easy to use and fairly compact. It won't exactly fit in my jeans pockets and the battery life is a little short but otherwise I have no issues with it. The kit I bought also came with the 10-30mm with the variable aperture and I almost never use it.
 
The Canon G15 sounds like a good option.

For the same reasons you listed I got a Sony RX100 m2. Full DSLR type controls, shoots RAW, good wide and fast lens, is very compact, boots quickly.

A neat feature of its flash is that you can hold it down to bounce off the ceiling. The Canon might be able to do it too, I don't know. That trick makes the potential picture so much better. Otherwise at close range you will always end up with big shadows behind your subject.

Wifi is nice too. We use social network to keep in touch with family (out of state, out of country) so the camera fits well in the smartphone/tablet lifestyle.
 
Here are a few snap shoots from today and yesterday. No retouch done. The first two are jpeg from the converting software and the third one is jpeg from the camera using the High Sensitivity mode (3200 ISO with on board noise reduction).

Click the image and the link will take you to my Smugmug gallery. There are a few more pictures there, some with the DSG-RX100 I had for a month before switch to the mark 2. You should be able to the originals at 20MP.


Used the bounce flash to counter the sun light from the window. You can see the flash reflection at the top of my son's head in the glass.


This one was in full manual mode, trying to get the snow flakes to show up using the flash.


No flash here. Just the on board noise reduction like I mentioned earlier. The tree and the 60W light in the back are the only sources of lights.

Hope it helps get an idea of what to expect.
 
Last edited:
I read a lot of positive reviews for Canon g15 now and I can clearly see that this is a great and more suitable camera for my needs. Guys, thank You a lot for pointing me in that direction!
So this is one i am getting If I don't get even better match...

The only thing that Canon g15 is lacking is fast continuous shooting. In continuous mode it seems it can only shoot 2 FPS. As a newbie it's harder for me to completely visualize how continuous shooting will play in practice.
Could that 2 FPS be enough for capturing all the stills when my Kid jumps in the Air for example?
I hardly ever use continues shooting, if you feel this is an important feature you can go for the new model the Canon G16.

The G16 in many ways is almost identical to the G15 but with WIFI.
It shoots in 9.2 FPS
It will cost more and has a new image processor but I am sure for 99% of your needs both cameras will produce identical pictures so I think getting the G15 which is cheaper is the right thing to do.
 
I have to say I was pretty shocked this weekend when I saw a Nikon 1 camera up close for the first time.

It was one of the better ones, with a viewfinder. But it hardly has any direct controls, only one command dial etc, and worse it doesnt even have the preconfigurable settings menu like I am used to from even my Nikon D5100. So you really have to memorize all these menu entries in an endless menu system by heart to use it !!! What. The. Frak ???

I really have no idea who in their right mind would want to use such a camera. I mean, sure, you can just put it into AUTO and then press the shutter and hope for the best. But anything beyond that would be painful to do. For a camera at this price point, thats pretty absurd.
 
... The Nikon 1's are not what i would call pocketable either.

I use the Sony RX100 (old not the 2). It has the same size sensor as the Nikon 1 series cameras and (IMHO) its an amazing little camera.

I highly recommend reading the reviews of the RX100 and RX100m2 before you make your choice :)
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top Bottom