Nikon Showcase Nikon 1 for Motojournalism

I just got back from the backroads of Vermont, shooting stills and video for RoadRUNNER Magazine. This was the first trip in many years where I was 100% mirrorless. I was a bit anxious about that decision, but the little V1 performed (mostly) like a champ.

What Blog is This?: Go Figure (The Continuing Adventures of the Nikon V1)

I hope that Nikon continues to develop the 1 as a serious tool for travellers.

Now I've gotta stalk used V2s and contemplate the wide and mega zooms...does anyone have the 10-100?
 
Looks very good, John, as usual. You definitely make the V1 more desirable and I can see why you would use it with what you do.

Have you made use of that high speed video feature at all? I've not kept up with your blog (or anybody's, lol) so if you've had some features up I probably missed them.
 
Looks very good, John, as usual. You definitely make the V1 more desirable and I can see why you would use it with what you do.

Have you made use of that high speed video feature at all? I've not kept up with your blog (or anybody's, lol) so if you've had some features up I probably missed them.

Thanks John.

I've only played with the high speed video once or twice. It's ok. Web quality only, which isn't saying much. I'm much more enamored with 30FPS and 60FPS RAW shooting. In certain circumstances I can shoot that way and turn it into HD video. I just wish it had a bigger buffer; I'd love to shoot 120 frames that way.
 
Track AF sounds pretty awesome. I've never had or even borrowed anything that could shoot that way.

Reading that made me wonder how I would shoot similar activity with an X100... I would either get 1 burst per pass at a distance pre-focused in Manual, or I would go with a smaller aperture to have a wide enough depth of field... which would hurt my shutter time and/or ISO. But then with a 35mm equivalent lens I'd have to be pretty close to the bikes, which would get very tricky. Coming away with anything but wide-looking shots would be incredibly hard. If I could ride on the back of someone else's bike with helmet coms and take moving shots, I could get something good.

Wrong tool for the job.
 
Track AF sounds pretty awesome. I've never had or even borrowed anything that could shoot that way.

Reading that made me wonder how I would shoot similar activity with an X100... I would either get 1 burst per pass at a distance pre-focused in Manual, or I would go with a smaller aperture to have a wide enough depth of field... which would hurt my shutter time and/or ISO. But then with a 35mm equivalent lens I'd have to be pretty close to the bikes, which would get very tricky. Coming away with anything but wide-looking shots would be incredibly hard. If I could ride on the back of someone else's bike with helmet coms and take moving shots, I could get something good.

Wrong tool for the job.

It's not perfect by any means, but good AF and high FPS help the odds considerably, and with just a little practice and experience my hit rate improved by the end of the trip.

9503617966_4fd4b9c6bc_b.jpg

Water Crossing on Vermont's Backroads by john m flores, on Flickr
 
Good stuff, John. You'll make me resubscribe to RoadRUNNER yet. I have to get back to Vermont. Now that I no longer have family in the Green Mountain State, trips there must be more deliberate. Meanwhile, I'm not crazy about the form factor of the latest Nikon V2. I hope the next iteration moves it back toward the V1 in terms of shape and size.
 
Love the KLRs, by the way. Always wanted to try to get my stumpy legs up and over one and go banging around in the rough for a weekend or two.

I've got a 30" inseam and manage. Getting on requires a little bit of...ahem...finesse though...They're great dumb bikes though. My phone is smarter than it, but I think I'd choose the KLR for the zombie apocalypse.

Good stuff, John. You'll make me resubscribe to RoadRUNNER yet. I have to get back to Vermont. Now that I no longer have family in the Green Mountain State, trips there must be more deliberate. Meanwhile, I'm not crazy about the form factor of the latest Nikon V2. I hope the next iteration moves it back toward the V1 in terms of shape and size.

Yeah, the V2 looks crap and I'm kind of pissed that it uses a different battery than the V1, but it does more FPS, which I'd really like ATM.
 
Here's some high FPS shots that I sequenced together in Final Cut Pro:

[video=vimeo;72345680]

They're really short segments that don't really stand on their own, but they make work well as b-roll for a longer video. A bigger buffer would make these clips longer and more usable.
 
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