More flora from the Flores residence. No flowers though, except for the name.
With a close focus distance that’s a shim under 8.5″, the 18.5mm f/1.8 does a reasonable impersonation of a macro lens. Well, not quite, but it will let those that dabble in the close arts take a pretty picture. More serious macrotogs will no doubt be looking for more purpose built gear such as the FT1 adapter to use micro-Nikkor lenses with. The 1″ CX sensor will give DX and FX lenses additional reach along with deeper depth of field, something most macrotogs appreciate. I haven’t shot with the FT1 adapter myself, but here’s someone that has.
I’m also not sure how manual focus works with the FT1 adapter, but I do know that the V1 lags others in supporting manual focus. I can magnify the view of my Panasonic GH2 with a single click, for example, and my Pentax Q and K-01 not only have focus peaking, but they can automatically zoom when a native lens’ barrel is turned. I’m not sure if the Nikon 1 system has these focusing aids; I do know that they’d be useless with the 18.5mm since it doesn’t even have a focus ring in the first place.
Another thing that makes the V1 less than awesome when it comes to macro photography is the stingy megapickle count. With just 10 megapickles, don’t expect to do a ton of cropping and then print out an 18″ x 24″ print. Not that you can’t make it work; you’re just going to have to slow down and get it right in camera. The new V2 has 14 megapickles, by the way, which will let you be a little sloppier if you choose.
Overall, I continue to like the color rendering of the littlish V1. What I see on the rear LCD is usually what I see on the EVF which in turn is usually what I’m seeing in real life. It’s really allowing me to see something, compose it, and photograph it, with the end result that I saw in my mind’s eye. Isn’t that, in a nutshell, what we need cameras to do? I’m still struggling with the unorthodox controls, but it’s more of an annoyance than a hindrance right now.
And ignorance really can be bliss. If you put me on a deserted island – one that wasn’t insane like the one on Lost – and one of the items that you gave me was the V1 with the 18.5mm prime, I’d be pretty darn happy. I’d need to rig up a solar charging station and a device to download photos to, but I’d be happy…as long as a DXO chart didn’t wash up on shore.