What lenses for a current system can I use with a Nikon 1 series camera?

Question

I have a V1 that I'll eventually be upgrading. In the meantime, I was hoping to purchase some lenses that I can use with an adapter for the V1, but then will be able to use with my future camera purchase. Any ideas? What will be the best for thefuture, and will still be useful/ be able to be made compatible with the 1 series?

Any recommendations? Cheers!

Answer 1

Nikon 1 camera use Nikkor CX Format mount which is compatible only with few Nikon cameras/lenses (which are discontinued). You can use FT-1 adapter for NIKKOR F-mount lenses, but some restrictions apply.

My personal recommendation is to keep your camera as it is and invest money in something more contemporary.

Answer 2

The Nikon 1 system is pretty much a dead end. You need to start building your future system based on which current system would be best for the types of photography you want to do. Hamstringing the choice of your new system based on compatibility with a dead mount will severely limit the options for your future system, and the only real choice you have there is a mount that will probably also soon be on the endangered species list.

The FT-1 adapter will let you use most AI and newer Nikon F-mount lenses, but you'll be limited to AF-S and AF-P lenses if you want autofocus and autoexposure to work seamlessly. With a "crop factor" of 2.7X, you won't have many real options for wide angle work, as even a 12mm F-mount lens adapted to a Nikon 1 body will give an angle of view equivalent to a 32mm lens on a full frame camera.

A major problem with building a system based on the Nikon F-mount is that it is also a mount that appears to be on the way out, at least as a mount for cutting edge new lenses. Nikon has just introduced the Z series cameras that use an entirely different all-electronic mount with a much larger 55mm throat diameter than the F-mount's 44mm throat diameter. This makes adapting Z series lenses to a Nikon 1, or even an F-mount camera, problematic. This also means most of the energy at Nikon will be spent introducing new lenses and camera bodies for the Z system, rather than continuing to offer innovations in F-mount lenses and camera bodies.

I guess if the current state of the Nikon F-mount system is adequate for your future needs, then you might go that route. You should be able to pick up F-mount glass in the fairly near future at pretty good prices as many Nikon F shooter transition to the Z mount or other systems from other manufacturers. But there is so much about the F-mount system that is stuck in the past that can make it frustrating to use.

More than one of Nikon's competitors have been using all electronic interfaces between camera bodies and lenses since the late 1980s. Pretty much every new system introduced in the last thirty years, including the Nikon 1 series, has used all electronic interfaces between the camera and lens. The mechanical connections still used by the vast majority of Nikon F-mount lenses (and third party lenses made for the Nikon F-mount) to control the lens' aperture (other than the new E type lenses that are mostly very expensive high end glass) are susceptible to mechanical wear that requires periodic adjustment and calibration as well as to damage when lenses are forced onto the camera improperly.