Nikon unveiled the Nikon 1 J4 mirrorless camera a couple weeks ago in the middle of all the NAB 2014 news; however, it appears that the camera will not be available in the US.
The J4, like the Nikon 1 J3, still offers several powerful features though for such a compact camera. Of course, it retains the 1″ class sensor for a 2.7x crop factor (also known as Nikon’s CX format). The sensor is an 18MP CMOS with a Hybrid AF that sports 105 phase detect AF points on the sensor.
It will capture 20fps still images in burst shooting mode with continuous AF. If you don’t need continuous AF, the J4 can capture 60fps without AF. The sensitivity range is ISO 160-12800. It also captures 1080/60p video.
It seems to be a mild, yet steady, upgrade from the Nikon 1 J3 on the spec side, but takes a more squared-off design than the J3, which you can see below.
As of now, Nikon USA remains silent following Nikon Japan’s announcement of the J4. We’ve seen this happen recently with cameras from other manufacturers (e.g., Canon EOS M2). From sales numbers we’ve seen over the past couple years, it could be due to the still strong DSLR market in the US. It seems that mirrorless cameras have experienced much stronger growth overseas than in the US.
18.4mp at 60 fps it totally insane!
How many frames can it buffer?
I really don’t understand why Nikon isn’t offering 4k video if the ‘EXPEED 4A image-processing engine’ together with their ‘super high-speed AF CMOS sensor’ is capable of such speed.