Nikon's first mirrorless camera has a stylish design, but performance misses the mark for pro and other advanced users.

The Nikon J1 is a compact interchangeable lens camera that is capable of capturing sharp images at incredible speeds. Its autofocus is extremely quick and accurate, and the included lens delivers consistently sharp results.

The Nikon 1 J1 is a fine camera, but there's nothing here that screams out "buy it" over similar competitors. It's also on the expensive side for a point-and-shoot upgrader, but has drawbacks for the more advanced user.

By keeping the resolution fairly low, Nikon has given the Nikon 1 J1's pixels room to breathe. The result is perfect exposures and great low-light performance. The compact 1 Nikkor lens system delivers zooms to match bulky dSLR rivals.

It’s good to finally see Nikon in the CSC market, and the J1 certainly shows some promise, but it’s not quite the all-conquering model we’d hoped for.

In summary, the J1 provides a good introduction to interchangeable lens cameras, although it lacks some of the fun features such as in-camera filter effects seen on other offerings

Although the Nikon 1 J1 has a lot of pluses, we feel the negatives (and the competition) make it difficult to recommend unreservedly. It’s a good, but not great, camera.