Nikon announced the new J1 and V1 cameras amidst a flurry of excitement spawned from months, if not years, of rumours and mysterious “giant hands” appearing around the world.

The Nikon J1 and V1 were finally revealed to a world with baited breath, featuring some pretty impressive specs in an extremely small body, along with a brand new “CX” format 10 million pixel sensor and new “1” mount, the company’s first new mount since 1959.

We spent some time with a pre-production sample of V1 to get the lowdown on Nikon’s camera, which it describes as belonging to a whole new category, the “ACIL” or “Advanced compact with interchangeable lenses”.

Designed from the ground up, Nikon claims that, unlike other compact system cameras on the market, this is not a compromise, but a complete system that has been designed for the best performance.

I really do like this camera and the Nikon V1 “C1” format.