If I were Nikon I would quickly kill the 1 series and refocus resources on projects with better potential to take the company forward and help their users achieve better photographic results.
Don't get me wrong, the 1 series cameras had impressive abilities (starting with their AF and some lenses such as the 32mm f1.2 were spectacular), but Nikon was way too schizophrenic about the whole line to come up with real winners. The J1 was a very nice design, but for the market it was targeting interchangeable lenses was not needed, they should have released it as a RX100 MkIV 4 years ahead of its time and would have killed the high end compact market easily.
Once again, the problem of Nikon wasn't technology, it was product planning.
Cheers,
Bernard
I agree with all of this except for the killing off bit. But then I'm not a Nikon marketing person, and I am biased because I am both very irritated and very fond of my Nikon 1s.
With an up to date sensor, the Nikon 1 should be capable of very good quality in terms of every day use. M43 kit seems to be getting bigger as it improves and competes more directly with APS. So, having a high quality 1" mirrorless as part of a FF, APS, 1" sensor line up seems to make sense to me.
Although you can make small M43 kit, I am assuming that the smaller sensor gives that bit more flexibility in terms of size vs quality decisions, which should give the 1" sensor an advantage. I don't have any high quality lenses for either system but of the lenses I do have, my Nikon 1 lenses are generally better than my panasonic lenses, but I'm not putting that forward as a generalisation on M43 lenses.
An updated Nikon 1 would then be available for the smart phone user wanting something of higher quality and more versatility than their phone, but still small, and the Sony RX10 type user who doesn't want to move up a size to APS but wants a fast prime lens, a proper macro or access to Nikon long focus lenses could also look to the Nikon1.
I also still think that the original idea, which Nikon never really followed through, of providing a DSLR experience for when your DSLR was too big or heavy, plus features not on your DSLR (e.g 60fps, good quality video) etc still has potential. No idea of the numbers but people using a Nikon 1 alongside FF and APS Nikon DSLRs seems to be a fairly common combination, among N1 users.
A new sensor, video centric, but still fully capable for stills camera, taking the same batteries as Nikon DSLRs, and a lens adaptor that allowed you to use all the autofocus points, plus some new lenses, could revitalise the Nikon 1 system and attract users up from smartphones and bridge cameras and down from M43. As well as providing a useful component in the Nikon users toolbox. My V2 with the 70-300mm offers something unique in the camera world, given its reach, size and weight.
But I also think its more important that they focus their efforts on FF/APS mirrorless at the moment.
And then again, what do I know about it, I just want a V4 to replace my V2, and give me a better sensor. But then again, I probably want, but don't need, a D850 more!
Cheers,
Graham