Please Help. I need some camera recommendations

[TomCat]

My old Kodak M575 won’t do anything right now so I was looking for a new camera that would fit what I wanted. I was looking around and found the 1 I thought, the Nikon 1 J1. It did most of what I wanted except be in my budget (My budget is $400 at max maybe $500 if it’s totally worth it) I don’t want a DSLR since it’s so big I don’t want to have to carry around. The things I was looking for is a camera that can take very high quality in a mirrorless or smaller body and have manual controls and good creative features. I would also like it to take very good video in full HD 1080p and do some slow motion. I want to touch base with interchangeable lenses and get into the world of dslr's but not have the big body and price. If you know of a camera that can do these things or maybe not exactly that would help me a lot cause the camera market to me seems really confusing and I need the help. Thanks

[Andy Stanton]

There's a recent thread on the 1J1 that should give you a good idea of its pluses and minuses.
What to buy? (Nikon 1 J1 + Suggestions?)

The bottom line is the 1J1 is a very nice, small camera with detachable lenses. When it was first released it drew criticism for being overpriced but at its current market price it's a good deal.
Here are some sample images:
1j1 nikon - Flickr: Search

[brunerww]

TomCat - I would get the $349 Nikon 1 V1 for the viewfinder - and it's $50 less expensive than the J1.

Good luck with your decision and best of the holidays!

Bill

[KCook]

A little more info -

Best Compact Interchangeable Lens Cameras

Kelly Cook