Nikon 1 J5

I'm a computer graphics designer and a web developer by trade, but love photography as a hobby.
I started getting serious in amatuer photography when I bought a Nikon D80 DSLR and I have been using up to this year. It still works and I have bought camera gear over the years with some nice Nikon Lens for it. While it still works I felt the need for a digital camera with a higher resolution than the D80's 10 megapixel resolution. However, I didn't want to break the bank paying for an expensive Nikon body. I would if I were a professional photographer, but I'm not and probably will never be. Anyways, after doing some research I decided on the Nikon 1 J5 for it was cheap, had LED screen for taking pictures (I can't stand looking through a viewfinder) and I can use my nice old Nikons lens using a FT-1 adapter. My nikon VR 300mm works sweet with it.  I spent around $550 (give or take) for the camera and a couple of nikon 1 lens (I had a gift certificate that I used on it), plus necessary accessories like extra batteries  . I know the Nikon 1 system doesn't use a full sensor and in all sense obsolete even though Nikon hasn't officially made it so. I like that it's a small lightweight camera when using the Nikon 1 lens and that the J5 gives me manual, aperture, shutter and program modes that a smartphone can't (well at least not yet). 

I love taking pictures of wildlife especially birds (raptures and hummingbirds) and old vintage WW2 airplanes. I hopefully be using Nikon 1 J5 camera for a long time like my Nikon D8 camera.

Here's an example of a picture I have already taken with the camera.

Hi and welcome to the 'site.
Sounds like you're happy with your gear, which is great.
Part of the fun of photography is that it can be enjoyed at any level with any equipment.
You'll find plenty of helpful, like-minded friends here, so any questions, just ask!

quick question - is your exposure lock feature working?

I also have a Nikon 1 J5, and pressing the shutter button halfway doesn't lock the exposure setting, unlike every other camera I've had back to 1992. There's supposedly a menu option to enable this, but that menu option isn't in my camera.

Typically, a half-shutter press locks focus, not exposure.

I don't know of anything that "locks" exposure other than manual mode. Where things stay where you put them.

Not sure about the 1 J5, but on most (all?) Nikon dslrs, the AE-L/AF-L button by default will lock exposure before you reframe.

effron wrote: Not sure about the 1 J5, but on most (all?) Nikon dslrs, the AE-L/AF-L button by default will lock exposure before you reframe.

D'oh! I'd like to change my answer, please.

What I should have said was that, on (most?) DSLRs a half-press will lock everything down: focus and exposure. When you reframe, the camera won't re-read the scene.

Page 30 of the J5 manual states that a half-press will lock focus. It does not elaborate on exposure, however.