The easiest way to explain this is with examples. Lucky for you, many of these exist online already. The trick though, is that most of the online examples will show you the 35mm equivalent focal lengths. Instead of showing a 30-110mm lens on the Nikon 1 J1, they usually show lenses on a full frame 35mm size sensor camera, such as a Nikon D800. So you will need to do a bit of math to use these same online examples if you are considering the Nikon 1 J1. The math comes into play for the crop factor. The crop factor is the digital sensor's size compared to a full frame 35mm sensor size. The Nikon 1 J1 has a crop factor of 2.7(read on for more).

Here is an example. 30mm on the Nikon 1 J1, is similar in field of view as a 81mm lens on a 35mm or full frame format camera. I got to this by taking 30mm x 2.7. So overall the 30-110mm is equivalent to the field of view of a 80-297mm lens on a full frame camera.

With that said, now you can take the information you now know, to see what type of zoom or view you will have on the standard focal length examples below:

• Canon Focal Length Comparison
• Nikkor Lens Simulator(Use FX format)
• Tamron Focal Length Comparison Tool

Remember, this lens will have the same view as an 81-297mm lens would in the example links above!

Also, see these other great questions for more information on this topic:

• What is crop factor and how does it relate to focal length?
• What is "angle of view" in photography?
• Is crop-factor a bad thing?
• Does my crop sensor camera actually turn my lenses into a longer focal length?

Important to note as well, the Nikon Coolpix P100 typically already has it's specs stated in 35mm format equivalent form. It is a 26-678mm lens in 35mm equiv. So the P100 has a much much larger range then the 30-110mm lens you were looking at.

Overall, a 110mm lens on the Nikon 1 J1 is a great deal of zoom. That should easily suffice for personal use at a baseball field. The limiting factor will likely be light, as low light sports photography is very demanding of equipment in multiple ways. It isn't by any means a bad idea to get this lens for your intended purposes, but just be aware that a full size DSLR with a professional lens will be able to achieve better in this situation.