Nikon COOLPIX AW100

Nikon AW100 Nikon is a reputable brand and a leader in the market of DSLR cameras, yet they are less competitive in the market of the point-and-shoot. Many of their models are not so good, so I was curious to see how is this waterproof camera.

The surprise is that this camera can compete with the best brands on the market, and this is quite a surprise since this is their first rugged camera. However, they’ve made a great job with it with all the functions needed for a camera of that price. The most direct competitor to this camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3, which is also reviewed on this website.

Build

The overall build is good although the camera is made of plastic. I know that many people expect a metal body for a camera of that price but both metal and plastic have positive and negative aspects. Metal is surely tougher but it’s also heavier. The plastic of the AW100 is not the cheap plastic of a $90 camera, it is in fact a good quality plastic and users ar happy about it.

Picture quality

Thanks to the high ISO range up to 3200 and the new 16MP sensor this camera can take grate photos in any condition. Moreover, with the 8GB memory card there’s no reason to shoot at any other setting than the highest resolution. The auto white balance make a great job and the camera is able to take beautiful pictures in any condition.

Video

With full HD and stereo sound you can expect great videos, and indeed that is the case. However, avoid using the zoom while filming as it makes a bad and disturbing nois that will affect your video.

GPS

This is the point where the Nikon AW100 seems definitely better than the Panasonic. The GPS works great, it’s quite precise and the GPS data is added to your JPEG image file as EXIF data.

Battery Life

There are different opinions around about the battery life of this camera. The overall impression is that it’s not so good but there are many cameras with this same problem, so if I was you I wouldn’t base my decision on this factor.

Use

The menus are easy to use and don’t have too many options. This is a good news in my opinion but if you want a lot of control over your settings, this is not the camera for you. You can turn off the flash and autofocus assist, and you can adjust exposure compensation. But you can’t manually dial in your own shutter speed or aperture, and there is no bracketing, although the camera does have an HDR scene setting (an option on the Backlit setting).

The buttons of the camera are quite small and too sensitive. This is something I personally don’t like because you’ll find it difficult using the camera if you have big fingers or wear gloves.

The camera also has an annoying lag between pressing shutter release and actually taking the photo. This makes it unsuitable for use in sport mode, where speed is important.