A waterproof camera that lets you take photos while you are scuba-diving? Well Nikon’s AW1 is just that. Not only is this interchangeable lens camera waterproof, but it is also shockproof and freezeproof. So this is a camera that comes with a footnote that asks you to actually get it wet. But does the Nikon AW1 live up to its claims? Here’s our take.
What is good?
The Nikon 1 AW1 works absolutely fine under water. This is probably going to be one the biggest reasons why anyone would spend so much money on this camera and frankly you need to be sure that this function works without any hassle and that you actually need this extra safety.
However, you need to first make sure that you have got some basic steps taken care of before you jump into the pool or sea with the camera. Make sure the battery is perfectly locked in, and that you have properly fitted the waterproof lens that comes with the camera. Don’t try using any other lens, else you can kiss this camera goodbye. Thankfully, nothing else is going to fit.
In the camera settings, you have to go to underwater mode and choose what depth you are in (it is safe upto 15 metres). There are various ranges from Standard, Scuba and Close-up. As in Delhi, the only water body we could test the camera in was a swimming pool, we had to stick with the most basic settings for underwater. You can even set the amount of blue and green underwater depending on the conditions.
It is pretty nerve-wracking to take a camera and just jump in a pool. We took the camera from the shallow to the deep end, and it recorded videos just fine. Though one lesson we learnt was: don’t try and take a still in the water, it just won’t work out. Of course, given our limited settings, our experience of the whole underwater was pretty restricted, but I could not help think how this camera could be on future beach trips.
For families who insist on recording every aspect of their vacation, this is a useful camera to have. After all you can’t take that smartphone into the ocean. With regard to the rest of the features in the camera, there are a variety of modes in which you can click pictures. There is Manual, Aperture priority, Night Mode and Panorama mode that lets you shoot in one colour and of course Auto. I prefered the Aperture mode for this camera, as in my opinion it delivered the most accurate results in terms of colour reproduction. I have a feeling though that people will like the one Colour mode as well as it offers something different.
What does not work?
I was not too impressed by the shots in the Auto and the Manual mode of the camera. Let’s not forget that this is still a R40,000 camera and not every user will spend time fixing settings. It also took me some time figuring out how to get the desired ISO in the LCD screen itself. I found I could change Aperture, Shutter-speed on the screen itself using the buttons on the right-hand side, but for ISO, it just did not work.
In addition to this, the camera is a lot of work. For starters, once you take the camera out of the water, you need to clean it within 60 minutes of use. Not sure if that will always be possible if you take this with you on a vacation. After using it in the sea, you need to clean it in a basin of fresh water with the battery, memory card, lens attached and all covered. You need to remove sand etc. So yeah, being careless with this camera is not an option. If you forget to do that, there’s a good chance of some damage.
The other thing I realised is that underwater photography while it sounds cool, is really for very confident swimmers. I for one was constantly afraid I would drop the camera in the pool (it does not float, it will sink to the bottom) and found it hard to swim and take videos. Sure there’s a hand-strap as well, but that really did not help much. In the ocean, of course, you will need to keep in mind waves and your own level of comfort with the sea.
Should you buy it?
The Nikon 1 AW1 was first introduced in 2013 and seriously there are very few waterproof cameras in the market that will go for 15 metres. Nikon has a few other options in India but they are more point and shoot. This is definitely not as good as DSLRs, but hey you can take it scuba-diving, which you cannot really do with a lot of other devices. If you are a beach bum, you should consider adding it your list.
SPECIFICATIONS
14 MP C-format (2.7x crop factor) CMOS sensor
11-27.5 mm lens with F/3.5-5.6
ISO 100-6400
3-inch LCD with 921,000 dots
Built-in GPS with compass, altimeter, and depth meter
5 fps burst mode with continuous AF, 60 fps with single AF
Full HD 1080p video
Estimated street price: Rs 39,950
