If
recent industry reports are to be
believed, the market for point-and-shoot digital cameras is dwindling
year-on-year. This isn’t surprising giving the increasing popularity of smartphones, especially ones with more-than-capable cameras. The need of the
hour for digital camera manufacturers is to come up with products that can do things smartphones can’t, in terms of both, features and image quality.
Some manufacturers have tried to stand apart with rugged or a waterproof cameras which cater to people
who enjoy travelling or are into extreme sports. Nikon, an industry
veteran, has the Coolpix AW series of point-and-shoot cameras servicing
this demographic. Apart from being waterproof, these cameras are also
shockproof and could very well be great travel companions.
Nikon unveiled 16 new cameras in its 2014 Spring Series, one
of which was the Coolpix AW120 – an upgrade to the AW110. The
new model is almost identical to its predecessor except for a slight increase in heft, higher ISO sensitivity, and improved
battery life.
Let’s dive right in (see what we did there?) and find out if the AW120 is worth buying.
Design
No one who has seen the Coolpix AW110 will notice much different with the
design of the Coolpix AW120. It has the same toughened plastic enclosure
with a protruding lens in the top right corner with the flash to its right. We received the camouflage
edition for review, but it It is also available in red,
black and blue. The Coolpix AW120 weighs around 213g including the
battery and memory card. The problem with the weight is that the camera becomes slightly unwieldy to use with one hand.
A
perforated black strip runs around the edges of the camera . On
the top are the power and shutter release buttons. The
shutter release is ever-so-slightly raised, making it easy to locate, and its tactile feedback is good too. The eyelets for a strap are in the upper right and left corners. The left edge has buttons
for the Map and Action functions.
The
right edge is probably the most important surface of the camera
since this is where you’ll find the waterproof cover which protects the battery
chamber, memory card slot, Micro-HDMI port and Micro-USB port. This
cover has a unique latching mechanism that we found difficult to figure out initially, but got used to later. On the bottom is the tripod socket. One handy feature is that you can charge the AW120′s battery just by plugging in a Micro-USB charger; you don’t have to take the battery out and use a separate sled.
The
back of the camera features a 3-inch OLED monitor. The zoom control to its right is just a bit too small in our opinion, and its mechanism
is rather awkward to use. A video record button is right next to it. There are four
buttons for functions such as pulling up the scene modes, reviewing pictures, showing the menu, and deleting photos. The four-way navigation controls double up as shortcuts to the self-timer,
macro mode, flash options, and exposure selection. All
these buttons are rather small and felt a little uncomfortable to use during our time with the camera. Another irritating problem was a slight rattling sound every time we shook the camera, which made us a bit wary of the build quality.
Features and specifications
The Coolpix AW120 is waterproof up to 18m and also
freezeproof up to -10 degrees Centigrade. In the sweltering heat of
Mumbai there was no way we could test if the camera was freezeproof, but
we did dunk it in a bucket of water. The Coolpix AW120 worked flawlessly
under water and managed to capture just fine. Moreover, the Coolpix
AW120′s internal components are shockproof, which means that it should be able to survive drops from a height of 2m. Reluctantly, we dropped it,
and found that it didn’t sustain even a single scratch. We have to give it two thumbs up in the ruggedness department.
The 16-megapixel Coolpix AW120 has a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, which is similar to the one in the Samsung Galaxy Camera – fairly
basic for a digital camera. It is engineered to capture images in the
light sensitivity range of ISO 125 to ISO 6400. The lens has a focal
length of 4.3-21.5mm. The Coolpix AW120 has a wider aperture of f/2.8
compared to the AW110′s f/3.9. In macro mode, this rugged camera
can get as close as 1cm to a subject, which is pretty good. It can also capture
full-HD (1080p) videos and up to 6.9 still frames per second in burst mode.
The 3-inch OLED screen has an anti-reflective
coating which does increases legibility in sunlight. The screen is
rather bright and even if it isn’t as good as an electronic viewfinder,
it at least comes close to showing you what the camera can actually
capture.
The camera features built-in Wi-Fi to
connect to Android and iOS devices. We tested this feature on both mobile OSes and it just didn’t work. There is also a preloaded map of the world, and your GPS location data can be appended to image metadata, which worked fine. The Action
button that we mentioned earlier brings up a menu of quick options that can be navigated by tilting the camera, which really doesn’t work too well. Otherwise, the software on the camera is easy to
navigate and fairly smooth too with no lag.
Performance
The
camera took exactly a second to power on – a good number to boast
about. It doesn’t take too long to focus and capture images either. We recorded an average time of 51ms to capture images under good lighting conditions. In high-quality burst mode the
Coolpix AW120 was able to take five images in 7 minutes, 33 seconds which
is slightly on the higher side.
Our
ISO test revealed that noise started creeping in at ISO800. Take a look
at the top left corner of the image to judge the image quality. The
small black speck becomes indistinct at higher settings.
For all
practical purposes we expect users to stick to auto settings but in case
one wishes to experiment with ISO settings and low-light photography,
we advise using a tripod. We used the auto mode – which, weirdly, is the
mode that lets you play with all the available controls -Â to shoot in
low light and found that unless a tripod or a flat surface was used the
camera failed to focus properly. Captured images had a yellow tinge
to them. As expected, using the flash to create an artificial source of
light adds a metallic effect to textures, which feels extremely
unnatural. But the flash is really powerful and could
light up a 300 sq.ft. room with ease.
There is absolutely no oversaturation in daylight shots, and colour reproduction is close to
natural. This might put off some users who want flair in their
photographs but we think that it is great for a point-and-shoot digital
camera. On the flip side, green leaves on a tree tended to merge
into each other, meaning the camera doesn’t handle chromatic aberration
to well. Moreover, we even noticed that the camera made it look like we were soft-focussing our subjects.
Videos had natural colours and there was no discernible tearing, though the soft-focus problem was apparent here too. Thus, despite all the wonderful
weather-proofing features, the Coolpix AW120 falls
slightly short of ‘good’ in the picture quality department.
One area where the Coolpix AW120 shines is in macro
mode. The picture clarity, colour reproduction and overall
definition of textures were all really good. The battery is rated to last for 350 shots before dying and we noticed that this was roughly accurate. But please note that if you are using the Wi-Fi and GPS features it will lose charge faster.
Verdict
Sports and travel enthusiasts who want a no-nonsense compact camera should give the Nikon Coolpix AW120 some serious consideration. Users with a Coolpix AW110 have no reason to spend money to update. Sporting a price
tag of Rs. 17,950 (MRP), the Coolpix AW120 is
decently priced for the features it offers. But there are some caveats – underwhelming images in low light, and a lack of fine detail even in daylight. You’ll have to decide whether the Wi-Fi, GPS, ruggedness, and weatherproofing features are important enough to make it worth settling for less-than-ideal image quality.
Price: Rs. 17,950
Pros
- Truly rugged construction
- Great macro performance
- Good battery life
Cons
- Below par low-light performance
- Added heft
Ratings (Out of 5)
- Build/Design: 4
- Image Quality: 3
- Video: 3
- Battery Life: 4
- Value For money: 3.5
- Overall: 3.5
Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/01/4530953/manfrotto-school-of-xcellence.html
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