Nikon COOLPIX AW120 16 MP Wi-Fi and Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Orange) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
Nikon COOLPIX AW120 16 MP Wi-Fi and Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Orange) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
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- 16MP 1/2.3-Inch-type CMOS sensor
- 24-120mm F2.8-4.9 equivalent lens (5x optical zoom)
- ISO 125-1600 (expandable to 6400)
- Up to 6.9 fps continuous shooting
- 3-Inch OLED LCD with 921,000 dots
Brand : Nikon
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
Rating : 4.2
Review Count : 460
Nikon COOLPIX AW120 16 MP Wi-Fi and Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Orange) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
- First off, this is an upgrade to the fairly popular AW-110, and there\'s a ton of YouTube videos that list the features and show comparisons to other cameras. I suspect that Nikon wanted to compete with the Olympus TG-2 with this model, which has similar features. The biggest upgrade here is the 24 mm wide-angle lens and faster maximum aperture of 2.8. The Olympus still has an F2 lens. There is of course a GPS, and Wi-Fi. I don\'t much use my camera as a compass, so this really wasn\'t a big deal for me. I can see where the Wi-Fi could come in useful for remotely controlling the camera. Nikon has also added a number of new video formats. Admittedly at highest resolution you\'re going to generate some humongous file sizes. Even a short video can run 500 to 600 megs. I suspect most people would be happy with the 720 mode.I would not get too wrapped up in megapixel rating as the sensor sizes are generally very small in point and shoot cameras. More megapixels does not necessarily equate to better images. In fact, it usually means more noise. I\'m not sure how this camera stacks up against other point-and-shoot cameras in its class as most of my other gear is pro equipment. To me, I see a fair amount of noise even at ISO 400, but again I think this is pretty common for this price level camera.There\'s a number of things that do bother me about this camera. One is the zoom. I don\'t know if I have a defective camera, but the zoom is very jerky, and not smooth at all. Occasionally (Frequently) it just zooms all the way out or all the way in instead of settling at an intermediate step. I\'m going to contact Nikon about this as again, I may have a defective camera. I have been unable to take any professional looking, smooth videos.The focus is fairly fast. I will have to play a little bit with post production with the images, but the camera needs lots of light for best results. I really would like to see an even faster lens. As to apertures, there is basically two. I believe it\'s 2.8 and 4.2. (Fireworks mode does stop the camera down more, but also changes the white balance). There is no way(mode)to stop the lens down further for greater depth of field or any kind of creative effects. The cameras is capable of slower shutter speeds, but you would have to put some neutral density filters in front of the lens if you want to access them for creative effects. I believe the Olympus has an advantage here.My understanding was that the older 110 model came with a filter adapter to allow you to use 40.5 mm filters, but this new does not include one. I\'m not sure if they are available as an accessory or not. There are quite a few \"Scene modes\" and then an easy auto if you really don\'t want to think about anything. Namely the camera will do its best, based on its programming, to get you a good picture. The auto mode (different than easy auto mode and scene mode) gives you much greater control, and you do have the option at least of turning the flash on and off, using fill-in flash, or slow sync, redeye reduction, timer, macro mode, etc. each scene mode add some kind of attribute. The party/event mode for example adds a redeye reduction, the close-up mode puts the camera into macro mode, the sports mode uses a high shutter speed, the fireworks mode turns off the auto white light balance, and puts the camera into a different color temperature and stops the lens down more and decreases shutter speed, the list goes on. The more you know about photography, the less you would be likely to use these modes, but I\'m sure many people will appreciate them.If you\'re interested in more of the auto features I think these are very similar to the older model, and you can read about them in other reviews. I actually wish there was more manual control, but not very common with point-and-shoot style cameras. All the buttons are very small and pretty tough to read. I think you may be able to press the shutter release with a pair of gloves on, but other than that you would have to remove gloves to operate. Here again I think the Olympus has an edge.I was able to see the screen in sunlight, but it does tend to wash out. You can see well enough to compose your shot. I believe Nikon also attempted to improve the image stabilization as I see there is a \"hybird\" mode now. I really can\'t comment on how well it works over previous models, but my handheld videos look quite good.Color accuracy looks quite good, and I suspect resolution is decent for this class of camera. Again, don\'t be fooled by the 16 megapixel rating. My eight-year-Canon D-20 takes much better pictures at eight megapixel with less noise. Of course, this started out as a $1500 camera, so not exactly an apples to apples comparison.I would say for the price this camera has a lot of outstanding features. It\'s small, lightweight, has some pretty nice video with plenty of options, and image stabilization seems very good. The scene mode gives you loads to address most situations, but don\'t expect manual control here as you\'re not going to get any. I would say the still modes would give you good enough quality to produce a very nice 16 x 20 print. I even tried a 24 x 36 print last night and it held its own--impressive. The fill-in flash mode worked very well in my few test, whereas used as a main flash it\'s a bit harsh. Again, pretty typical for a point-and-shoot.I only tried a few underwater shots, and did not even have the camera set to the proper mode, and got some good results. I think this camera could easily replace something like a Go Pro, and you can actually frame and see what you\'re shooting! Overall I think it represents an excellent value. Oh, I will add that I accidentally dropped the camera from 4\' (thought I had it attached to the tripod screw and did not-ooops!) and it bounced a couple of times on my laminate floor. Not even a scratch!I\'m taking off one star for the very poor zoom function.if you would like to know about any specific feature please don\'t hesitate to post a comment.Beat out the Black addition of the Go Pro:See [....]
- This camera does what I ask of a point-and-shoot. It\'s easy to use with a minimum of work to extract useable photos and video. But as of right now, this camera costs $130 more than the camera it replaces, the Nikon AW110. I purchased the AW120 over the AW110, with no reviews to guide my decision, hoping it resolved some of the AW110\'s shortcomings. Here are some of my initial impressions:1. 24mm equivalent wide angle is more versatile than the 28mm AW110.2. There seems to be an extra lip around the lens to prevent unwanted fingers wandering into the frame.3. Longer rated battery life (using the same battery).4. The sensor and image processor appear to be identical to the AW110 - acceptable 16MP photos with heavy noise reduction smoothing (standard for this class of camera). No improvement here.5. Smart auto mode appears biased toward \"night\" mode in low light. This has the effect of relatively longer shutter speeds and blurry subjects if they are moving. Setting the camera to portrait or regular auto mode seems to enable the flash and eliminate the blurry phenomenon. From reviews of the AW110, the AW120 seems very similar with perhaps no improvement.6. Videos have a quiet ticking sound when using zoom during filming, but I found it acceptable.7. Charger does not have the option of charging the battery out of camera. I believe this is a change from the AW110.8. Display screen is higher resolution than the AW110, but may still be prone to washout in bring sunlight.9. Buttons are on the mushy side. They are probably the same as the AW110. They are useable, but inferior to the Panasonic TS5 buttons for sure.So it boils down to a few modest improvements over the AW110 for quite a hike in price. I really appreciate the 24mm wide angle and longer battery life (if true), but the rest of the camera is functionally equivalent to the AW110 (for me, anyway). You\'ll have to decide for yourself if it\'s worth the premium.Update:Since my original review, the AW120 street price has dropped considerably, and the AW110 has been discontinued (although still available), so the comparison is no longer appropriate. After using the AW120 for several months, here are some additional thoughts:1. The 24mm wide angle lens is truly useful--not just for still photos but especially for videos. To achieve the HD video aspect ratio, the top and bottom of the sensor\'s image are cropped, effectively zooming in and reducing your field of view. Having a wide angle to start with gives you a fighting chance to keep your close subjects in the frame.2. Brightly lit, outdoor casual snapshots are about as good as other point and shoot cameras. No complaints here.3. Indoor shots are another matter. The AW120 really likes to show off its image stabilization feature with slow shutter speeds. The problem is that moving subjects needs faster shutter speeds and there really isn\'t a good way to control shutter speed. None of the auto modes favor faster shutter speeds, nor is there a manual mode. Forcing flash helps somewhat but the AW120 still tends to slow-sync even with flash. I found that bumping up ISO sensitivity (instead of leaving it in auto) did force the camera to choose a faster shutter speed, but Nikon dropped the ball with their smart modes here.4. The f/2.8 aperture is a bit of a marketing gimmick. It is only f/2.8 at 24mm. But with just two taps of the zoom lever, the aperture jumps up to f/4.2 (and then increases somewhat linearly to f/4.9 at max zoom). Not that this is a huge deal or anything, it takes snapshots just fine. Just don\'t buy it for the f/2.8 lens!5. The neck strap is ridiculous. Nobody wears a point and shoot like a dSLR. I commandeered a wrist strap from an older camera and installed it on the AW120.
- Had Amazon stocked the newer AW 130, I would have ordered it to replace my AW 120 assumed lost overboard, I was content enough with the AW 120 to buy another or newer model. I recovered my AW 120 after it spent more than 2 weeks in 6 feet of water. Mind you, not only that long underwater; but with many scratches and three significant dents from drops mostly while on rough boat trips. The AW 130 is still not available here (almost tax day 2015).So why not 5 stars? At max resolution, file sizes are about 6Mb from a camera advertised at \"16 megapixels\" setup for largest image size. My lower res Nikon Coolpix had larger file sizes. The lens, while fairly sharp in full sun exposure, is still max 24mm optical so I end up cropping to get the image I want. Those cropped images seem flat. Next, I am using a UH-1 SDHC card \"approved\" by Nikon rated at 95MB/s. I must wait for minutes for my very fast PC to identify the few new images to transfer from the 32MB card using the Nikon-limited USB2 interface. Till Nikon catches up, I suggest you use smaller SCDC cards. The USB3 interface and UH-1 up to 200 MB/s card interfaces are a waste of $ since Nikon does not support, a long-term slow adoption Nikon issue. Last, I need geocoding, and welcomed the built in GPS. I suspect a firmware issue here. For some odd reason, the metadata has a different GPS format than images overwritten with geodata. That conversion seems off. Hours minutes seconds is not the same as hours and decimal hours lat / long coordinates.If you live an active lifestyle, need waterproof and drop proof cameras, do not use low light photography, long flash or zoomed photos then this may be for you at a reasonable price versus the 810 series DSL with GPS or Nikon 1 options. If you dive, look at the Nikon 1.
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