Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Mirrorless Cameras => Topic started by: Martin Kristiansen on May 31, 2018, 07:24:17 am
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I have been looking around for an all weather camera. Point and shoot type of thng. Today I was offered the Nikon AW1 with a standard zoom for $200. Reputable dealer, not dodgy
Anyone one have any experience with this camera?
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Yes. My copy probably still rests on the sea bed East of the leeward side of Kho Lanta in Thailand.
I hope it isn’t the one you are bring sold.
Leaving this incident aside, here are some comments.
The AW1 first has the typical characteristics of the Nikon1 series:
- fast mirrorless AF
- decent sensor (close to Sony RX100) for a compact system
- lenses with a pretty sweet look
- streamlined design and operation close to what Leica offers
As an underwater camera (used for snorkeling)
- focus worked great
- wb handling was decent close to the surface
- I found the screen hard to see
- had no issues with water intake
- the camera got lost shortly after I bought it so no comments on mid/long term durability
At 200 US$ the risk is limited even if the 1 system is probably dead. The screen visibility under water would be my only question mark.
Cheers,
Bernard
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Thanks Bernard. I am not plannng on using it for snorkeling. More keen to shoot n the thunderstorms we get on hot summer afternoons. Also a chuck n the bag tripe of camera. I will go and look at it today but suspect I will buy it.
I have heard that picking up lenses is expected to be a cheap operation if I want to do that as people are getting out of the system. All sounds good to me.
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You have probably bought the camera by now, but I just wanted to let you know that I am happy enough with mine, and it does the job I want it to do very well. I bought it when it first came out, to take to Antarctica where we would be doing some kayaking. I wore it on a chest harness that allowed me to paddle but to still have easy access to the camera and I am very happy with some of my shots and there are few that are failures for technical reasons. The screen is hard to see in the sun, but I think that holds true for many cameras.
We also bicycle tour every year for about 5 weeks and it is the camera that I take on those trips as it is fairly rugged, a size that fits into a handlebar bag, and doesn't make me nervous if it's raining. The photos I take on those trips are mostly record snapshots, but again, I have been happy with the ease of focussing and with the technical quality of most of the images. For $200, I would say that it is well worth buying. It is a huge improvement over the Canon G series I had used previously. Hope you have fun with it!
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Thanks Lesley. I did buy it. I’m happy with it. Simple in operation, intuitive menus and interface. It came with 4 batteries so that was a plus.
I really plan to use it in bad weather and hiking. It’s the middle of winter here and that means minimum temperatures around 0 C and daytime temperatures around 20 C. Blue sky’s and we won’t see a cloud for another two months. Not even any wind. As soon as the summer storms start in October I will be out with it.
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I'm delighted you found a camera and like it!
I sold my Nikon 1V1 and I miss it. Fast focus; good images; good colour and contrast. I bought it when they were being blown out the door. Cost had been the issue before.
Enjoy your camera. I'll look around.
(not relevant -- i found a Nikon 1 V2 on kijiji. It was privately owned. Talks with the seller made me wonder why he was selling, and whether he was honest...we never met.) Glad you bought from a good dealer.
DaveL
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Thank you. I like the camera. Haven’t used it much but I have plans. Odd that it doesn’t have a tripod socket.