For many people, summer means sand surf, the beach and lots of water. There are a few waterproof/shock resistant cameras available on the market for those occasions, the AW110 being possibly the best received of the previous generation. Nikon's AW series has been successful enough to bifurcate the branding into two lines: the AW120 and the more upscale Nikon 1 AW1. The AW120 improves upon the the AW110 with a few key features:
- Same 16mp 1/2.3" BSI sensor
- Lens is 24-120mm equiv (28-140mm for the AW110)
- Maximum aperture is now f/2.8-4.9 (previously f/3.9-4.8)
- Higher resolution OLED EVF
- Improved battery life
The AW110 wasn't a camera that you expected much of in terms of image quality, but for most people that wasn't the point. Does the AW120, then, raise photographic expectations?
Body and Design

The AW120 uses the Nikon EN-EL12 battery, which is commonly used in other Nikon compact cameras like the Coolpix P340, S9700 and the previous AW110. GPS and Wi-Fi connectivity remain as before. The Don't expect miracles with Nikon's WiFi app, but at the very least it lets you use your phone as a remote trigger and lets you copy pictures from the camera into your phone. That's not all: there is also a depth gauge that displays ambient pressure information, which also can be logged into the EXIF data.
The AW120 will support SDXC memory cards, meaning that it will accept SD cards larger than 32GB.
Unfortunately, for a camera that is meant to be operated underwater, the buttons and controls are rather small; otherwise the size of the controls would be adequate for dry land use. The menu layout is clean and has a large-ish text read-out that is easy to read.
Image Quality

This is an out of camera JPEG with the lens at it's widest position. There's a fair bit of electronic correction being applied, as the lines are undistorted and vignetting is not visibly intrusive. Note that images of the mall courtyard are not comparable to samples from other cameras on this blog, as the skylight in the courtyard makes for variable lighting conditions. Overall, the image is well exposed but the white-balance isn't quite there. The overall colour-cast is a bit on the warm side.
Here is a sample of the lens at its longest position, which is the equivalent of 120mm on full frame, or 5 times zoom in marketing speak. Though this isn't perfect output, the AW120 produces images that would be considered stellar by advanced compact camera standards from just a few years ago. Such is the march of technology.
All is not well if you look too closely, which the AW120 can do, as it close-focuses to 1cm. This is the corner of a Canadian $20 bill. You can see the blurring and drop off in contrast at the corners; the center remains sharp. This amount of image degradation won't show up in typical shooting distances.
Though it is only a 1/2.3" sized sensor, the AW120 uses back-side illumination to make the most of its 16mp. Here is the ad hoc test of the camera's JPEG image quality through the ISO range. Look for noise in the colour patches, edge retention, and the harshness of the reflections and highlights as the dynamic range drops at higher ISO's.
![]() |
ISO 125 |
![]() |
ISO 200 |
![]() |
ISO 400 |
![]() |
ISO 800 |
![]() |
ISO 1600 |
![]() |
ISO 3200 |
![]() |
ISO 6400 |
Concluding Thoughts
![]() |
Left: Canon D30 Right: Nikon AW120 |
Though the AW110 was the deep-diving champion of its year, the most submersible camera of 2014 is now the Canon D30, at a rating of 24 meters. The control layout of the Canon is a bit more conventional than the Nikon, but some people will find the relationship between the thumb-rest and buttons to be somewhat awkward. In terms of underwater usage, both cameras will do the trick for vacationing: durability specs aren't as important as they seem as the greatest consideration of a functioning underwater camera is that the user operates it as intended.
The Nikon AW120 takes up where the AW100 left off. In many areas, the camera is just a little bit better than its predecessor. All of those improvements make for a camera that isn't just an underwater novelty, but one that could be used as a primary camera in dry situations. There's no escaping the fact that this is small-sensor compact, but it's a camera that you can literally take with you almost everywhere. And yes, the bright orange casing is useful: accidentally drop your camera while snorkeling and you'll understand why immediately.
With thanks to Broadway Camera
... nikoncoolpixaw120.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteyour post is so informative,
ReplyDeleteNikon-coolpix-s9600 wifi setup
A review of the waterproof and shock resistant Nikon AW120 compact ... nnikoncoolpix.blogspot.de
ReplyDelete