Holiday Gadgets: Nikon CoolPix AW120 and Sony Action Cam AS100V Operating Experience
Until recently, my “park” of underwater gadgets included only one unit - the Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport camera. Last summer, she went with me to the first "combat" trials in Montenegro. In the process, it turned out that I had a number of complaints about this “soap box”. Yes, I took the fish in the Adriatic Sea; I also brought some pretty bright photos from rafting. The quality of the pictures, in principle, turned out to be quite satisfactory - there was especially nothing to complain about. But there were other nuances. Most upset by the lack of optical zoom - then it seemed to me that when shooting the underwater world without it is very difficult. Plus uncomfortable buttons, plus an extremely peculiar control system, plus a strange lid design, under which a flash drive is located, plus a small screen that almost completely disappears under water ... In general, this year I gathered again in Montenegro, and it was decided to expand this business "Park" underwater gadgets a couple of devices.
Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport
To begin with, finding a camera for underwater photography in a small Ukrainian city is almost unreal. You can, of course, order in the online store (which I did), but here you can twist it in your hands before buying - alas. Retail is gradually abandoning photographic equipment in any of its manifestations, since the vast majority of consumers shoot on smartphones. The usual inexpensive soap box or some entry-level DSLR can still be found without any problems, but such a niche product as a sealed chamber is not.
')
Meanwhile, there are not too many reviews of such models on the Web either - again, they switched to gadget writing about smartphones and tablets, but they prefer to keep quiet about cameras, especially specific ones. It is, in principle, understandable: talk about the advantages of Qualcomm over MediaTek or AMOLED over IPS is easier than correctly talking about the intricacies of a particular camera. Incidentally, I do not know how to do this either, so in this post I’ll tell more about my feelings, not using abstruse terms.
In short, the choice fell on the Nikon CoolPix AW120 . You can think of it as madness, but I argued something like this: if you take something budget for 200 dollars, then I hardly get any gain in comparison with Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport. Well, yes, there will be an optical zoom, but everything else ... Not a fact. As a result, I chose this Nikon model for $ 400, because according to its characteristics, it made an impression of a rather tricky "soap box". I placed special hopes on the OLED screen - I thought that under water it would be possible to at least distinguish something. Well, the fall protection also inspired - quite often off-road cameras have only hermetic enclosures in their arsenal, but it is contraindicated to drop them.
Nikon CoolPix AW120
In addition to the Nikon CoolPix, the AW120 has acquired the Sony Action Cam AS100V . In general, the hand was drawn to GoPro Hero3 + Black Edition, but at the last moment stopped at the “Japanese”. Perhaps, because the younger model of the GoPro line - Hero3 White Edition - was a good time for me. The control is illogical, updating the firmware, forgive me, through the fifth point, it takes a very noticeable effort to press the buttons in the box. In general, I didn’t want to get the whole “bouquet” for almost $ 500, so I took Sony for 400 with a hook.
Sony Action Cam AS100V
And the courier brought a couple of boxes. The first thing that surprised the Nikon was a loose part inside the case. I remember that in the comments on Yandex.Market, many complained about this nuance, so, apparently, this is a feature of the design. I also note crooked inscriptions on the front panel. Japanese, do you generally monitor quality in your Indonesian factories? Or how? This is not a budget "soap box" for $ 50, but something much more expensive ...
I will not talk much about the interface - I will only note that I liked the control, all the necessary buttons are at hand and have a clear course. This is important because the same Kodak ditched a lot of potentially interesting shots to me because of stupid rubber keys. You click on it - and then it turns out that you really did not tremble. With the AW120 this does not happen.
Nikon has several generations of AW-AW100, AW110 cameras, now the AW120. They take off approximately equally (I can be mistaken, but rare pictures on the Internet confirm this guess), and they differ in different kinds of small buns that are not directly related to photography. Here Nikon CoolPix AW120, in particular, received an OLED-screen, slightly adjusting altimeter, GLONASS support in addition to GPS and even some beginnings of navigation abilities. It has a map on which you can allegedly navigate the terrain. Honestly, this option is not specifically tested. I launched the map a couple of times, realized that it was frankly inconvenient to use it, and scored. It seems to me that this option is similar to the FM transmitter in old phones: it seems to be there, but no one needs it. All this is what I need: did you like the AW120, but a bit expensive? Take AW110, do not lose much.
I will cite a few interesting moments. First, the optical zoom under water was not useful to me at all. I am not a serious diver - I prefer to just put on a mask with a pipe and swim on the surface of the reservoir. So, the body on the water swings noticeably, and when you try to bring something closer (school of fish, a fragment of a rock — it doesn't matter), these “vibrations” have an extremely negative effect on the quality of the images. Roughly speaking, a marriage is obtained in 90% of cases. So, the Nikon CoolPix AW120 bypasses the old Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport into several “buildings” in terms of entertainment, but one of the main reasons for changing the latter (lack of optical zoom) turned out to be in practice, we will say so, far-fetched.
The second point is the notorious OLED screen. It turned out that it looks exactly the same as the TFT-matrix in most soap boxes. Maybe the reason is that Nikon does not have access to the "organic" displays of the latest generations, and maybe it's a very large air gap between the screen cover and the last one. It is understandable that in this way the matrix was protected from damage, but under water on this display almost nothing is visible. I had to photograph again “by touch”: the fish is swimming - yeah, we’ll point the camera in that direction and we hope that it gets into the frame. But it may not get ...
The third is shock protection. It would seem, why is she underwater camera? But for me personally, it was useful several times. First, once I was well knocked on a rock - bathed in a small storm. The result is the following: one hand hit exactly on the sea urchin (fortunately, without any particular consequences), the second, with Nikon, rested against the stone. I would venture to suggest that the Kodak would have failed in such a situation, but the Japanese unit survived. Plus, on the rafting, the camera hung on the arm and dangled from strong shaking from side to side — sometimes it would hit the knee with all the dope, then the paddle, then something else. And again - no consequences.
Fourth - the battery. Everything is strange with her: once we managed to take 200 shots, the next day after recharging, the device gave out about 300, and the day after it declared that the battery was completely empty after about 150 shots, although the indicator showed a third charge. It is hard to say what is the reason for this behavior. But the fact itself was the place to be.
Fifth - Wi-Fi. A handy thing: put an application on a smartphone, and using the wireless module in the camera, download images from it. Everything would be fine, but sometimes the program persistently reports that there are no pictures in Nikon. But after five minutes he finds them. I did not manage to find any cause-and-effect relationship, so I inform you as it is.
Should I take the Nikon CoolPix AW120? It still seems to me that the main characteristic of any camera is the quality of the photos, and not the curvature of the inscriptions and the presence of the dubious utility of the buns. Not being a professional photographer, I was satisfied with the quality, so I don’t regret the purchase. Although 100% "licked" I do not think the device. Examples of the photo below:
About Sony Action Cam AS100V I also have something to tell. To begin with, this model is offered in several trim levels. I have a version with a waterproof box (up to 60 meters) and a control panel in the form of a bracelet on my arm, called Live-View. It has a small screen and a set of keys - the first can be used as a viewfinder, and the second to control the camera and switch modes. The idea is great, but the practice ...
Practice has shown that under water Sony Action Cam AS100V in conjunction with Live-View can not work. The connection between the two devices is via Wi-Fi, and immediately after the dive (at least for 20 centimeters, at least for a meter - all the same) it breaks. One has only to raise the arm with the bracelet and the camera above the surface of the sea - all again in openwork: the connection is restored. The effect is strange, given that both gadgets are sealed and designed for water.
Although - as intended? Shooting video and photos under the water with the help of Sony Action Cam AS100V is unrealistic: a solid soap. It was not possible to achieve high quality, even having tried the entire extensive arsenal of settings available in the camera. Apparently, the elements of the Sony Action Cam AS100V are not at all water, which was confirmed by the descent along the Tara River on the border of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this "discipline" the device showed its best. The package includes two platforms with 3M tape, one for flat surfaces, the other, curved, for helmets. I last used:
The first part of the way the camera took pictures in the "one in 2 seconds." Examples:
However, sometimes the distortion at the edges of the frame was much more noticeable than we would like.
And then I activated video recording - via Live-View, which is very convenient, since I didn’t have to switch the mode to the touch in the camera itself or to remove the helmet for this.
Speaking of switching: the keys on the Sony Action Cam AS100V are excellent - they are pressed very easily and clearly, unlike the GoPro Hero3 White Edition mentioned above. And the box is removed very simply, which I also lacked in the GoPro product.
What does not suit me in the Sony Action Cam AS100V? The lack of an LCD screen, the way even small. Alas, displays are extremely rare in extreme cameras. And, of course, I would like to better capture underwater. Although, in truth, such extreme cameras have so many applications on land and in the air that it is a sin to complain. For underwater photography, I have a Nikon CoolPix AW120, the possibilities of which are quite enough.
PS One of the most important moments - do not forget to wipe the camera lens on rafting and during other near-water extreme sports. Just every few minutes, raise your hand to the helmet and brush the drops from the lens - otherwise the photos will be like this:
Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport
To begin with, finding a camera for underwater photography in a small Ukrainian city is almost unreal. You can, of course, order in the online store (which I did), but here you can twist it in your hands before buying - alas. Retail is gradually abandoning photographic equipment in any of its manifestations, since the vast majority of consumers shoot on smartphones. The usual inexpensive soap box or some entry-level DSLR can still be found without any problems, but such a niche product as a sealed chamber is not.
')
Meanwhile, there are not too many reviews of such models on the Web either - again, they switched to gadget writing about smartphones and tablets, but they prefer to keep quiet about cameras, especially specific ones. It is, in principle, understandable: talk about the advantages of Qualcomm over MediaTek or AMOLED over IPS is easier than correctly talking about the intricacies of a particular camera. Incidentally, I do not know how to do this either, so in this post I’ll tell more about my feelings, not using abstruse terms.
In short, the choice fell on the Nikon CoolPix AW120 . You can think of it as madness, but I argued something like this: if you take something budget for 200 dollars, then I hardly get any gain in comparison with Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport. Well, yes, there will be an optical zoom, but everything else ... Not a fact. As a result, I chose this Nikon model for $ 400, because according to its characteristics, it made an impression of a rather tricky "soap box". I placed special hopes on the OLED screen - I thought that under water it would be possible to at least distinguish something. Well, the fall protection also inspired - quite often off-road cameras have only hermetic enclosures in their arsenal, but it is contraindicated to drop them.
Nikon CoolPix AW120
In addition to the Nikon CoolPix, the AW120 has acquired the Sony Action Cam AS100V . In general, the hand was drawn to GoPro Hero3 + Black Edition, but at the last moment stopped at the “Japanese”. Perhaps, because the younger model of the GoPro line - Hero3 White Edition - was a good time for me. The control is illogical, updating the firmware, forgive me, through the fifth point, it takes a very noticeable effort to press the buttons in the box. In general, I didn’t want to get the whole “bouquet” for almost $ 500, so I took Sony for 400 with a hook.
Sony Action Cam AS100V
And the courier brought a couple of boxes. The first thing that surprised the Nikon was a loose part inside the case. I remember that in the comments on Yandex.Market, many complained about this nuance, so, apparently, this is a feature of the design. I also note crooked inscriptions on the front panel. Japanese, do you generally monitor quality in your Indonesian factories? Or how? This is not a budget "soap box" for $ 50, but something much more expensive ...
I will not talk much about the interface - I will only note that I liked the control, all the necessary buttons are at hand and have a clear course. This is important because the same Kodak ditched a lot of potentially interesting shots to me because of stupid rubber keys. You click on it - and then it turns out that you really did not tremble. With the AW120 this does not happen.
Nikon has several generations of AW-AW100, AW110 cameras, now the AW120. They take off approximately equally (I can be mistaken, but rare pictures on the Internet confirm this guess), and they differ in different kinds of small buns that are not directly related to photography. Here Nikon CoolPix AW120, in particular, received an OLED-screen, slightly adjusting altimeter, GLONASS support in addition to GPS and even some beginnings of navigation abilities. It has a map on which you can allegedly navigate the terrain. Honestly, this option is not specifically tested. I launched the map a couple of times, realized that it was frankly inconvenient to use it, and scored. It seems to me that this option is similar to the FM transmitter in old phones: it seems to be there, but no one needs it. All this is what I need: did you like the AW120, but a bit expensive? Take AW110, do not lose much.
I will cite a few interesting moments. First, the optical zoom under water was not useful to me at all. I am not a serious diver - I prefer to just put on a mask with a pipe and swim on the surface of the reservoir. So, the body on the water swings noticeably, and when you try to bring something closer (school of fish, a fragment of a rock — it doesn't matter), these “vibrations” have an extremely negative effect on the quality of the images. Roughly speaking, a marriage is obtained in 90% of cases. So, the Nikon CoolPix AW120 bypasses the old Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport into several “buildings” in terms of entertainment, but one of the main reasons for changing the latter (lack of optical zoom) turned out to be in practice, we will say so, far-fetched.
The second point is the notorious OLED screen. It turned out that it looks exactly the same as the TFT-matrix in most soap boxes. Maybe the reason is that Nikon does not have access to the "organic" displays of the latest generations, and maybe it's a very large air gap between the screen cover and the last one. It is understandable that in this way the matrix was protected from damage, but under water on this display almost nothing is visible. I had to photograph again “by touch”: the fish is swimming - yeah, we’ll point the camera in that direction and we hope that it gets into the frame. But it may not get ...
The third is shock protection. It would seem, why is she underwater camera? But for me personally, it was useful several times. First, once I was well knocked on a rock - bathed in a small storm. The result is the following: one hand hit exactly on the sea urchin (fortunately, without any particular consequences), the second, with Nikon, rested against the stone. I would venture to suggest that the Kodak would have failed in such a situation, but the Japanese unit survived. Plus, on the rafting, the camera hung on the arm and dangled from strong shaking from side to side — sometimes it would hit the knee with all the dope, then the paddle, then something else. And again - no consequences.
Fourth - the battery. Everything is strange with her: once we managed to take 200 shots, the next day after recharging, the device gave out about 300, and the day after it declared that the battery was completely empty after about 150 shots, although the indicator showed a third charge. It is hard to say what is the reason for this behavior. But the fact itself was the place to be.
Fifth - Wi-Fi. A handy thing: put an application on a smartphone, and using the wireless module in the camera, download images from it. Everything would be fine, but sometimes the program persistently reports that there are no pictures in Nikon. But after five minutes he finds them. I did not manage to find any cause-and-effect relationship, so I inform you as it is.
Should I take the Nikon CoolPix AW120? It still seems to me that the main characteristic of any camera is the quality of the photos, and not the curvature of the inscriptions and the presence of the dubious utility of the buns. Not being a professional photographer, I was satisfied with the quality, so I don’t regret the purchase. Although 100% "licked" I do not think the device. Examples of the photo below:
About Sony Action Cam AS100V I also have something to tell. To begin with, this model is offered in several trim levels. I have a version with a waterproof box (up to 60 meters) and a control panel in the form of a bracelet on my arm, called Live-View. It has a small screen and a set of keys - the first can be used as a viewfinder, and the second to control the camera and switch modes. The idea is great, but the practice ...
Practice has shown that under water Sony Action Cam AS100V in conjunction with Live-View can not work. The connection between the two devices is via Wi-Fi, and immediately after the dive (at least for 20 centimeters, at least for a meter - all the same) it breaks. One has only to raise the arm with the bracelet and the camera above the surface of the sea - all again in openwork: the connection is restored. The effect is strange, given that both gadgets are sealed and designed for water.
Although - as intended? Shooting video and photos under the water with the help of Sony Action Cam AS100V is unrealistic: a solid soap. It was not possible to achieve high quality, even having tried the entire extensive arsenal of settings available in the camera. Apparently, the elements of the Sony Action Cam AS100V are not at all water, which was confirmed by the descent along the Tara River on the border of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this "discipline" the device showed its best. The package includes two platforms with 3M tape, one for flat surfaces, the other, curved, for helmets. I last used:
The first part of the way the camera took pictures in the "one in 2 seconds." Examples:
However, sometimes the distortion at the edges of the frame was much more noticeable than we would like.
And then I activated video recording - via Live-View, which is very convenient, since I didn’t have to switch the mode to the touch in the camera itself or to remove the helmet for this.
Speaking of switching: the keys on the Sony Action Cam AS100V are excellent - they are pressed very easily and clearly, unlike the GoPro Hero3 White Edition mentioned above. And the box is removed very simply, which I also lacked in the GoPro product.
What does not suit me in the Sony Action Cam AS100V? The lack of an LCD screen, the way even small. Alas, displays are extremely rare in extreme cameras. And, of course, I would like to better capture underwater. Although, in truth, such extreme cameras have so many applications on land and in the air that it is a sin to complain. For underwater photography, I have a Nikon CoolPix AW120, the possibilities of which are quite enough.
PS One of the most important moments - do not forget to wipe the camera lens on rafting and during other near-water extreme sports. Just every few minutes, raise your hand to the helmet and brush the drops from the lens - otherwise the photos will be like this:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/229321/
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