Tuesday, December 27, 2011
NIKON AW100 rugged camera review - FAIL
I did my homework: there are 3 "cool" rugged cameras on the market today: Sony TX10, Panasonic TS3 and Nikon AW100 - 3 latest and greatest. I have my second tough Olumpus (1030SW) that I use a lot and was looking to replace. I have Canon S90 that I absolutly love - my compromise to beloved Canon DSLR that I just can not carry with me.
All I wanted was some bump in quality. I have no idea why Nikon put 16Mpix on such a small sensor, but well. Flikr pictures looked OK, just a bit noisy. I played with camera in local shop. It was snappy. I ordered it in BH www.bhphotovideo.com - they had a best price a week ago.
Camera looked cool. Orange. I took it for a walk. Now.... I did not expected much. I just assumed technology advanced. It did for iPhone that I gradually updated form v 1 to 4S. I assumed it is a camera for ACITVE life style. Camera that should take a decent picture of adventures: ski, swimming or soccer. This is a rugged camera after all. Right?
Now, in this respect, Nikon AW 100 is a complete failure. You can not shoot moving objects. Not without super bright sun - I did not tried that, so can not promise it will actually work. I live in Seattle. It is a bit cloudy here, but that's life. I have no idea how people managed to took a picture of fishes. Sea turtles I do understand. :)
Now the punch line: when left to it own devices, even in SPORT mode with ISO Auto Nikon pick a silly speed: 1/6 for example. Oh, well. Even my old Olumpus Stylus 1030SW knows much better then that.
I got Canon S90 for exact this reason so I can set speed I want as SPORT mode on P&S historically sucked. I had old SONY many years ago and it was bringing it as low as 1/30 that was totally not cool, but... I would NEVER assume that in our day and age, such a respectable company as Nikon would do 1/6 sec. in Auto sport mode.
I took same picture with my iPhone 4S: no problem. It even snapped image quicker than Nikon.
Yes, in cloudy days I do not expect much, but Nikon have enough ISO range to leverage that.
If I force it to higher ISO, it will do better, but there are only 3 options: AUTO (Does not work as expected), Up to 400 (not enough?) and manual. Going trough menus to set ISO every time is not what I want to do.
Yes, I know that higher ISO means grain. But better grain than ruined image with motion blur.
Anyway, iPhone can do it, old Olumpus 1030 do it OK and Canon S90 does it fantastic.
Nikon AW100 does not do it. It is noisy, but it is also stupid: If it failed simple land test, I would not take it under water or to the mountains.
It went back to BH photo and video today.
Bottom line:
Nikon, please get real :)
All these GPS, 1080P, tilt control and 16Mpix are useless gimics if camera FAILS to take a basic pictures of my kids. Life is not still, get fucking real, make a rugged camera that can take a pictures of real MOVING world. In Seattle ;)
Nikon's advertisement picture with dirt bike stopped frizzed is a bull shit. IMHO. I was not able to take a clear picture of my kid standing almost still, not unless I manually deal in high a ISO.
Nikon AW100 - FAIL.
This is a Nikon AW 100 advertisement:
"
Now, this is my OLD Olympus 1030SW. High in the mountains. Fog. Really dark. Skiing down slope. Picture was taken while I was also skiing down. Bumpy ride. But ... Magic! Stop motion! BINGO. They do not even have VR or stabilization on this camera. and I used simplest "AUTO" mode. Not even sport. You see how dark it is? I also used ZOOM on second picture that made aperture even smaller I suspect. Still, while may be a bit grainy it is totally OK and usable pix. It is memories. Not motion blur. :)
Now... What's wrong with Nikon? :)
All I wanted was some bump in quality. I have no idea why Nikon put 16Mpix on such a small sensor, but well. Flikr pictures looked OK, just a bit noisy. I played with camera in local shop. It was snappy. I ordered it in BH www.bhphotovideo.com - they had a best price a week ago.
Camera looked cool. Orange. I took it for a walk. Now.... I did not expected much. I just assumed technology advanced. It did for iPhone that I gradually updated form v 1 to 4S. I assumed it is a camera for ACITVE life style. Camera that should take a decent picture of adventures: ski, swimming or soccer. This is a rugged camera after all. Right?
Now, in this respect, Nikon AW 100 is a complete failure. You can not shoot moving objects. Not without super bright sun - I did not tried that, so can not promise it will actually work. I live in Seattle. It is a bit cloudy here, but that's life. I have no idea how people managed to took a picture of fishes. Sea turtles I do understand. :)
Now the punch line: when left to it own devices, even in SPORT mode with ISO Auto Nikon pick a silly speed: 1/6 for example. Oh, well. Even my old Olumpus Stylus 1030SW knows much better then that.
I got Canon S90 for exact this reason so I can set speed I want as SPORT mode on P&S historically sucked. I had old SONY many years ago and it was bringing it as low as 1/30 that was totally not cool, but... I would NEVER assume that in our day and age, such a respectable company as Nikon would do 1/6 sec. in Auto sport mode.
I took same picture with my iPhone 4S: no problem. It even snapped image quicker than Nikon.
Yes, in cloudy days I do not expect much, but Nikon have enough ISO range to leverage that.
If I force it to higher ISO, it will do better, but there are only 3 options: AUTO (Does not work as expected), Up to 400 (not enough?) and manual. Going trough menus to set ISO every time is not what I want to do.
Yes, I know that higher ISO means grain. But better grain than ruined image with motion blur.
Anyway, iPhone can do it, old Olumpus 1030 do it OK and Canon S90 does it fantastic.
Nikon AW100 does not do it. It is noisy, but it is also stupid: If it failed simple land test, I would not take it under water or to the mountains.
It went back to BH photo and video today.
Bottom line:
Nikon, please get real :)
All these GPS, 1080P, tilt control and 16Mpix are useless gimics if camera FAILS to take a basic pictures of my kids. Life is not still, get fucking real, make a rugged camera that can take a pictures of real MOVING world. In Seattle ;)
Nikon's advertisement picture with dirt bike stopped frizzed is a bull shit. IMHO. I was not able to take a clear picture of my kid standing almost still, not unless I manually deal in high a ISO.
Nikon AW100 - FAIL.
This is a Nikon AW 100 advertisement:
"
Sharper objects in motion
To ward off motion blur, the AW100's motion detector automatically tracks moving subjects and adjusts the camera's settings to keep them in focus."
This is a real life: best attempt. Auto or Sport mode. Kid is not moving too fast, he is doing bridge. Not riding a freaking bike. Sky looks not too dark, not much darker then bike picture. Right? Look on his legs. I picked this picture to show that camera was able to focus on subject and I was not moving too, but small movement will be blurred. Person turn head, walk, e.t.c. - I have many ruined pictures from this test walk. Camera is unusable for "real life". You can not walk and snap. May be it will work better in bright sun, but under water or in misty mountains? Duh .... It does not work in park.
Now, this is my OLD Olympus 1030SW. High in the mountains. Fog. Really dark. Skiing down slope. Picture was taken while I was also skiing down. Bumpy ride. But ... Magic! Stop motion! BINGO. They do not even have VR or stabilization on this camera. and I used simplest "AUTO" mode. Not even sport. You see how dark it is? I also used ZOOM on second picture that made aperture even smaller I suspect. Still, while may be a bit grainy it is totally OK and usable pix. It is memories. Not motion blur. :)
Now... What's wrong with Nikon? :)
Labels: Nikon AW100
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