Now you're really in deep water

The Nikon 1 AW1 is the first mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera that’s also waterproof. It’s designed to be used at depths of up to 15 metres for as long as 60 minutes, in both freshwater and sea water. But it must first be mounted with a special-purpose waterproof lens.

The lens is sealed with rubber to prevent leaks and the body has security locks at the USB and HDMI port and battery chamber covers.

The body and lens are also shockproof, able to withstand up to a two-metre fall, and the camera is freeze-proof too. It can withstand temperatures of minus 10 degrees. And, just to complete the protection, it’s completely dust-proof!

With the 15-metre waterproof capability, you can have fun taking photos of coral reefs and fish when snorkelling or shallow diving. Or you can have fun shooting at a water park or a swimming pool.

Unfortunately, during the test period, I had no chance to visit the sea or swimming pool, so I couldn’t test this feature. Guessing from quality of shots from other modes and from the fact that Nikon provides an Underwater shooting mode, the AW1 should capture beautiful shots in the deep.

AW1 features 14.2 million pixel sensor, which is quite large at the size of 13.2mm x 8.8mm. It comes with 1 Nikkor AW 11-27.5mm lens with aperture ranging from f/3.5-5.6. It can be used with another lens, but if you want to use it underwater, you must use it with lens with AW code, like the one that comes as the lens kit.

The size of the sensor makes the focal length’s crop factor to be 2.7x. So, the lens kit has the focal length of 29.7 to 74mm – capable of covering most normal shooting ranges.

The AW1 is also capable of shooting Full HD video and it can be adapted with a wireless mobile adapter to share your images wirelessly.

AWI also supports GPS and GLONASS positioning systems. Nikon plans to further enhance its features with a waterproof external flash that will be released next year.

Since it is designed to be used underwater, AW1 does not have a shooting mode dial. 

You need to use the menu to select shooting modes.

The shooting modes include Programmed Auto with flexible Program (P), Shutter-Priority Auto (S), Aperture-Priority Auto (A), Manual (M) and Scene Auto Selector.

During the test, I found the Auto Mode was suffice to capture beautiful, sharp and clean photos in most lighting conditions.

The P, S A and M are grouped under the group of Creative Mode. There several other fun scene modes grouped under the Creative Mode, including Underwater, Night landscape, Night portrait, Backlighting, Easy panorama, Soft, Miniature effect, Selective colour.

I am happy with the Night landscape mode for capturing low lighting in night scenes. When you press the shutter-release button, the AW1 takes a series of shots and combines them into one sharp, clean and beautiful picture.

In Miniature effect mode, the top and bottom of each photo is blurred so that the subject appears like miniature model.

The selective colour mode is also fun. You can take photo in which only a selected hue appears in colour. You can use the multi-selector the choose the colour you want and the rest of colours become black and white.

AW1 has good performance. It took less than two seconds to get ready for the first shot after it is turned on. I didn’t feel shutter lag as the shutter response is less than one second. The shot to shot time is also less than one second, which is impressive. Its focus speed is also impressive.

Its battery could last over 200 shots per one charge, which is quite good.

Nikon 1 AW1 is available in two packages. The camera with a Nikkor AW 11-27.5mm lens retail for Bt25,900. The camera with a Nikkor AW 11-27.5mm lens and a Nikkor 12.8mm retails for Bt30,900.

 

Key specs

_ Lens mount: Nikon waterproof 1 mount 

_ Effective angle of view: Approx. 2.7x lens focal length (35mm format equivalent) 

_ Effective pixels: 14.2 million 

_ Image sensor: 13.2 mm x 8.8 mm CMOS sensor (Nikon CX format)

_ Media: SD (Secure Digital), SDHC, and SDXC memory cards

_ Shutter speed: 1/16,000-30 s in steps of 1/3 EV; Bulb

_ Metering: TTL metering using

_ Exposure mode: P, S, A, M and scene auto selector

_ ISO sensitivity: ISO 160-6400 in steps of 1 EV

_ Autofocus: Hybrid autofocus

_ Focus area: Single-point AF: 135 focus areas; the center 73 areas support phase-detection AF

_ Max video resolution: 1920 x 1080 / 60 i (59.94 fields/s)

_ Monitor: 3-inch, approx. 921k-dot, TFT LCD with brightness adjustment

_ Battery: One rechargeable Li-ion EN-EL20  

_ Dimensions: 113.3 x 71.5 x 37.5 mm 

_ Weight: 356g with battery and memory card but without body cap or O-ring protector; 313g camera body only