July 31, 2012 UPDATE: Took the plunge and used this in the rain and also while snorkeling. Worked great! Be sure to use the underwater setting when in the water. Below is a sample image I took in Tahiti.
Suggestion...be sure to have a fully charged battery in the camera and also plenty of room on your memory card before going into the water. You don't want to chance getting water inside the camera by having to change the battery or card while in the water. After cleaning & drying the camera I opened the camera and there were just a couple of itsy bitsy tiny drops of water on the ledge inside which I immediately used a cloth to soak up. Other than that it was completely dry.
Used the video function quite a bit which worked great. I think the "movie light" default is on. I turned it off since it was eating up the battery. Speaking of which...BUY SEVERAL EXTRA BATTERIES.
Overall I'm very pleased with this little camera. Takes nice family pics and videos, pretty easy to use and I can use it in all weather conditions. I recommend it.
JANUARY 22, 2012
Features of the Nikon AW100:
16 MP CMOS Sensor
5x Zoom Lens - 28-140mm 35mm Equivalent
3.0" LCD Display
Waterproof to 33' Deep
Shockproof for Drops Up to 5'
Full HD 1080p Video with Stereo Sound
GPS Data Logging and E-Compass Function
Built-In Map Displayed on LCD
20 Scene Modes Inc. Underwater Scene
Action Control - Shake to Set a Function
Here's my experience/thoughts so far of this camera:1. The lens is located top left side which I'm use to it being in the center of the camera so watch where you put your fingers. Either there's a clear cover over the lens or it's part of the lens, I don't know. Anyway, there's no "lens cover" in the traditional sense which I don't like. I keep the camera in a protective case to protect the lens. Wish I could just stick it in my purse without the case. I emailed Nikon about this & am awaiting a response.
2. The camera feels well built. I'm a little nervous about actually putting it in water...there's little holes here & there. But I'll probably take the plunge.
3. Read the manual & need to read it again. The full manual was not provided in written form, there's a cd with it on it. I just downloaded the manual onto my ipad.
4. This little bugger is almost as complicated as my dslr with all it's possible settings. But after I worked with it for a little while it's starting to come together. If you don't want to bother with all the settings you can just put it on easy auto mode & shoot away and get pretty good results. Being a control freak, and being use to my dslr's I have a problem with not being able to adjust certain settings...like the flash. There's a button to change flash settings but it only works if you're in a certain shooting mode. Unless I'm mistaken..it appears that the mode determines what the flash does. I need to play around with this more.
5. The gps is pretty neat. It imprinted my location...correctly on my picture preview. Gonna love this.
That's it for now. I'll post more after I get some good experience with it but I think this little guy is going to do a good job.
