Before jumping off the edge of the world and becoming a travel blogger I had years of experience running and managing a consumer electronics store. One of the first things I bought before leaving on our first 35-Day Road Trip was a brand new camera. I wanted something that would be well suited for both travel and photography. I did a lot of comparison shopping and I chose the waterproof Nikon COOLPIX AW100, and I’ve been thrilled with it. After owning 5-6 different digital cameras, and selling hundreds more, I went out looking for one camera that met all of my needs. It had to be well featured, take great pictures, be easy to use, and durable enough to withstand hard travel. I found one that meets all those requirements plus it’s been really fun to use on all of our adventures! Here’s a list of reasons why it just might be the right camera for you too.
Great Pictures
Being a Nikon, I knew I was buying arguably one of the best camera brands on the market. The combination of their high quality lenses and great sensors means that I get a high quality picture in most settings. The one place you will see this camera (and most non-SLR cameras) struggle is in extremely low light situations, but otherwise it’s been great.
Took this shot in Oregon – Love it
Ease of Use
I’ve seen a lot of people purchase a new camera right before a trip, only to spend hours trying to figure out how to use it, or worse, struggling to figure it out while on their trip and missing that perfect shot. The AW-100
features tons of pre-set modes to prevent that from happening. There’s everything from “Smart-Auto” that puts the whole camera on auto pilot to modes like landscape, and dusk/dawn that let you customize your shot. One of my favorites is the “food mode”. It really helps when I’m trying to shoot food pictures for my blog or to share on Pinterest. It allows you to easily adjust the color settings on the screen before taking the picture, so you always get the right color!
It’s Icon Based and Easy to Use
Well Featured
In addition to the great menu system, the AW-100Â has a couple other great features that made it jump quickly onto my short list. It is 16MP which means it would take large pictures that I could comfortably crop without loosing detail. While it also has 5X Optical Zoom (plus 4x digital), which gives me the ability to zoom in on detail. While there are cameras with much longer optical zoom, they are much larger and bulkier, which doesn’t suit our travel style. The camera also takes full-HD video, which is something I originally wasn’t really into, but has turned out to be a great bonus feature.
My favorite feature though has to be the built-in GPS. Now, it’s not the fact that I get easily lost that makes it a great feature, it’s that it “geo-tags” all my pictures for me. What this means is when input my pictures on the computer, or upload them to Facebook, I can look at a map and it automatically put little pins everywhere I’ve been! It’s really cool to look at and a must have for a blogger!
This is what geo-tagging does for me!
Durability
This is where the camera really shines! This baby is waterproof, shock-proof, and freeze proof. This has allowed me to take it out to places I’d be afraid to take a regular camera and still get great photos. So far it’s been dropped in a river, taken a swim in the Gulf of Mexico, and taken some awesome underwater shots while in a pool. Not to mention the countless times I’ve dropped it and jostled it in my numerous backpacks while taking a hike or stroll through the city. The only feature I haven’t tested is the fact that it’s freeze proof, and I just might do that when we take our next trip to Alaska!
All around this has been a really well performing camera for me and it’s met all my needs as full-time traveler. It’s compact size and durability has made it my go-to camera and it’s always with me. Feel free to tell us about your camera experience, or ask questions about choosing the fit camera for you below!
**I feel it important to note I have not been compensated for this review in any fashion**
