nikon AW1 thoughts and exeriences

Hardware
1

I’m thinking about getting a used nikon AW1 for my kayak and general outdoor use.
I’ve been looking on the web and it seems hard to find the o-ring needed to seal the lens. In fact most places are out of almost everything for the AW1. So guess I have two main concerns:

  1. can I use or find a generic o-ring that would fit and work? How long do they last?
  2. It seems that this is a orphaned camera but it seems like it was build rugged, no moving parts, which I like. Is this true? Is it really rugged.

I’m looking at a used camera that hasn’t been used very much. The seller claims it has been in the closet for most of the last few years.
I have gopros for the really wet uses, I’m thinking of this one mostly for slightly wet places like sail boats, kayaks etc.

2

I’m sure you can find a replacement o-ring, if you measure the diameter of the sealing gland on the body and the flange on the lens, and measure the o-ring itself.

You also want to consult the Parker O-Ring Handbook to double-check that the o-ring sizes you measure seem plausible for the hardware it’s being installed in.

Your other hope is to contact Nikon themselves and find out what o-ring it is.

1 Like
3

Yep, was going to post the Parker book, but you beat me to it.

It’s important to pay attention to the intended design use of the o-ring as well (not all of them are shaped the same or intended for the same use, ie: pure compression vs. rotation as well as it’s surrounding hardware). Can you find an OEM o-ring somewhere to at least look at?

4

Thanks for the parker book tip. Ineed to study up on that today. that may help me on a number of projects. Still haven’t actually seen this nikon AW-1 camera but the seller claims its only been on one trip a few years ago. I ask for a sample image taken with the camera and got it but I cannt find the shutter count in the exif. There is an “image number” field that may be it.

I noticed in the nikon literature someplace they talk about not using the silcone grease that is for the other nikon camera on this one. Any idea what the difference could be.