A few notes for the record of this thread:
Last autumn I provided feedback to Nikon with respect to problems with the GPS logging feature of the AW1. The log was interrupted when the camera turned itself off, and also gave completely wrong longitudinal coordinates in the log (but not images) when logging in Alaska (it located me to Hudson Bay in Canada) opposed to logging in Europe. This spring I was pleased to be notified that Nikon had provided a firmware update (1.11) that fixed both of these problems:
https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19380As also noted by Bjørn, the already excellent GPS receiver in the AW1 can be helped by downloading and updating with the A-GPS file. It is a file that apparently contains information about expected locations of different satellites which helps with faster lock-on. It is issued for intervals of about 2 weeks and then the file needs to be updated again for this advantage:
http://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/download/fw/112.htmlAkira pointed us to a report of a patent for a Nikon 1 AW amphibian wide zoom (7.2-13.6mm above water, 6.10-10.93 under water):
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=900.0http://egami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2015-07-29It appears to have a curved front port. So in spite of my previous comments that a dome port like front element would cause problems with infinity focus below vs. above water, Nikon apparently know how to do this. It will be interesting to see if this lens comes through. The rumored 10-100mm AW lens still have not come though though; all patents do not necessarily lead to products.
The last comment in my last post brings us to my need to send in the AW 11-27.5mm in for repair to fix a wobble that developed in the zoom ring; In addition to the physical wobble, I noticed a few captures at infinity had started to become blurry on one side. There were no signs of water penetration in spite of the wobble.
In the US, all warranty repair of Nikon 1 system component has now been outsourced United Electronics Group's camera repair department. https://unitednikonrepair.com/Repair/When I received the lens back from repair, the wobble was gone, however the zoom mechanism felt suspiciously stiff and dry, and had a clicking sound when zoomed towards the wide end. A few test shots indicated blurriness still present on one side at infinity, even worse than before and there was a sound of something like a loose screw inside the lens when I turned it... OK I thought I would give the lens a chance before possibly sending it in, so I went for the prescribed submersion test mounted on the AW1 in a clear cylinder of clean water. When it reached 15cm depth, I started to notice bubbles escaping front the front of the zoom ring at a steady pace..., so I quickly aborted the test. The lens immediately fogged up and soon water was visible behind the front glass...
No water had gotten to the mount, and I noticed that for water to get all the way to the sensor shield of the AW1 it will have to pass through the small opening in the baffle. So there should be a good chance to save the body from a moderate flood of the lens in shallow water.
This was apparently
a completely butchered repair, performed by a person with inadequate training including incorrectly installing the o-rings. When I told them so in a polite manner,
United Camera immediately got back to me apologizing. A couple of weeks after returning the lens back, I had a new lens from Nikon. It should also be noted that when I initially sent the lens in, there was no questioning of my truthful statement that the lens did not have impact damage or had otherwise been misused, so communication seems to work reasonably well with this facility. The new copy of the lens does not show de-centering and performs just as well as the original one (image in my last post with the new copy), and without wobble in the zoom ring that has a smooth dampened feeling, so end of story.
