The camera took exactly a second to power on - a good number to boast about. It doesn't take too long to focus and capture images either. We recorded an average time of 51ms to capture images under good lighting conditions. In high-quality burst mode the Coolpix AW120 was able to take five images in 7 minutes, 33 seconds which is slightly on the higher side.
Our ISO test revealed that noise started creeping in at ISO800. Take a look at the top left corner of the image to judge the image quality. The small black speck becomes indistinct at higher settings.For all practical purposes we expect users to stick to auto settings but in case one wishes to experiment with ISO settings and low-light photography, we advise using a tripod. We used the auto mode - which, weirdly, is the mode that lets you play with all the available controls - to shoot in low light and found that unless a tripod or a flat surface was used the camera failed to focus properly. Captured images had a yellow tinge to them. As expected, using the flash to create an artificial source of light adds a metallic effect to textures, which feels extremely unnatural. But the flash is really powerful and could light up a 300 sq.ft. room with ease.
There is absolutely no oversaturation in daylight shots, and colour reproduction is close to natural. This might put off some users who want flair in their photographs but we think that it is great for a point-and-shoot digital camera. On the flip side, green leaves on a tree tended to merge into each other, meaning the camera doesn't handle chromatic aberration to well. Moreover, we even noticed that the camera made it look like we were soft-focussing our subjects.
Videos had natural colours and there was no discernible tearing, though the soft-focus problem was apparent here too. Thus, despite all the wonderful weather-proofing features, the Coolpix AW120 falls slightly short of 'good' in the picture quality department.
