I have been meaning to do a quick review of the Nikon S32 Waterproof digital point and shoot for awhile now. I know it’s not film but I haven’t found very many reviews of this little guy so I figured I’d do one. You may have noticed that I included it as apart of the #WhatsInMyBag post – and there’s a good reason why.

It’s pretty sturdy and rugged. It’s so simple and so easy to use a five-year-old can operate it and win a Pulitzer.
Just kidding. It IS really easy to use though. It can go under water up to 33ft without being damaged. I bought this on a whim because we were flying across the country the next day and I didn’t want to bring my Canon 5D Mark III, I had my film stuff already packed and I knew I wanted something waterproof that wasn’t a case for my iPhone. Lo and behold, I found the Nikon S32 in a Target for $110.00. Not a bad price when the waterproof case for the iPhone was $80. Here are a few images with some minimal tweaks here and there – nothing that didn’t take more than two minutes.

Yachats, Oregon

Andrew and I at nighttime, on the coast.

😀

Late night beach celebration

Newlyweds

Pup in the pool

Little pup in the pool

Lava Rocks

Somewhere over Montana

The flash was pretty good on this, nice and bright but not enough to completely wipe out my fellow caucasians. I used it underwater for an assignment (the photo of the dogs above) and the shutter button had a bit of a delay when submerged. I’m not sure if it was because I’m just super used to working with top notch gear and expect a quick response time or what but it took me a bit to time my shots. Regardless, it got me a great point of view that no other photographers were able to get because their gear couldn’t go underwater.

The lens wasn’t bad either – could be better but for what it was it worked just fine. The battery held a charge for a good bit but an issue I ran into was that my second time charging the camera resulted in me having to do the old school blowing inside to clear the connecters to make it charge. I’ve seen that a few people have had that issue.

Overall, I’d say it was worth the money. I’ve dropped it a ton of times, thrown it in my suitcase, camera bag, backpack, purse, etc and trust that it will still work when I need it. Great for what it is – a consumer version point and shoot.

Final Grade: B+

Nikon S32