Australian Camera — May-June 2017

REPORT BY PAUL BURROWS

18

ON TRIAL

NIKON

KEYMISSION

ACTIONCAMS

18

With its compact camera business all but

decimated by the smartphone, Nikon has moved

on to a logical replacement... the actioncam.

MISSION READY

thinking of jumping in right now,

the Nikon name has plenty of

kudos. Sure, GoPro invented the

category and is still dominant

especially with pro video-makers,

but Nikon is now well-known

here too, and its camera cred

is arguably rather more well-

rounded (well, you don’t get to

celebrate a 100th anniversary as

a camera maker without doing

something right).

There are currently three

KeyMission models – with more

to come according to Nikon – and

we’re looking at two of them

here. The entry-level KeyMission

80 is designed primarily as a

wearable video camera and

is a smart-looking little device

(ironically styled very much like

a smartphone), but we suspect

photographers are going to be

much more interested in the

170 and 360 models which have

greater scope for exploring the

many possibilities of action videos.

And this is exactly why you might

consider buying an actioncam

to use in situations where you’d

never risk your D-SLR or mirrorless

camera, even one with excellent

video capabilities. The combination

of compactness, minimal weight,

ruggedness and affordability is

what makes the actioncam so

suited to ‘special ops’ applications.

FULL PROTECTION

The KeyMission 170 is Nikon’s take

on the ‘conventional’ actioncam

in that it follows the basic GoPro

recipe of an ultra-wide lens in an

ultra-compact bodyshell that can

be mounted on just about anything

that moves (including yourself)

via various adaptors and plates.

However, Nikon being Nikon, the

KM 170 has a bit more in terms of

its still shooting capabilities, and it

offers the convenience of having a

built-in LCD monitor screen.

Of course, in the actioncam

world, both remote camera

control and live view monitoring

via a smart device – either tablet

or mobile phone – running the

required app is increasingly the

norm, but the direct method still

has advantages. So, although

tiny at just 3.4 cm, the KM 170’s

monitor screen still allows for

precise aiming and framing plus

menu-driven operations using a

set of three keys – up, down and

OK. Not surprisingly, real estate

is at a premium on a camera

ikon is a purer camera company than

any of its competitors. By that we

mean a much greater proportion of

its business is cameras and optics.

So, when a fairly important part of

that business takes a big hit – as has happened with

digital compact cameras over the last few years –

there’s a greater imperative to fi nd an alternative

source of income.

So, when Nikon announced its fi rst KeyMission

actioncam, it took quite a few people by surprise,

but there’s a simple logic at play here... actioncams

are the new digital compact cameras. Yes,

smartphones – the nemesis of the humble compact –

can shoot video too, but actioncams can do a whole

lot more, particularly in extreme conditions and

extreme locations. A very capable snapshooter, the

smartphone is less workable when you need your

hands free for other more essential duties or when

the going gets a bit tough.

With the actioncam market already fairly crowded

and including some pretty big players such as Sony,

Panasonic and the ubiquitous GoPro; you might

wonder whether Nikon is arriving at the party a little

too late, but it’s actually the fi rst of the big photo

brands to enter this market... and the KeyMission

360, in particular, is not just another ‘me too’

product. This is not to say that Nikon is going to

clean up straightaway, but the actioncam market

is still growing and, if you’re a keen photographer

N

CamMayJune17_018-025 NikonActionCams.indd 18 13/04/2017 9:55 AM