Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 (mju Tough 6000)

Opinion: The main reason for getting this camera is obviously its rugged construction and on
that end it certainly delivers. It's very well built and I can vouch for the
waterproofing, having used it extensively in water (down to 3 meters, I'm certain
you could take it deeper than that).

The downside is that it seems camera manufacturers feel that the construction is the
ONLY reason for getting a camera like this... The Tough cameras have very limited
manual settings and these are only available in the limited program mode. In scene
modes, you have to settle with trusting the camera to do all settings for you,
sometimes with less than great results. The image quality is nothing to write home
about either. It performs well in daylight and at low ISO, but as soon as you get up
to ISO 200 and beyond it deteriorates fast.

AF speed is very slow, especially in poor light, and the decision not to allow flash in
super macro mode is totally incomprehensible. If you want to use it in an
underwater housing and trigger an external flash in super macro mode, you can
forget about that...

Overall, a fairly average camera with a very good and rugged construction.

Opinion: WARNING FOR all OLYMPUS "Tough" Camera's

Olympus only does warranty for 12 months following purchase of camera. Even if
after that time issues arise which are related to manufacturer defect. "waterproof",
"tough" and "shockproof" should be taken in context of use for 12 months.

I received an estimate of $135 + $25 shipping (from manufacturer) to repair water
leaking into the frame of a 18 month old $400 camera. It is noted on my repair
form that this camera is not scratched, dented or shown any signs of misuse, other
than water damage to the LCD screen, fogged flash, and water inside camera. My
lesson on this is unfortunately not to purchase perceived quality and instead buy
cheap and re-purchase often.

Opinion: We bought the camera (with an Ikelite waterproof dive case) specifically for diving. The thinking was that the camera stands a better chance of surviving if a little water found its way into the case. We've heard various people who claim to have lost their "waterproof" camera while snorkeling and were warned not to trust the "waterproof" claim.
We found the camera pretty limited above the water, and the video function is absolutely appalling. The automatic iris opens and closes abruptly, even for the slightest change in exposure, making the feature completely useless.
Once under water it takes beautiful pictures though. There is no manual setting for Shutter Speed or f-stop which limits the cameras use to being a "point and shoot" dive camera.
We're not too disappointed with it since we use it only for diving, but we're already looking at other options for the future and will probably not buy Olympus again.

Opinion: I bought this camera when my last Olympus "waterproof" camera died on a trip to
Hawaii. I chalked it up to not properly rinsing it after taking it snorkeling. I bought
this new camera and did get some photos while boogie boarding on another trip.
The next day, we went snorkeling and it died even though I never went below 5 feet
deep. Don't bother with this thing