Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 (mju Tough 8000)

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: If you are looking to buy this camera the chances are you're most interested in the build quality than the image quality. Which is good, because there are many many cameras out there that will give you better images, most of which come in at a lower price. That's not to say they're bad, just don't expect the best quality in the world.

Where the camera is a cut above the rest though is in its construction. The thing is damn near indestructible, I've already dropped it, trodden on it, gone for a swim with it and battered it off some rocks. An ordinary camera would have been destroyed, but this one just keeps on going, with only a couple of minor cosmetic scratches on the surface.

The camera is very easy to use, with the intelligent auto function making most of the decisions for you if you've not used a camera before. For the more experienced user there are a wealth of scene modes to allow you to choose the appropriate setting, and the most used ones are available at the turn of a wheel.

I've also found the innovative TAP control quite useful when wearing gloves. There are only a limited number of function it can do (macro, flash, playback/picture taking, OK), but it works as described and takes away the frustration of pressing the incredibly small buttons (especially when you're wearing thick winter gloves).

Surprisingly the camera didn't come with the stand alone charger I expected. Instead it comes with an AC adapter which is incredibly small and so easy to carry around and plugs into the same socket the USB and AV cables use.
Annoyingly you can't run the camera from the mains with this adapter, but the chances are you're not going to be using it for that anyway. More frustratingly this approach also means that you can't have one battery on charge and still be able to use the camera.

Another pleasant surprise was the screen, which worked perfectly even in the bright sunlight we've experienced here in the UK recently. I've not once been unable to see the screen to take a shot, which is impressive for any camera.

One thing that is worth mentioning is the memory card, Olympus still use on their own xD cards, but they do include a microSD adapter. This means you can use
microSD and microSDHC card with the camera, which is a good thing as the 12mp resolution can leave you with some very large files. But be warned, the adapter will not fit into most card readers. as it has an every so slightly different shape to an xD card and has different communication protocols, which means even if it does fit into your reader it still may not work.

When it comes down to it if you're the sort of person who is careless with cameras, or does a lot of adventurous activity, this is the camera for you. If you're a pixel peeper only concerned with the best of image quality, save your money and buy something better suited to your needs.

NB as a testament to the cameras robustness, Ben Weeks at warehouseexpress gave one of the cameras to his three children for a weekend. You can read about the results on the warehouseexpress website.

Opinion: After sitting through a rain-soaked F-1 race this year, I realized I wanted a bomb-proof camera in addition to all my other ones. And so after doing all the research on this site, off I went to the camera mall (we have those here in China).

I looked at 5 contenders that all had their strengths and weaknesses. And while the Lumix FT1 is drop-dead gorgeous, it's not nearly as "tough." So when I first picked up this Olympus, my first primal thoughts were "Oooh shinny... Hummm heavy." Nice.

But as you work your way through the buttons and menu layout, you realize how intelligent this camera is (and that's coming from a Nikon and Leica snob). Like moving the "Format" command (which I use frequently) to the very first option as opposed to burying it like on all my other gear. Also, being able to access the WB, ISO, shutter speed, focusing, shadow-boost (a neat feature) and image size all off the buttons, instead of within the main menu, is simple and smart.

You do need a honeymoon period with the camera to get the best results and to develop a working relationship with the exposure compensation view. As for results... it's a point-n-shoot. It's fine. If you can augment the 19 scene pre-sets by making fine adjustments in ISO and such, you'll get better results. But the underwater pre-sets are great since I have no experience shooting in that environment.

As for toughness, here's my take. My dive watch is rated to 1,000 meters; which tells me it'll handle my 40 meter (120 feet) dives no sweat. So while this camera is rated for 10 meters underwater and 2 meters for shockproof, that tells me it'll do just fine in any pool or when it falls out of my backpack. And so far, this has more than held up.

It feels great in your hand, is very robust, intelligently laid out and a joy to tote around. Quirky fun stuff like using the LED as a flashlight and Tap Control will amuse your friends and are actually useful.

Opinion: Not much to say but there are too few reviews.

It's designed as a waterproof, freezeproof, shockproof camera. They did it in a tiny package. Image quality was not the primary consideration, and it shows in the results.

However, images are pretty good for what it is in auto mode. I like some aperture and shutter speed options which this lacks, but most of my photos (excluding underwater) were as good in auto as in scene modes.

That said, it worked for me to 30 ft in salt water. I'm happy with the purchase. I paid a lot when it was first released, but prices are better now and it does what it is supposed to do - survive to swim another day.

Fortunately it is not my only camera or my only P&S. If you are the least bit picky, it shouldn't be your only camera. However, for safety this is the one I normally use.

A general pet peeve is the night modes on P&S cameras - people carrying tiny cameras are not carrying tripods to stabilize them long enough for not shots.