Unique Photo's TOUGH TEST

By Mike Zawadzki, Technical Consultant

Point and Shoot cameras are great! They let allow you to travel without having to lug around a bag or big camera on a strap. The technology they feature has improved over the years.  Heck some point and shoot cameras now have similar features to DSLR cameras.

They are perfect for taking on trips… Until you drop them! All conveniently sized pocket-sized cameras are vulnerable to a drop of water and the tiniest bit of impact.

Oh no this poor camera has met it's doom! Or has it?

Almost all repairs on point and shoot cameras outweigh the cost of replacing the camera, especially if the camera is more than a year old.  It’s one of the worst feelings in the world.  Just imagine being on vacation and dropping your camera on the first day.  You either purchase a new camera if you can find a camera store, or forget about taking pictures for the rest of the trip.  I’m sure it’s happened to many of you reading this!

THE POINT AND SHOOT SOLUTION

Meet the Olympus Stylus Tough series! These cameras can be dropped, frozen, and brought underwater.  If you don’t believe me, check out this video, featuring yours truly! 

THE UNDERWATER VIDEO PORTION WAS RECORDED WITH OLYMPUS STYLUS TOUGH CAMERAS!!  


CREDIT TO EDWARD WHITTINGTON FOR PUTTING THIS GREAT VIDEO TOGETHER!

OVERVIEW

Olympus makes three models and yes all three are now SDHC compatible, meaning they don’t use the ancient XD cards often associated with Olympus.  The models, as they increase in price, increase in durability and features.  Here is a little chart to help sort out the differences between each model.

The image quality between the three models is negligible.  Even the Tough 3000 has plenty of resolution at 12 Megapixels.  Point and Shoot cameras are for taking fun snapshots.  While I appreciate the attempt to improve image quality by increasing megapixels, I already have enough “fun” managing all my large RAW files from a DSLR.  When I shot with the Tough Series cameras, I shot on small or medium JPEG.  That’s my theory with Point and Shoots.  Unless you are planning to make big prints ahead of time, shoot smaller sized images for your own convenience.


Here are a few out-take shots from our day with the Tough Cameras!

Photos by Mike Zawadzki and Edward Whittington

SPECS COMPARISON

The Tough Series menus were easy to navigate and offer tons of options in terms of scene shooting modes and special effects such as in camera Panoramic shooting.  Things like this are becoming typical in many point and shoots and the Olympus Stylus Tough Series are very up to date in this regard.


All models of the camera also feature sensor shift stabilization.  I like the feature of 1GB/2GB built in storage.  It's nice to have that much space built in just in case your memory card goes bad, is full, or you leave it at home!


Here is a small chart that compares the features of each model.

	STYLUS TOUGH 3000	STYLUS TOUGH 6020	STYLUS TOUGH 8010
Price	$229.99	$299.99	$399.00
Waterproof	10 ft.	16 ft.	33 ft.
Shockproof	5 ft.	5 ft.	6.6 ft.
Freeze-proof	14°F/-10°C	14°F/-10°C	14°F/-10°C
Crush-proof	N/A	N/A	220 lbf.
Megapixels	12.7	14.0	14.0
Optical Zoom	3.6x	5x	5x
Video Recording	1280 x 720 (HD 30 fps) 640 x 480 (30/15 fps) 320 x 240 (30/15 fps)	1280 x 720 (HD 30 fps) 640 x 480 (30/15 fps) 320 x 240 (30/15 fps)	1280 x 720 (HD 30 fps) 640 x 480 (30/15 fps) 320 x 240 (30/15 fps)
Internal Memory	1GB	1GB	2GB
LCD Size	2.7"	2.7"	2.7"
LCD Dots	230K	230K	230K
Weight	122g (4.3oz)	159g (5.6oz)	245g (8.6oz)

CONCLUSION

It's hard to go wrong with an Olympus Tough camera.  I'm not going to lie and say the ISO performance is the best out there or that it takes the highest quality images of any Point and Shoot.  However the quality is very good for the price and of course you get 720p HD video to boot.  If you're like me and you've broken (intentionally or unintentionally ;) ) some of your electronics in the past, you should consider picking up a  Tough Series camera!