Olympus Stylus 6000 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6x

Great pictures, easy to use and durable.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have been a canon digital point and shoot camera guy for years. But I have kids now 3 & 1.5 and the canon had taken a beating because the kids would occasionally get a hold of it.

I was drawn to the Tough – 6000 because of its ruggedness and the fact it was water proof up to 10 feet (that should take care of the little ones drool). I was unsure of the picture quality as I have had no experience with the Olympus camera. I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

It has a number of automatic scene modes which I use quite a bit and the result has been fantastic pictures. Couple notes, just like with any point and shoot camera the flash is not going to fill a room so trying to shoot subjects further than 10 feet in a dim room will not net the desired result, but if you keep the subjects under 10 feet you get the light you want and great results. Outdoor pictures are very good but this will not be the camera for shooting action sports. Just not fast enough. Also I notice the zoom is a little slower than the zoom on the canon. With that said I still have not missed the good shoots with the small children.

If you are looking for a good camera to drop in your pocket and take some good pictures at get together with friends, birthdays, and spur of the moment photos, and you want to to worry if the camera gets wet or is dropped this camera would fit that bill very well.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase and recommend it to friends.

Review from User doing beach/backing/kids
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We really like the camera thus the 5 stars. We have 3 kids under age of 8 and took the Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 to Hawaii for 2 weeks, backpacking for a week and Disneyland for a day. I also shoot a SLR Nikon D80 digital and my Nikon N90s film camera is collecting dust.

–== Raves ==–

1. Very durable.

2. Automatic metal lens cover so lens doesn’t get scratched when bouncing in backpack/purse.

3. Thought for sure it would die after rolling around all day in my board shorts pocket in the sandy beach shore pound. Came out fine.

4. Easy one handed operation.

5. 28mm lens means taking a self portrait at arms-length works great.

6. Underwater shots and movies look pretty darn good. I was impressed. The review at DP Review says underwater performance is so-so.

7. Autofocus at low light is much better than I’ve experienced in other point-n-shoot cameras however DP Review says it’s only so-so.

8. The underwater movies have sound! You can hear the bubbles

9. Warm colors in images are great.

10. Waterproof coating on the lens works fine.

–== Gripes ==–

1. It is slow to turn on.

2. When I set it to “manual fill flash” (needed to get rid of the dark shadows the kids faces when they have their hats on during sunny days) it only remembers my manual change until I turn it off. When I turn it back on, I have to set the auto fill flash again.

3. Olympus uses the xD memory card format. The card size kinda maxes out at 2 gigs (that’s all that’s available for sale although tech specs say it can go higher) which is fine since the cam doesn’t shoot HD video. Some of the other waterproof cameras shoot HD video which would eat up memory really fast but they take the normal miniSD or whatever. My 2 gig card holds like 16 min of standard def video or alternatively it can hold like 300 images.

4. The “tap control” turns itself on every once and a while. Just have to go in and turn it off. No biggie, but distracting.

5. Battery life is better than I expected but wish it was longer. Does about a 2 days of busy picture taking before needing recharge. I’m purchasing backup battery this week (looks like OEM battery is like $5 here on Amazon).

6. Cannot zoom the lens in movie mode.

Were I to buy it again, I would also consider the Pentax Optio W80 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 since reviews say picture quality is better and they shoot HD video. I would not consider the Canon because the review says it doesn’t easily fit into a pocket. Again, I’m very happy with this Olympus and no matter what, if you’ve got small kids, getting a drop proof, crush proof, water proof camera is a great thing if the budget allows.

[...]

worked great for a week
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera right before our trip to Belize. It worked flawlessly for the first 10 days of our 12 day trip. We got lots of great pictures including many underwater pictures. All in all, I got over 550 pictures.

Then a problem arose. When I turned on the camera, a message kept saying “check battery door”. I kept playing with it and could not get the message to disappear. We never took it below 6-7ft, but we did get a drop or 2 of water in it. Waited a couple days to let it dry out and still got the same message. Oddly enough, another person on our trip had the model before this one (no dial) and he had the same problem.

I took it back and got a refund.

Bummer. I really got use to using it and got some good pictures. Hopefully, Olympus can fix this. But for now, I’ll take a look at the new Canon D10.

Not waterproof
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This is a nice enough camera, but it is NOT waterproof as claimed and — worse — Olympus won’t stand behind the product.

AMAZING!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my 2nd Olympus shock and waterproof camera and I’m absolutely in LOVE with this brand and this camera. I’m very hard on electronics and this has sure surpassed my expectations of a camera! The quality of my pictures is wonderful. The durability of the camera is phenomenal. I can not count how many time I have dropped my old camera and dunked it in a glass of water ( sometimes on purpose just to freak people out ) and the thing keeps on working… I’m expecting the same greatness from my brand new camera and can’t wait to use it!!! The customer service that Olympus provides is also fantastic! My previous camera had been sent in at least 3 times and the company fixed and returned as if they were a personal friend. Also i would like to thank Amazon and butterfly photo on the delivery time! This product was ordered on a Saturday and was received in the mail (USPS) on Wednesday! Bottom line is GREAT WORK TO EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING ME A VERY HAPPY AND NOW LOYAL CUSTOMER!!!

High price, low performance
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Right out of the box, the camera menu’s are NOT intuitive, nor is the manual, which doesn’t really spell out how to do anything. It assumes you know 1 menu from the other and can find them guided by symbols that don’t match up with the camera. You can barely hear audio (other than pronounced ambient noise) in the video mode, making all but underwater video virtually worthless. My Pentax W60 out performs this on every level! This is my 8th Olympus. They made great film point-and-shoot cameras back in the day, but the 850SW and the Tough 6000 have absolutely sucked!

Great camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After dunking three cameras in as many years, I opted for one that can swim. This one beats them all, above or below the surface.

Quality photos! Tough Camera!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was always a cannon girl but after my kids destroyed my last two cameras I was looking for something more durable! I have had this camera for a month now and have been nothing but satisified with the picture quality indoors and out! You have to change the settings for indoor lighting to get the best quality but it has many options for that. I also like the high speed shooting option, wonderful for sport shots and two little boys on the run!

Garbage!!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This camera works fairly well as long as you don’t get it wet!!! It started to malfunction on my first snorkel trip and then completely died on the second trip. It kept giving me error messages and messages that the different doors were open, which they were not. It didn’t matter how many times I turned the camera on and off, opened and closed the compartment doors, removed the battery, put it back in, etc. My advice is NOT to buy this camera but consider a Canon instead…I have always used Canon and will go back to them for my underwater camera needs!

Great performance on my rafting trip…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
While I really wanted to bring my Canon 40D on my rafting trip down the Grand Canyon…I knew that the wet, dirt and sand would not be a good thing for my expensive DSLR setup. I got the Olympus Tough 6000 as a gift just before we left…charged the battery the night before and off we went.

The standard battery allowed me to take just over 350 pictures (set at 2 meg, not the full 10 meg to conserve space on my 1 Gig card) and took 22 videos of about 20-40 seconds each on that one battery charge. I was mindful of not leaving the camera on when not shooting, and reviewed the pictures/videos only a couple of times to conserve power…

The camera did stand up well to sand, dust and water (lots of splashes while hitting the white water during the rafting, but I did not test more than a foot or so underwater so i can’t comment on that.) I got some great shots of the waves coming over me and some cool effects with water droplets on the lens.

Overall, the camera was great…a few little quirks when the camera decided to not respond. Had to remove the battery for a second then it was fine again. Took better than expected pictures…but it is obviously not a DSLR…as long as your expectations are to have a great little, easy to use camera that you can take to the beach, snow, pool, etc and get some good shots without worrying about ruining it…this is a solid choice.

Slow, slow and slow…and proprietary
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This is a great idea with frustrating implementation.

Positives:

- I found it to be durable and waterproof

- You can have some controls activated by tapping the camera on the side–cool!

- Takes okay pics (weak positive)

Negatives

– Slow. Did I say slow? Press the button….delay…then picture. Takes a long time to save to the card. I find myself wondering how long that little light is going to flash before the picture is saved and I get the display back. I have a fast M xD card in it. I also think the auto focus is what slows it down during picture taking.

- xD is proprietary to Olympus and expensive. Card readers are not as easy to find

- The cable is not a standard microUSB–another cable to carry and lose.

- Video awful. Very choppy.

Other than this Olympus, I have has a series of Canon pocket cameras and still have one for non-wet pics. I wonder if I should have paid up for the Canon waterproof camera. Maybe my dry-land Canon Powershot 780IS spoils me–it is fast, does good vieo and does not require special cables and memory.

If it were not waterproof and that I only use it in wet conditions, I would return or just get rid of this camera.

I will never buy another Olympus.

a very disappointing camera
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
let me first say that i’m not a techno high-brow or camera snob. i’m just a point and shoot guy who desires a well-designed product to capture his kid’s photos and a few assorted travel moments.

i found the olympus 6000 is to be sub-par on so many basic levels….and i didn’t even get it into the water. the time lapse between pushing the shutter button and the actual picture taking is extremely slow. i missed so many shots because of this. also, the refresh time between shots is as slow as molasses. it got to the point where i quit trying to take follow up shots because it literally brought everyone to a halt.

the movie mode defaults to no sound recorded with picture. certainly that’s easily remedied but it shows the lack of thought put into this camera and the typical user experience. the user interface is a bit poorly designed in my opinion…it’s not easy to find and change the settings.

the camera also had issues with the micro memory card. sometimes it would say i had 1500 photos remaining…then it would freeze me out with a ‘memory full’ message. maybe it was the memory card but by this point i was done with the 6000. even if i could take 1500 more ’2 seconds after the moment’ photos of my kids-what’s the point?!

my opinion is to avoid this product.

Stylus Tough – 6000
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 10 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Blue)

I purchased this camera for a trip I am taking to the Amazon this summer. I wanted a camera that could get knocked around, get wet and still take great pictures. Looked a lot of different cameras and picked the Stylus Tough-6000. So far I like this camera

Pro’s for the camera:

Waterproof/shockproof – have not tested but rely on mfg.

Dual stabilization – Low light + shaky hands = great picture

Scene selection – By selecting scenes picture quality dramatically improves.

Beauty mode – Automatically touches up faces. This does a good job.

Panorama – this does a really nice job of stitching two pictures together for a wide shot.

Tap Control – great for looking at pictures, but would have liked to have the ability to take pictures with this.

LED Illuminator – Basically a flashlight on the front of the camera – cool

Exposure control – this is sweet, allows you to look at 4 different light levels at a time. 13 total.

White balance – Sunny, Cloudy, incandescent and 3 florescent settings. This allows you to create a picture that truly looks real.

Multi window – this allows you to have 4 pictures with different zoom exposure or white balance. Then as you look at the subject you choose which of the four pictures you want to take.

Con’s for the camera:

Battery life – My Casio lasted twice as long on a charge

Auto mode – Pictures lack the quality I would expect

Controls – Take a lot of getting used to.

Face detection – Only finds the face about half the time.

Movie mode – Cannot zoom when making a video!

Scene selection – only has 20.

While it does have limitations, I think it will do what I want it to do this summer.

Not waterproof!!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Very unhappy… After less that 2 months camera got water in lens. Would not even turn on. Then it did turn on but would not take photos. Have to return to Olympus at own expense… In good faith Amazon did take it back so I was lucky… Thanks Amazon! I will skip the waterproofing this time…

What I was hoping for but does have some flaws
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought it for a snorkeling trip to the Flordia Keys, and it performed perfectly. However, the second a sea turtle swims right past me and I go to turn it on it just blinked at me. So after I got back on the boat I took the battery out and put it back in and it turned on, but besides that the camera stood by its waterproof rating. I did find that water droplets formed on the lenses quite often though, but they were easy enough to just blow out of the way. As far as the picture quality goes though I wasn’t blown away. Pictures outside come out great, but low lighting shots defiantly suffered. Overall the 800 pictures I took on vacation (at least 200 were underwater) made this camera worth the price tag.

Amazing
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This camera performed flawlessly during our recent trip to Costa Rica. We began with a 4 1/2 hour white water rafting trip. I took pictures while shooting the rapids, underwater, covered with mud, I think you get the idea.

Then we went zip lining. It was POURING rain that day; I was the only one able to take pictures!

Took it to the beach to explore coral tidal pools. I was able to film AMAZING underwater video as well as pictures. At the end of the day I simply rinsed the camera in the sink.

Picture quality is great, camera is easy to use.

My only complaint is that the clear protective film on the paint began peeling a little. Amazon was fantastic in exchanging it for a new one, no questions asked!

Excellent Photos
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this camera for our most recent trip to Hawaii. We snorkel a lot and also rented motorcycles. This camera took some great underwater photos and some not so great. As with a regular camera have to chose the light and settings. The ability of the camera to take panoramic shots is one of the features we liked the most. Most important about taking panoramic views is to make sure that you don’t change the angle of the camera when taking the photos that the camera will automatically stictch together. AND I also dropped the camera and it did just

fine.

Don’t listen to the bad reviews!!!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera because I needed a tough and durable camera that I could rely on. The picture and video quality is fantastic but the speed is a little slow… Many reviews will tell you that these cameras break underwater and that they are not reliable… DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM! I have taken this camera underwater multiple times and nothing has happened! If anything, the cameras that were damaged were defective and are covered by the warranty… despite its slow speed and minor setbacks… this is a GOOD AND RELIABLE camera! It is slim and stylish, unlike many other bulky and cumbersome underwater cameras and is much more reliable than purchasing expensive underwater housing… It also has many innovative features such as “Tap Control” for use with large gloves or while under water, as well as the LED illuminator… although I was a bit disappointed that you could not use the LED light while in video capture mode. Overall this is a well made and well designed camera and I would definitely recommend this to anyone!

Olympus Stylus 6000
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Tough camera that takes beautiful pictures. Easy to use. Great if you have children who are rough or if you are accident prone . Water proof, drop proof and shock proof.

Good Idea – Poor Execution
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I had really high hopes for this camera and have always been a fan of Olympus products going as far back as the Pen, XA and 35mm Stylus film cameras. I’ve used a couple of their digital point and shoot cameras in the past and thought they performed well. This particular camera is a big let down though.

The good. For me it did fine in water and I took it into the Pacific Ocean on a surfboard. It got beat up pretty good. I also used it underwater with no problem. The wide lens is extremely useful underwater due to the magnification factor. The images are generally nice, sharp and clear with good contrast. Good macro mode (including an LED light mode).

The BAD (and there really is a lot to list here). Let’s start out with the worst. This camera is one of the slowest functioning digital camera I’ve ever owned. Slow to focus. Slow to start up. Slow to shoot. The control buttons and dial are easy to bump and way to close together which is especially bad if you’re doing something active (rafting or whatever). Even on stable, dry land this is a problem. Don’t even get me started on Tap Control – it’s the worst idea ever. The battery is tiny and battery life is awful. Menus are too deep and there are just too many options on this camera except for the one option I would have liked (aperture priority shooting)

So my recommendation is avoid this one. The small form factor and waterproof/underwater combination is just too good to be true. IMO this camera fails by trying to do too many things and not doing any of them well. Sorry Olympus… no hard feelings. I’m getting an Olympus E-P1 Pen – so hopefully that one can renew my faith.

Expensive, okay snaps and not waterproof
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The Olympus Tough 6000 is a neat little camera which offers a host of very useful features, chief amongst them being a wide angle lens (28mm equivalent) and its robust ‘go anywhere’ feel. It’s fairly easy to operate, though one foible I am not keen on is the on/off button which needs to be depressed a bit too long for it to do it’s job – hey, mark that as a minor foible. That’s the good news.

Picture quality is so-so. If you take snaps, do a bit of basic cropping (just a little, mind) and limit your expecations of those of family viewing then the image quality is fine. The reticience on my part on the matter of image quality is that the Olympus Tough 6000 is no better than many cameras that cost half its price. The flash works but seems to do so with a single setting – it readily creates blown out highlights on too many photographs, the sensor produces noticeable noise, and the lag between pushing the shutter to taking the shot can be interminable. I admit that I haven’t bought a compact digital in the last couple of years and was hoping that these areas would have seen better performance. So as a camera, i.e. a device for taking photographs, my view is that the Olympus Tough 6000 is adequate (barely) and expensive.

On to the ‘Tough’ part. The major selling point of this camera is its ability to suffer knocks, operate immersed in water, operate in cold temperatures, etc. It is a rugged little device and handling it offers up a feeling of confidence. I am just back from a two week vacation in S E Asia – we have two little kids, the eldest of whom is starting to want to take photos (my main requirement for a camera therefore is something which is kid-proof – I don’t go snorkelling, haven’t skied in a while nor climbed a mountain in some time, I simply want something that can withstand the rough and tumble that a 5 year old offers). I found the camera offers a degree of robustness which should provide confidence in rough environments – that’s not to say it can be handled roughly, but if you find yourself in a place where an odd knock is inevitable then the Olympus should withstand it. However, I deliberately took the camera into a swimming pool to take some snaps (the camera does say it can operate down to 10ft water depth). I had read the manual, and did understand that the seals needed to be checked etc etc and took all reasonable measures. The camera worked fine under water, then half an hour later it stopped working. Having dropped it off at the local repair centre, the prognosis is that the camera has water in it – if they can’t fix it I’ll get a new one, and I’ll know that in a couple of weeks. Given the warnings I saw splashed on the walls of the repair centre, the advice displayed on the Olympus web site and the advice in the Tough 6000 User Manual, I’d guess there is a degree of concern about its watertightmess. In fact my view is that this feature needs to be reconsidered – I took all precautions mentioned in the manuals did the checks immediately prior to taking the camera into the pool and still had problems. By the way, I was in a 3ft deep pool and took the camera dowm to about half depth – lets say 18″. So in my view the Olympus Tough 6000 is probably tough, but probably not waterproof.

In summary this camera could be a good buy if you need something robust which can take a few knocks and offer up reasonable snaps. I would take it up a mountain, but would not recommend going sub-surface at all. I believe it is pricey for what it does, but value is a personal decision.

Great camera so far…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great camera, easy to use with lots of nice features. Completely waterproof (so far) and takes great pics underwater. Have not dropped it to test the anti-shock feature but Consumer Reports says it will indeed survive a 5 foot fall on cement. I had the pentax W30 camera before this one and the picture quality from this olympus is far better. I’d recommend this camera to anyone who needs a good quality durable point and shoot digital. Why would you NOT buy a waterproof camera?

bad
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Purchase the camera only for use in Costa Rica and take photos snorkeling, and the camera he entered the water, just take a picture within 1ft’s, I hope the warranty change me.

Solo compre la camara para hacer snorkel en Costa Rica y a la camara se le metio agua, espero que la garantia me la cambie, es la unica y primera vez que la use, duro solo una foto y la use solamente en la superficie.

Great Camera!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love this camera! It is light weight and very easy tu use. It works perfectly underwater, in a pool or in the sea, it takes great pictures and great videos. I recommend this camera!

Decent when it works
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera from a different vendor for a recent trip to Hawaii and used it for pictures in and out of the water.

Pros:

-Slim form factor. I also tried out the Canon D10, which is a MUCH BETTER camera for picture quality, but is definitely bulky compared to the Tough 6000.

-Decent pictures and video in/out of the water.

Cons:

-Shutter lag. I missed so many pictures in and out of the water b/c it took too long to focus and take a picture. Granted, I’ve used Canon’s for a long time, so I may just be used to how they focus with pressing the button halfway and taking a picture instantly when you press all the way.

-It locked up on me 3 times in 7 days. 2 times it locked up while on and while I was out snorkeling. Wouldn’t turn off and all the buttons stopped working. I had to get back to the boat and remove the battery and pop it back in. Of course I missed some good footage of dolphins because of it! The third time it would try powering up and then power back down. I discovered that a few grains of sand jammed up the lens cover preventing it from opening. I had to gently “help it along” under running water to get it unstuck.

-No tightening feature on the wrist strap. Not a biggie, since I just tied a knot in it to make it harder to slip off.

Overall, I’m not impressed at all, b/c you’re paying the premium for it to be “tough” and sacrificing on picture video quality compared to the latest digicams. Not worth it.

Taking it back
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Bought this camera so we don’t have to bring our digital slr on vacation with us in a few weeks. I just couldn’t get over the bad quality of the images. Overexposed and grainy. Didn’t even test it in water. Ordered the Canon Powershot d10 instead.

stylish stylus
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Perfect camera for my daughter. The first day she received it, she dove into the pool with it while filming the action. It’s compact and easy to work. The white color stands out. This was a great birthday present!

A great go anywhere camera and worthy upgrade.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Stylus Tough 6000 is the second Olympus waterproof camera I’ve got. I got the original 720SW, it survived quite a few adventures and continues its faithful service with a friend. I was ready for an upgrade.

There were two main reasons I upgraded from the 720sw. One was the wide angle lens 28mm vs 35-38mm on it. The other was hopefully longer battery life. I found the 720sw’s battery life to be anemic at best.

I considered the 1030sw but decided to try out the new generation of sensor, CCD image stabilization and tap control. The Stylus Tough 8000 was also a contender but I didn’t need the extra hardened casing or expense. This has the same rating as the 720SW which survived everything I threw at it and now comes in three attractive colors. I got the blue one.

Overview

Pulling the camera out of the box and playing with it there were several notable improvements over the previous generation. It’s not quite as heavy and uses more plastics than the 720SW, more similar to the 760SW. The lens has a larger more reinforced housing probably to accommodate the wider angle.

The buttons have been improved. They stick out more from the surface and have a very positive “click” to them. There is much more clearance with the shutter release which is nice. Your less likely to turn the thing off instead of trying to take a picture.

There is the welcome addition of the control wheel. It is quick access to major features. Starting from the blue triangle (play) and going clockwise you have:

iAuto – Intelligent auto, camera attempts to guess what scene mode (if any) to use or just use the automatic modes.

The picture of the camera (which might be mistaken for play) is now the traditional automatic mode which oddly enough gives you more controls (like the tap control).

SCN – Lets you select from a variety of scene modes

Beauty Mode – Takes longer to boot up, mainly used for portraits. Requires face detection to work properly. After you take the picture the camera spends about 10 seconds processing the image applying a smoothing and contrast routine to make skin look nicer.

Movie Mode is next and that brings us back to play.

The other buttons are pretty standard, looks like you have three ways to access your playback now. The play setting on the dial, the play button on the back and the tap control (more later).

The DISP button has been beefed up, you can now access basic shooting info (WB, FSTOP, Shutter speed), push it again and you get the histogram.

The screen is vastly improved. One of the real weak points on the 7xx series was the screen wasn’t sharp. You could take a great picture but couldn’t tell if it was sharp or not. This was especially maddening because you really didn’t know before you took the shot what your shutter speed was so you didn’t know if it was just the screen or really a blurry picture. With the new screen its much better. For a bonus your shutter speed and Fstop get flashed when you do the focus lock.

Tap Tap

Something new is the Tap control. If not in iAuto mode you can change commands by tapping on the camera. Tapping on the left hand side brings up the macro options, macro, super macro or super lighted macro. I didn’t think people did serious macro photography with sports cameras…

Tapping on the side again cycles through the settings. Double tapping saves the setting you have selected.

Tapping on the right lets you control the flash (auto, fill, none, redeye).

Tapping on the back lets you enter play mode which is cool. You can then tap left or right to scroll through your pictures. Tap the back again to get out of play mode. Very nice.

Easily accessing flash controls (to force a fill flash or cancel a flash for ambient only) and play by tapping is a excellent feature.

Going Diving

Not in the pool (though you could) but menu diving. Olympus has improved the menus to a degree. At the end of the day they are pretty much set up the same, they just now have pretty 3D icons and transitions between screens. On the old OLY you had the impression the processor was not current generation, now you have the impression they have CPU cycles to burn.

One area that is notably different is the panorama function. It now has its own icon in the main setup. There are several new options for shooting panos to have them combined in the camera as well as a new onscreen guide. When you use the new in camera 1 feature you get a dot and crosshairs to line up to guide your picture taking. In camera 2 and in PC modes still give you the old horizon and boxes as your guide.

Get your Light On

A nice feature is the inclusion of the LED flashlight. If you hold down the display button for a few seconds it kicks on a LED light about the same as keychain lights. It runs for around 20-30 seconds. Once on its not that easy to turn off, you have to hold the button a few seconds.

Shooting performance

Shooting performance seems to be improved. It locks onto targets faster (but still not as fast as others). The face lock is now integrated so it automatically detects and focuses for faces. Even has a smile detector where it won’t fire till it gets a smile.

Image quality aside from adding a few megapixels in resolution (no big deal) is improved. Images are sharper, noise is better controlled (key for small cameras). Seems to have a bit more dynamic range in the photos.

It is a noticeable improvement, even in good light. So the answer of “will this let me take better pictures than my old 7xx?” is “Yes”.

It’s got a wide variety of ISO settings and resolutions (10MP, 5MP, 3MP, 2MP). Not all ISO’s and resolutions are available in each mode. The high ISO modes have reduced resolution which is fine.

The CCD shift image stabilization gives you better performance than just the ISO boost. It’s still not magic but it does compensate some for hand tremors.

If taking the finest pictures possible with a compact camera is your goal then this probably isn’t the camera for you. There are cheaper/better/faster cameras out there. Its faster than previous generations but still pretty slow in starting up, locking onto the target and refreshing after the shot. This is one of the complains people have about point and shoot cameras and this camera is no exception. My 2+ year old Fuji F-40 blows it away in all speed departments.

The main reason you would buy this camera remains its toughness and versatility. If you need the go anywhere, do anything and not worry about it camera this is the one for you. I used mine biking, Kayaking, at the beach, climbing, hiking, swimming and in monsoon rains in SE Asia and its still works great. I expect this to be the same.

Video

Video performance has been improved to a good degree. The old camera often washed out in light and had a magenta cast to it. it was also limited to 15fps. Gave an old home movies quality to the video.

The improved sensor on this camera gives much better video qualtiy, you also now have the option for 15fps. But there is a catch. Unless you have a type M+ XD card at full resolution (640×320) and 30fps your limited to 30 seconds of video. Anything other than full rez full motion will give you as much recording time as the card. However the compression routine they use is not as efficient as others. Compared to a Fuji I use it takes twice as much space for the same quality.

Accessories

One area of unexpected improvement was the manual. The layout and whatnot is pretty much the same but they have separate manuals for different languages. Not an all in one.

Alas when it comes to cables they have still yet to grow a brain. The video out and USB cables that plug into it have a proprietary tip on them, so don’t loose it. If your smart get a card reader for file transfer. Much faster and easier on the camera.

The media used still only half a brain. It primarily uses the XD format which is slow, small and expensive compared to other types. With an adapter (not included) you can use the Micro SD cards from your cell phone, if you remembered the tweezers…

Why they couldn’t take regular SD cards + XD Cards like Fuji can I don’t know.

It uses the Li-50B which is a bit thicker than the Li-42 of the previous series. Claimed battery life is at least 1/3 greater. My initial observations are that you’ll get somewhere around 200 shots/charge in mixed use (some screen, some playing some flash). This is a lot better than the 7xx.

So in summary

PRO’s

Waterproof/Dust Proof/Freeze and shock and sand resistant.

Significant User interface improvements from previous generations

Tap Control

Better screen

LED flashlight

Better Image quality and stabilization than previous generations

Cons

Image quality/performance/speed not up to other cameras at the same price point.

xD/MicroSD cards only

proprietary cables.

Conclusion

My conclusion on this one is the same as the last. If you want a decent picture taker that you can take pictures anywhere with this is an excellent choice. The years have made some good improvements that reduced the previous generations shortcomings. A worthy upgrade if you can use some of the new features and an excellent buy if your getting this type of camera for the first time.

UPDATE 8-29-09

The camera has survived a summer of swimming. It was constantly in the water for several hours a day, several days each week. It got dunked, dropped, scraped, stepped on and slidden over. It survived tubing trips as well as visits to Seaworld and Schliterbaun. I can add the additional observations

-So far its only worse for wear in that what appears to be some type of plastic film that covers the blue part of the body has worn off at one of the corners.

-Sunscreen, once on the screen glass, seems impossible to completely remove, but does it no harm.

-Its been in the water up to 4 hours continuously (usually in a pocket). No leaks

-The 28mm wide lens makes this much more useful. You can take pictures of others at tubing distances.

-The Battery seems sufficient for a days worth of fun on a single charge.

How to get better night time picture quality
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
We purchased this camera because of it’s durability features and the reasonable price. The day photos we took are nice and clear with excellent resolution. However when it came to the night time photos these were dreadful. I agree with the other reviewers who talked about the low light quality even with the flash on etc. Nonetheless we never gave it back we bought an Adata Turbo Series MicroSDHC 8GB and if by magic the photos are quicker to appear on screen and are much much more lighter. Try it! With a bit more investment this is an excellent camera.

Every thing I expected and then some
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this camera because I wanted a camera that I didn’t have to worry about while playing outside. I have had it in the dirt, taken pictures underwater in a river and in a pool and it worked perfectly and the pictures came out great, even better than expected. I haven’t dropped it yet, I just can’t bring myself to test this feature. It is very compact easy to put in your pocket for easy access. Some of the reviews I had read said the pictures weren’t great but I haven’t seen one poor quality picture come out yet. The menus are easy to navigate and to understand, I had the the menu/button layout figured out with the first couple of shots. Only knock is I can’t figure out how to make the digit zoom stay on, it resets every time I power down. I am sure I am just missing something. I LOVE THIS CAMERA.

love the versitility of the camera
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This camera is awesome. I mainly got it because I want to have a nice camera that I don’t have to be extra careful with. I work with kids and take a lot of pictures, and they inevitably want to use my camera to take pictures and I usually let them, but I tend to hover to make sure it doesn’t get accidently dropped in the sandbox or in a tub of water. Now, I’m happy that I won’t have to worry about this anymore. This camera can withstand a 5 foot drop onto concrete or into water.

I don’t have much use for the tap feature, which is designed to be used with gloves, because I live in southern California. It’s more annoying to have it activated when you don’t need it but I’m sure it’s a great feature for when you are bundled up and you don’t want to take your gloves off.

I really like the portrait modes the stylus has because it makes it east to quickly switch to different modes. The screen helps you switch to different modes too, it is pretty bright and it is a lot easier to see in daylight than previous cameras I have owned.

I have yet to really take it on an underwater excursion, but I have tested it out in the sink a few times and in the bath and there was not any water seepage into the battery compartment or in the USB port.

I love the ability to do in-camera fixes with red eye and lighting. The camera also automatically saves the edited picture separate from the old, so you don’t have to worry about it replacing the original picture, if you don’t like the new effect.

I love the fact that this camera has a built in memory. You can only a take a few pictures with it, but you don’t get that “No memory card” error anymore. It’s a good feature to have in a pinch, especially when you first get it to test out the features. The camera also tells you in the corner how many pictures you have left and how many minutes of video you have left on the card or in the internal memory. No more snapping away pictures only to hear the beep! beep! and see the “memory full” words pop up on the screen; then there’s the scramble to quickly delete pictures. You’ll never have to guess how many shots you have left.

I’ve only had the camera a few days and I haven’t tried out all of the features, and I am looking forward to that and I will update my review. I have yet to use the in camera panorama feature, I am pretty sure that you have to have an Olympus card in order for this to work and I am using the micro SD card adapter and using a 2 MP card.

The program that comes with the camera is also pretty good and user friendly. It has the same feel as Google’s Picasa, but I haven’t played with it much yet because I really like Picasa!

There are a couple of things I don’t really like about the camera. One is I wish there were more features for the video camera, it pretty much has an option of 15 fps and 30 fps. My older camera has about 10 different video options. Two, is that I don’t think picture quality is as great as a Canon with the same number of mega pixels. The picture comes out looking a little more digital and not as crisp. But I will gladly give up a little picture quality for a camera that comes with all of the underwater, freeze proof, etc features.

So, I think this camera is definitely worth the price, and if I had $100 more to spend I would have definitely gotten the 8000. I love its versatility with being a real outdoorsy camera, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a high end digital camera that can withstand some drops and some water.

nice for water use but pic quality is disappointing
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I have had this camera for 3 months now… I love the quality of pix under water… they are absolutely great but night pix, dim light pix, are not great (i have it set to 10 Mega pixels and on fine)… the biggest disappointment is in the color of the pictures…

It is fun to be able to use it under the water or when it rains, but i would have loved it if the pix came out more natural in color (better contrast)… i have the light on Auto and ISO on Auto…

Awesome camera, but slow reaction time
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I love this camera! We are very active and have broken more than one camera from hiking or riding in the desert so we decided to go with a more rugged one. This camera performs exactly like I expected in regards to withstanding the elements. Not only is is ruggedized, it also has most of the features of other, normal cameras.

The only complaint I have is the time between pressing the button to take a picture and the actual moment the shutter reacts is a bit slow. I imagine most users of this type of camera live action-packed lives and it can be frustrating missing a shot becuase you are waiting for your camera to catch up with life.

Overall a great buy!

Awesome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve bought it for de porability and durability and the quality of the photos surprised me. It’s just awesome!! Such a small and portable camera, such an image quality!!. I remcomend it 100%.

La compré por lo portable y durable y la calidad de las fotos me sorprendió. Son increibles!! Es pequeña y durable y la imagen de las fotos es impresionante!!. La recomiendo en un 100%

Great little point-n-shoot!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If you want a rugged, waterproof camera for taking to the beach or pool, this is the camera for you. I normally use a DSLR, but I am happy with the quality of the pictures shot with this one both inside and out. The scene modes work well, especially the ‘cuisine’ mode was nice for taking pictures of food on my recent cruise, and the ‘macro’ mode is great for closeups. The panorama mode is easy to use also, but sometimes, it did not correctly overlap shots or use the same exposure settings. There are no manual shooting modes on this, you have to use the scene modes to adjust for different types of shooting.

Great camera for beach, snowboarding, and everyday.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This camera is a lot of fun. The panorama feature is great to take pictures of large parties and just generally have fun stitching cool pics together. The waterproof functionality is awesome and takes a day at the beach to a whole new level of fun. The bells and whistles like image stabilization work well and give you the functionality you’d expect. I especially like the tap functionality that allows you to view pictures and control basis functionality like turning flash on and off.

Now for the annoying stuff. When tap is enabled it keeps giving you an annoying message screen that you can’t remove. It stays for like 3 second unless you perform an action. The zoom is really small, which I thought would be enough, but after using it for a bit, realize I would of liked more. It also takes a long time to frame a picture and then take it. Not sure why, but it takes like 5 seconds to focus and then take the shot.

Great Camera for the Money
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Picture quality is excellent. The functions are fairly easy to use . The camera definitely is waterproof as advertised and seems pretty durable. I use it for hardcore fishing adventures, and it has held up to some serious abuse so far. Looking forward to testing it in the cold weather for ice fishing, but I have no doubt it will preform well.

BEST camera for the money. LOVE it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this camera from [...]right before my 10 day western caribbean cruise this July 2009. I took it snorkeling in the ocean about 3 times (grand cayman, cozumel, and roatan honduras, on our rugged mayan cave tubing adventure in Belize, dropped it, got caught in rain/downpours with it, its been packed, poked, prodded and still continues to take GORGEOUS photos. Take the time to read the manual and learn what all the settings are for. I’ve found that indoors, the “candle light” setting often works very well. Sometimes the flash can blow out the background, but the candle light setting ensures you get all the detail and that its not grainy. I use the “action” and macro settings together all the time to take awesome pictures of my cats and dogs at home. The detail is amazing. I also used the “action” setting to take photos out of tour bus windows on our trip. Even though we were whizzing by the scenery, I was still able to capture it through the window. The panoramic function is really fun to play with too and you can get some really amazing pictures from this. I’ve never had any problems with the waterproof functionality of this camera. Just be sure you let it dry out appropriately before opening any compartments. I also think the battery life is great. I never had it die on me on our trip and I used it ALL DAY. I would only charge it at night. It would be nice if Olympus would include a lens cleaning cloth so you can dry the lens off after underwater usage. I used a fossil sunglasses cleaning cloth and it worked great on the lens and on the view screen. I also purchased a SONY brand soft case for the camera. It fits perfectly to protect the screen from scratching and wasn’t bulky. I used a neck-strap tether with a caribeaner hook to carry it around on my trip for quick access and so it wouldn’t get stolen. I also used a wrist velcro strap when I was snorkeling/swimming with it. That way I could let go and never worry about it sinking. I bought a 2nd memory card but didn’t really need to. It was nice to switch cards halfway through the trip though and feel good knowing that at least half my photos were safe just in case the camera did get stolen or lost somewhere along the way. I wish I could figure out how to upload some sample photos to show you how great this camera is. I think I’ll try to video some of the photos and come back and post them here later.

olympus stylus tough
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
we were able to try the camera immediately under water. cool pictures taken. so far so good but it may be too early to tell.

Waterproof? NOT!
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I’m not a happy customer.

I used the camera twice in the ocean before it died. It had gotten wet inside. I’m quite certain that it was well shut before I used it. The gaskets just don’t seal very well. I bought the camera mostly to take surf photos, so this is not the performance I was expecting.

Besides the water issue, it also had some other weak aspects, like poor video quality and horrible streaking if you point it anywhere near the sun.

And the price tag is insane, considering what you can buy in a non-waterproof camera at the same price.

I’m back to the drawing board looking for a pocket sized surf camera

Great Camera
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Great little camera. One of the specs Olympus does not advertise enough is that it supports many foreign languages in its user interface.

Lots of Lens Flare?
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I don’t know if this was just particular to the Stylus Tough-6000 I was using last week, but I found that the camera has significant lens flare. Many pictures were desaturated, and highlights significantly flared, especially if there were bright areas in the composition, or in the background of the overall scene. Water resistance seemed decent, however, and the underwater photos came out great — I certainly felt comfortable taking the camera sailboating and kayaking without any anxieties! I’d be curious to hear if other users have noticed the lens flare problem, or whether it was peculiar to my camera. On the whole I was disappointed with the picture quality, and will probably take the camera in to have the lens cleaned and/or checked for moisture in the lens.

Maybe it’s Tough, but it’s to slow and fuzzy
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I hoped the bad reveiws were due to people who didn’t know how to work a camera, or just lemons that they got. Sorry to say, either I don’t know how to take a picture, or the camera I got is a lemon – OR this is not a good camera.

The Stylus Tough 6000 is very slow to frame, slow to process and takes grainy pictures in 10 megapixel format. We have a Nikon D40 and Casio EXZ 850, this was to be my hiking and beach camera. We get great pics with both the Nikon and Casio. But the Stylus Tough 6000 could not take a decent indoors shot. I changed the settings and still only rarely got a good inside shot. The Tough 6000 might do well with a tripod and still life, but the action is over and this camera is still trying to findout where to focus. I didn’t even try to get it wet, I am taking it back tomorrow.

Pros – REI takes it back without a restocking fee. It pays to be a member.

Cons – indoor shots and trying to take a picuture of anything that isn’t still.

I suggest you look for a better camera.

More like Olympus unTough
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My wife and I bought this camera for underwater photography at the beach. Within one month of purchase we used it on two separate outings, in both cases it was submerged less than 3-feet under water. During the second outing, the camera locked up and failed.

During the first outing, I realized a stupid design mistake on the camera: there is an automatic retracting lens cover (a sliver of stainless steel) on the outside of the lens. While this does protect the lens, it also traps any moisture accumulated on the lens, requiring frequent cleaning with shirts or whatever might be available (I don’t usually go out on the beach with a lenspen or microfiber). The worrisome part of this design, is that if there is enough room for a sliver of metal to move back and forth, then there is enough room for water and moisture to get inside.

During our second outing, after five minutes we noticed big white spots had occurred on the LCD screen which I can only assume means water damage. A few seconds later the camera locked up. I dried off the outside with my towel, popped open the battery compartment, and there was water inside. I pulled out the battery, let the camera dry out, put back in the battery, no dice – still dead.

I am now sending the camera back for service, but I am not hopeful as I have heard reports that Olympus does not honor the warranty on these cameras and will charge around $175 to repair them. This is only what I have read, and will report my experience as it returns.

I do wish I had paid more attention to the reviews before buying, and perhaps bought the more revered Pentax. The camera takes dismal regular photos, so it’s only appeal for me was the waterproof/rugged component. It’s a real shame that mine hasn’t worked as advertised.

Take my experience for what its worth.

Performs as advertised!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great camera….great price. I was weiry of using underwater do to previous reviews, but I did and wow am I ever happy. Great pics and have had no problems thus far. Good price for all the features!! Especially love the tap feature. Would definetly recommend.

Nice Waterproof Camera
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this camera specifically for our trip to the Galapagos Islands. We snorkeled every day for 10 days. The camera was under water for close to 10 hours total. Never a leak; never a problem! I now have some nice photos of sea turtles, sea lions, and numerous fish species.

The camera does have some limitations. After taking a flash photo it does take 5 or 6 seconds to be ready for the next. The controls are a little difficult to use underwater. The zoom is only 3.6X.

I am not a professional photographer, and the various reports on this camera state that the optics are NOT top notch. OK. But the image quality is fine for tourist photos.

Considering the other reviews that state that the camera leaks one might conclude that Olympus has some quality control issues. But my Olympus Tough has lived up to its name.

poor picture quality
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
If you want ruggedness buy this camera. If you want picture quality buy the pentax optio wpi (also waterproof). The pentax has great picture quality and is always waterproof, but will break if tossed around a bit. The stylus however has poor picture quality. Like some reviews say, there is a lag in time better pushing the button and getting a photo. It also get easily confused trying to adjust to lighting for very normal situations, such as taking pictures at a candle lit birthday (or anywhere pretty much). I found I get good picture in a darker room by turning _off_ the flash. Go figure. Unimpressed, wish I had my pentax back even if it wasn’t as tough.

nice little camera
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I like this camera ~ having to get used to it & all the function but it’s taking great photos! I like that if it gets dropped, it’s still going to be functional plus I tend to take some photos in dampness so being waterproof is a huge plus.

Great for the outdoors!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The reviews on this camera were back and forth but I felt the good out weighed the bad so I purchased the camera. I purchased it initially for a rafting event. I was very pleased with how well the camera operated while going down river. The camera got plenty wet and I took close to 200 pics with it and not one problem. The pictures turned out great and no leaks what so ever which I saw reported in previous reviews. The battery life was decent but I purchased an extra battery to be on the safe side. I do not recommend this camera for long distance shots. The zoom isn’t what I would prefer but the ability to get the camera wet and be a little rough with it more than makes up for it.

Now mine is dead, days before my trip NICE!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Well I bought my Blue Tough 6000 from Amazon and we used it on a trip to the Bahama’s. There it worked wonderfully for the first day or two.Then It said water inside, so we dried it out and noticed the screen has a funny look to it also. Well now it won’t turn on so I get to try and call Olympus before I leave on vacation ( yes I was planning on taking the 6000 with us on our boat. So if your looking for a water proof camera it appears this is NOT the one to try.