Comments on: Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 Review

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:26:53 +0000

My biggest complaint is the herky jerky motion when you try to zoom. Instead of smoothly going from wide angle to telephoto it jumps from setting to setting so you really cant use it to frame your photos. It also comes on slowly and shows you an Olympus logo so that by the time you see the image, the shot is gone. It worked fine under water and I dove repeatedly to 7 meters. Low light pictrues were not a good as my friends who were using a Nikon Cool Pix 8100 (which is not waterproof).

By: chris

chris — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:28:48 +0000

bought this camera a month ago. wish I still had the reciept, id return it. pictures are all out of focus in broad daylight, and just yesterday the LCD screen went black, and its now unable to take pics.

By: JHG

JHG — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:02:43 +0000

Bought this camera 2 months ago. After we took it in the pool water got in the camera. Thankfully, a full 4 year store warranty came with our open box purchase, but it's been a hassle as we've had to send the camera in twice now for leakage.

We just got the 8100 Olympus as a loaner as it looks like they did a major rehaul on the gasket issues with only one door for battery, card, etc and a double locking mechanism. It would suck if Olympus didn't recall the cameras knowing many of them were failing.

By: Will

Will — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:30:23 +0000

I DROPPED this camera in the BOTTOM of a WATERFALL in HAWAII, and I dove down and found it 30 mins later. I have video of the area,

Recorded by this camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0c9G5FY1SM

By: sandiealexander

sandiealexander — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:21:44 +0000

I had the same problems and they are saying its not the camera difficulty it's owner malfunction. Sounds like you are having the same issue. I'm actually so frustrated as after the 3rd time it leaked they won't fix it. Thanks for your post!

By: sandiealexander

sandiealexander — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:19:28 +0000

I purchased an 8000, I would not recommend this camera to anyone who wants to actually use it in the water. I have had to return mine 3 times. Now the Customer service support staff says they will not replace it with a waterproof camera because they believe it is operator error not camera malfunction. I live in Hawaii and bought it for the water. Since I have purchased mine, 4 other people on the island have had the same problem with the “waterproof” seal leaking. Now I'm without and camera because they refuse to fix it. Horrible camera worse customer service.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:09:41 +0000

Brought my tough 8000 about 10 months ago and hasn’t missed a beat yet!!! takes great photos works in both salt, fresh and even dirty water. have take the camera to America (took several 1000 photos) and New Zealand (1000 or more photos again and in the snow) with a single problem. this is one tough little camera it’s been droped and sat on more times than I can remember and still it works. The only thing I’ve found is that once you select the macro setting the camera will zoom right in and the photo quality goes down but if you zoom out then crop the photo once you take it it looks great. I have no problems with this camera and would recomend it to others and have my brother brought one 6 months age and his is going fine as well.

By: Spencer Nagle

Spencer Nagle — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:32:30 +0000

I've been using this camera for about three months. I've got some pretty good shots for my snorkeling blog while using it! Tones of fish!

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:57:11 +0000

Between the proprietary USB that doesn’t work with any other electronics and the poor low light/flash capabilities, this is not a great buy even when the nice features like panorama mode are taken into consideration.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:03:22 +0000

Awesome camera. I ski and bike in all kinds of weather. Recently I crashed into a snowbank with my bike. One camera seurvived (the 8000) and one did not. Read the manual and my shots are right on. I am not a professional photographer but for my needs this camera rocks.

By: Rita

Rita — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:08:23 +0000

I’ve had the camera for 3 days and I think it’s great. I think it takes awesome pictures. I read that some are saying it’s taking grainy pictures but thats only if you arent using the settings correctly.

By: GA

GA — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:22:58 +0000

One word: Terrible! Less than 9 months old and I have already sent the camera back twice to Olympus for repairs. Without getting too technical, by far the pictures are the worst quality than any of my other previous digital cameras I have owned.

Even at the current $250.00 average price I consider it a waste of money.

I would seriously consider a combination of a good digital camera with a water proof case.

By: DMB

DMB — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:41:06 +0000

Bought the Tough 8000 in April, took still photos for the first few months until summer and the pictures were ok, then we took it in the pool and the camera died. We followed the manual instructions prior to submersion and the battery, lens, and display all took on water. The camera was completely inoperable. Called Olympus and had to pay to send it for repair. Got the camera back and now all the photos are taken with a Sepia background and look antiqued, we took it to Disney and not one photo is decent of my three year old and the Disney characters. The camera is now back at Olympus for a second repair. This has been the most disappointing piece of equipment I have ever purchased. I tried to get Olympus to replace the camera with no success. Crappy camera, crappy company.

By: Norm

Norm — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:36:05 +0000

I've only taken my Tough-8000 out once since I purchased it. I took it Kayaking and got rolled several times with it stuck in my life vest. No problems with water resistance so far. I mostly took movies and it worked fine except for not being able to zoom while in movie mode. I found a work around by zooming prior to starting the movie but I couldn't get it to zoom once the movie capture was activated.

Stills and action shots were fine. Took some photos indoors (w/ and w/o flash) and they turned out better than expected based on previous reviews. I'm not a high end photographer so my standards may not be as high as other reviewers. Good enough for my eye.

Overall, I'm happy with this camera except for the price and limited zoom in movie mode.

By: Zach J

Zach J — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:21:28 +0000

I took it to the beach for the first time yesterday to try it out in the water. I inpected the seals as the instructions stated and clicked both openings shut. A few minutes later in the water the battery light flashed and the camera shut off. Later, after charging the camera, it would not turn on. I opened the battery compartment and a small amount of water came out. Now my camera is completely dead. Think i’ll avoid the whole cheap water proof camera scam and stick with the tried and true Canon.

By: Kylie

Kylie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:56:13 +0000

Hi, I have just ordered one of these cameras from my work, I shall get it in the next few days, I am really excited to get a waterproof camera as I have learned the hard way while I was on my cruise and dropped my camera in the water on an island :S. I can’t wait to test it out, then I will post an update. I know it will take me sometime to get use to it and figure which settings would be the best for what situation you are in, but you can’t just expect a cam to take good pictures, reading the booklet and taking some time to just take pictures goes a long way.

By: guero

guero — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:35:02 +0000

I love this camera, it’s so cool. When you can cross a river, fall in, laugh and the last thing you want to worry about is your camera getting wet. It’s the coolest, and takes great pics. Its so stinkin’ cool!!

By: Konrad

Konrad — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:58:50 +0000

Very nice camera. Pictures outside only, come out great for a point and shoot, tried the macro mode and it works very well. It’s very small compared to the Canon D10 witch made me return the Canon. I guess the only complaint is that its made in china.

By: Matt Melito

Matt Melito — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:43:18 +0000

I recently purchased the 8000 for a white water trip. I am very disappointed in the ability of the camera to focus. Lot’s of pictures were out of focus on simple subjects. All of the panoramic shots were out of focus. I am currently making a case with Olympus to return or repair the camera. I do not recommend it. Yes it’s water, frost, and shock proof, but it takes lousy pictures.

By: Jon C

Jon C — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:41:09 +0000

Just a few things to say about this camera, can't beat the toughness, great battery life, and overall not a bad buy. For someone like me who wrecks electronics twice a week, a nearly invincible camera seems like a really good idea, even at a premium price it will save me on repair or replacement costs.

I would also like to note that all of the reviews, including the main review are subject to people not being patient with the cameras. For example you can make selections on the tap control without using the button, all you need to do is double tap the top of the button, and there are built in sensitivity adjustments to change it to your liking. Also, if what you really want to do is low light macro photography then you shouldn't be buying a 'point and shoot' adventure camera, there are many SLR cameras that are reasonably priced these days, and if you really want to take an excellent picture break out your Canon AE-1 with a 200mm Macro lens and go nuts. Then you have full control of your features and will always get what you expect, rather than a consumer PAS camera.

I think this camera is great, and does very well for what I require, and has a reasonably good video mode as well. And it takes standard SDHC memory that you may already have from your smartphone/mp3 player/old camera.

I would suggest this camera to anyone who is rough on accessories and wants a camera that doesn't need to be carried in a bag or sheltered from the rain.

By: jesse

jesse — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:57:02 +0000

I purchased this camera about a month ago and it’s awesome! The pictures may not show up on the little screen very well but when I put it on the computer they where amazing! The camera is surviving my ongoing trip through Asia.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:03:47 +0000

Bought the Tough 8000 today with high hopes. Noticed a dead pixel on the LCD within the first hour. Before I tell you about the horrible picture quality you need to know the type of photography I do. I do macro photography of insects and flowers (usually at night and always at the lowest ISO setting possible so there’s minimal noise). So the macro features on the camera were the main selling point for me, mainly because of the LED illuminating light next to the flash. The LED light on the camera eliminated the need for me to hold a flashlight on my subject to get an auto focus. After taking 39 shots tonight the results were horrifying. A lot of purple fringing and not one shot had a clear focus. I own a Nikon P5100 and it puts the Tough 8000 to shame as far as macro image quality goes. The Tough 8000 will kill my Nikon in the areas of ruggedness, but that trade-off is not worth it to me. I will admit that I push point and shoots to their limit by shooting at night and shooting at the lowest ISO, but believe it or not I do stock photography with iStockphoto. I have 23 photos on that site and all but 4 were shot on a G10 and P5100. Didn’t test the 8000 during the day and I’m not going to. I’ve seen enough to make me return it tomorrow. Guess I’ll deal with the P5100 having a hard time auto focusing in low light. On the flip side at least I’ll have amazing picture quality.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:20:24 +0000

Bought the 8000 and was very disappointed. First there was a dead pixel on the LCD. The image quality was horrible. Returned it the next day.

By: Mieke

Mieke — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:07:58 +0000

I totally agree with your review.

First I bought the Olympus 1030sw. It was a great camera and the pictures were really fine, inside and outside the water, and indoors and outdoors. Then the shutter broke down and I sent my camera back. I got the tough 8000 instead. But indeed, inside the pictures are really lousy, as well as the sports photo's.

Hopefully I can get a 1030sw back again.