For Olympus at CES 2013, it’s all about ruggedness and long zooms. The company has announced three Stylus Tough compact point-and-shoots and three Stylus with 24x optical zooms. All six models are scheduled to be available in March.
The Stylus TG-2 ($380, shown above) uses a 12MP back-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor, which allows for less light to hit the sensor to create an image, and thus less noise. Its rugged features include waterproof to 50 feet and shockproof to nearly 7 feet. A notable feature is the camera’s Super Macro Mode (which Olympus refers to as microscope mode), which Olympus says it’s equal to a 7x to 14x (35mm equivalent) zoom from a shooting distance of 1 centimeter (Olympus claims that degradation in image quality would be minimal when used with Olympus’ Super Resolution Zoom feature). The TG-2 has a 4x (25mm wide) Ultra-Bright, High-Speed f2.0 lens, TruePic VI image processor, 3-inch OLED screen, GPS, and Full HD video recording capability. The camera is expandable through add-on lenses and accessories. Available in black and red.
The next rugged camera is the Stylus TG-830 ($280), a 16MP model with a BSI CMOS sensor and TruePic VI image processor. The TG-830 is waterproof to 33 feet, shockproof to 6.6 feet, crushproof to 220 pounds, freeze proof, and dustproof. The 5x optical zoom can be “extended” to 10x using Super Resolution Zoom feature. It has a 3-inch LCD (460K dots), Full HD video recording, and GPS. Available colors are black, blue, red, and silver.
Last of the Tough models is the Stylus TG-630 ($200). This 12MP camera also uses a BSI CMOS sensor and has a 5x optical (10x Super Resolution Zoom) lens. A TruePic VI image processor is here, as well, as is Full HD video recording. The TG-630 is waterproof to 33 feet, shockproof to 6.6 feet, freeze proof, and dustproof. Color options are white, black, blue, and red.
Kicking off the long-zoom models is the Stylus SH-50 ($300). This 16MP camera uses a BSI CMOS and offers 24x zoom, 48x if you count the Super Resolution Zoom. It features a 3-inch touch-capable LCD and Full HD video recording. Besides the TruePic VI image processor, the SH-50 features Hybrid Multi Motion Movie Image Stabilization. It’s available in black, silver, and white.
Next is the 14MP Stylus SZ-16 ($230). The camera uses a CMOS sensor, an upgrade over its predecessor’s CCD sensor. It offers the same zoom capability as the SH-50MR, but has a 25mm wide-angle lens. It comes in black, silver, and white.
Last is the 16MP Stylus SZ-15 ($200). It has a 24x optical zoom with 25mm wide-angle lens. There’s a CMOS sensor here, too, but it uses the TruePic III+ image processor. Video capture is regular HD (720p), but it has a slimmer profile than the before-mentioned models. You can get it in black, red, and silver.
