List Price: $379.00
Sale Price: $279.95
Today's Bonus: 26% Off
I have owned many Olympus cameras in the past but this is my first camera I have purchased from their "tough" line. As advertised this thing looks and feels very sturdy. The seals on it look like they will hold out any kind of moisture and dust and the lens has its own protective shroud and cover to protect it from scratches or damage. The lens also does not extend or retract so dust, sand, and dirt cant jam it up (which is a problem I have had before). It also has a minimum of buttons to break or stick and it has a very soild body construction. So on a toughness scale of 1-10 the Stylus tough 8010 gets an 11. This camera really is in a class of its own on when it comes to durablity, and it is the only camera I have seen my colleagues take with them into combat zones.
On the other hand it looks like Olympus tried to cram all the wrong things into this rugged camera. The first thing you will notice when operating this camera is how slow it is between pictures, even with a class 6 SD card in it, its write speed seems painfully slow. Don't get me wrong I am very happy Olympus finally got ride of the XD card but it doesnt seem like they've fixed their write speed problems. Picture quality also isnt that great but thats not a major hit given the small lens they are working with.
One thing you find on the camera that shouldn't be there is all kinds of picture editing or "Beauty" features in the camera. This software does an okay job but take way to long to proccess. In my opinion Olympus should leave photo editing to photo editing software on a computer and instead focus on making this camera take better pictures with less lag time between shots.
Over all this camera is great if you plan on going to a very rough part of the world, or even swimming with it. But if your just an average person looking for a camera to take good pictures this is not for you. Instead buy a cheaper camera with a better lens and get a good camera case to protect it from everyday life.
**Update I had to send this camera in for warranty repair because it stopped reading my SD card, I also complained about the long delay between shots. Olympus repair gets 5 stars. They replaced the cameras circuit board and updated the camera with the latest firm ware and had it sent via 2 day UPS shipping in the same day they received it.
The camera is faster now; it went from a 3 second delay to about a 2 second delay between shots and it's more responsive when scrolling through the menu. I will take a 33% increase in speed, it's still not great but then again this is a "rugged camera" so you have to chose your battles.
I bought this camera when it very first came out which I am sure is why it had old firmware on it. Olympus should put this firmware update on their website so everyone can have it without having to send their camera in, but I would say that it would be worth it to send your camera in if you are as frustrated as I was with the delay that this camera has.
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