Olympus (who sold their camera division later to OM) became known for two distinctly different cameras. Their Mirrorless interchangeable lens Micro 43rds system (of which I reviewed the Olympus PEN EPL-1 earlier this year) and their Tough series of shockproof and waterproof digital pocket cameras.
I own two of the lower-end Tough TG series cameras but sadly not a TG-X series as those cameras command a higher price then I want to pay for. I have no use-case for a dedicated higher end shockproof camera as I do not currently partake in any recreation that would require or benefit from a waterproof camera beyond something that is weathersealed from being splashed and not fully submerged.
That said, I do own two of the lower end Tough cameras, one which was off a clearance shelf at Walmart for $30 and another which was at a thrift store for under $20. Today we are going to review the older and lowest-end (though more durable) thrift store find the Olympus Tough 8010
Released in 2010 the Olympus Tough 8010 is an all metal shockproof and waterproof camera with a 1/2.3" 14mp CCD sensor. While it has a more durable casing and therefore more shockproof design then later models (such as the TG-620 that I also own and still have to review) it has a few very irritating design useage flaws which I will get into here shortly.
I'll do a TLDR review right now. I hate this camera. I hate shooting it as this is the least responsive camera I own, and that is saying something. So yes even the GE RS 1400 camera while I want to chuck that camera for other reasons had a faster startup time, and is more responsive with less shutter lag then this thing has.
Because of this, all of my sample photos are of non-moving (mostly landscape and still life) objects. This camera would be nearly impossible to take photos of anything in motion even something that was not moving fast; the few attempts I did for capturing motion I did try did not turn out at all so thus didn't make the cut for my pool of test shots.
The Olympus Tough 8010 has a painful 10 second startup time. Seven seconds or so of that is on an Olympus logo boot screen and the last 2-3 seconds is just looking at a black screen of nothing before the camera is ready to take a photo. This is over twice as long as digi cams I own from around the turn of the millennium which is pretty awful considering this camera was released in 2010.
Startup delay is not the only flaw the camera has. It has a painfully slow .5 to one full second shutter lag comparable to something like the Canon Powershot A410 from 2004. This mid-range Shockproof camera is therefore less responsive to the lowest end Canon Powershot you could buy 6 years earlier. Considering how much Digital Photography advanced between 2004 and 2010 this is even more shocking.
Additionally operating the menus has about the same sort of quarter second or so delay that one would experience on a very early digicam; making it very easy to scroll past something as one would press a navigational button twice due to not having an instant response I am used to.
Physically the buttons are squishy and non-responsive and this includes the shutter. It is really hard to gauge the 2 stage shutter and you really need to squeeze it to take a photo. That said, squishy buttons and controls are not uncommon for fully waterproof cameras (the Olympus TG-620 has some of the same "feel" in that regards) but this camera takes the squishy button to the extreme.
All of this aside, there are however a few redeeming qualities to this camera, so while it may be my most frustrating to shoot camera I own it is not the worst overall digi-cam I own.
First off is the build quality. While I quibble about the sponginess of the buttons otherwise the build quality is extremely solid. It is a brick of metal that could likely be weaponized if you swung it around on the wrist strap like a morning star. It was built to be shockproof and on that- it delivers.
The Tough 8010 has fairly solid battery life (I got roughly 200 photos on one charged battery) and more importantly has USB charging which for 2010 was extremely rare.
It has a sliding solid metal lens cover to protect it from being scratched when the camera is off, though this could be a liability if sand was to get in the mechanism or if it got dented.
I'm partial to the color blue, so from the outside the nice reflective metallic blue on the front of this camera makes it pop from an aesthetic design standpoint.
The next thing that gets it a few more points is that it is a waterproof camera which gives it a utility that other cheaper cameras do not have. You could take it whitewater rafting or scuba-diving and return with a bunch of really blurry photos because of how terrible it is for action photography. But the camera would survive and have these images rather then being waterlogged and shorted out.
One more thing I can give it some points for is a Panoramic stich feature. It's of course not perfect but it is something you don't see in very many digicams. Its more of a novelty however then being reliable enough for anything serious as after playing with it this was the best result I was able to get from the camera (you can see that it messed up on the orientation of the last shot but did a decent job with the first stitch):
Lastly the image quality for still not-moving objects (IE Landscape or Still Life) is acceptable. It has the nice bright and vibrant CCD colors one would expect (unlike some others like the Kodak Easyshare and Fuji A345 I reviewed earlier) and the Auto WB is surprisingly accurate in just about any shooting condition whether outside in bright sunlight, overcast/shadow or in indoor lighting.
Below ISO 200 photos are actually pretty sharp and detailed though it sometimes struggles to focus at objects at infinity. Pictures I took at a few feet away were surprisingly sharp for how otherwise terrible this camera was to shoot.
The camera does apply some pretty aggressive noise reduction at ISO higher then 400 (as you can see from the last example photo below) making it like many digi-cams with CCD sensors or CMOS sensors smaller then 1" not the best choice for indoor photography.
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