any experience w/ the tough stylus 6000/8000

[miked]

I saw the Olympus tough stylus 8000 at the Oly booth at "Beneath the Sea", and I liked what I saw. (I'm looking for a smaller setup than my C-5050.)
However, when I read online reviews, the comments were " very rugged BUT..picture quality not great; noise, lack of contrast even at ISO 200". These comments make me hesitant to spend $$for this system.
Has anybody had experience with these cameras good/bad/ugly ??
Thanks,
Mike

 

[urbanhideaway]

Waiting to see any comments as well. Anyone, plz?

 

[urbanhideaway]

Just tested the Tough 8000 at a camera store nearby. The colors are pretty good, vibrant and pushy. Also, white balance seems good with what I think is a powerful flash.

The implementation of the LED near the flash is a good idea to illuminate the scene as well. I think I'll be getting it as soon as the housing becomes available here in Bangkok.

 

[dhuskins]

I have been using the 770SW both with and without the underwater housing. The "tough stylus" is the new name for the SW series.

I find the built in flash inadequate for most dive images. The UFL-1 resolves that issue to a point. The UFL-1 slave feature does not allow for much distance from the camera's built in flash.

My biggest complaint is the shutter delay. I have more than my share of fish tales about fish tails.

As for the resulting image of the stylus line, the images are fine. A bit muted, but that is corrected in Photoshop.

... I'm now looking at the e-620 because of the shutter delay ...

 

[spstar]

I have shot a D70s for years now and had failure on my Ike stobe and shot my daugerters 1030 WOW!! no housing it worked great
I then bought a 8000 w/housing and took it Cozumel last week end. I used fanasea nano strobe and tray the pictures I got at night were out standing
an A+++ on performace and the tap mode used to switch between macro and super macro or flash no flash worked super

 

[urbanhideaway]

I have shot a D70s for years now and had failure on my Ike stobe and shot my daugerters 1030 WOW!! no housing it worked great
I then bought a 8000 w/housing and took it Cozumel last week end. I used fanasea nano strobe and tray the pictures I got at night were out standing
an A+++ on performace and the tap mode used to switch between macro and super macro or flash no flash worked super

the picture looks great. what about some colors and flash light? do you have any issues with the shutter lag?

 

[muzikbiz22]

I have shot a D70s for years now and had failure on my Ike stobe and shot my daugerters 1030 WOW!! no housing it worked great
I then bought a 8000 w/housing and took it Cozumel last week end. I used fanasea nano strobe and tray the pictures I got at night were out standing
an A+++ on performace and the tap mode used to switch between macro and super macro or flash no flash worked super

Would love to see a couple of more pics from your 8000, and nano strobe, as well ! I'm considering that strobe for my 6000.

 

[urbanhideaway]

Would love to see a couple of more pics from your 8000, and nano strobe, as well ! I'm considering that strobe for my 6000.

Have you tried your 6000 during your dives? How's the image quality? Actually considering either this or the 8000 for easy traveling and diving. I like the colors produced by my C-7070 though my old housing is dead now.

What's the diff between the 6000 and the 8000?

 

[muzikbiz22]

Have you tried your 6000 during your dives? How's the image quality? Actually considering either this or the 8000 for easy traveling and diving. I like the colors produced by my C-7070 though my old housing is dead now.

What's the diff between the 6000 and the 8000?

I haven't dove with it yet. Hoping to get in the water here in So Cal in the next 2 weeks with the PT-047 Housing. As far as on land, I'm loving the camera so far. I bought it for pretty much the same reason(s). I wanted a rugged point & shoot for traveling, that could also double up as my dive camera. On land, I'm a Canon DSLR kind of guy, with an assortment of expensive lenses, but didn't want use that gear for underwater. In the past, I have always had good luck with Olympus P&S, so I waited for the Tough 6000 to come out and jumped on it the first day it was available locally. It's a great camera ! Sometimes it's a little slow focusing in lower light conditions, but all in all I'm happy. I will be posting photos (and more opinions) in the future.

 

[spstar]

Check out my Gallery photos just posted to Coz 4/09 some of my shots all taken w/ 8000

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/3935