Olympus Tough 8000?

[aquaregia]

I've got the opportunity to waste some money on something I don't really want, and I was thinking an underwater camera might be good use of this. I was thinking of something like the Olympus Tough series with a housing because it sort of seems like it might be nice to have a camera that doesn't immediately die if the housing floods. Are these cameras any good? I'm looking for something basic, having no experience and only minor interest in UW photo, but I also know that if it takes rubbish pictures I definitely won't use it. Thoughts?

 

[fstbttms]

All taken with the Stylus Tough 8000:

 

[miked]

Disclaimer: I'm not an "underwater photographer", I'm just a diver that takes pictures.
That said, I have a 8000, that I like a lot due to the automatic features, and the "underwater mode". It also has a macro and "super macro mode"

It takes, IMO, "good pictures" that I can use to relive/remember the dive, share with friends back on land, or email to other divers that were on the boat. The ruggedness of the camera does help, especially when it is on a dive boat, or on a van to the boat. The waterproof quality makes it less risky to change batteries between dives. One caution DO NOT get the interior of the battery compartment wet- that is not waterproof to any depth.

Another caution: the 8000 has been replaced by the 80?? (not sure of the last 2 digits).The up side of that would be that an 8000, if you find one, should be available at a lower price. The downside- the Olympus housing for the 8000 has been out of production-so, if you go for the 8000, be sure you can get a housing for it.
Good luck with your choice.

 

[JackConnick]

The 8000 was replaced last Feb. by the 8010. The 8010 is 14mp and has HD video amongst some other changes, notably it takes SD media.

The PT-046 Olympus housing for the T-8000 is long sold-out, but the Ikelite T-8000 housing is available and in some ways (200' depth rating, metal controls) a better housing.

Both the PT-048 Olympus housing and Ikelite T-8010 are available for the newer camera.

 

[primus]

I've got the opportunity to waste some money on something I don't really want, and I was thinking an underwater camera might be good use of this. I was thinking of something like the Olympus Tough series with a housing because it sort of seems like it might be nice to have a camera that doesn't immediately die if the housing floods. Are these cameras any good? I'm looking for something basic, having no experience and only minor interest in UW photo, but I also know that if it takes rubbish pictures I definitely won't use it. Thoughts?

Buying an Olympus UW camera is not a good idea (check my older posts). I am sure that Panasonic DMC-TS2 (FT2) (w or wo housing) is much better camera!

 

[Cecil]

I've been using the Olympus T6000 (basically same camera) for the last year and am pretty pleased with the pictures. Here's some links to pictures with this camera.

Bonaire Talk: Cecil's Bonaire Picture I

Bonaire Talk: Cecil's Bonaire Pictures II

 

[neilhinds]

I don't own, but I was using the tough 8000 when I was working over the summer in Ibiza. I found the quality of some of the pictures is very good, however, it felt very slow and cumbersome. When pressing the button it felt like forever before the picture was taken. I also advise getting an external flash for it as the inbuilt flash can cause a lot of scatter.

The issue i mentioned above might only relate to me because I am used to using a dslr and so have a much quicker response time.