Olympus Stylus Tough 8000

Be aware that Olympus 8000 U are not reliable in Water. I’ve had two failures with two camera’s. BOTH leaked and do not work! Would strongly advise against a purchase.

I bought the Olympus U8000 because of its water depth rating of 10m. I do a lot of diving and other outdoor stuff, canyoning etc. So I thought that a little lightweight number that’s both tough and good to 10m will be useful. When I go the camera the first thing that struck me, as a humble engineer as well as a diver, was the design and size of the seals. To me they instinctively looked lightweight and I was suspicious. O.k. I thought maybe the small seal lip and covers will close tighter on added pressure of 1 Bar.

To cut a long story short; I took the camera in to our pool to shoot a few snaps of the kids. I got 5-6 pic’s in 1.3m Depth, I then went to the deep part, lets say 2m and took a few pictures. Suddenly the screen shows a red warning of battery compartment open. I surface and she has gone blank. I dry it, open it, and there’s a few drops in side. Not flooded, but moisture is in and the LCD has gone. I dried here out slowly for 48 hours. But she was still dead after trying to power her up.

To the credit of the on-line shop I bought it from, after a long e-mail chain and some push they replaced it with a new unit, prior to my holiday to Zanzibar. As an interesting comment one of the staff said “oh yes.....we have had quite a few of these returned....?!?” That did not inspire me with confidence.

On the last day of my holiday .....(yes I did not trust the camera in water until the last day of my trip ?!?) I went to take snaps of my daughter doing a try-dive. I was on the surface with a snorkel. I had no problems and took 15 shots or so. I then decided to get a shot looking at my kid rather than from above, so I dived under to about say 3m at best. I got a few snaps OK. Then I noticed the LCD was simply dead. In the boat I dried her off and opened her up, again no rush of water, just a few drops. I closed her up and rinsed it in fresh water. I did the same 48 hrs plus to dry her out, but she’s still dead.

My summary of good old Olympus U8000.....well I maintain that looking at the seals (which are instinctively not rated to me for 10m...) and the fact that two camera’s failed miserably at less than 3m, then I would strongly advise against anyone buying a U8000 for taking them underwater.

I will no doubt get mine repaired under the warranty. But to be honest I’ve written it off and am fed up at how much grief it’s cost me. So my last energy goes on posting on as many sites as I can to prevent others from similar hassle.

Good luck.

I've been looking for a rugged camera for whitewater kayaking photos and I've found it! The controls take a bit to learn but once dialed it was easy to use. The sequential shoot function makes for some great still shots of action scenes and takes the worry out of getting the one good shot when conditions limit setup and control. I took about 500 shots the first weekend along with some video and was quite pleased.

take a look at the pics if you want
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14055929@N07/sets/72157622674216352/

durable, easy to learn, good sequential shots

xD card, weird menus

Canon Powershot, Olympus SW 850, Sea Life Micro

OK where to begin...I purchased this camera because one of my dogs chewed my 720 sw and cracked the screen. I figured this camera must rock because I was more than happy with the 720. Outdoor pics are great with the 720 but night and indoor sometimes leave something to be desired. With the image stable on pics were not sharp( this is relevant) but can be turned off with the 720. As for the 8000 the image stability is always on so 80% of the pictures were blurred. Anything 400 and over iso was full of noise.pretty much unusable. I only had this camera for 2 weeks before I returned it. I never tried the waterproof aspect of it, so no comment there. I sent my 720 in for a new screen and was told it was lost by UPS. So I did what any rational person would do. I went to Olympus and bought one of the refurbashed 1030 sw cameras for 217 and change. No lie when I got done talking to the Fedex guy the phone rings and it is Olympus. They have the 720 and will replce the screen for 54 dollars. Anyway the 720 took pictures that were 10 times better than the 8000. The 1030 is no dissapointment either. It takes way better pictures than the 8000. Clean and sharp. It is way way faster than the 8000 in every aspect. I do miss the tap control but I would not buy this camera if I had a chance to get a 1030. I was looking at the specs and the 8000 has 1 ed lens? Where the 720 and the 1030 both have 2. Not really sure what it means but it seems to make a difference. I have taken about 200 pictures with the 1030 and even at iso 800 the pictures are nicer than iso 100 with the 8000. Anti blur on the 1030 is better than both of the above mentioned cameras. I would have to give a don't buy for the 8000. I have heard the 6000 is no better so purchase at your own risk.

Interesting features, panorama is cool, beauty is neat but really softens the photo to much to be worth it.

Poor picture quality, very slow a step down froom some of there former tough series cameras

720 sw and 1030 sw

I would give Olympus an A++ for the way I was treated. I was given an extended 2 year warranty because UPS lost the 720 sw. No fault of theres, but I got it anyway. Also they are refurbashing the 720 sw for 54 dollars again because UPS lost it for a while. It has been a long time since I was treated like I was by Olympus. Again A++ all the way.