anyone use olympus tough tg-3 camera?

[krayfish2]

I do aged mine to old man river and will be shopping for a new one and safety cord. This one is on my radar and reviews look favorable.

 

[Night_Stalker]

I still have a Olympus Stylus Tough 8010. When I have had the opportunity to try newer models, I did not like them. I am not completely happy with the one I have.

I have tried to compare other brands (many of which are cheaper now) and was not impressed. Zoom too slow, buttons too difficult, saving image too slow...

There have been articles that compare waterproof cameras. Low light abilities have had improvements, if I recall correctly, with tg-3.

See if you can try one out…just like any other gear.

 

[phiendWMD]

Have you considered a waterproof cell phone?

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Have not tried Olympus. I have a Fuji XP I like a lot. Small and waterproof. I am not a fan of the Go Pro mainly because it has that fisheye lens and the sound is no good.
My friend has a "tablet" style phone thing which takes amazing video and pics and is waterproof.

 

[Millsertime]

Excellent camera! My wife has used hers for about a year now. Waterparks, beaches, kids dropping it repeatedly, etc.... She even left it outside for a week in the lawn (rained 2 nights) and I "nicked" it with the lawnmower. Turned it on and it still works. Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.

 

[krayfish2]

The one I lost was the tough 8010 and the rg-3 looks to have better low light photos and microscope setting which would be handy for bug pics. I'll start looking for sales, clearance of discontinued stuff. As for the waterproof cell, hells no. I don't even know my mom's or my brother's phone numbers by heart. Lose the phone and I'd be in trouble.

 

[pcray1231]

I use a Canon Powershot D10. It's waterproof and shockproof like the Olympus's and others. Typically the big box stores do not sell the Canon waterproof lines, due to agreements in place with Olympus.

The D10 is pretty old and Canon itself now has the D20 and maybe even something newer. So while I'm about to give you my "comparison shopping differences", they may well be outdated.

It came down to Olympus Tough series, Nikon Coolpix waterproof series, and Canon "D-series" for a waterproof/shockproof fishing camera. Picture quality was fine on all of em given enough light, IMO. The Canon was the fastest to turn on, focus, take pictures, save pictures, etc. That's important to me in a fishing camera. On, snap, off, in a matter of a second or two. The Canon also had the larger lens and hence per reviews, could get away with lower ISO settings in less than optimal light. That too is important as many of my fishing pics are under heavy canopies and/or at dusk/dawn. The downfall of the Canon was that it's fairly thick and egg shaped. The Olympus's of that time were woefully slow.

But again, it's very likely that newer models of all makes have improved on their shortcomings. I'd still consider speed and low-light capabilities to be paramount in a dedicated fishing camera.

 

[pcray1231]

P.S. I have the Casio Commando as my cell phone, which is waterproof/shockproof as well. Great phone. Downfall is the flap over the power plug. You open up a sealed flap to plug it in to charge, then shut the flap for use. Over time, the gasket in that flap has thickened and won't stay shut. When new, it was invincible to water. Now, not so much. Still a good, tough phone, and plenty rain/splash proof. I just wouldn't trust it any longer in a true dunking.

 

[krayfish2]

Waterproof phone....superior. Waterproof phone in 20' of 51 degree water.....irrelevant. LOL. I thought of stripping to my drawers and going in after it but that fought have ended up in drowning or hypothermia due to 54 degree air temp, stiff breeze and 3 miles to the take out.

Pat, from the reviews, the tg-3 has better low light capability than prior models. Syncs by Bluetooth to phone, laptop or printer. One click and they are transferred. From what I read, it also has timelapse mode and some other goodies. It apparently has a fair amount of 'noise' when low light and high iso are used. I think DaveS has a Fuji and the color saturation / sharpness were better than my tough 8010. The tg-3 also has 'ok' quality video but I'd have to think it wouldn't be any worse than 720.

 

[bikerfish]

I have the tg-3 and love it, we bought it just before heading out west and experimented with it a bunch. I'm no photographer, but I took some shots that make me look like one!! some cool art settings, good macro, fast shutter reaction, nice compact size.
you can also get additional lenses/filters that attach via an adapter.

 

[just_jon]

I had a WG-3. Picture quality was ok, but not what I expected. Problem was batteries. Unless you are using the factory D-L192 at z$50 per, a charge did not last a day. I gave it to a friend and bought an Olympus TG-180. Less money ($249). Better picture quality. 180 degree flip up LCD screen which is the first in a waterproof camera. It is great for taking stream level pics without having to guess where the lens is. Comes with a small neoprene pouch with a carabiner. I tied a section of elastic cord to the camera with a dog lease snap (old. Net retainer) that I attach to my vest, pack waders, etc. I no not regret the purchase, although I did recently receive a recall concerning possible leakage around the mode dial. Although I've not experienced it, I do plan on sending it in this winter. Issue only affected certain serial numbers of the first production batch. If interested, be sure to check out the affected serial numbers at the link below.

http://cache.olympusamerica.com/static/cpg_section/service_announcement/oima_tg-850_announcement.pdf?utm_campaign=tg850_svc&utm_source=email_etprm&utm_medium=email

 

[just_jon]

Apologize for the confusion in my last post. The camera I was referring to as a battery eater was a Pentax Optio WG-3. I have not input on the camera you are considering. M

 

[pcray1231]

Waterproof phone....superior. Waterproof phone in 20' of 51 degree water.....irrelevant. LOL.

Agreed, but shockproof/dusproof is important to me as well.

I've got a 2 year old who bangs the thing around. I also work in a steel mill, quite often the melt shop which can be quite dusty.

 

[krayfish2]

Sounds like this camera might work. Good enough for biker...good enough for me. I'll keep my eyes open for any sales.

 

[JF_]

This site gave it a very good review

tg-3

John

 

[ryguyfi]

When I take a camera I put it in a top pocket on my vest but also attach it to a zinger on my vest. Easy to take out and take a picture and if you drop it, you have a safety cord.

 

[mcwillja]

pcray1231 wrote:
P.S. I have the Casio Commando as my cell phone, which is waterproof/shockproof as well. Great phone. Downfall is the flap over the power plug. You open up a sealed flap to plug it in to charge, then shut the flap for use. Over time, the gasket in that flap has thickened and won't stay shut. When new, it was invincible to water. Now, not so much. Still a good, tough phone, and plenty rain/splash proof. I just wouldn't trust it any longer in a true dunking.

Pat I also have this phone and love it AND have the same issue with the charging port flap not staying shut. A great phone though. I see now verizon has the Kyocera Bragidier (spelling) that looks intriguing and will probably be my next phone.

 

[MBJRL]

Kray2
Check out the TG-850. for a buck less.

 

[krayfish2]

I have an old stylus 850sw that I dusted off and put back into use. The video quality isn't as good but it will work until I luck into a deal on a tg-3.