Olympus Tough TG-4 studio and real-world samples posted

Yup, this proves that there must be a God's 11th commandment that states "Thou Must Only Use Tiny Sensors In Tough Cameras".

Jul 31, 2015permalink

I'm praying, and looking forward to the day when camera manufacturers stop making cameras with this size sensor, and stick to 1" sensors as the new minimum size, for any serious work!

1/2.x" sensors were acceptable 10 to 15 years ago, but now they have overstayed their initial welcome, although they could stay in little kids' (or toys) cameras!

Even the 1/1.7" sensors are getting old, at least for photographers and enthusiasts.

Aug 1, 2015permalink

BigShooter

Meanwhile, there are lots of us that just shoot and get excellent results with the equipment at hand.

Just my opinion...

Aug 1, 2015permalink

BigShooter, saying that you get excellent results from a teeny tiny sensor is like me saying I get excellent mileage from a 1955 pickup truck with a leaky gas tank.

Aug 2, 2015permalink

Serenity Now

"BigShooter, saying that you get excellent results from a teeny tiny sensor is like me saying I get excellent mileage from a 1955 pickup truck with a leaky gas tank." No it isn't. It's nothing like that analogy . If you can't get a decent shot with a small sensor then chances are all you'll get from a bigger señor is an average photo with better resolution - or pristinely rendered crap.

Aug 2, 2015permalink

@BigShooter ...
I'm sure you get BigShoots and excellent results from the 1/2.3" sensor when you make 24" prints.
Thanks for your feedback.

Aug 2, 2015permalink

Serenity, I believe you are confusing an excellent photo subject with an excellent quality photo - two completely different things. A fuzzy, blurry photo of an alien UFO might be fantastically great, but it would still be a crappy quality image.

Aug 3, 2015permalink

BigShooter

@maxnimo & @sh10453

As you both mature as photographers you will understand what I mean.

Good luck and happy shooting to you both!

Aug 4, 2015permalink

Thanks for being so humble!

Aug 5, 2015permalink

gr1fter

Is this camera supposed to compete with the GoPro or a different market? Curious how the image quality is vs a GoPro Hero4 Silver or Black.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

It's not that kind of camera.

Aug 1, 2015permalink

Fogsprig

Excellent quality for the 1/2.3" sensor, though the lens isn't OK.
Thank gods there's RAW option.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

duartix

Can't stress enough the clear advantage of RAW.
Sure, you can get some massive CA but the level of texture and detail available is in a completely different ballpark from JPEG.
(and coming from the Masters of JPEG called Olympus)

Jul 31, 2015*permalink

DRNottage

I'll hold on to my Panasonic TS-2. Built like a brick, sharp, great video, and just keeps om going for skiing, kayaking, and parties! ;) Not to mention, never any sensor dust to worry about- a HUGE plus with this class of camera. Between it and my Lumix GM-5, I'm all set in the compact dept. (I may see this Olympus in my future, though...)

Jul 31, 2015permalink

KonstantinosK

The studio scene looks the best.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

nunatak

i can use a good weatherproof RAW enabled backup camera. Olympus should build these like they do their fog free binoculars — with sealed optics pumped full of nitrogen or argon gas. this is perhaps still the biggest barrier preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of these.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

Giklab

This is a completely different design, much harder to seal like that and with a very different audience.
I wouldn't hold my breath.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

timo

Fine if you really want a waterproof camera, but I can't see the appeal for any other purpose. Some of those samples show really nasty effects of noise reduction in reproduction of grass, for example.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

IchiroCameraGuy

Actual photo quality doesn't seem better than the $180 Canon 110HS from a few years ago with same size sensor :\

Jul 31, 2015permalink

FuhTeng

Neat camera and neat idea. I'm glad the images are so nice. I'm looking forward to the full report.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

ShoppingBoy

I'll be getting one. Great JPEG shooter and creative possibilities are endless!

Jul 30, 2015permalink

SmilerGrogan

Thanks for the cat pictures. Embarrassingly, they are a great test of lenses because feline fur has both the qualities of fine detail and soft fluffiness. It's hard for a lens to make fur look both sharply defined AND petable.

Even though it's a cliche that many photographers take pictures of their cats because they're too shy to ask women to pose for them, it remains a valid test of sensors and lenses and you guys should mandate a cat photo in every sample gallery.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

Jeff Keller

Well that was half a compliment :)

Jul 30, 2015permalink

Cane

Why do so many photographers have cats? No, not too creepy.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

SmilerGrogan

It IS a compliment... Cats really are excellent test subjects and it shows great artistic courage on your part to reveal to the world that you're a dude who takes pictures of his cat. And the other photos are great as well, clearly you're not afraid to get up close and personal with reality. So good on you.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

SmilerGrogan

And photographers have cats because they're quiet, they don't care if you ignore them for hours while you edit photos, and they don't knock over the lightstands in the studio.

Jul 31, 2015*permalink

But for a true test you need a black cat on bright snow.

Jul 31, 2015permalink

Have you ever tried to open your 3 years old laptop to see how much cat hair has accumulated inside?

For some reason, cats seem to love walking (or even sitting) on the laptop's keyboard :-)

Aug 1, 2015permalink

WACONimages

Negatives:
A)
There is A priority, but no S or M. And I really miss the S priority. Now the camera often choose a too slow shutter speed as I would want/choose myself. I rather have some grain/noise and catch the moment as less noise but a blurry moving subject.
B)
When switching to raw(a bit awkward to find also) you have only 1fps..(actually one single pic every time). Thats a big miss in my opinion. So if you should some action and want more fps raw isn't possible :-(
C)
Olympus is famous for their highly adjustable camera menu. No so much for this TG-4. I can't control the noise reduction for jpg's. I can't adjust saturation ect, other as vivid, natural..
D)
The TG-4 can remote control(RC) an external Olympus flash, which is brilliant I think. I use it quiet often. But you can't adjust the flash, internal and external in the camera's menu.

Jul 30, 2015*permalink

WACONimages

I have one since six weeks. It replaced my old Panasonic LX-3 compact camera. I bought for a holiday to the Spanish Island Menorca(beautiful!). Als I have the fish-eye add on lens with it.

Positive:
It is a nice sturdy camera and has a quick response overall. Lightroom 6 can read the TG-4 raw files and this works pretty well.

In general I found the raw files of the LX-3 to have more to work with. But nevertheless the TG-4 files can produce nice pics. And the raw possibility certainly gives a bit extra over the jpg's.

The camera also can remote control(RC) an external Olympus flash(brilliant I think).

The fish-eye converter works well and keeps f2.0 at wide-angle. I took it in the water the entire holiday and never had any problems with the camera. I didn't really dive with the camera, only swimming and sup-boarding.

But I also have something to complain ;-).. See post above.

Jul 30, 2015*permalink

KevinJMills

Picked up one of these a couple weeks ago. Tried it out on some tide pools last week (it did great), and am taking it to Disney Aulani next month for some fun in the sun, pools, lagoons, and surf with my 5 year old daughter. Speaking of water, I need to get on ordering a floating strap for it.

Jul 30, 2015*permalink

photofisher

Studio scene and samples look smashing on my smartphone.

Waxing a bit nostalgic as my first camera was an Oly Stylus Tough. Still works after almost 10 years and many drops and submersions.

Cheers.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

Rolandigital

Twin Peaks :)

Jul 30, 2015permalink

burnin

Chihuly!

Jul 30, 2015permalink

Jeff Keller

If you haven't been to the museum in Seattle (right below the Space Needle) I highly recommend it.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

tkbslc

Looks like about what you'd expect from a 1/2.3" sensor.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

BklynBill

For this class of cameras, IQ of this Olympus seems the best. The Nikon is a disaster, hopefully it is a one-off poor lens example. It would be interesting to know what percentage of people using these will use the RAW capability, I suspect the percentage is very low. Nice camera for skiers, so it takes care of one Christmas gift! The red color makes the most sense for that application, much easier to see if misplaced.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

Outdoor raws?

Not "raws" processed to jpeg with ACR.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

WACONimages

I own one and use raw all the time. You can only select raw+jpg although. Lightroom 6 can read these. The results are ok. A bit less as a Panasonic LX3 I used as my compact before the TG-4.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

WACON,

Okay, but I was looking for raws to extract myself.

I have some indoor ones, but nothing in the water.

Jul 30, 2015permalink

dpreview review samples

@HowaboutRAW

This is something we're working on and it should be available really soon now (tm)

Jul 30, 2015*permalink

darktiger

I got my TG-4 the day it came out.. within a week it was broken... zoom/shutter button/etc all would not work... so far the new replacement is working great.

Olympus support sucks.. they wanted me to send a brand new not even a week old camera in for repair.... Also they said it would take atleast 3 weeks for it to be complete... I would expect a free replacement on a brand new just released camera...

Thank goodness my local pro shop was helped me out with a new replacement.

Jul 31, 2015permalink