Overview
The Olympus Tough TG-610 is a robust digital camera. It is waterproof, can survive being dropped and can cope with extreme cold. It is small enough to slip into a large pocket and operates as a simple, point and shoot digital camera.
The Tough TG-610 has 14 megapixels and a 5x zoom lens.
Olympus have produced four different coloured versions. These are red, silver, blue and black.
Why Buy The Olympus Tough TG-610
The big attraction is the robust features. This type of digital camera is very popular, especially with families, but there are not very many different models to choose from.
Main Features
Megapixels:
Zoom:
LCD Screen:
Dimensions:
Weight:
14
5x
3 inches
99.5 x 64.5 x 26.1 mm
190g
Macro:
HD Movies:
Manual Controls:
Batteries:
Memory Cards:
3cm
Yes
No
Lithium-ion Rechargeable
SD / SDHC / SDXC
Top 10 Features
Megapixels and Zoom
The Tough TG-610 has 14 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens. The lens has wide angle capabilities. This helps you to squeeze wider scenes into your shots. The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 28- 140mm in 35mm format.
Robust Features
Olympus have equipped the Tough TG-610 with a fairly standard set of robust features. These make the camera waterproof to depths of 5m, shockproof to falls of 1.5m and freezeproof down to -10 degrees centigrade.
High Definition Movies
Being able to shoot short movie clips can come in handy. It also gives you the option of leaving your camcorder at home. Zoom is available when you shoot a movie clip.
LCD Screen Size
The LCD screen is 3 inches in size. It is made up of 920,000 dots.
Close Up Shooting Options
There are three different macro mode options you can use. One allows you to zoom in on subjects. The next lets you get within 3cm of your subject, but disables the ability to zoom in. The third adds lighting of your subject. This is a really good idea as when you get in really close there is a danger that the camera body may block out some of the available light.
Image Stabilisation
With a relatively short telephoto lens image stabilisation is not as important on the Tough TG-610 as it might be on digital cameras with longer lenses. Despite that it is still useful to have at your disposal. You may notice that it is at its most effective when you are taking photos in lower lighting.
Wi-Fi Connectivity
Although Olympus have not built Wi-Fi connectivity into the Tough TG-610 it is compatible with Eye-Fi memory cards. These cards are more expensive that standard SD cards, but they do offer you wireless connectivity.
3D Shooting Options
If you have a 3D television then you are likely to find the 3D shooting mode comes in handy from time to time. All you need to do is select the correct mode and you can start taking 3D pictures.
Predefined Scene Modes
You have 21 predefined scene modes at your disposal. When you select one of these the camera can identify the type of scene you are photographing. It will then select what it considers to be the optimum settings for the shot. The available scene modes are: Portrait, Beauty, Landscape, Night Scene, Night Scene with portrait, Sports, Indoor, Candle, Self-portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Documents, Beach and Snow, Underwater Snapshot, Underwater Wide 1, Underwater Wide 2, Underwater Macro, Pet (cat), Pet (dog) and Snow.
More Advanced Features Giving You Extra Control
Even if you are planning to use the Tough TG-610 primarily as a point and shoot digital camera there may be times when a few more advanced features come in handy. These include two types of metering (ESP light metering, Spot metering), white balance, exposure compensation, plus the ability to fine tune ISO.
Handling
General Handling
The Tough TG-610 has quite a substantial feel to it. In fact it feels chunky. It certainly looks different to any other digital camera other than the models in this part of the Olympus range. It is on the large side to fit into smaller pockets, although you should be able to slip it into a larger jacket pocket.
On the back of the camera the controls run in a straight line running from top to bottom. One negative point about this layout is that there is not an obvious place to rest your thumb when taking a picture.
Menu Display
One feature you may find really makes a difference to operating the camera is the fact Olympus display key settings on the right hand side of the screen. Not only does this make it very easy for you to see the current settings it makes changing them quick and easy too.
If you prefer not to display this information on the screen you can opt to turn it off.
Lens and Flash Unit Position
The lens is situated in the top right hand corner when you look at the front of the Tough TG-610. Normally this can increase the possibility of the occasional stray finger obstructing the lens. To overcome this potential problem Olympus have boxed in the lens unit.
The flash unit is positioned centrally near the top of the camera. Again this helps to avoid any light being clocked by a stray finger.
Slow Turn on Times and General Response
It takes quite a while for the Tough TG-610 to power up ready to take the first photo. At over 7 seconds it is 2 - 3 times slower than standard. Shot times for taking pictures were also slower than average.
Controls on Top of the Camera
There are two controls on the top of the camera. These are the on / off button and the shutter button.
Controls on the Back of The Camera
Controls on the back of the camera start with a rocker to zoom in and out. Next is a button that allows you to shoot movies without needing to first change the shooting mode. Under this are three rectangular buttons. These are to review photos, display help text and access the menu system. Finally there is a control unit allowing you to change the information displaying on the LCD screen, a button to confirm a setting and one to delete unwanted photos.
What's in the Menu System?
The menu system runs to seven pages. These can be divided into four sections; still image settings, movie mode settings, playback options and general setup. There are a total of 42 options.
Image Quality - See Sample Images Below
Outdoor Scenic Shot 1
The Tough TG-610 gets most things right in this test, but it does look like it will struggle when light coloured objects dominate a scene. The sharpness of the shot is good. There is a slight fall off as you reach the edges of the shot, but overall focusing is of a high standard. My main concern is that there is a fair amount of detail lost from the boats. This may not show up on smaller prints, but there are cameras that manage to bring out that bit of extra detail compared to the Tough TG-610.
Outdoor Scenic Shot 2
As with the first shot the Tough TG-610 produces a shot that gets most things right. Once again focusing is sharp throughout the majority of the picture. In fact it compares well with a lot of point and shoot digital cameras in this respect. The problem here is that there is a much more noticeable loss of sharpness as you move towards the edges of the picture. Again this may not be noticeable with smaller prints, but if you become more ambitious with the size of your prints you may start to see a softening of the shot as you move out towards the edges.
Outdoor Scenic Shot 3
Looking back to the first test shot there is the same loss of detail on the boats. It is not as important in this shot as they are much less prominent in the shot. There is a slight hazy effect around some of the boats.
Outdoor Building
This shot is similar to other shots when it comes to sharpness being generally good, but with a small amount of softening at the edges. Parts of the shot are very light. This causes a lack of colour depth.
Outdoor Portrait
Although there are no issues with the sharpness of this photo it is another shot where I would like to have seen lighting toned down a level or two. This washes some of the colour out of the shot. This is despite using a white balance setting of cloudy in an attempt to boost the colours on display.
Indoor Portrait With Flash
Unlike the last two shots the amount of light emitted by the flash unit is not powerful enough to fully illuminate the picture. By way of contrast with earlier pictures this makes the colours look stronger than they should be. This in turn gives the skin tones an overcooked look.
Indoor Portrait Without Flash
Without flash the Tough TG-610 shows a lot of noise. This has a detrimental effect on the definition of the photo. It gives the picture a grainy look with the colours starting to break up.
Macro
The inclusion of a small light to brighten a macro shot is a very good idea. There was certainly a difference in the brightness of the shots taken with and without the additional lighting. Sharpness is about at the level you might expect from this level of digital camera. You should be able to produce pleasing close up shots. If close up photography is of particular importance to you then you are likely to need to step up to a higher quality digital camera.
Colours
In most instances the colours work well enough, but there were occasions where they lacked some of the depth that other cameras manage.
Noise
Noise could well be an issue with this camera when lighting is not perfect. There could also be times when you may notice a hazy effect around objects.
Picture Quality Summary
Picture quality is a bit uneven. The main downsides are over light shots and the loss of quality in lower light.
Shutter Lag Times
Single Shot
Five Shots
Single Shot With Flash
Five Shots With Flash
Turn on Time
0.53 seconds
15.27 seconds
1.16 seconds
18.86 seconds
7.29 seconds
Ease of Use
As mentioned above the ability to display menu options down the right hand side of the screen helps to make the Tough TG-610 easy to use. There are plenty of menu options available to you, but you can also choose to use this camera as a simple point and shoot model.
Points I Like
Robust features, High Definition movies, menu options on LCD screen
Where it Could Improve
Slow turn on and response times, over bright photos, struggles with very light subjects
Verdict
Picture quality is mid range. Whether or not the Olympus Tough TG-610 is the right camera for you could well depend on the type of pictures you are looking to take. If you are looking for a camera purely to produce small snapshots then picture quality is likely to be good enough most of the time. If you are looking for that bit more when it comes to picture quality it may be a good idea to check out some of the rival models.
Test Shots
Product Shots
Front View
Back View
Top View
Sample Menus
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Related Pages
Olympus Tough TG-610 Review Olympus Tough TG-610 Specification Olympus Tough TG-610 Sample Images
The camera used in this review of the Olympus Tough TG-610
was kindly provided by UK Digital Cameras
Review Date
June 2011
