Olympus Tough TG-610 Review

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.

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.

Image Quality

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.

Top Rated Cameras in this Category

Olympus TG-820 Rating 83/100

There are a number of robust digital cameras with similar features and general qualities. The Olympus TG-820 is priced a little lower than most of its direct competitors, so if you are looking for a good quality, robust digital camera and you would like to keep a few pounds in your pocket then this camera could well be the one for you.

Read Review: Olympus TG-820 Review

Nikon Coolpix AW100 Rating 82/100

The Nikon Coolpix AW100 is up against some stiff competition. It does a decent job, has a good range of features and can handle plenty of different photo opportunities. It may not possess a knock out blow that marks it out as clearly better than its rivals, but it is good enough to make your shortlist if you are looking for a more advanced robust digital camera.

Read Review: Nikon Coolpix AW100 Review

Canon Powershot D10 Rating 82/100

The Powershot D10 has a distinctive, fun look that means it will not get mistaken for any other digital camera. It has a number of robust features and is waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof to varying degrees. It takes a good snap and is well worth a close look.

Read Review: Canon Powershot D10 Review

Related Pages

Olympus Tough TG-610 Specification

Olympus Tough TG-610 Sample Images

Digital Camera Reviews

Olympus Digital Cameras

Review Date

Review Date: June 2011