The other day I bit the bullet and invested in one of those point-and-shoot tough cameras. I had thought about purchasing one before our Florida trip last month, but I just couldn’t bear taking only a point and shoot and not one of my “real” cameras, as I thought “Why waste the money just to still lug around two cameras?”. Well, I’ve been sitting on that decision for over and month and finally decided that I really would like to have a tough camera in my arsenal–something I can take with me on trips or out by the pool at our house without constantly stressing over damaging my equipment. I purchased it and have been using it (mostly in and around the pool at home) to test out its durability underwater, video and image quality, so I figured I’d share my opinion here.

I purchased the Olympus TG-4. My main reason for going with this camera as opposed to some of the other tough cameras on the market (including a Go Pro) was that the image quality is supposedly better and it has the ability to shoot in RAW mode (something useful to folks who like to play around in Photoshop). The Olympus TG-4 got the best reviews for overall image quality, and decent review for video.  Thusfar I have mainly used this camera while swimming, but I know one of its other major perks beyond being able to go underwater is that it is reportedly shockproof up to a 7 foot fall. I haven’t tested that one…and I don’t think I will since I’m not a professional reviewer or anything. 🙂

I will say that the underwater video is pretty nifty. I felt like the results were clear enough for what I wanted to achieve, and I got some cute videos of my son swimming over the weekend. I have heard great things about GoPro’s and I believe that their video quality is superior to this Olympus TG-4, so if you plan on doing a lot of video I’m not sure the Olympus is for you.

Here are some videos I took of my son swimming using the Olympus TG-4 so you can see for yourself. I didn’t do any editing to these videos, so what you see is exactly how it came out of the camera:

PS- If you want to know more about my son and his swimming, check out my blog on our experience with Infant Swimming Resource (ISR)

The real reason I purchased the Olympus was because I wanted something light that I’m not afraid to get wet or keep in rugged conditions for when we go on vacation.  I would say the image quality is so-so. Someone that hasn’t been working with professional bodies would probably be very happy with the results, but to me it’s missing something. As a point-and-shoot, it doesn’t preform that well in low-lighting and I am having a hard time manipulating the focus quickly. Still, I’m happy enough to use it as something to take snapshots at the beach, the pool, the splashpark or some other excursion. My favorite part of this camera is that it is able to shoot in RAW. Long story short, this means that I have a bit more freedom in editing my photos. 90% of the time if I’m just taking basic snapshots of my family I really don’t care about editing because I’m just trying to preserve a memory and not creating a piece of art. This camera isn’t on par with my other gear, and I am not expecting to get creative with this or capture fine art. It’s just a click and shoot, lightweight, affordable option to keep on me when bringing my other gear would too stressful. However, I can’t deny the creative part of me that sees some images and just wants to do a bit of tweaking to make them pop. You can see the difference between this image, which is SOOC (straight out of camera) and the one below which I edited. Granted, my editing isn’t amazing because I am just learning how to work with underwater photos as they are a different beast to me, but I am pleased that I have this option.

H. Parker Photography specializes in newborn, baby and child photography in Trophy Club, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Dallas, Ft Worth and Roanoke.