Olympus Tough

[Matt W.]

How much of those photo effects are the camera or the editing you did? Thanks!

 

[jeremyks]

Big house how are you getting the tines up to properly?

 

[Daniel_M]

How much of those photo effects are the camera or the editing you did? Thanks!

Nothing aside from a re-size. Photos are as presented from the camera!

 

[bighouse31]

The camera has different filter settings you can use and get creative with. With cloudy days and poor light you can still get good pictures. Nothing on those was edited.

Olympus TG 2 camera
Olympus conversion lens adapter thread size 40.5mm
Step down filter 40.5mm- 37mm
Tines up video camera adapter for 37mm

Tines up also makes one for 58mm threads so you could go from 40.5-58 if you wanted to but my video camera is 37mm so I went that direction.

 

[Yellowknife]

Not trying to talk you out of your choice. But, I used the Pentax Optio cameras since they came out. I owned 3 different generations of them including the WG-3, I was extremely disappointed with the photo and video quality of that camera. The 2nd generation is the better of the 3 IMHO, but the one I had was lost, so I upgraded to the WG-3. It does fair in good light, but low light photos were terrible. That is the reason I moved over to the Olympus. I own a Pentax DLSR as well, and really like Pentax product, but IMHO the WG-3 is not even close to the Olympus TG series.

Just my experience, good luck.

Steve

I had a similar experience with an Optio W60. Used it for a couple years, but the low light performance was awful along with dismal battery life. Hopefully the latest generations are better, but I don't intent to experiment further.

Currently using a Tough TG-1, and like it much better. VASTLY better in low light. However, one thing I've consistently noticed is that the images are never completely sharp. They look good on a computer screen, but if I zoom in at all they are always pretty grainy and pixalated. Not sure if it's just a matter of it being a relatively inexpensive P&S, or if something is wrong with the camera or camera settings, but I do find that to be an aggravation.

Yk

 

[jeremyks]

I must be doing something wrong because I get the black tunnel effect when I try the tines up adapter. I get better pics when the I hold the camera much closer to the scope. Closer than the tu adapter will allow. Tu adapter seems to work better with normal point and shoot cams that have the telescoping lens that sticks out in front of the camera.

 

[Stid2677]

I had a similar experience with an Optio W60. Used it for a couple years, but the low light performance was awful along with dismal battery life. Hopefully the latest generations are better, but I don't intent to experiment further.

Currently using a Tough TG-1, and like it much better. VASTLY better in low light. However, one thing I've consistently noticed is that the images are never completely sharp. They look good on a computer screen, but if I zoom in at all they are always pretty grainy and pixalated. Not sure if it's just a matter of it being a relatively inexpensive P&S, or if something is wrong with the camera or camera settings, but I do find that to be an aggravation.

Yk

Double check the resolution settings. I had a similar issue and noticed that my settings had gotten changed and it was in low res VGA mode. One quick way to tell is check the photo file size, should be 2 to 5 megs per photo as compared to 500KB or so (less than 1 meg). Took me 2 hunts to figure it out, as I was chasing Luke around going from one hunt to the next.

Steve

 

[Browtine]

What kind of battery life are you guys getting with the TG2? Are you taking an extra batt on your extended trips?

It does look like spare batts are pretty cheap which is another plus.

 

[Stid2677]

What kind of battery life are you guys getting with the TG2? Are you taking an extra batt on your extended trips?

It does look like spare batts are pretty cheap which is another plus.

I get about a week, depends on how much video I shoot. I try to resist looking through them at camp as that uses more battery. I have never needed more than one extra battery. The last few trips I did, I took over 600 photos and hours of video and only changed the battery right before we left and we had cold weather too.

 

[Steve O]

Thanks for all the input in the Opto. Trying to time ruttung elk on the next ridge is what spurred me to find a waterproof camera with a remote. Trying to get good photos with the self timer (finger triggered shots at 45x were shaky!) just about drove me nuts. How do you guys get around that? Do you just pull stills off of video footage? Or are you dealing with mostly bedded or feeding "subjects"?

 

[Stid2677]

I had a similar experience with an Optio W60. Used it for a couple years, but the low light performance was awful along with dismal battery life. Hopefully the latest generations are better, but I don't intent to experiment further.

Currently using a Tough TG-1, and like it much better. VASTLY better in low light. However, one thing I've consistently noticed is that the images are never completely sharp. They look good on a computer screen, but if I zoom in at all they are always pretty grainy and pixalated. Not sure if it's just a matter of it being a relatively inexpensive P&S, or if something is wrong with the camera or camera settings, but I do find that to be an aggravation.

Yk

Found this......

The TG-2 has three continuous shooting modes: regular, takes photos at full resolution; while continuous high 1 and 2 modes snap photos at a reduced resolution of 3 megapixels. Continuous high 1 can snap 14 frames per second, up to a maximum of 100 shots in one burst. Continuous high 2 manages 60 frames per second, again stopping at 100 shots.

 

[yama49]

I used the tg2 this past hunting season also, i agree with yellowknife on the grainy part when zooming in on a photo at home.. I realize its not like my slr, for cropping pics, but i though it would b better.. Unless its something im doing wrong, its set on highest res forsure always check that..

 

[Matt W.]

Decent deal for the TG-2 here. $199 for a factory reconditioned one...
http://tinyurl.com/ljcblxe

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Since joing the 'Slide 4 months ago, I've been reading on the Tough series. Now that I'm convinced I want one, they're about all dried up. I'll check the link above. Hard to trust some of the sites.

The few I've handled at Best Buy....all were missing the front bezel. Is that a common problem?

Lastly, it seems the TG-3 is about to hatch in the next few weeks. The specs didn't look much different than the 2s. Anyone that would really be in the know on the cameras be able to weigh in on what's changed and if it was significant?

 

[Matt W.]

Interesting... I checked out the TG-3 specs here:
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/tg-3.html

The integrated WiFi to your smartphone feature, anyone know how exactly does this work? If you really want this feature then wait for the TG-3, but a factory reconditioned TG-2 for $199 is a pretty good deal, IMO.

I have lost the front bezel on mine, but its really a non issue. I am going to use the Tines Up kit for digiscoping so I think that will replace that part anyway.

 

[Matt Cashell]

The integrated WiFi to your smartphone feature, anyone know how exactly does this work?

The Wifi feature allows your camera to communicate to your phone wirelessly, so you can just shoot the pics to your phone to share. Pretty slick.

 

[Browtine]

The Wifi feature allows your camera to communicate to your phone wirelessly, so you can just shoot the pics to your phone to share. Pretty slick.

Wi-fi capability is very convenient. However, you can also buy a wi-fi enabled SD card that will do the same thing in the TG-2. I got the Eye-fi MOBI card in my TG-2. They start at around $50 for the 8GB.

 

[Matt W.]

The Wifi feature allows your camera to communicate to your phone wirelessly, so you can just shoot the pics to your phone to share. Pretty slick.

That does not do a whole lot for me, really. Nice, but not worth upgrading. I was under the impression it allowed the phone to control the camera and act as a remote to take pictures.

 

[Matt Cashell]

That does not do a whole lot for me, really. Nice, but not worth upgrading. I was under the impression it allowed the phone to control the camera and act as a remote to take pictures.

Oh yeah, many wifi cameras do that too with an app.

edit:

Here is Olympus' app:

http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/olympusimageshare

It says it supports remote control of "some" cameras. I don't know if the Tough 3 will be one of them.

 

[Matt W.]

Oh yeah, many wifi cameras do that too with an app.

edit:
Here is Olympus' app:
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/olympusimageshare
It says it supports remote control of "some" cameras. I don't know if the Tough 3 will be one of them.

Right at the bottom it does say TG-3! So big question now is: Does this "WiFi" network run as self perpetuating network between the camera and the phone? In other words, will it work 20 miles back where no WiFi or cell towers exist? Sort of like bluetooth does?