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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Color
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03.Noise
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04.Resolution
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05.Video
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06.Sample Photos
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07.Playback
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08.Hardware
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09.Controls
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10.Design & Handling
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11.Fuji Z33WP Comparison
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12.Canon D10 Comparison
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13.Pentax W80 Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Photo Gallery
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16.Comments
Resolution
Distortion was very low, yet the images lack detail across the frame.
Resolution (6.20)
We found a mixed bag of results in our tests on the resolution of the images that the Tough 8000 captured: the images had low distortion and chromatic aberration, but they also had problems with sharpness: we found that the images were rather soft across the zoom range. More on how we test resolution.
Distortion (10.17)
We found very little distortion in the images we captured across the zoom range: there was a slight amount of barrel distortion at the widest setting and a small amount of pincushion at the mid and telephoto ends, but these were relatively minor, as you can see in the examples.
| Distortion Examples |
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| Wide (5.0mm): 1.26% Barrel Distortion |
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| Mid (10.3mm): 0.64% Pincushion Distortion |
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| Tele (25.0mm): 0.26% Pincushion Distortion |
Sharpness (3.01)
The sharpness of the images captured by the Tough 8000 was disappointing; we found that the sharp edges of our test chart turned into soft, blurry messes, as you can see in the examples below. This was particularly pronounced at the edges of the frame, but the details in the middle of the frame were not that sharp either.
Chromatic Aberration (8.24)
We didn’t see much evidence of chromatic aberration in our test images, though; they were lacking the color fringes that indicate a problem with the lenses diffracting colors of light by different amounts.
| Image Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Click blue squares to change sample crops below |
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Quality & Size Options (7.75)
The Tough 8000 offers 7 different image resolutions (see below) and 2 different quality levels: Fine and Normal. There is no option to capture RAW images, which are the data captured directly from the image sensor. The capture resolutions also take a rather sharp leap from 12 megapixels down to 5 megapixels: there are no options in between these two.
| 12MP | 3968 x 2976 | 5MP | 2560 x 1920 |
| 3MP | 2048 x 1536 | 2MP | 1600 x 1200 |
| 1MP | 1280 x 960 | VGA | 640 x 480 |
Image Stabilization (3.20)
The Tough 800 includes an sensor shift image stabilization system, where the camera shifts the image sensor to try and compensate for hand shake. We found that this was moderately effective: when we attached the camera to our stabilization test rig and turned this feature on, the captured images were a little sharper on average. So, it is worth turning on if you are shooting hand-held images, but leave it turned off if you are using a tripod. More on how we test image stabilization.
| Stabilization Comparisons | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Olympus Stylus TOUGH-8000 | Fujifilm Z33WP | Canon D10 | Pentax Optio W80 |
| Stabilization Off | |||
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| Stabilization On | |||
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Shop for the Olympus Stylus TOUGH-8000
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