Olympus Stylus Tough 6020

Viewfinder

There is no viewfinder on the Tough 6020: you view images through the LCD screen. 

LCD

The LCD screen on the back of the Tough 6020 is a 2.7-inch model with a 231k resolution. That's pretty average for screens of this size, and is enough to get a reasonable view of images and previews. But it's not as sharp or clear as the higher resolution screens on cameras such as the Sony TX7. 

The LCD screen of the Tough 6020. The hula dancer figure is optional

Flash

To the left of the lens on the front of the camera is the small flash. Olympus doesn't give any figures for the range of this flash, and we were not able to test it at the PMA show where we looked at this camera. To the right of the flash is a small white LED which is used to help the AF system. It is also used in the S-Macro LED mode to illuminate the subject.

The flash (left) and LED illuminator (right)

Lens Mount

The lens of the Tough 6020 is embedded deep within the body of the camera, safe from any unpleasantness. It's a 5x zoom lens with focal length of 5 to 25mm, which is equivalent to 28mm to 140mm on a 35mm film camera. That's a decent range, but we would have liked to see more at the wide end of the range: having a wide a view as possible is important when shooting underwater.

The lens of the Tough 6020

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

Two ports are located under the cover on the right side of the camera: a multi-purpose port on the left and a mini HDMI port on the right. This means that you have to have the cover open when copying files or viewing images on a TV.

The ports of the Tough 6020

Battery

The battery that gives the Tough 6020 its joie de vive is an Olympus LI-50B that can hold about 925 mAh of charge. Olympus makes no claims for how long this battery is likely to last, and we weren't able to test this.

The battery of the Tough 6020

Memory

Images captured by the Tough 6020 are stored either on SDHC cards or on the internal memory. The SDHC cards fit into the slot above the battery.

Unusually, the internal memory is pretty large: 1GB, about 600MB of which can be used for storing images and video, a lot bigger than the 50MB or so that we usually see. This provides a great backup plan for if your card fills up, or if you have a lot of photos you wan to keep on he camera to show off.

Other Features

Drop Proof - the Tough 6020 is built to withstand drops from up to 5 feet.

Water Proof - this camera is waterproofed to depths of up to 16 feet. If you need to go deeper, its big brother the Tough 8020 can go down to 33 feet under.

Cold Proof - temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius) won't phase this camera, although you might get a shorter battery life.