Olympus Stylus Tough 6020

Auto Mode

Two auto modes are included: the iAuto mode and the standard P (for program) mode. In the iAuto mode, the camera makes all of the decisions, picking the scene mode that it thinks is most appropriate for the shooting situation based on what it detects. The user only gets to set a small number of settings, such as the Image size. In the program mode, the user can make more decision, setting the ISO level, white balance and other settings. If desired, these can be set to automatic, though. 

Movie Mode

The Tough 6020 can shoot high definition video, with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels at 60 frames a second. That is the same resolution as a 720p HDTV, but it is lower than the 1080p video that some over cameras can capture.  Other options for lower resolution video are available as well.

The video is saved as a .MOV file that uses MPEG-4 compression. This means that it can be viewed using Apple's QuickTime software, and edited by most video editing programs.

Drive/Burst Mode

The Tough 6020 can capture a burst of around 3 frames a second at the full resolution of the camera. This can be increased somewhat by using the continuous Hi mode, which restricts the image size to 3 megapixels. 

Playback Mode

There are a decent selection of playback features on offer on this camera: you can zoom in on images up to 10x, zoom out to view up to 30 thumbnails on the screen at once and create slideshows of images. These slideshows can have accompanying music. Images can also be sorted by date or by event, where the camera assumes that photos taken around the same time were taken at a particular event.

Scene Modes

18 scene modes are on offer from the scene mode option on the main menu, running the gamut from the common portrait and landscape modes to three underwater modes and a mode for shooting pets. That's a decent selection that will cover most shooting situations.

In addition, there are a number of other shooting modes, such as the Beauty mode (which softens the look of skin) and a panorama mode, which makes shooting panoramic shots somewhat easier by providing guides for how to to shoot the images so they are correctly aligned.