Let's be honest - I bought this camera specifically for the waterproof/dustproof/crushproof/freezeproof features. I anticipated that image quality and ease of operation might be sacrificed - and this is exactly what Olympus delivered. Additional questionable bonus is the "tap" feature, which allows to activate some of the functions by tapping the camera from the sides. This is a nice concept, but would be much more useful if it was reconfigurable and allowed the user to assign which functions are activated by tapping. The most important (at least for me) feature of this camera is that it's waterproof, and I can honestly admit that it works. I used this camera for a couple of hours while playing around in the swimming pool, and it worked beautifully. No leaks, no bubbles, and color correction for underwater photography is quite decent. The crushproof feature was also tested, since I dropped the camera couple of times, and it kept working. This camera is tough :) Unfortunately the image quality is far from perfect, in fact is merely average for a point-and-shooter.

The good:
- waterproof and crushproof (tested!)
- good color representation
- good automatic white balance (AWB)
- built-in panorama mode (only 3 frames)

The bad:
- images lack sharpness, appear very "soft"
- poor low light operation (focusing)
- occasional focusing issues (focuses in center even in "face detect" mode)
- some operation modes ("scenes") are inconsistent, e.g. "portrait" mode switches focusing to "point" instead of "face detect"
- flash is too strong and there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust it
- the image stabilization doesn't seem to help - consider it non-existent
- heavy (but this is kind of expected)
- tap control not reconfigurable

The ugly:
- weird "ghosting" and flaring effects appearing in photos on some occasions when the flash was used (poor or no antireflective coatings on lenses)
- very poor sound quality in movies

Bottom line - if not for the "tough" part, this would have been a pretty average, all-around, point-and-shooter. If you need a true waterproof (not just "splash proof") camera or something that you can carry in your pocket or a backpack in all weather conditions or any situation that could otherwise damage your camera - this is the one to get. If you don't need the "tough" part - get another camera with better image quality.

*update* here are the pictures from the vacation! http://travel.webshots.com/album/570827897OPnAfD?vhost=travel
all taken using the olympus tough 8000.

During this vacation I would say it got dropped and knocked around from about 5 feet to the ground on many handoffs and had a few rough spots but still worked wonderfully. As you can see some of the panoroma shots came out amazing! check the ones on top of the mountain from around pictures 100+. I did realize though that using the automated panorama mode did not work too well so alot of the time it had to be done manually using the second panorama option which lets you setup where the pictures end and start. Also I would HIGHLY recomend taking the time to learn how to use the little +/- button when you are in camera mode. Auto works alot but sometimes not how you would like it so that mode lets you decide what you want. Further while I did not use it underwater persay I did jump into a steam vent and the camera still shot amazing afterwards. Had to be around 110+ and the water just condensed on the screen but nothing inside thankfully. Also in terential downpours it took some nice shots, you can see the rain drops!
*end update*

I read the first review which seemed a bit off as I saw it on other sites (maybe they're registed on a few) so I wanted to post my own.

Well I am going on a vacation of a lifetime to hawaii and I figured why not pull out all the stops and buy a top of the line waterproof camera. Basically also a camera that I could put through the ringer without worrying about dropping it in sand, taking into a waterfall and one that could take some nice pictures.

First off I am using the M+ cards that olympus makes you buy. I read somewhere that to take videos that have a duration longer then 10 seconds or for panorama pictures you need one (can anyone prove me wrong?). Little dissapointed at that so no 5 stars.

Secondly the panorama mode is probally one of the nicest features I have ever had the pleasure of messing around with. I can literally take a picture of my whole backyard and look at it in one picture (three pictures stitched together). Does it all in camera and it is very nice.

I have not tested it in the ocean yet so I will get back to everyone on that. The camera has a beauty mode which I can actually say works very nice. It shows you what the picture looks like before it touches it up and then after the touchup which is quite a difference (and nice).

One problem that I have noticed are night shots which looks slightly grainy. Im taking the picture in 12m mode with fine resolution, so each shots is around 3900x2900 (off the top of my head I know thats not exact) checking in at about 4mb a shot. So it might be that on my 1600x1200 monitor it is zoomed in a bit too much, but still slightly dissapointing. So again no 5 stars.

The LCD screen really is quite nice. I was fiddling around with it outside in direct sunlight and I could see the screen very clearly. No fidgeting to cover it with my hand at all, it all showed up nicely. The auto mode works nice just like any other camera and the P mode works if you want to fiddle with some of the other options. I'll try tap control out sometime and let you know how that works. Also I do not know of any hosting sites so someone point me to one and I will setup some of the pictures I have taken for your own insights.

Overall I like the camera tremendously so far. Takes amazing panorama pictures, daytime pictures are fantastic. Night shots look a bit grainy but that might be from my ineptitude. Camera is also very nice to hold and just feels sturdy. 4 outta 5 without a doubt.

One thing you'll notice w/other reviews is the "Haven't tried it in water yet, but I'll let you know" line.
I was totally in love with the Olympus 8000. Compact, sleek looking and had a nice heft to it. The different features & menu were fun and easy to use. It was awesome! Then, my vacation (the main reason I bought it)snorkeling in Aruba. The first in-water try out, off of the resorts beach (not much to see), seemed to go well. Then next day, I was psyched to take it to a "premiere" snorkeling spot. Long story short, It just kind of didn't work and upon further inspection I could see air bubbles coming from the lens. The incident most definitely "harshed on my mellow". I wasn't even angry, just kind of deflated.
So there you go. Water tested...and it took a giant dump.

I have owned many digital cameras since '97 when they were first emerging. Other than a Kodak DC-25 (I think), the first several cameras I owned (and loved) were Olympus. They were well designed, versatile and they took great pictures. Unfortunately, Olympus went from one dedicated lackluster memory format (Smartmedia) to an even worse dedicated memory format (xD). This chased me away from Olympus and into Canon which has been a great camera ever since and I have owned several Canons, SLR and small PAS models. More on that in a minute...

When I tried this Olympus Tough 8000, I was excited to get back into Olympus. Unfortunately, they are even more proprietary than before. The USB cable is Olympus Proprietary and it also must be used to charge the camera since there is no seperate charger included. (So much for charging the extra proprietary battery pack while using the camera!) There is no media included with the camera but there is an adapter that will allow the user to use MicroSD cards. (This is what tempted me to try Olympus again.) Unfortunately they punish you for not using xD media by not allowing the Panoramic feature to work and the higher res videos are limited to 10 sec unless you use xD media. So you end up buying xD media anyway.

The pictures, I am sad to report, are not great taken indoors. They have a lot of noise even after tinkering with the settings and using the flash. While I am a technical guy, I don't want to spend lots of time fiddling with the camera when I am goofing off just to get an acceptable shot. I just want to shoot the thing and get something usable. If I wanted to fiddle, I'd use a Canon AE Program SLR and carry a light meter. I don't mind engaging fill flash or using manual settings but in general, I want the thing to be suitable for "mom-use" or "grandpa-use". The video clips from this camera are terrible. They are jerky and hard to hear the audio. Don't even bother. The Olympus menus were OK but not as easy as the Canon even though I am a bit BIASed here.

So, for $400 or so, Olympus gives you no xD media and no battery charger, just a camera charger. The thin strap that comes with the camera is the same one they use on other cameras. The pictures are so-so and the videos are jerky and hard to hear.

If you compare this Olympus Tough 8000 to a Canon D-10, you will find the reviews are much more consistently good and the few negatives are less significant. I got a D-10 and the pictures are better along with the strap being much more beefy. I got a typical seperate Canon battery charger and the USB cable is a standard USB mini plug. The Canon D-10 uses SD Media so that is a big plus for me.

FYI: All Canon menus are easy to use and intuitive (and consistent over time) and the Canon cameras all use standard memory, either CF (SLR) or SD (PAS). The USB cables on Canons are standard USB, not proprietary. The seperate chargers that come in the box with all Canons are all similar in nature (compact with folding plugs) even they are made for whatever battery is used by that particular camera.

While the Canon D-10 is a bit oddly shaped, they have enclosed the 3x optical zoom completely in the housing so there are no exposed moving parts. The pictures are much better indoors and out and it's easier (for me anyway) to make adjustments on the fly. The videos created by this camera are MUCH better than the Olympus and about the same as other Canon PAS cameras with maybe just a little more background sound from the user. The videos play smooth and the sound is still good enough. The telephoto buttons are a little hard to get used to since I am accustomed to using the little zoom ring found on other Canon PAS models.

Verdict... Get the Canon D-10 for about $75 less money and have a better camera, plus buy less expensive memory and avoid buying a seperate charger when you get an extra battery. The one thing I did buy from Olympus after returning the Tough 8000 was the Olympus Floating Strap. I'll put it on the Canon to keep it afloat. Thanks Olympus!

I bought this camera after my camera died last year in Singapore. I was backpacking for a year in Asia and needed something more durable for all the abuse it was going to take. This one did the trick. I am an avid photographer and this camera really did was it says it would do. I could throw it in my day pack and never have to think about it getting wet, crushed, sat on, scratched, etc. I even dropped it off the top of a waterfall in India (by accident) it smashed off a rock and into the pool below, my friend climbed down and got it and after a little shake to get off the water I took a picture of him - worked like a charm!

Two little criticisms you should know:
1. There is no viewfinder only the LCD screen. So if you are trying to take a shot on a really sunny day you might just see your own reflection in the LCD and have to guess that you got what you were pointing at. (The good thing is with the SHQ setting on, if you need to zoom and crop later you've got the pixels to do it.)
2. I did have a problem with water leakage once when I jumped into the ocean from a boat. I think it was two things I did wrong, the force of hitting the water might have been too much for the seals, and two I didn't soak/rinse it in freshwater before opening it to change the memory cards. In the future I'll have someone hand me the camera after I jump in so no high pressure water exposure, and I'll rinse off the salt before opening it up. There was no permanent damage done, it just acted a little wonky until the next day when it finally all dried out.

We ordered the silicon skin and floaty strap with this camera and we havent had any problems yet. Its been out in freshwater, the ocean and the pool for the past 4 days straight with really great pictures! We really like the tap-control feature. My husband took it on a 5 day hiking trip to Kauai, and was worried that the battery would die (no electricity out there). Happily one full battery lasted the whole trip even with several movies recorded! The camera is easy to use, takes great pictures and movies, and best of all fits in your pocket! The one drawback is the camera is so small that sometimes with the underwater shots, it's hard to stablize the camera and a finger shows up in the corner of the picture. That will get better over time though. We were glad we got the 8000 over the 6000 because we were easily free diving past 10 feet while snorkeling to get some great turtle pictures. So far we love the camera!

Recently took new Stylus Tough 8000 on a snorkeling trip to Crystal River Fl. Upon paddling in a canal my fiance dropped the camera in ten feet of water and a foot of algae. After unsuccessfully free diving for an hour we opted to return in the morning with scuba. The next day we fanned and used a rope search pattern for about 59 minutes before recovering our brand new camera. After 24 hrs of soaking it turned on and worked perfectly. Needless to say we have purchased the floating strap and tested it in the pool for and hour, it stayed on the surface. Hats off to Olympus for a great camera.

The Olympus 8000 flooded with my first underwater experience. Yes it was salt water. After ten minutes or so underwater (never more than 1 meter deep) and getting to know the camera, bubbles started to show in the viewer and all was over. I am waiting for a reply from Olympus and expect a replacement but the vacation photos are toast including some that were taken topside. Reading the fine print of the warranty the water proof seals need to be inspected and replaced once a year by the factory. If you buy this camera for underwater use buy the specialized housing.

My review is based on my experience with other point+shoot that I used before the Tough 8000, namely Canon TX1 and Canon s400. My opinion is that the Tough 8000's image quality is clearly below that of the 2 Canons I used before. Tough 8000 has higher noise at lower ISOs. The IS on the Canon TX1 work much better. You won't feel the existence of any image stablization on the Tough. Image is generally less sharp than the Canons. The tough 8000 however is quite tough! I bought it to go on the Half Dome hike and rafting trip the next day. Bang it on rocks and swam with it. No leakage, functioned nicely. Battery life is good. It is compact, easy to use. Very poor in low light situations. Buy it only for the tough daytime outdoor use.

Ok, I just got my new Olympus Stylus 8000. I already have the Stylus 770SW which I always have with me, rain or shine, and it works great. But, I thought it was time for an "upgrade" so, I now have the Stylus 8000. I have "no" "regrets". It is definitely a step up. The LCD is "brighter" and the "color logic" is better than ever. It makes "panoramas" right in the camera, and does a pretty good job if you do what you're supposed to do as you "pan". No, not just a "pretty good" job, an "excellent" job.
One of the new features of this model is something called "Tap Control". When I read the specs on that before I got the camera, I said, "I Don't Need No Stinkin'"Tap" Control"! Why would I want to "hit" my camera in order to make it do things? Boy, was I "Wrong". I love the "Tap Control". It's great. It's just that, a "tap". But, a "definite" tap. It doesn't just start changing settings for no reason, you have to "tap" it. The things that you used to have to "toggle" back and forth to access, you now just "tap" the camera sides or top or back. You know, the things you change on a regular basis like "flash" settings, "macro" settings, "picture review", all those can be controlled with "taps". If you don't want to "tap", you can turn that option off. However, I'll bet, once you start using "tap control" you will never go back to the "toggle". The "tap" is too easy, and too accurate. No more "fumbling" with the toggle. The overall feel of the Camera is just fine, and, as I'm sure you already know, it's "bullet proof". I have dropped my 770 on "concrete" from "eye height" and I had to "hunt" to find the "micro scratch" on it's corner. Water is a "non-issue".
When I told my cats that I was getting another camera, they said "Jerry", "You already have like "five" cameras. Why do you need another one"? I told them, "It's an "upgrade". "Besides, the next time the "dog pack" comes through, I will have this camera ready to "document" the "fear" in your eyes". They said, "Jerry, We ain't afraid of no stinkin' "dog pack". "Now, fill up our food bowls".
Cats, they don't worry about anything.
Yes, the Olympus Stylus 8000 with "Tap Control". You'll love it.