You’ll have to get used to keeping your ISO at 1600 or lower (you’ll need a steady hand for the slow shutter speed that results). For those in the first group, the TG-6's auto mode can handle just about every situation, and its numerous scene modes are well organized. Going underwater? Just choose the 'fish' spot on the mode dial, where you'll find five choices that match the situation you're in. It is a shame that Olympus did not create a simplified version of its menu system for more novice users, who are likely to be overwhelmed by the options and organization. I didn’t really put the environmental sensors on the TG-6 through their full paces. Even as an avid wilderness hiker, I don’t tend to organize my photos by that kind of metadata. (I write things down instead… a bit old school, but it works for me.)

As I mentioned before, the TG-6 really excels with subjects that are close up. Its up-close focus distance is incredible – subjects need to be just 1 cm from the lens. this made sense , the nifty 50s of those film days were good, fast, small, and cheap ... i fell in love with the helicoid action of machined brass focus mechanisms then. For example, when shooting from as close as 1 cm to the subject, a 1 mm subject can be magnified to up to 44 mm on the monitor. The IQ is gloomy. It hardly qualifies as what it name says...camera. 15m depth rating is not enough, its showerproof. The android app is horrible. No bluetooth? Gorry looking design. The sensor is old. The camera is past its design life. I see this is as a bad thing. It's easy enough to go into your iPhone notifications and turn them off—and I recommend you do so if buy a TG-6. But it shouldn't be an issue in the first place—Olympus should know better than to turn a utility app into an advertising platform. Speed and AutofocusNever having had a waterproof camera before, I admittedly have limited experience, but everything I tried to do with this little guy really impressed me.

This is the best waterproof tough compact you can buy, with all the positives and negatives that the descriptor implies. It can shoot and keep on shooting in tough conditions that would instantly murder a normal camera, and it has a number of features that other tough compacts simply don’t, like an f/2 aperture and RAW support. It also inevitably has all the pitfalls that tough compact shooters have had to get used to, namely the small sensor and the middling image quality that results from it. Normally, you need a dedicated macro lens if you want to take close-up, macro, or microscopic photos. That means a financial investment and another lens in your bag. But the TG-6 has this capability built-in. The close-up function is worth the cost of the camera. Get in, the water’s nice!Depends on which smartphone? Smartphones have more powerful processing and there is more money thrown at sensor design so many will exceed this camera in pure image quality though often the strong processing going on in smartphones shows through.

That said, the lens itself seems quite impervious to fingerprints. We can't in good conscience call it a selling point, but it was a breath of fresh air not to have to wipe stray smudges off the lens every time we shot. My kids and I discovered a stream filled with salmon. I knew it was the perfect chance to try out the TG-6 underwater. Indeed a 1/2.3" sensor is somewhat small. Modern smartphones have a larger one (1/1.7"). But, as others say, smartphones miss the 4x optical zoom and the ergonomics. Smartphones are overrrated for photography use. One of the fun things about using the TG-6 is that Olympus offers a lot of accessories to go with it.

No zoom and video centric but for scuba underwater, paralenz and their new model Vaquita is a compelling device. The TOUGH TG6’s 4x zoom can extend to 100mm equivalent – which is long enough to take head and shoulders portraits and to get you a little closer to the action if you’re in the snow or on the water. When you zoom all the way in the maximum aperture closes to f4.9; so when both models are fully zoomed in the TOUGH TG-6’s lens is no brighter than the Finepix XP140’s – except that the latter’s 140mm reach will get you a little closer to your subject. When my kids ask to use the camera while they explore sand dunes and lakes, I have no problem handing them the TG-6 to use. Essential modes