On 9/14/2015 6:58 PM, Paul Braun wrote:
I know from time to time Olympus puts refurb Toughs on sale.
Yes they do. That and the fact that I was going somewhere I thought
might reward having one led me to having a TG-850. The underwater
situation didn't happen, and I've used it very little so far, and not
been very pleased. It's like DPR says of JPEGS from the TG-4, "If you
enlarge the photo above you'll see the detail smudging that is
all-too-common on compact cameras. You'll especially notice this on the
trees in the background."
I know that this size sensor is capable of pretty decent results at low
ISOs; I've posted quite a few from the Panny ZS40. But without Raw
output, I'd be unhappy with the ZS40, too.
As to the ST-6000 of Chuck's friend, DPR did a review of tough cameras
in 2009 that included it. It was one of the bottom performers in IQ.
They said "The four other cameras in this group (including the ST-6000)
are not completely useless; certainly if you only need to produce small
(5x7) prints or display images online, then all of these cameras will
produce decent enough results. But ... "
I would say about the same of the TG-850.
The only one I would consider buying today is the TG-4. With it, Oly has
finally added Raw output, and DPR found that to greatly increase the
ability to get a good IQ result. None of this actually matters
underwater, but for a camera likely to be used for other situations as
well, it matters to me.
The reviews on DPR and IR tell more about it. But it's not cheap, and
new, so no discounts yet.
Semi tough Moose