Backpacker Magazine – Fall Gear Guide 2009

Gear Review: Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 Camera

This camera was made to be abused, yet takes great pictures and is compact enough to slip into your pack's hipbelt pocket.

by: Kelly Bastone, Shannon Davis, Jonathan Dorn, Kristin Hostetter, Molly Loomis, Steve Roy

Tags:
• Gear
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• Cameras
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Weatherproof Point-and-Shoot
Go ahead: Drop it, drown it, crush it–this digicam laughs at all abuses. "It handles inclement weather better than I do," joked one tester. This tank of a camera can tolerate a 6-foot drop, stays waterproof to 33 feet, withstands 220 pounds of pressure, and keeps ticking in temps as cold as 14°F. Oh, and it takes great pictures, too.

The 12-megapixel hardware delivers fine resolution, and two image stabilizers eliminate blur while the Sensor-Shift Stabilization compensates for camera shake to keep images sharp. Plus, the Digital Image Stabilization freezes action with a high ISO sensitivity and fast shutter speed. All this, and it's still small enough to slide inside a pack's hipbelt pocket. $375; 6.4 oz.; 3.6x optical lens (28-102mm); xD Picture Card or microSD memory card; lithium-ion battery; olympusamerica.com

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