I don’t have much use for the tap feature, which is designed to be used with gloves, because I live in southern California. It’s more annoying to have it activated when you don’t need it but I’m sure it’s a great feature for when you are bundled up and you don’t want to take your gloves off.

I really like the portrait modes the stylus has because it makes it east to quickly switch to different modes. The screen helps you switch to different modes too, it is pretty bright and it is a lot easier to see in daylight than previous cameras I have owned.

I have yet to really take it on an underwater excursion, but I have tested it out in the sink a few times and in the bath and there was not any water seepage into the battery compartment or in the USB port.

I love the ability to do in-camera fixes with red eye and lighting. The camera also automatically saves the edited picture separate from the old, so you don’t have to worry about it replacing the original picture, if you don’t like the new effect.

I love the fact that this camera has a built in memory. You can only a take a few pictures with it, but you don’t get that “No memory card” error anymore. It’s a good feature to have in a pinch, especially when you first get it to test out the features. The camera also tells you in the corner how many pictures you have left and how many minutes of video you have left on the card or in the internal memory. No more snapping away pictures only to hear the beep! beep! and see the “memory full” words pop up on the screen; then there’s the scramble to quickly delete pictures. You’ll never have to guess how many shots you have left.

I’ve only had the camera a few days and I haven’t tried out all of the features, and I am looking forward to that and I will update my review. I have yet to use the in camera panorama feature, I am pretty sure that you have to have an Olympus card in order for this to work and I am using the micro SD card adapter and using a 2 MP card.

The program that comes with the camera is also pretty good and user friendly. It has the same feel as Google’s Picasa, but I haven’t played with it much yet because I really like Picasa!

There are a couple of things I don’t really like about the camera. One is I wish there were more features for the video camera, it pretty much has an option of 15 fps and 30 fps. My older camera has about 10 different video options. Two, is that I don’t think picture quality is as great as a Canon with the same number of mega pixels. The picture comes out looking a little more digital and not as crisp. But I will gladly give up a little picture quality for a camera that comes with all of the underwater, freeze proof, etc features.

So, I think this camera is definitely worth the price, and if I had $100 more to spend I would have definitely gotten the 8000. I love its versatility with being a real outdoorsy camera, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a high end digital camera that can withstand some drops and some water.

Picture quality is so-so. If you take snaps, do a bit of basic cropping (just a little, mind) and limit your expecations of those of family viewing then the image quality is fine. The reticience on my part on the matter of image quality is that the Olympus Tough 6000 is no better than many cameras that cost half its price. The flash works but seems to do so with a single setting – it readily creates blown out highlights on too many photographs, the sensor produces noticeable noise, and the lag between pushing the shutter to taking the shot can be interminable. I admit that I haven’t bought a compact digital in the last couple of years and was hoping that these areas would have seen better performance. So as a camera, i.e. a device for taking photographs, my view is that the Olympus Tough 6000 is adequate (barely) and expensive.

On to the ‘Tough’ part. The major selling point of this camera is its ability to suffer knocks, operate immersed in water, operate in cold temperatures, etc. It is a rugged little device and handling it offers up a feeling of confidence. I am just back from a two week vacation in S E Asia – we have two little kids, the eldest of whom is starting to want to take photos (my main requirement for a camera therefore is something which is kid-proof – I don’t go snorkelling, haven’t skied in a while nor climbed a mountain in some time, I simply want something that can withstand the rough and tumble that a 5 year old offers). I found the camera offers a degree of robustness which should provide confidence in rough environments – that’s not to say it can be handled roughly, but if you find yourself in a place where an odd knock is inevitable then the Olympus should withstand it. However, I deliberately took the camera into a swimming pool to take some snaps (the camera does say it can operate down to 10ft water depth). I had read the manual, and did understand that the seals needed to be checked etc etc and took all reasonable measures. The camera worked fine under water, then half an hour later it stopped working. Having dropped it off at the local repair centre, the prognosis is that the camera has water in it – if they can’t fix it I’ll get a new one, and I’ll know that in a couple of weeks. Given the warnings I saw splashed on the walls of the repair centre, the advice displayed on the Olympus web site and the advice in the Tough 6000 User Manual, I’d guess there is a degree of concern about its watertightmess. In fact my view is that this feature needs to be reconsidered – I took all precautions mentioned in the manuals did the checks immediately prior to taking the camera into the pool and still had problems. By the way, I was in a 3ft deep pool and took the camera dowm to about half depth – lets say 18″. So in my view the Olympus Tough 6000 is probably tough, but probably not waterproof.

In summary this camera could be a good buy if you need something robust which can take a few knocks and offer up reasonable snaps. I would take it up a mountain, but would not recommend going sub-surface at all. I believe it is pricey for what it does, but value is a personal decision.