We originally purchased and tried the Olympus Stylus Tough 8000. The 8000 has a slightly better build quality than the TS1. Both cameras are suspiciously identical in size and layout, right down to the actual battery and compartments. The 8000 is all metal, while the TS1 is mostly metal and some plastic. The layout of the 8000 is excellent, a bit heavy in the hand, but solid (a tank). The layout of the TS1, while not exactly terrible, is not quite as user friendly and feels significantly lighter than the 8000. I give the edge to Olympus for button layout and overall feel. Some differences for reference are that the Olympus started quickly, while you have to hold the on button for the TS1 a few seconds. The placement of the zoom on the top of the TS1 and the stiff feel was also a negative in my opinion.

Some professional reviews complained about the Olympus camera menus. I happened to find the 8000 menu very user friendly for a novice (difference between a general consumer and a pro). It was hard to look at other cameras that did not have such a clear menu that was easy and fast to manually switch different modes, settings and speeds etc. The Panasonic menu is somewhat less intuitive and just not as “clean” looking from a graphic/icon perspective. If you are familiar with smart phones, it’s like going from an iPhone to an old Palm menu. But, the Panasonic has a lot more manual user options, which beyond its lesser appealing graphical look, puts more control in the users hands. Similar to the 8000, there is a quick menu, which is quick to reference, while also having the standard menu of all options. Also, Panasonic’s face detection is much more responsive on the TS1.

The “auto” mode of the 8000 was terrible. The majority of pictures taken in auto mode were not up to our standards. It wasn’t until I used the manual features and bumped down the pixels as well as the ISO that the pictures started to look better. As with many camera’s, dark lighting and indoor use resulted in average to poor image quality. Pictures in good lighting were good. Regardless, the 8000 always produced soft images, which was its only downside in my opinion. Which brings me to the TS1. Much like the 8000, it took some fiddling with the ISO speeds and lighting choices to achieve good to excellent pictures. However, even in “auto” mode the camera takes good pictures even at higher ISO speeds. The details are crisp and clear in good lighting or while using the flash. The color can even be changed between vivid, standard, natural etc. These are subtle differences that consumers like myself appreciate and actually can see in the pictures.

CONS:

Zoom button placement
Slow zoom
Stiff buttons
Battery must be recharged separately
Clumsy access to side compartments

PROS:

Good to excellent image quality (auto or manual)
Good indoor image quality with flash and low lighting
Produces some crisp images
Higher optical zoom than similar cameras
Excellent face detection
Several manual user options

I ran a series of tests using my old Canon and the new Panny to take equivalent pics at the same time in various settings – indoor day, indoor night, outdoor (sunny and overcast), low light, kids in motion, macro close-up, etc. Unfortunately the Panny was substantially worse in almost every category. Specifically the color was consistently less natural and often washed out, it handled simple motion terribly compared to the Canon and it relied on the Flash in two many situations. The most disappointing was daylight pics. Introduce any natural brightness at all and the pics all end up with a slightly washed out look. The old Canon by comparison handled these situations beautifully. They both are almost useless in low light. The only category where the Panny wasn’t substantially inferior to the Canon was macro – it took beautiful macro shots.

I never tested underwater because the store had fine print on the return policy that invalidated it if submerged, even though it was designed for that. However, if you read the user manual on the waterproof features there are several major caveats. First, even though it is also “shockproof” up to five feet, if you ever do drop it the company will no longer warranty its waterproof features. Even if you don’t drop it, the manual says you need to have the Panasonic Service Center replace the seal every year. So I called Panasonic to find out what that costs. Unfortunately, they threat the seal replacement like a repair and they charge a flat rate of $140 plus parts. In other words, to maintain the waterproof feature of your waterproof camera, you have to pay almost 50% of its original cost every year to maintain it. If you pay for an extended warranty, be careful to make sure it isn’t voided by underwater use – some are – and even if you have one that isn’t, they will void it if you don’t do as Panasonic species and replace the seal annually. Either way, that makes the waterproof feature very expensive.

I did not do much testing of the manual controls or changing the default automatic settings. This will be a family camera and I need it to be truly point-and-shoot for the other users. So while it may perform better for those willing to play with the settings, I can’t recommend it as even a decent point-and-shoot.

This Lumix, my father-in-law just bought last month in Japan, same exact camera, different model number. I played with it several days. The images are very nice from what I can see. They are just as good as most other point and shoot digital cameras out. Probably not the best of the best, but definitely good. We shot outdoors and inside in restaurants without flash. We got decent shots. Basically put it up to most digital cameras and it fares fine. But with the water and shock resistance and HD video capabilities, you have a a huge win with this camera.

In my opinion, this Lumix beats out Olympus, Canon, FinePix, Pentax and Ricoh for the all around status. Why? This Lumix is Water and Shockproof. Has a 10 ft water proof (which is enough for most people) Does HD video 1280×720 with Audio. Takes SD cards including the 32GB SDHC High Capacity cards. This and the video is huge for me. The Olympus does not take SD, and is limited. You can put 4 hours of HD video on a 32GB HCSD card on this Lumix. Awesome. Get a couple 32Gig cards and you are more than covered for an entire vacation with a lot of filming. Great pics, great video, all weather with just this slim camera. That’s why I love it.
The design is slim (the new Canon waterproof blue camera is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kinda big and round (and video isn’t as good).
This Lumix doesn’t have as good a zoom as the Canon, but it’s decent, and sure, it can’t go as deep as the Canon, however it’s small enough for the pocket, durable, takes great shots, goes deep enough in the water for most, takes the best video as all.

This is the reason I think it gets best all around. If you only care about super small size, get the finepix. If you want the best underwater performance photos, get the Canon. I wouldn’t recommend getting the Olympus unless they change to SD cards. Olympus’ MicroSD and XD are both lame limited formats. With this Lumix you are ready for all kinds of things and it’s easy to put in the pocket. Because the video is so good, I think it makes it the great all around rugged vacation camera. And I’d even consider shooting fun movies with it where perfect audio isn’t required, as the quality is much better than some video cameras out now. (I haven’t figured out how good the sound is yet on the HD video, so I can’t speak to that, but they say it’s decent quality.)

Some youtube videos were posted where people with this camera were using it effectively as a helmet cam and they even hooked it to their motorcycle and did driving videos. Stuff like that is why I’m so excited to buy my own. (helicopter / RC airplane / balloon camera shots this would be great being light and video is good)

Lastly, the Macro is very nice too. I’m sure there’s better macro elsewhere if you compare, but this does very well and has an LED light for it too. If you have kids and you’d like for them to learn cameras and play and experiment, I think though this is not a cheap camera, it’s durable, can do all kinds of nature shots and video of bugs, leaves, snow, rain, tadpoles, and is going to perform well under some stress. I feel like with a water and shockproof camera, you’re getting components that are going to last for a while and you’ll hopefully only need to replace the camera when a better one comes out (or you lose it.)

Hope this was helpful!