Olympus Mju Tough 8010 Digital Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Click on the thumbnail for the larger image

Released in March 2010, the Olympus Mju Tough 8010 is a hardened version of the Mju Tough 6020 offering an extra 5m of waterproof depth, half a metre extra shockproofing and is also crushproof to a weight of 100kg. The Mju Tough 8010 should be a great compact camera for users with extremely active lifestyles such as those into extreme sports. The Olympus Mju Tough 8010 boasts 2GB of internal memory, SD memory card slot, 14 megapixels, a 5x optical zoom and is available for £274.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Features

• 14 Megapixels
• 2.7in LCD screen
• Waterproof to 10m
• Shockproof to 2m
• Crushproof to 100kg
• Freezeproof to -10°C
• 5x wide zoom equivalent to a 28-140mm lens
• Dual Image Stabilisation
• HD movie function
• 2GB of internal memory
• SD card slot

Olympus Mju Tough 8010 key features: Click on the thumbnails for larger images
The 2.7in LCD screen fills much of the back of the camera.	Most of the cameras buttons are on the back alongside the screen.
At just 23.9cm deep, the Tough 8010 will fit snuggly into your pocket.	The top of the camera host the on/off button and shutter release button.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Handling
The Olympus Mju Tough 8010 feels quite heavy to hold as you probably would expect from a camera made to survive some extreme conditions. It takes about six seconds from switching on to being ready to take pictures.

The camera is very easy to use. To access the basic settings, such as function mode, flash, self-timer, ISO and white-balance you just use the D-pad, cycling up and down to move between them. To change the setting, you simply move left or right and press OK. When moving through the menu quickly, the camera struggles to keep up. This issue wasn't caused by the buttons, more the camera being slow to react to fast fingers.

The Olympus Mju Tough 6020 has a dedicated movie button which is becoming common amongst digital compacts. It is placed on the back of the camera, one press of this automatically switches the camera into movie mode and starts recording. Press the button again and recording stops and the video saves.

Olympus have abandoned the XD format memory card and this will have a wider appeal for camera users who already have SD memory cards and don't want to buy new ones.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Performance
The images taken by the Olympus Mju Tough 8010 are perfectly acceptable for a camera at this price range. At its widest the images are the same as the Mju Tough 6020 but at the telephoto end the images are much more impressive, due to the extra enlargement factor this has over the Mju Tough 6020. At the telephoto end a nice crisp image is taken. Overall, the Mju Tough 8010 takes a well exposed picture and the colours are represented accurately.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Lens performance
At its widest, the 8010 takes a fine image.	Performance is good when using the full 5x optical zoom.

ISO noise performance
There does appear to be some noise starting from ISO80, but doesn't worsen much at all until you get to ISO800, where the noise is clearly more evident. At ISO1600 there is plenty of noise on show and the blacks are almost grey but overall the colours still come through at an acceptable level.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010 Test chart ISO speed test: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
ISO80	ISO100	ISO200
ISO400	ISO800	ISO1600

White-balance
The white-balance performance of the Olympus Mju Tough 8010 was a touch wayward. Under incandescent lighting the auto white-balance did a great job, using the incandescent setting, the image felt a little cold to me, but overall a fine job. Under the fluorescent lights in our studio, again the auto white-balance gave me a nice, if a little warm, image, but the fluorescent setting didn't do a great job at all, giving an orange tint to my picture.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: White-balance
Auto white-balance in incandescent lighting	Incandescent preset in incandescent lighting
Auto white-balance in fluorescent lighting	Fluorescent preset in fluorescent lighting

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Verdict
If you are looking to purchase a camera in the Olympus Tough range then the Mju Tough 8010 is a camera worth looking at. If your budget can stretch, then the extra £75 that the Mju Tough 8010 costs over the Mju Tough 6020 gives you a better image performance, particular when zoomed to its maximum telephoto length. You also get the extra shockproof, waterproof and crushproof performance for the added cost which will give the extremely active more confidence that they are buying a camera that can keep up in some potential harsh conditions.

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Pros
Extremely tough
Easy to use
2Gb internal memory
SD card format
Good performance at the telephoto length

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Cons
Slow start-up
Menu system can be slow to react

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE
OVERALL

Olympus Mju Tough 8010: Specification

Price	£274.00
What comes in the box	Lithium-Ion Battery (LI-50B), AC Adapter, USB Cable, AV cable, Handstrap, World Wide Warranty Card, Instruction Manual and Image Management Software.
Contact	www.olympus.co.uk
Resolution (Effective megapixels)	14 Megapixels
Optical zoom	5x wide zoom lens 5-25mm f/3.9-5.9 (28-140mm)
LCD size	2.7in HyperCrystal III LCD
Lens	11 lenses in 8 groups
Movie mode	Yes
Size	98.3 x 63.6 x 23.9 mm (W x H x D)
Weight (with battery)	215g

The Olympus Mju Tough 8010 is priced at £274.00 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Olympus Mju Tough 8010