Sample photos: Olympus Stylus Tough 8000

Photo quality is good. Image noise and detail degradation starts creeping in fairly early, about ISO 200, so try to keep the ISO set at 64 or 100, and make sure you have plenty of light. At all of the ISO settings, however, photos from the Tough 8000 just aren't sharp. Sharpness is better at ISOs 64, 100, and 200, but noise reduction hits hard at ISO 400 making details soft and fuzzy. ISO 400 is good enough for small prints and Web use, but I can't recommend using anything above that sensitivity as color noise starts to hurt quality. At ISO 1,600, you end up with big purple/blue blotches of color on shots making this camera a poor choice for low-light photos without a flash.

Even at ISO 64 detail and sharpness just isn't there. However, color and exposure are good.

Purple/blue fringing in high-contrast areas is at a normal amount.

In bright conditions, color performance was very good.

This is a demo of Olympus's Shadow Adjust feature that helps with low-light detail. The photo on the left is with it off, the right with it on. It does make a subtle difference, but it seems to have caused a problem exposing the tree leaves in the upper right corner of the photo.