Olympus U Tough 8000 - not sp waterproof as they say....be aware.

[moray21]

Be aware that Olympus 8000 U are not reliable in Water. I’ve had two failures with two camera’s. BOTH leaked and do not work! Would strongly advise against a purchase.

I bought the Olympus U8000 because of its water depth rating of 10m. I do a lot of diving and other outdoor stuff, canyoning etc. So I thought that a little lightweight number that’s both tough and good to 10m will be useful. When I go the camera the first thing that struck me, as a humble engineer as well as a diver, was the design and size of the seals. To me they instinctively looked lightweight and I was suspicious. O.k. I thought maybe the small seal lip and covers will close tighter on added pressure of 1 Bar.

To cut a long story short; I took the camera in to our pool to shoot a few snaps of the kids. I got 5-6 pic’s in 1.3m Depth, I then went to the deep part, lets say 2m and took a few pictures. Suddenly the screen shows a red warning of battery compartment open. I surface and she has gone blank. I dry it, open it, and there’s a few drops in side. Not flooded, but moisture is in and the LCD has gone. I dried here out slowly for 48 hours. But she was still dead after trying to power her up.

To the credit of the on-line shop I bought it from, after a long e-mail chain and some push they replaced it with a new unit, prior to my holiday to Zanzibar. As an interesting comment one of the staff said “oh yes.....we have had quite a few of these returned....?!?” That did not inspire me with confidence.

On the last day of my holiday .....(yes I did not trust the camera in water until the last day of my trip ?!?) I went to take snaps of my daughter doing a try-dive. I was on the surface with a snorkel. I had no problems and took 15 shots or so. I then decided to get a shot looking at my kid rather than from above, so I dived under to about say 3m at best. I got a few snaps OK. Then I noticed the LCD was simply dead. In the boat I dried her off and opened her up, again no rush of water, just a few drops. I closed her up and rinsed it in fresh water. I did the same 48 hrs plus to dry her out, but she’s still dead.

My summary of good old Olympus U8000.....well I maintain that looking at the seals (which are instinctively not rated to me for 10m...) and the fact that two camera’s failed miserably at less than 3m, then I would strongly advise against anyone buying a U8000 for taking them underwater.

I will no doubt get mine repaired under the warranty. But to be honest I’ve written it off and am fed up at how much grief it’s cost me. So my last energy goes on posting on as many sites as I can to prevent others from similar hassle.

Good luck.

[Photo-John]

Thanks for the post about the camera. I was replying to tell you to post a review in our user reviews, too. But when I checked I saw you'd already posted. Thanks

Sorry about the camera. I've had nothing but good luck with the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW but there are plenty of people reporting those cameras leaking, too. Same goes for the Canon D10. I think the camera companies just need to work a little harder on making these cameras more reliable. It would also be nice if they had better image quality.

[sagesilver]

Yes thanks for the post Moray21. I purchased a Panasonic DMC-FT1 for my son last year and whilst only rated at 3m it worked fine under water for our holiday at around and above that deprth - with no leakage whatsoever. So now I am looking at the FT2, and wanted to check out the U8000 to make sure I am getting the best buy. Your review has nailed it for me !

[ScubaNut]

I had the same problem, it got wet often when out kayaking, no problem. The one time I took it diving (the Lighthouse Reef on Malapascua where I never went deeper than 9m) it failed with the battery door message after taking about half a dozen shots. Unfortunately the warranty had just lapsed and I got nothing from Olympus.

Won't be buying another Olympus product.

[ajstars]

Having been initially dissapointed with the results I was getting from my Olympus U Tough 8000 camera (and yes the first one leaked but Olympus replaced it stating it was possibly a fake from China, even though it came from a reputable online company that shall remain nameless!!) I decided to play with the manual settings. I have now achieved excellent results in most everyday situations by setting it up as follows:
Image Quality: 12m, compression fine,
Camera Menu: WB Auto, ISO 200, Image Stabilizer On, Shadow Adjust On,
Exposure compensation is normally at '0'
The other settings are really personal choice, I don't use the digital or fine zoom.

I have found that with these settings I am getting consistently brighter images with better colour than any of the auto settings could muster up. I use the flash as and when I need it and have face detection on. Focusing is really just a case of either checking the focus point or if it is often focusing on something odd then just stick it on spot focusing and move the camera whilst half depressing the button on what you want it to focus on.

The only problem this setting seems to encounter is if it is a little bit cloudy then the shutter speed may be a bit long resulting in blurred images. To avoid this just use a tripod or adjust the ISO etc.

I have been using the Histogram too - just to check the balance is somewhere in the middle if need be.

There are loads of adjustments you can make with the camera, best to get some advice and guidance and play with it until you become familiar with it, but if like me you were getting fed up with grainy photos of a rather odd colour then try this!

My father is a professional photographer and his advice of getting to know the camera could not be more true. With just a little knowlege I am now happy that my camera can match other compacts out there.

Good luck, let me know how you get on. :thumbsup: