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