PHOTO QUALITY. This 16-megapixel waterproof and rugged camera captured images with good quality. We judged this model good for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym;
FLASH. The TG-870 captured flash shots that were fair. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate most subjects that are closer to the camera, but had some problems with distant subjects. The flash also has good, relatively even coverage.
LENS. This camera includes a 5x zoom lens, bit more zoom than a standard 3x. The lens also has very wide-angle (21mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZATION. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did a very good job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. In low-light settings, it performed well but sometimes produced blurry photos. Overall, the shake reduction results from our tests were very good.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Olympus TG-870 powers up very quickly. It has a short interval between shots, which can be important when shooting fast-moving or unpredictable subjects.
VIDEO. The Olympus TG-870 takes fair video. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080. As for sound, it captures fair audio in stereo.
