Would you believe – a small digital camera that is waterproof to 10’ (3 meters), shockproof to 5’ (1.5 meters) can withstand temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius), and takes great pictures? That is what Olympus promises with their Stylus Tough 6000 digital camera. So we took a close look at the Stylus Tough to see how it delivered on these promises.
As shown in Figure 1, the Stylus Tough-6000 comes in a typical blue Olympus box. Inside the box, as shown in Figure 2, you will find the Olympus Stylus Tough- 6000 camera, the lithium-Ion battery (LI-50B) and charger (LI-50C), a USB cable, an audio/video cable, a wrist strap, a microSD adapter, a small manual, and an Olympus Master 2 Software CD.
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Figure 1: The box
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Figure 2: What’s in the box
With only 42 MB of internal memory, you will want to purchase a memory card along with the camera. This camera uses xD-Picture Cards, which is a dying medium that very few devices use anymore. Although they haven’t yet changed their camera to a more popular media card, Olympus seems to realize the datedness of the xD-Picture card because they include a microSD adapter in the box. In our testing both the microSD card and the xD-picture card worked well.
Please note that the microSD card adapter is the small orange adapter shown in the middle of Figure 2. It comes in the blue paper folder that contains the instruction manuals and is easy to overlook if you do not completely empty the envelope.
At 3.8" x 2.5" x 0.88" (95.3 mm x 63.4 mm x 22.4 mm) and 5.3 oz (149 g) without batteries and memory card, the Stylus Tough 6000 is small and light enough to carry in your pocket, but it has a sturdy look and feel. The case is aluminum, but the edges are protected by a tough black plastic-type material. Most of the camera is black and silver, but as shown in Figure 3, the front and one side are nicely accentuated in a color. Our review unit was bright yellow. The camera also comes in bright blue, bright orange, and white.
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Figure 3: The Stylus Tough front and side.
