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The TG310 costs a lot less than most rugged, waterproof cameras. It doesn’t look especially invulnerable with its plastic shell, but its light weight and lack of extrusions mean that we don’t doubt Olympus’s claim that it’ll survive drops from 1.5m. It’s also waterproof to 3m and freeze-proof to -10 degrees centigrade.
The HDMI output is more than we’d expect at this price, and optical image stabilisation is another welcome surprise. Otherwise, its specs are typical for a budget camera, with a 14-megapixel sensor, modest 3.6x zoom and 2.7in LCD screen. The screen looks like a particularly cheap component, with slightly washed out colours. Thankfully, photos looked better once we’d uploaded them to the PC.
It didn’t make a great first impression, taking almost five seconds to switch on and shoot. This could be the difference between catching and missing a shot. Icons appear down the right edge of the screen, giving quick access to photographic options such as flash, drive mode and ISO speed. Exposure compensation and white balance options show three preview images side by side (see below) to demonstrate the effect of different settings, but this carousel of previews merely served to make adjusting these settings painfully slow. At least the camera was responsive in normal use, taking two seconds between shots. The 14-megapixel continuous mode was no faster but a 3-megapixel mode ran at a respectable 3.1fps.
The buttons are on the small side, which won’t find favour with those with big thumbs or stiff joints. They’re impossible to use with gloves, so this isn’t an ideal skier’s camera. The button labelled with a question mark is a nice touch, though, providing on-screen help for the selected menu option. There isn’t much in the way of conventional photographic options but there are lots of other features to keep casual users entertained, including automatic panorama stitching, pinhole camera and pop art effects and a Beauty mode for giving portraits an airbrushed effect. There’s even a Pet Detection mode, which apparently captures dogs’ and cats’ faces when they look at the camera. We wonder whether Olympus’s firmware developers have too much time on their hands.
We’re yet to be impressed by the photos from any 14-megapixel compact camera, but the TG-310’s snaps were better than some we’ve seen. Details were a little scruffy and vague, with noise reduction ironing out subtle textures, even at the lowest ISO 80 sensitivity.
Click on this example to enlarge it
However, the camera managed to keep photos on the right side of respectable up to ISO 800. These shots weren’t fit for scrutiny but they looked OK when resized to fit the screen. Sadly, the automatic ISO mode was reluctant to raise the ISO speed to avoid blur, resorting to shutter speeds as slow as 1/4s before the ISO speed ventured beyond 200. It sometimes switched itself automatically to the Sport scene mode and used faster ISO and shutter speeds, but it’s worth doing this manually when shooting people in low light without the flash.
The lens performed well throughout its zoom range, with little sign of distortion or chromatic aberrations. However, taking photos in the vague direction of sunlight often resulted in bleached out areas of the frame – we put this down to the glass window in front of the lens, which makes it waterproof but also increases reflections in the lens.
Video capture is at 720p, and quality was much like the photos – a bit scruffy but generally up to scratch. Optical zoom was fixed but autofocus remained active while recording, and the efficient AVC compression and 30-minute running time are welcome.
The TG-310 is uncannily similar to the Fujifilm XP30 with its water-, shock- and cold-proof body, 14-megapixel sensor, 2.7in screen and low price. The XP30 wins on paper with its 5x optical zoom and built-in GPS for tagging photos. However, the TG310 catches up with its not-terrible image quality, something the XP30 sadly can’t claim. Its 150-shot battery life is woeful, but avid snappers who need longer battery life will probably want better image quality too. They might want to hold out for our forthcoming review of the Panasonic FT3, a considerably more upmarket rugged camera.
So while the TG-310 is no object of desire, it’s a solid choice for outdoor adventurers, holidaymakers and children who need something robust, waterproof and inexpensive.
