Olympus TG 4 vs. 5 vs. 6

[OceanSunfish]

Any thoughts? The TG4 is venerable. Any significant differences between 4 or 5 or 6? Same great quality?

I know...... it's still the "pilot" not the "airplane" ;)

Thanks.

[John H]

I have a TG-5. I could not tell you the differences between the them since I have only had the 5. I mostly use it for close ups of fish and bugs and whatever. I have a 19 mm fish eye lens attachment which is very useful. I have a polarizing filter which is a little useful since I have a DSLR which I use for landscapes so I don't use the Olympus for that. It is waterproof and I have hauled it all over without breaking it which is probably the camera's best feature. It has a microscope mode which takes surprisingly good bug pictures. It has a GPS tracking mode which wears down your battery in no time so I put a piece of tape over the GPS toggle switch so it won't accidently get turned on. I took these pictures with it. I think all the first and third were taken with the 19mm lens attached. The middle shot is microscope mode.


http://i.imgur.com/qC8qhFa.jpg (https://imgur.com/qC8qhFa)

http://i.imgur.com/LEA6PUQ.jpg (https://imgur.com/LEA6PUQ)

http://i.imgur.com/z24lNlQ.jpg (https://imgur.com/z24lNlQ)

[dynaflow]

Nice images man.IMHO a clip-on polarising filter is mandatory on a camera for any tropical flats fishing work,and (disappointingly) many otherwise good Point 'n Shoot cameras don't have a capacity to accept one.

[OceanSunfish]

Thanks John for the insight. I was hoping you would lend your experiences with the Olympus. Your pictures over the years are so much fun to look at each and every time. I was a bit confused by your statement. Did you mean to say that you have a polarize filter for the Olympus? It accepts a polarize filter? I will check the specs myself too. Thanks!

[John H]

The Olympus does take filters which is one of the reasons I got it. I don’t use the polarizer much on it though because I take landscapes with another camera. Dynaflow is right that polarizers are a must have around water. It is pretty cheap so I would get it for the Olympus.

[OceanSunfish]

Awesome. Also looked at the specs on the website and saw the accessories.

John: Not sure if you have or not shared, but if you do have a blog that provides pictures and such, especially the travels to the Emigrant Wilderness, please share. Would be nice to see them all at once. Spectacular, plus seeing from a fisherman's POV is that much more interesting to me.

I wonder what the prospects will be this Summer for hiking into those areas.

[John H]

I don’t have a blog. I post here and that is about it. If I did not have this site to post on I am not sure what I would do with my pictures. It seems like there are a lot of people here who really appreciate the trips I do and in a paragraph and a dozen pictures can really feel it. I have spent and spend a lot of time in the Sierras and other places looking for fish so it is nice to be able to share that.

The mountains here will be accessible early. Pretty good chance a lot of things will still be closed In June but hopefully the Sierras will open. I have a June canoe trip planned in Canada but it looks like that won’t be happening so hopefully the mountains will be.

[DLJeff]

With apologies to OceanSunFish for tacking on to his question:

John - can you provide a little more detail what advantages the 19mm fish eye lens is providing? Isn't the basic lens on the camera something like 24mm? I've read where a fish eye lens is useful underwater but from what little I know, the fish eye is essentially a super wide angle lens so you can include more in a shot that is very near to you. You also don't seem to be getting much distortion around the edges of those shots (like you see on most fish eye shots) - have you done anything to mitigate that? Thanks.

[John H]

DL -

The 19mm lens is not a full fish eye. It is a 130 degree view while a full fish eye is a 180 degree view. I get some wide angle effect with the lens but not too much. You can get some interesting shots with it without the fish eye look dominating the shot. The newt picture makes the head of the newt jump out at you without distorting the rest of the photo too badly. It is kind of fun to play with. The other thing I like about it is you can hold a fish in one hand and the camera in the other hand about 12 to 18 inches away and not miss the fish and you can do it with both hands underwater. With a typical point and shoot you miss the fish a lot especially underwater.

There is distortion but I crop the shots a lot so the distortion is not seen. The first shot below is a raw shot which is no in camera editing. You can see the edge of the lens and a lot of distortion. The second shot is the edited version. Most of the distortion is cropped out and you don't really notice what is there.

Thanks for asking.


http://i.imgur.com/WBIiTbS.jpg (https://imgur.com/WBIiTbS)


http://i.imgur.com/BVTcx6k.jpg (https://imgur.com/BVTcx6k)

[DLJeff]

Perfect. Thanks for the extra explanation, it helps a lot.

[OceanSunfish]

With apologies to OceanSunFish for tacking on to his question:

John - can you provide a little more detail what advantages the 19mm fish eye lens is providing? Isn't the basic lens on the camera something like 24mm? I've read where a fish eye lens is useful underwater but from what little I know, the fish eye is essentially a super wide angle lens so you can include more in a shot that is very near to you. You also don't seem to be getting much distortion around the edges of those shots (like you see on most fish eye shots) - have you done anything to mitigate that? Thanks.

No need for apologies. Great question and dialogue. Thanks for adding your inquiry. Thanks to John for sharing again. I really like the 19mm effect. I wouldn't of guessed that the picture of the Newt was with the 19mm lens. And, I thought the creature was a Salamander, not a Newt. Learn something again.

[DLJeff]

A little off topic but here's a great site for identifying snakes, lizards, frogs, toads and salamanders here on the west coast.

http://www.californiaherps.com/salamanders/pages/t.torosa.html

If you scroll down through the photos you'll find a pair of photos looking directly down on the head of two common newts. The caption explains how to differentiate between the two, which are nearly identical otherwise. These little guys do contain some toxin which can cause some discomfort if you have cuts or scratches on your skin when handling them.

[John H]

That herp site is amazing. I thought there was only one species - the California newt. I see them a lot around Putah Creek and Cache Creek and it turns out those are the California newt. The one in my photo is on the north Oregon Coast and seems likely to be the rough skinned newt.

[DLJeff]

That herp site is amazing. I thought there was only one species - the California newt. I see them a lot around Putah Creek and Cache Creek and it turns out those are the California newt. The one in my photo is on the north Oregon Coast and seems likely to be the rough skinned newt.

Gary does a great job with that site and always appreciate good photos of reptiles and amphibians, especially when they're different or from an area not usually seen.