Here’s a collection of sample photos I’ve taken with the new Olympus TG-5 camera to give an idea of how it performs in real-world shooting conditions with a range of settings and subjects.
The Olympus TG-5 is the latest in Olympus’s Tough line of waterproof compact cameras. It’s a pocket-sized compact that’s waterproof down to 50 feet (15 meters), as well as being shockproof, dustproof, and freeze-proof.
Olympus is now OM System
In 2020-21, the photography business of iconic camera brand Olympus was spun off and sold. The core remaining Olympus brand is focusing on medical and scientific products. The camera and photography side was then rebranded as OM System, with the first cameras and lenses under that brand coming out at the end of 2021.
It has a 4x optical zoom, a 12-megapixel sensor, and built-in wifi.
While the waterproof feature is a defining feature of cameras like these, rather than treating them as dedicated underwater dive cameras, I prefer to treat them as amphibious. My thinking is that if you’re going to take a camera like this with you, chances are that you want it to perform as well out of the water as in the water. And that’s how I shoot with them, something that’s reflected in the sample images below. Basically, I’m using it as a go-anywhere travel camera, one that should be as comfortable swimming and snorkeling as shooting tourist landmarks or family snapshots.
You can click on each image to open a full-size version. One of the things I like about this camera is that you can shoot in RAW mode (Olympus’s RAW format creates files with the .ORF extension). That tends to be the mode I use and which was used for most of these example images. They’ve been lightly processed in Lightroom.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀₀ sec at f/2.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀₀ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀₀ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 18mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀ sec at f/4.9.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₅₀₀ sec at f/9.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 400 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₃₂₀₀ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 4000 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.87mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₀₀₀ sec at f/2.4.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 2000 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₃₂₀₀ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 640 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 5000 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₃₂₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 800 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 160 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 18mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ sec at f/4.9.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 1600 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/3.2. This one is using the TG-5’s built-in macro focus stacking feature.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 320 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 640 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/3.2. This one is using the TG-5’s built-in macro focus stacking feature.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 6400 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.3.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₀₀ sec at f/8.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 13.47mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ sec at f/4.2.
This is a good example to show how the corners and edges of the frame aren’t especially sharp. You can see that clearly in the top corners. This is at ƒ/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 6400 at ¹⁄₅₀ sec at f/2.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀ sec at f/8.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 1250 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/3.2. This one is using the TG-5’s built-in macro focus stacking feature.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 7.86mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ sec at f/2.9.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 200 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 800 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 6400 at ¹⁄₆₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 250 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 125 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 125 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 200 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/2.0. This one is taken with the FCON-T01 fisheye lens.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 7.34mm. Exposure settings: ISO 500 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 1000 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.0. This one is taken with the FCON-T01 fisheye lens.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 3200 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 6400 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.0.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 200 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀₀ sec at f/2. It’s obviously possible to get some lens flare if you shoot directly into bright light sources such as the sun, but that comes down more to flawed technique than a flaw with the camera.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₁₆₀₀ sec at f/2.8. This one is taken with the FCON-T01 fisheye lens.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 18mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₄₀₀ sec at f/4.9.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₁₆₀₀ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 6.42mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₈₀₀ sec at f/10.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₃₂₀₀ sec at f/2.0. This one is taken with the FCON-T01 fisheye lens.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀ sec at f/2.3.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₂₅₀₀ sec at f/2.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 250 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.3.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 4.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 100 at ¹⁄₅₀₀ sec at f/8.
Photo taken with an Olympus TG-5 with the lens zoom set at 5.5mm. Exposure settings: ISO 250 at ¹⁄₁₂₅ sec at f/2.3.
Images and product information from Amazon PA-API were last updated on 2023-12-01 at 13:27. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
I'm a professional photographer based in Washington DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and a bunch of places in between. I've been shooting for 30+ years, and my my photos and time-lapse videos have appeared in a bunch of different publications from major newspapers to magazines and books, billboards, TV shows, professional sports stadiums, museums, and even massive architectural scrims covering world-famous buildings while they're being renovated. You can see some of my travel photography here and here.
