If you've ever read user reviews of rugged or waterproof cameras, you probably wouldn't think they could handle having a glass of water spilled on them, let alone a 33-foot dive in the ocean.
The fact is, however "rugged" a manufacturer says a camera is, whether it can survive such treatment has a lot to do with the user. Maybe too much.
For example, the top-rated Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS is marketed with some of the highest durability claims for a compact camera: waterproof down to 40 feet, shockproof up to a 6.6-foot drop, freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and crushproof up to a weight of 220 pounds. That sounds pretty great and it is, but there's a bunch of fine print that goes with that marketing message.
Buried at the back of the TG-1's operation manual (page 70 of 80 pages) are the specifics for its water and shock resistance. According to the manual its "waterproof feature is warranted* to operate at depths up to 12m (39.8 feet) for up to 1 hour." The asterisk on "warranted" refers to a footnote on how Olympus arrived at that rating:
As determined by Olympus pressure testing equipment in accordance with IEC Standard Publication 529 IPX8. This means that the camera can be used normally underwater at a specified water pressure.
As it says, the IPX8 code ... [Read more]
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