Nikon W300 vs Olympus Tough TG-870 — Which Is Better?

The Nikon W300 (2017) and the Olympus Tough TG-870 (2016) are both weather-sealed compact cameras with fixed lenses, so the choice between them comes down to how you shoot rather than what kind of camera you carry.

The TG-870 is the lighter camera at 221 g, against 231 g for the W300, a 10 g difference. Body measurements are near identical, 113 x 64 x 28 mm for the Olympus against 112 x 66 x 29 mm for the Nikon, so either one slips into a jacket pocket.

Crops and prints from either camera start with the same pixel count, because both use a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor in the 1/2.3" format. Both cameras also shoot at 7 fps, enough for short action sequences, and include in-body stabilisation to steady handheld frames.

Two differences matter for particular shots. The W300's 1/4000 second top speed is an exposure half as long as the TG-870's 1/2000 limit, which helps freeze splashing water or fast motion in bright light. The TG-870 offers 6400 ISO as its standard ceiling, while the W300 stops at 1600 standard and reaches 6400 only in expanded settings.

The W300 is the stronger choice if video matters, because it records 4K while the TG-870 tops out at Full HD. Footage from the Nikon holds up better on a large television or after cropping during editing, which suits travel clips you plan to keep for years.

The W300 also doubles the maximum frame rate, reaching 120 fps against 60 fps on the TG-870, so fast action such as a dive or a splash can be played back at half speed. Both cameras include built-in timelapse, letting you record a sunset or tide change without extra gear.

The TG-870 earns its advantage in framing flexibility with a flip screen, which tilts for overhead surf shots or self-framed group photos on a hike. It also has a built-in flash for fill light on close subjects, while the W300 has neither screen tilt nor internal flash.

GPS is shared, so every trail photo can carry its location, and both cameras offer Wi-Fi alongside a 3 inch TFT LCD with 921000 dots. The W300 answers with Bluetooth, which the TG-870 lacks, keeping a low-power link to a phone for simple transfers, and it supports an external flash where the Olympus does not.

The TG-870's rated battery life is the longer of the two, at 300 shots against 280 for the W300, a 7.1 percent higher rating. Each uses its own battery pack, the Li-50B in the Olympus and the EN-EL12 in the Nikon, so a spare bought for one will not fit the other.

Storage differs in one useful way: the W300 accepts UHS-I SD cards for faster write speeds and also carries internal storage as a backup when a card fills or is forgotten. Both cameras have a single card slot and neither charges over USB, so you pack a charger either way.