Olympus Tough TG-870

The Olympus Tough TG-870 is a compact camera from 2016 built with outdoor use in mind. Its sealed body stands up to dust and splashes, and at 221g with 113 x 64 x 28 mm dimensions it stays pocket-sized.

That combination suits travellers and casual shooters who want GPS-tagged memories, a flip screen for self-framed shots, and built-in Wi-Fi.

Owning it means living with a fixed lens and composing on the screen, since there is no viewfinder. The battery is rated at 300 shots per charge, though real endurance depends on how you use it.

Stills photography here is built around a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor in the small 1/2.3-inch format, paired with a fixed lens. That setup suits holidays, beach days and everyday sharing, and it keeps the whole package pocket-sized.

Burst shooting reaches 7fps, enough to grab a fleeting expression or a wave as it breaks. Treat that as a headline maximum rather than a rate the camera holds indefinitely.

Autofocus works from a single point. That is a simple arrangement rather than a wide array, so off-centre framing may need a focus-and-recompose approach from you.

In-body stabilisation reduces camera shake, so handheld shots at slower shutter speeds come out steadier, though it does nothing to freeze a moving subject. The ISO range runs from 125 to 6400, giving room for bright beaches through to dim interiors, and the shutter reaches 1/2000 of a second for daylight action.

The TG-870 records Full HD video, and its maximum frame rate is 60fps. That is enough for family clips and travel footage destined for a phone or television rather than a cinema screen.

Clips are saved as MPEG-4, MOV or H.264 files. Those are the recording options available; any conversion or compatibility step depends on your own software.

A built-in timelapse mode lets you record a sunset, a tide coming in or a street filling up from a single spot. You get the effect without extra hardware or a remote release to babysit.

There is no 4K option, so Full HD is the ceiling if you plan to crop footage in editing or play it back on a large screen. Framing happens on the flip screen alone, since the camera has no viewfinder, and flipping it out helps with handheld clips at waist level or turned back toward you.

Framing is handled by a 3-inch TFT LCD with a crisp 921,000 dots, and it flips out from the body. That makes overhead crowd shots, ground-level pictures and self-framed group photos far easier to line up than a fixed screen would.

On the road, GPS tags each photo with the place it was taken, which is handy for building a travel record. Wi-Fi is built in as well, for wireless connection to other devices.

A built-in flash covers dim rooms and evening shots, though there is no way to mount a bigger external unit. The screen is not touch-sensitive, so every setting is changed through the buttons and menus.

Weather sealing rounds out the outdoor character by keeping dust and splashes away from the internals, matching the camera's travel-friendly build.

Photos go onto a single SD, SDHC or SDXC card. A spare card is a simple way to add storage on a long trip, though there is no second slot, so nothing is recorded twice inside the camera.

The Li-50B battery is rated at 300 shots per charge, though the measurement conditions behind that figure are not stated. Real endurance will depend on how you use the screen, GPS and Wi-Fi.

There is no USB charging built in, so topping up the battery means using its charger rather than a USB cable. For multi-day trips away from power, a charged spare battery in the bag is a simple way to keep shooting.