Given our love for travel, we often find ourselves by a pool or beach. It was only a matter of time before I wanted a solution to take more photos of my kids in or near the water without having to hike my Canon 5D Mark IV and all of my lenses around or get it ruined by the water. Although there are bags and cases for high end cameras designed to protect your DSLR under the water, I didn’t want to risk it! After some research, I settled on the Olympus Tough TG-4 (there is now a TG-5), which can be submerged under water. According to the manufacturer, the camera is “waterproof (50 ft / 15 m), shockproof (7 ft / 2.1 m), crushproof (220 lbf / 100 kgf), freezeproof (14°F / -10°C), and dustproof to survive everything from a grueling hike through mountains to a 5-year-old playing with it by the pool.”
Use the slider below to see the SOOC image and edited image
While it is true that the photo quality is not great SOOC (straight out of the camera), the beauty of this little camera is that it shoots in RAW mode, which means I can easily edit the photos in Lightroom or Photoshop. Thee photos below were edited in both, which took about 5 minutes.
Use the slider below to see the SOOC image and edited image
One of the upsides to this camera is that my kids can also carry it around on vacation and take photos without me worrying about them dropping it (on the ground or in the water)! It is also easy enough for my 6-year old to navigate so that she can take a shot and then review it on the screen.
I also purchased a kit with some extra batteries and a floating camera strap. I love the orange strap, especially, for places like the waterpark where the camera seems to have a life of its own.
Now for some tips.
Tip One: Bubbles. For me, the more bubbles the better. They make the photo more interesting and show movement within the wter.
Tip Two: Shoot near the top of the water. This will allow you to get more light and perhaps also capture an interesting reflection of your subject.