Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a pretty serious camera person. I have two full frame Sony cameras (Sony A7S and Sony A99), an older Olympus mirrorless camera, a Sony Nex-5T (my favorite pocket camera) and a Panasonic LX-7, which I am not fond of. I also have thousands of dollars of lenses and accessories. What I didn't have was something I could use underwater or in extreme conditions. This is a good camera for what it is, a point and shoot that can take a good deal of punishment. There are also some unique features, such as the Microscopic Mode, that can let you take photos that you couldn't otherwise get without expensive equipment and software. As far as I know, this is the only camera that offers this type of mode with in camera focus stacking. I am also excited to try out the time lapse function. Though a couple of my Sony cameras have a time lapse app and I also have and intervalmeter, I don't want to leave my expensive cameras out unprotected in a thunderstorm. I just got this camera and haven't had much time to test it. I will update the review with some shots once I get more time to play with the camera. I can say that I am enthralled with the Microscope Mode. As a more serious photographer, this feature alone is worth the price of the camera. It will take photos that my more expensive cameras can't easily take. The other unique feature this camera has is the ability to shoot in RAW. RAW shooting, is of course available on many cameras, but this is the only super tough, waterproof camera that has it. At first I couldn't find the RAW setting because it wasn't in the camera menu as it is with my other cameras. You need to access RAW from the FN menu. Hit the INFO button while in shooting mode, if you don't see it. It will not shoot just RAW, it does a RAW plus a JPEG. I believe the JPEG is not at the full 16MP resolution. I had no trouble loading the RAW photos into Lightroom. The TG-4 does not have a manual setting. I knew this when I bought it, but its one of those things I wish it had. The TG-4 does have Aperture Priority but the Aperture Priority setting is really disappointing. It only lets you choose from 3 apertures depending on your current zoom. At the wide angle setting you have only a choice of f/2.0, f/2.8, and f/8.0. At the longest lens setting you have f/4.9, f/6.3, and f/18. The other really annoying feature is the proprietary USB cord and you will need that proprietary cord to charge the battery in camera. It doesn't come with a separate charger. No written manual doesn't bother me. You can easily find the PDF manual online and download it to your phone. I don't like to bother with the DVD since I have Lightroom and Photoshop. I spent yesterday shooting with the camera. The camera takes decent photos in good light. As with most cameras with this small a sensor, digital noise is an issue, if you need to go to higher ISO settings or even crop much. The close focusing on the camera a real standout. You don't necessarily need to use the microscopic mode to take advantage of it My favorite close-up was of the inside of a Foxglove flower and was taken in aperture priority, using the smallest aperture (largest #) to get maximum depth of field. You can see tiny hairs inside the Foxglove that I didn't even see with my eyes. The microscopic mode is great. It has one mode that magnifies and one mode that focus stacks. You really need a tripod to take advantage of these modes. I also took advantage of the close focusing to do a short video of ants moving their larvae. Video is not supposed to be a strong point on this camera but I thought this video came out really well. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q98OBR-GEu0 If you don't need a rugged camera and want a camera in this price range that takes the best images, check out the Sony Nex-5t. It's not much bigger than this camera and Amazon is currently selling it for 349.99. It has the same size sensor as larger DSLRs and the image quality is comparable to a DSLR. The camera loses a star for the proprietary USB and the crippled Aperture Priority Mode. Update 6/13/15 - If you want to shoot in RAW in Aperture Priority or the Program mode, make sure you have it set to take a single shot. It will not shoot in RAW, if you have it set to take multiple shots. It took me a little while to figure out why I couldn't get it to shoot in RAW and finally figured out it was because I had it set to "Sequential" shooting. I love how well this does with close-ups but I have found that rather than shooting in Microscopic mode, I get the best macro shots, if I shoot in Aperture Priority and use the smallest aperture for maximum depth of field. In most cases you will also want to use flash to avoid camera shake. You can also use RAW capture in this mode to give you better post processing options. The focus stacking mode does not work well hand held or even on a tripod with moving objects like bugs. You can check out some of my shots here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/penny_carlson/