Olympus has just recently announced its newest edition of the TG underwater series of cameras. While not a gigantic step up from its predecessor, it comes with enhanced features sure to grab interest to anyone interested in underwater photography.
Sold separately is a new fisheye (no pun intended) lens converter. This accessory will allow users the option of shooting circular or diagonal fisheye. When shooting circular fisheye, the entire circular image through the glass is shown compared to diagonal in which the camera processor stretches the image out to fit a frame, removing some of the distortion.
Example of circular fisheye image, taken with the TG-6
A similar image, but without the fisheye adapter.
The TG-6 camera touts it has updated its microscope mode (which is really just macro mode) which allows for up to 44X magnification. Whether or not any of the magnification in this mode is achieved by digital zoom (enlarging pixels vs optical zoom) is unclear to me. However, the camera includes a digital teleconverter which is purported to rely on optical zoom for its extra visual reach.
Just like shooting on land, lighting conditions underwater can be unpredictable. The f/2.0 aperture on this compact camera will make it easier to cope with murkier underwater scenes, or spots where light doesn't reach quite as well. It's waterproof for up to 50 feet, and while that's not quite "deep sea" diving territory, one could definitely get capture some interesting aquatic life with this range.
To read more about the TG-6's updated specs, you can follow this link.
Author's note: This article was not paid for by Olympus but images were used with their permission.
Honest to God, I feel like if they just tweaked this design slightly they could come out with a very marketable all-weather "street" camera.
So...what's different from the TG-5? All I can find is that the rear LCD has improved resolution.