Despite the seemingly over-saturation, the action/adventure camera market is alive and well. Olympus proved this today with the announcement of its new Stylus Tough TG-Tracker, their first-ever rugged camera to feature a full Field Sensor System.
Thanks to an advanced array of sensors, the TG-Tracker is capable of logging everything from latitude and longitude to altitude, shooting direction, and air/water temperature along with its videos and stills. Those of you who enjoy being able to capture your adventures in the wild and relive them at home will find the added features of this camera particularly enticing.
Users of the TG-Tracker will be able to, in combination with the Olympus Image Track App, display their sensor data along with the stills and video captured while they were out on their adventures. Olympus says that this will enhance “the excitement of reliving outdoor action with an immersive, data-rich viewing experience.” This type of data is similar to those collected in Garmin’s Virb XE, which also overlays metrics onto videos.
It wouldn’t be a Tough brand camera without being able to take some serious punishment. The TG-Tracker is waterproof to depths of 100 feet, dust-proof, shock-proof from 7 feet, freeze-proof to 14°F, and crush-proof up to 220 pounds of force – as-is, without needing any form of protective case. To keep things steady, the camera comes with a grip for hand-held shooting.
That is all before we even mention the 204-degree ultra-wide f/2.0 lens, 8-megapixel backlit 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, digital five-axis image stabilization, and the same TruePic VII processor that Olympus puts in their OM-D and PEN camera – which all pair together perfectly to capture a unique field of view for the 4K/30p and Full HD 1080/60p videos the TG-Tracker is capable of. Unlike most action cams, there is a tilt-out, 1.5-inch color LCD for framing and playback, and an LED lamp for low-light shots. Sound recording should also be a plus, as the camera has a mic with linear PCM recording – most likely technology borrowed from Olympus’ voice recorders. Built-in Wi-Fi lets you pair the camera with a phone or tablet, to use wih the Image Track App.
The TG-Tracker will be available in black or green, and should retail for around $350, with availability sometime in June.
This new rugged cam seems to be the logical direction Olympus would take with its Tough-series of point-and-shoots. Olympus added action-cam-like features to the Tough TG-4 (in fact, we think the TG-4 makes a great action cam), and the TG-Tracker bridges the two categories. The TG Tracker is also the first Olympus camera to handle 4K video capture, which we see as foreshadow for future Olympus cameras to come.
