Olympus TG-Tracker
A SOLID FIRST FORAY INTO THE ACTION CAM MARKET.
THE TG TRACKER IS Olympus’s rst venture into the action camera market. It certainly stands out visually. At 3.5 x 5.7 x 9.3cm, it’s relatively small, but its 180g weight makes it a little heavier than the GoPro Hero4 Black. is extra weight can cause a bit of wobble when it’s mounted on a bike’s handlebar. Helpfully, the built-in image stabiliser can be enabled in the menu system, and does a good job of reducing vibrations.
e TG-Tracker has a small LED lamp to illuminate night-time lming. It’s also waterproof out of the box to 30m, and can operate in temperatures down to -10°C, survive being dropped from up to 2.1m, and is crushproof up to 100kg.
e small camera has built-in Wi-Fi, GPS, motion sensors, 4K video capability, compass, barometer, thermometer and accelerometer — these make it a serious rival to the Garmin Virb XE and TomTom Bandit. Inside the TG-Tracker is a 7.2-million-pixel, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, fronted by an ultra-wide 204° lens (which produces a sh-eye perspective). In addition to 4K at 30fps, you can record at 1080p and 720p at 60fps and 30fps. ere’s also a high-speed recording option, which raises the frame rate of 720p and 480p video to 240fps, enabling slow-motion playback once edited. Stills can also be shot at 8MP, and all your footage is captured on a MicroSD card that slots into the back of the camera. e camera is comfortable to use, with the 3.8-inch ip-out screen making handheld lming very easy; however, the screen merely ips out, rather than ipping and rotating.
e TG-Tracker comes supplied with a range of accessories, including a steady grip that bolts on to the bottom of the body, giving it an almost Super 8 cine camera look and feel.
e TG-Tracker’s 4K video footage is well balanced for exposure, with plenty of ne detail. Contrast is a bit high, and as with the majority of action cameras, it struggles with dynamic range, losing some shadow and highlight detail in high-contrast situations.
When you’re lming while moving between bright and shaded areas, however, the exposure adjusts quickly, and automatic white balance works well. Dropping the resolution down to 1080p at 30fps results in wellbalanced footage with a good level of detail. Filming at 60fps captures smooth motion, but at the cost of a slight drop in the quality of the detail and tonal rendition when compared with footage shot at 30fps.
All the settings and controls are accessed via the buttons on top of the body, alongside the shutter release. is is the easiest action camera to use that we’ve tested and the companion OI.Track app is quick and easy to set up. Once connected, video and log les can be downloaded to your iPhone and viewed alongside any sensor data recorded, but the so ware has a long way to go before it’s as fully featured as the competition.
e steady mounting grip makes the TG-Tracker easy to hold, and the included mount coupling makes it simple to attach the camera to just about anything, including a standard GoPro mount.
e TG-Tracker is a break from the usual action cam design. Image quality is good, and capturing location and motion data is a huge selling point. e so ware doesn’t match the quality of the camera itself, but at least the hardware is in place. Hopefully the so ware will be updated to make full use of its capabilities. [
THE TG-TRACKER COMES SUPPLIED WITH A RANGE OF ACCESSORIES, INCLUDING A STEADY GRIP THAT BOLTS ON TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BODY, GIVING IT AN ALMOST SUPER 8 CINE CAMERA LOOK AND FEEL.