Has anyone tried out the Liquid Image camera mask? It's been out in Japan awhile but new to the US market. Runs $100 USD, has 5 mp resolution and takes SD card to add pics & longer video. The 5 mp is rated to 30 M. I've only seen it in bright yellow. I'm interested to hear about ease of use, pic & vid quality. Thanks in advance.
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Liquid Image camera mask?????
- Thread starteragbiv
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Here is a review I wrote for the mask:
Some months ago I came across a really interesting gadget. It was an underwater mask with an in built digital camera. The actual product was shown in the CES show in Las Vegas so it was sure that it wasn’t vaporware. The company said that it could take video and could go down to 30 meters. Also they were aiming at a May release.
I kept checking the company’s website at Liquid Image and also trying to find it online. Finally on May 21st, my birthday I found the mask listed on B&H New York and ordered it.
The product was on backorder with an order wait of 1 week. One week became one month and more. After some more time and some emails to B&H it finally shipped.
When the courier came in my office holding the box I quickly opened it up. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw on the box a depth rating of only 5 meters! I went back to the B&H website and saw that they changed the depth in the specifications from 30 to 5 meters.
I quickly emailed the company not waiting much. They answered after 10 minutes from the company CEO’s blackberry that they tested the mask down to 35 meters and I should go forward and enjoy it. The 5 meter rating was for security and legislation reasons.
Let’s take some time to describe the mask. The skirt is made of soft transparent silicone. It has good fit to my face which is a medium oval one. Of course the fit is best when I am shaven. Internal volume is medium to large but I had no trouble with it diving down to 37 meters.
The mask skeleton is made of yellow good quality plastic. In the center and above the nose is the lens. The mask has three screw caps. The larger one on top contains the mini usb connector and the micro sd card slot. There are two more on either side of the mask facing to the bottom. One is the battery compartment and the other one is empty for whatever use anyone may want! The screw caps have orings and with the mask comes a tube of silicone grease and of course the first batteries.
There are also two buttons. With the one you can turn on the camera. When it is on it is on picture mode. You hear a distinctive beep and see a red led light. If you press the on button again the led turns green, hear another beep and enter video mode. Another click and another beep switches back to picture mode again. If you hold the power button down the mask turns off. The other button is the shutter with a beep tone again.
On the back of the camera skeleton is a small lcd screen which shows battery life and number of shots taken. On the glasses of the mask is a crosshair to help frame shots.
The mask has 16mb of internal memory which is good for nothing. You have to purchase an micro SD which is inexpensive, a 2gig cost me 8 euros. There are two models of the mask, one at 3 megapixel and one at 5 megapixel. Both can take videos 640x480 at 20-25fps. Initially the 3mp was rated down to 5m and the 5mp down to 30 meters. Now I don’t know if there is any actual difference.
First time I tried the mask I went to the beach near my house to hunt mullet in the shallow water. The mask did have a very good fit to my face with no water leaking. You don’t notice the crosshairs because your eyes focus away from the glass but they do help you at aiming. Using the buttons is very easy with a gloved hand and it was very easy to know in which mode you were thanks to the leds and the beeps.
Battery life with the included Li-ion batteries was very good, lasting up to almost two full day spearfishing trips . With my old 850mah rechargables it was not so good but I recently purchased new 1100mah ones.
Next I had to try it in deep water. I went fishing with spap and took it down to 37 meters. The mask continued working just fine and the internal volume didn’t bother me at all. It actually was more comfortable than my low volume sporasub low volume mask.
Transfering images to the computer is very easy. You either take off the card and stick it in a card reader or you connect the mask with the included usb cable. Then the computer sees it just like a hard disk and you can copy and delete files directly.
By now you might have understood that I consider the mask a very robust product. Now the most important factor is picture quality. Briefly my conclusion is that it is good. It is not good for having a dvd for commercial purposes but it is not the company’s target. It is very good for documenting all your spearfishing dives. It is excellent for one’s archive. It is very good for youtube. You can have on camera each and every fish you see, you can have every fish you miss and see why you missed it and you can have all the fish you shot and add it alongside the pictures that you take later on the boat.
There are some compression artifacts in uniform surfaces. There is problem with the low light levels in deep waters. The relatively low frame rate makes the movement not so smooth and causes some annoying flashes, especially in deep water.
Also when you move your head a lot it can be a bit disorienting. But when you see the fish and you “lock” onto it, and aim the gun at it you can get some great shots!
Of course there are other solutions for underwater filming like on gun cameras and external cameras. But these are bulky and expensive. The mask is very reasonably priced (more on that later) and is very easy to use. Also gives you a “through the eyes of the hunter perspective”.
The company replied to my email stating my comments about the flashes and the frame rate and they said that they are preparing a bios update which can be installed on every camera that will provide a constant 25 frames per second rate and it will greatly improve video quality.
Price for the mask is 69$ for the 3mp model and 99$ for the 5mp model. I was one of the first to order the mask and it cost me 90euro including shipping from USA. Unfortunately I had to pay 60 more euro import charges. It is now available though throughout Europe in various retailers. Check out the company’s site. The price in Europe is between 80 to 130 euros.
All in all I believe it is a solid product. Construction quality is excellent for me. Price is excellent. Video quality is good and it is going to be even better. I think every spearo should give it a try. We should all help the company that made this product and encourage them to come up with an even better product, suited to our needs. Also I should point out that the company is very responsive and has answered quickly all my emails with any questions I had.
UPDATE!!!! I HAVE GOTTEN MY MASK DOWN TO 38 METERS BUT HAVE HEARD OTHERS DROWN THEIR MASK AT 10-15-20M. NEW MODEL COMING AT JANUARY WITH 35 METERS CERTIFICATION
Some months ago I came across a really interesting gadget. It was an underwater mask with an in built digital camera. The actual product was shown in the CES show in Las Vegas so it was sure that it wasn’t vaporware. The company said that it could take video and could go down to 30 meters. Also they were aiming at a May release.
I kept checking the company’s website at Liquid Image and also trying to find it online. Finally on May 21st, my birthday I found the mask listed on B&H New York and ordered it.
The product was on backorder with an order wait of 1 week. One week became one month and more. After some more time and some emails to B&H it finally shipped.
When the courier came in my office holding the box I quickly opened it up. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw on the box a depth rating of only 5 meters! I went back to the B&H website and saw that they changed the depth in the specifications from 30 to 5 meters.
I quickly emailed the company not waiting much. They answered after 10 minutes from the company CEO’s blackberry that they tested the mask down to 35 meters and I should go forward and enjoy it. The 5 meter rating was for security and legislation reasons.
Let’s take some time to describe the mask. The skirt is made of soft transparent silicone. It has good fit to my face which is a medium oval one. Of course the fit is best when I am shaven. Internal volume is medium to large but I had no trouble with it diving down to 37 meters.
The mask skeleton is made of yellow good quality plastic. In the center and above the nose is the lens. The mask has three screw caps. The larger one on top contains the mini usb connector and the micro sd card slot. There are two more on either side of the mask facing to the bottom. One is the battery compartment and the other one is empty for whatever use anyone may want! The screw caps have orings and with the mask comes a tube of silicone grease and of course the first batteries.
There are also two buttons. With the one you can turn on the camera. When it is on it is on picture mode. You hear a distinctive beep and see a red led light. If you press the on button again the led turns green, hear another beep and enter video mode. Another click and another beep switches back to picture mode again. If you hold the power button down the mask turns off. The other button is the shutter with a beep tone again.
On the back of the camera skeleton is a small lcd screen which shows battery life and number of shots taken. On the glasses of the mask is a crosshair to help frame shots.
The mask has 16mb of internal memory which is good for nothing. You have to purchase an micro SD which is inexpensive, a 2gig cost me 8 euros. There are two models of the mask, one at 3 megapixel and one at 5 megapixel. Both can take videos 640x480 at 20-25fps. Initially the 3mp was rated down to 5m and the 5mp down to 30 meters. Now I don’t know if there is any actual difference.
First time I tried the mask I went to the beach near my house to hunt mullet in the shallow water. The mask did have a very good fit to my face with no water leaking. You don’t notice the crosshairs because your eyes focus away from the glass but they do help you at aiming. Using the buttons is very easy with a gloved hand and it was very easy to know in which mode you were thanks to the leds and the beeps.
Battery life with the included Li-ion batteries was very good, lasting up to almost two full day spearfishing trips . With my old 850mah rechargables it was not so good but I recently purchased new 1100mah ones.
Next I had to try it in deep water. I went fishing with spap and took it down to 37 meters. The mask continued working just fine and the internal volume didn’t bother me at all. It actually was more comfortable than my low volume sporasub low volume mask.
Transfering images to the computer is very easy. You either take off the card and stick it in a card reader or you connect the mask with the included usb cable. Then the computer sees it just like a hard disk and you can copy and delete files directly.
By now you might have understood that I consider the mask a very robust product. Now the most important factor is picture quality. Briefly my conclusion is that it is good. It is not good for having a dvd for commercial purposes but it is not the company’s target. It is very good for documenting all your spearfishing dives. It is excellent for one’s archive. It is very good for youtube. You can have on camera each and every fish you see, you can have every fish you miss and see why you missed it and you can have all the fish you shot and add it alongside the pictures that you take later on the boat.
There are some compression artifacts in uniform surfaces. There is problem with the low light levels in deep waters. The relatively low frame rate makes the movement not so smooth and causes some annoying flashes, especially in deep water.
Also when you move your head a lot it can be a bit disorienting. But when you see the fish and you “lock” onto it, and aim the gun at it you can get some great shots!
Of course there are other solutions for underwater filming like on gun cameras and external cameras. But these are bulky and expensive. The mask is very reasonably priced (more on that later) and is very easy to use. Also gives you a “through the eyes of the hunter perspective”.
The company replied to my email stating my comments about the flashes and the frame rate and they said that they are preparing a bios update which can be installed on every camera that will provide a constant 25 frames per second rate and it will greatly improve video quality.
Price for the mask is 69$ for the 3mp model and 99$ for the 5mp model. I was one of the first to order the mask and it cost me 90euro including shipping from USA. Unfortunately I had to pay 60 more euro import charges. It is now available though throughout Europe in various retailers. Check out the company’s site. The price in Europe is between 80 to 130 euros.
All in all I believe it is a solid product. Construction quality is excellent for me. Price is excellent. Video quality is good and it is going to be even better. I think every spearo should give it a try. We should all help the company that made this product and encourage them to come up with an even better product, suited to our needs. Also I should point out that the company is very responsive and has answered quickly all my emails with any questions I had.
UPDATE!!!! I HAVE GOTTEN MY MASK DOWN TO 38 METERS BUT HAVE HEARD OTHERS DROWN THEIR MASK AT 10-15-20M. NEW MODEL COMING AT JANUARY WITH 35 METERS CERTIFICATION
Looks good, Jorg! I think though I'd prefer if they chose a better mask, or if the device were independent and mountable on any common mask. Well, I guess, one cannot have everything 
[off topic]
Nice to see you posting again here! Long time we did not hear from you. Looks like you are too busy with your new company, but I hope you will make your Shark-Freediving Blog live soon again - it was one of the best freediving resources on the web! BTW, I noticed that some newer articles disappeared from the server. Did you have a crash on the server and had to recover it from an older backup? For example I could not find the article about Fred Buyle's courses in NEMO33. Do you you know if he still plans continuing in them? I've also heard that freediving was banned completely in NEMO33 because of a recent accident there, but I suspect it is just a rumor. Perhaps it was rather because of Fred's accident in Polynesia. Did he already recover?
And another question - in 2006, you wrote about a planned 40 m deep diving pit in Saragossa, Spain. I am unable to find any info about it anywhere on the web. Do you have any update on it? Was the plan abandoned, delayed, or is it really uner construction?
[/off topic]
[off topic]
Nice to see you posting again here! Long time we did not hear from you. Looks like you are too busy with your new company, but I hope you will make your Shark-Freediving Blog live soon again - it was one of the best freediving resources on the web! BTW, I noticed that some newer articles disappeared from the server. Did you have a crash on the server and had to recover it from an older backup? For example I could not find the article about Fred Buyle's courses in NEMO33. Do you you know if he still plans continuing in them? I've also heard that freediving was banned completely in NEMO33 because of a recent accident there, but I suspect it is just a rumor. Perhaps it was rather because of Fred's accident in Polynesia. Did he already recover?
And another question - in 2006, you wrote about a planned 40 m deep diving pit in Saragossa, Spain. I am unable to find any info about it anywhere on the web. Do you have any update on it? Was the plan abandoned, delayed, or is it really uner construction?
[/off topic]
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