Liquid Image's new underwater digital camera masks debut at CES
by Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jan 5th 2009 at 4:52PM
Looks like Liquid Image -- those wacky underwater digicam folks -- are going to be hitting the ground running at CES with not one, but two HD underwater digital camera masks. Meant for serious professionals (and well-heeled Jacques Cousteau wannabes), the Pro HD350 shoots 720p video, sports 64 MB flash storage, supports microSD / SDHC cards (up to 32GB) and is rated to a depth of 330 feet. Taking things down a notch, the Scuba Series 320 (MSRP around $215) is the other 720p video cam. Featuring the same 64 MB internal memory and 32 GB microSD / SDHC support, this guy is rated at 115 feet. Bringing up the rear is the VideoMask 310, a 640 × 480 / 30 fps video camera, sporting 16 MB internal memory, 8GB microSDHC card support, and is rated to a depth of 33 feet. It is expected to list at $159, while the Scuba Series 320 will list for about $215. The Pro HD350 hasn't been priced just yet; all three cameras take 5 megapixel photos and will get debuted at CES this week.
[Via Helmet Camera Central]
[Via Helmet Camera Central]
Unfortunately, Kongsberg Maritime's oe14-502A is a far cry from being a traditional handycam wrapped up in a waterproof casing. Rather, this device was designed to latch onto remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) and capture footage from the deep in glorious high-definition. More specifically, the inspection camera can capture at SD, 720p or 1080i (switchable via IR remote) and can handle PAL or NTSC. Of course, the standard model can "only" wander down some 4,500 meters before calling it quits (or imploding, whichever comes first), but that should be quite enough to grab some interesting undersea footage for pitching to Discovery.
