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Old 01-03-2019, 12:14 AM   #1
popgun pete
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Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Anyone have experience with one of these as a gun camera (?), although it can be attached to your dive mask, but maybe not so good for drag when freediving/spearfishing. Basically 720 bucks US, which seems not bad when I just splurged that much on a Nikon which is much bulkier and not a gun camera at all. I had a cheap GoPro knock-off which found its natural habitat in the trash can!

https://www.paralenz.com/

https://www.paralenz.com/product/dive-camera/
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Old 01-03-2019, 12:27 AM   #2
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Here are the specs.
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Old 01-03-2019, 05:08 AM   #3
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

I haven't tried it yet but its claim to fame is the depth compensated white balance. This may sound like sales speak but it's potentially a game changer for people who care about color grading their UW videos. Or who just want to get rid of the excessive blue cast in most videos in an easy way.

The thing is, while most actioncams are pretty cool for land use, they have some issues for underwater use. Most notably, the auto white balance often can't cope underwater and the color changes too much for a manually fixed white balance. Also, once submerged any murk in the water eats away at contrast like crazy, so you end up with an image that needs to have a ton of contrast added to it, plus be heavily corrected for the blue color cast. Add to this that most actioncams have horribly low bit rates (not very much data information in the files) and it means you can't really do the hefty color grading your footage ideally needs - it just falls apart when you try.

What the Paralenz does is to couple a depth sensor to the white balance (I can't remember if it even has a color sensor behind a white filter) and then adjust it continuously according to the depth.
In theory this should make the footage much closer to neutral at more of a depth range than any other actioncam - which then means you don't have to grade it like crazy and whatever grading you do will likely be less destructive to the original file and look better in the end.
I can't seem to find any info on it's actual bit rate and whether it is any higher than, say, a GoPro's but even if it is just the same, I expect the Paralenz image to look a lot nicer out of the box.

Oh, and of course you don't need to grade your footage (it's just me talking as a photographer). For most divers, it's main advantage is probably that they will have more "pleasing", natural looking imagery without having to do anything;-)

Last edited by Diving Gecko; 01-03-2019 at 05:51 AM.
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Old 01-03-2019, 07:19 AM   #4
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

The Paralenz appealed to me as soon as I saw it because the Internet tracks my interests and this camera was offered up to me without me even looking for it. I am already being slightly criticised for buying too many gadgets on the Internet and a big one was my NIKON AW1 which I always had on my list to buy and then I was told it was being discontinued a couple of weeks ago, so I had to grab one before they were all gone. It was to replace my Nikonos which became unusable with the demise of film stock, thank goodness I never bought the Nikonos RS, especially as the lenses cost more than the camera!

In anticipation I had downloaded the NIKON AW1 manuals years ago, but had not bought the camera because all the ones available here over the counter were white. Finally managed to obtain a brand new silver version, does not get so hot as black, yet does not get grubby like white. Hot burning sun days can cook you and your camera, so every bit of reflection helps. Always have an insulated tub on hand for the camera gear as cars can get hot parked in the sun and even airco takes time to pull down the temperature with the car like an oven. Cameras have to stay in the vehicle if I am using my guns as for me it is one or the other, not both. The no name GoPro worked OK before it went in its underwater case, then developed a mind of its own, so it got the flick.

Last edited by popgun pete; 01-03-2019 at 07:40 AM.
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Old 01-03-2019, 09:47 AM   #5
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

I have played around with my buddies Paralenz on one of our trips and was indeed pleasantly surprised by the quality of the image. I think it is fair to say that it is the best out there for underwater use in the action camera range. The slim size and the fact that you don't need an extra housing or filters like the gopro make it worthwhile to consider.

However here are some of my reasons why I haven't bought one myself so far.

First: The iphone app sucks bigtime! it should make it really easy to review the clips and share them but downloading them to your phone is pain in the butt and doesn't work most of the time. The issue is well documented and no solution so far. With todays technologie these things should work and being able to share a clip straight away with your friends should be a piece of cake really.
Now you have still need to download it to your computer and ..... do al the other stuff...
ok maybe not a dealbreaker for those who are going to edit their clips anyway but still I think it should work out of the box.

Second: why is the resolution not as good as the latest Gopro??

Third: I wish the frame rate could be set much higher because it would allow me to film some pool testing with different guns and analyse the footage better.

I probably end up buying one eventually when the next version comes out and they figured out the above issues. For next season I might even consider buying a gopro in the meantime.

Does anyone now if there is an upgrade or new version coming out any time soon?
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Old 01-03-2019, 02:50 PM   #6
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

For me the form factor is great, as they say just like a flashlight. I don't know if the existing unit will be superseded any time soon, but at the right price I would buy one as is. Photos and videos are for my consumption and records, you will never see me holding a dead fish as by that time I and my buddies are carving them up. So I can wait to see the images and edit them on my computer with my video editing software.
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Old 01-03-2019, 03:28 PM   #7
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

I've been using one for about 6 months. It's a little buggy with the software. I've had some issues with overexposure, which is frustrating. The company is good at responding for service or help on this, though. The form factor is great, though, and it attaches to any mask so you're not stuck with a gopro mask if you want to do a mask mount, which I prefer. As far as the DCC, sometimes it works great, and sometimes the color goes too far green or too far blue. In truth I haven't dove as much as I would like since I've had the camera so I'm still figuring it out. Here's a video where the DCC worked really well lightening up a very dark dive under the red tide:

https://youtu.be/NtWLAmFYxOY
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Old 01-03-2019, 04:51 PM   #8
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Quote:
Originally Posted by CatDiver View Post
I've been using one for about 6 months. It's a little buggy with the software. I've had some issues with overexposure, which is frustrating. The company is good at responding for service or help on this, though. The form factor is great, though, and it attaches to any mask so you're not stuck with a gopro mask if you want to do a mask mount, which I prefer. As far as the DCC, sometimes it works great, and sometimes the color goes too far green or too far blue. In truth I haven't dove as much as I would like since I've had the camera so I'm still figuring it out. Here's a video where the DCC worked really well lightening up a very dark dive under the red tide:

https://youtu.be/NtWLAmFYxOY
Great video, just like being there myself and focus is good and lighting competently handled by the camera. Love the UV flashlights and the loading and shooting vision which we can all identify with, and the other divers moving in and out of the frame which underscores the spatial close proximity one needs in spearfishing. Landlubbers tend to think spearfishing is like shooting ducks on the wing and vastly overestimate the power and reach of our weapons by forgetting the greater density of water compared to air.
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Old 01-03-2019, 05:00 PM   #9
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

What's funny is those are regular flashlights. It was so dark under the red tide that the Paralenz color adjustment made the flashlights look like pink lasers.
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Old 01-03-2019, 05:03 PM   #10
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Quote:
Originally Posted by CatDiver View Post
What's funny is those are regular flashlights. It was so dark under the red tide that the Paralenz color adjustment made the flashlights look like pink lasers.
Well that is a surprise, you know that you can get UV led flashlights? I have a number of dive lights, you never just put your trust in one, but have not bought a UV version yet for u/w use.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Underwat...FY8:rk:24:pf:0

In fact I have just purchased this one https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10W-3x-X....c100005.m1851
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Last edited by popgun pete; 01-03-2019 at 05:37 PM.
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Old 01-13-2019, 01:52 PM   #11
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Well as soon as I recharge my finances I will be getting one of these as no more fiddling around with underwater housings. Plus point and shoot which is my kind of camera.

More here https://www.deeperblue.com/review-pa...action-camera/
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Old 01-13-2019, 04:01 PM   #12
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

Quote:
Originally Posted by popgun pete View Post
Well as soon as I recharge my finances I will be getting one of these as no more fiddling around with underwater housings. Plus point and shoot which is my kind of camera.



I hope you get the chance to shoot footage of the performance of some of those interesting guns you have in your collection once you get yourself a paralenz.
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Old 01-13-2019, 11:34 PM   #13
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

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Originally Posted by kodama View Post
I hope you get the chance to shoot footage of the performance of some of those interesting guns you have in your collection once you get yourself a paralenz.
Yes, but there is quite a backlog as too many irons in the fire at the moment, plus I have to get that Hurricane "Carabine" to work to justify a grand being paid for it, but not by me! Should have bought one of those Paralenz gadgets instead of that boat anchor.
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Old 03-16-2019, 12:34 AM   #14
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

While periodically checking on the Paralenz I spotted this photo of one set up as a gun camera.USD 699.00

and here are the speargun mounting parts. USD 65.00
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Old 03-16-2019, 02:00 AM   #15
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Re: Paralenz Underwater Compact Camera

There must be better ways to mount that camera on a gun without turning it into a 700$ obstacle for your shooting line.
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