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Let's put it like this: you won't be seeing shots from the snorkelcam in National Geographic or on Animal Planet HD any time soon. That's not to say the images and video weren't OK for 4x6 snapshots and online sharing. But don't expect imagery worthy of a David Attenborough voiceover. Typical of underwater shots, stills usually benefited from white balance adjustments and contrast enhancements, as the before/after image here shows. A couple of times, when trying to shoot a lot of stills in rapid succession, we got pure black frames.
We liked video capture better. Just turn on the mask and go have fun! Whatever you are looking at fills the frame. It really gives a great first-person perspective of the aquatic adventure. Overall video quality is quite good, if lacking a little contrast snap. Shadow areas under rocks showed good noise control. Occasionally, video appeared choppy because of the 20 fps rate.
Windows users can install ArcSoft's bundled Photo Impression and Video Impression software for editing. There's no Mac-specific software shipped with the dive mask, but Mac's built-in iPhoto and iMovie have no problem with the JPG stills and AVI video.
The bottom line
There's no doubt about it, this mask is fun, unique and original. Many of the still images will look OK online as 4x6 prints. Video looks really good online. It's probably smart to think of the Only Digital Camera Swim Mask as a video camera that can also take 5 megapixel stills, as video is its stronger suit. Audio recording during video capture would be nice, too -- but music or beach ambient can always be overdubbed in any basic video program if you really want to add sound.
If you are serious about underwater photography, this probably isn't the route to go. The Pentax Optio W60 will cost you a few hundred more, shoots 10 megapixels and 720p HD video with sound (this is the camera visible in some frames of the field test video). Olympus also offers a handful of housing-free or housed underwater options for compacts and EVFs ranging from around $300 to $1000. And there are a number of OEM and third-party housings for many other advanced compacts, EVFs and SLRs.
But the Only Digital Camera Swim Mask does have its charms. It's a novelty, a collectible, a great gift for the active dad who has nearly everything. It's a perfect groomsman gift for a destination wedding to the islands or a honeymoon gift for the happy couple heading to paradise for a few days. Kids will love to use this in the pool or at the beach. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with not taking it all too seriously all the time, and the Only Digital Camera Swim Mask helps out with that a whole lot!
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