Get Wet with Liquid Image Underwater Camera

If underwater photography is your thing but you don't like awkward waterproof cases for digital cameras, Liquid Image is building a 5 megapixel camera into a diving mask.

There are some folks who, when presented with a camera of any sort, immediately think to themselves (or say out loud), “Hey, that’s great, but can I use it underwater?”

(No, we don’t understand these people either.)

Underwater photography aficionados do have some options, however, with a growing number of mainstream camera manufacturers offering underwater-capable cameras, or underwater cases that can be fitted to standard camera models. Although these solutions are (we suppose) better than not being able to take underwater pictures at all, they suffer from a few drawbacks. For instance, users are always trying to compose shots through a viewfinder or LCD, and that’s a pain when wearing underwater goggles. And users still have to hold on to the darn things and swim at the same time.

Liquid Image—formerly Zocker Toys—aims to solve some of these problems with its Digital Underwater Camera Mask, which it will be showing at the 2008 CES show in Las Vegas. Put simply, Liquid Image has built a digital camera into a standard diving mask, so users don’t have to hold on to a separate camera while swimming, and they can compose their shots just by moving their heads: the camera lens is mounted above and between the eyes, so it automatically shoots what the wearer is looking at.

The Digital Underwater Camera Mask will be available in two resolutions—3.1 megapixels and 5 megapixels—and features 16 MB of built-in memory, plus additional storage to microSD cards. The cameras offer a USB interface for offloading photos, and run off two AAA batteries loaded along the outside edges of the mask. The cameras also shoot VGA-resolution video, and are optimized for a photographic distance of 1.2 meters (about 5 feet). Users won’t be able to take them deep-sea diving—they’re only good to about 15 feet—but they should be more than good enough for play in the shallows or the back yard pool.

The Digital Underwater Camera Masks should be available in “spring” 2008 (we’re assuming they’re referring to the northern hemisphere with a suggested starting price of $99.