The undersea wonders of the oceans house some incredible sights, which is why millions of scuba divers globally take the time to photograph, record and otherwise document their experiences in the deep blue. Unfortunately, clunky design and unimpressive depth tolerance have relegated the equipment now available to the not-quite-good-enough category.
A small team out of Delaware wants to change that. And with its Paralenz dedicated diving action camera, it has a very good chance of doing so. For one, the Paralenz looks like a creation born out of rapid prototyping principles: it oozes ruggedness with its tiny black anodized aluminum frame with a collection chunky and clicky magnetic switch buttons. This design is not only rugged and good looking but also practical, allowing the Paralenz to be used with any type of diving gloves. Another way the Paralenz was designed to be practical was through its attachments: it can be connected to any T-rail, an adapter can be used to attach it to other equipment, or a third-person viewer can float the Paralenz behind a diver sort of like an underwater drone for brand new underwater perspectives.
All this thought-out design would be nothing without the power to back it up. But considering the Paralenz’s capabilities of recording in 4k and taking 12MP stills combined with a 1500mAh battery and easy sharing features through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and that’s not a concern at all.
What really sets it apart from others diving cameras (besides its depth tolerance) is the combination of electronic image stabilization along with pressure controlled automatic white balance to transform what should be shaky, green video into smoothly flowing, vibrant video worthy of sharing. Paralenz should start shipping in January 2017 and start at $399, going up depending on which accessories a backer chooses to add. It’s looking for $25,000 by November 2017 to see success.
The Paralenz is the type of impressive union of design and technology that serves as a prime example of the sorts of novel ideas crowdfunding is capable of producing. And apparently, it was so popular that its creators thought it necessary to try their hands at a follow-up campaign on Indiegogo after their first, massively successful campaign on Kickstarter. While not the most orthodox behavior, it isn’t unprecedented. And the Paralenz itself remains a remarkable device, especially when the diving accessories segment is awash in products like the Video Diving System.