Paralenz Dive Camera Vaquita

2022-01-29T07:06:36

The build is sturdy, and can take good pics and videos under the right cinditions. Battery life was good (able to do at least two dives on a charge). But so many issues that I was very disappointed. Issues include: - Takes forever to powerup - so if you're low on battery, hard to conserve and still use - Cannot take close up pics - really, really bad limitation - By itself, awkward to take pics - the Grip did help - but that's another expense - No significant audio - but when taking pics while filming, get annoying click from trigger on video - Tiny display - Does show preview of pic after shot, but does not allow playback on display so if miss it or taking lots of pics hard to know if got a good one - App is absolutely terrible - not intuitive, no good instruction or tips, horrible for uploading to phone or editing video. Given that you are unable to remove or delete files from camera card through the camera or phone, no way to make space and no idea what to do if run out of space (buy two cards or bring a computer on the trip?). Ability to "map the ocean" is total hype. - As noted, battery is ok for at least two dives - but if doing 3 or more dives could be an issue, esp if boat doesn't have charging (cameras where you can swap out batteries are better for this - maybe bring a battery pack to charge off of?) - Needs a card - pretty standard for buying camera - but an extra expense to keep in mind when getting over the sticker shock - Hard to tell when filming turned on or off - missed some good videos thinking it was filming - No obvious way to add lighting or flash capability Overall, it's well built and seems durable. But for the price, there's so many thing wrong with it, I wouldn't recommend it at all. For less, you can get comparable photos/videos and more functionality from a good sport camera.

Christopher N.

2021-12-29T03:32:53

Both my wife and I are Divemasters in Key Largo. We run these cameras with the grip. In the photo / video mode, you simply pull and release the trigger and it takes a photo OR, if you pull and hold the trigger it starts recording video and stops recording when you release the trigger. So easy to use and I have gotten fabulous photos and video of our wreck and reef dives here in Key Largo.

Jared B.

2021-11-18T06:52:50

Buyer beware!! The thought that divers would make a camera for divers is awesome, but this company shows ZERO loyalty to it?s customers. I had the earliest version of Paralenz then, a second, version and the natural progression to the Vaquita, only to find out the company has COMPLETELY dropped all support for previous versions and the Vaquita has a lot of insufficiencies. Who wants a camera that U can not use for closeups? I am now dropping this company like they have dropped their supporters.

Kathy H.

2021-08-15T16:27:35

The camera is nice but the soft ware sucks.

BARRY C.

2020-12-08T09:30:56

I have used a Paralenz Plus for the last 6 months and have loved it so was looking forward to getting this new camera. After diving with it for three days I returned it and was extremely disappointed. They increased the focal length to 1M (just over 3 feet). So anything closer than 3 feet from the camera is completely out of focus. I found that a great deal of the subjects I was trying to film were closer than 3 feet so this camera ended up being useless to me. For subjects greater than 3 feet away the pictures were quite good. I love the Depth Color Correction (same as earlier versions of the camera) . I was used to the fairly long battery life (3+ hours on the Plus) but found that the Vaquita only gave less than an hour of battery life. This was terrible. I don't know if the battery in my brand new Vaquita was bad or if the life is really this bad. The other concern I found was with the new end cap design. It is not a screw on design like with the Plus. This one has a ring you pull back on end then pull off the end cap to get to where you put in the micro disk and recharge the battery. The issue is that the small amount of water that is under the ring gets pulled into the end cap and onto the screen/disk/charging area. I believe this will lead to maintenance issues and reduce camera life due to this design flaw. How could Paralenz get the Plus model so right and then completely blow it with the Vaquita? My disappointment was incredible.

DAVID W.