Pro video blog…Produced by Philip Johnston DoP/Editor

One thing I can say about this wee camera is the picture quality is very good but that said there are a few details which would make this a far better product.

The video camera has settings, within these settings you have Resolution (720 60p or 1080 30p), FOV (Field of view, 135˚ and 90˚) and Anti Flicker (50 and 60Hz).

Performance …At first I had a few teething problems getting the WiFi onto my iPhone but as usual a good look at the instructions gave me the key to viewing pictures on my iPhone.

The WiFi stream is about 4 seconds delayed but as Liquid Image point out it’s only for basic monitoring in fact the WiFi picture is cut off when the camera is in filming mode, you get two settings, 720 60p or 1080 30p, once again I would prefer a setting for PAL frame rates.

The camera produces a good 12MP picture as seen above and you can use your iPhone to setup and fire the camera remotely.

Improvements…

The first thing that must be updated is the ability to have manual iris/exposure, this one feature would enhance this wee camera ten fold as it has a tendency to close down at the hint of any skyline.

The battery lasts about 30mins max when filming 720 60p which is not very good as you can’t replace it when it goes down.

Secondly a few more 1/4″ tripod fixings would not go a miss and if you are going to produce a non standard micro HDMI socket then supply a cable or adapter please, the micro HDMI only playback files from the EGO, either video or photo files. The ability to monitor live output would be a good upgrade as the 4s delay on the WiFi is rather annoying.

The ability to stream the picture onto an iPhone or Android mobile is a major bonus but it’s not real time, you have a 4s gap between live and refresh.

 It’s very small for an HD video/photo camera and weighs 116 grams, you have various options to mount the camera from tie wraps to sticking it down with it’s big base plate.

It has 4 modes of operation 720 60p indicated by a blue LED, 1080 30p (Green LED), Photo mode (Red LED) and continuous photo mode (Purple LED).

Conclusions…So how does it perform, taking on board that the pictures from this camera would be interspersed with footage from other cameras 75x its price (Canon C300) it performs very well, I tried it on my dogs harness today and the pictures were all over the place, not a fault of the camera rather the fault of my understanding of strapping the camera to a solid object like a helmet and not a loose dog harness !

For £159 you cant go wrong its a great toy to play with and produces very usable 720p pictures, great for action sports and anything you need to strap a small 135˚FOV camera to.

I am filming a Roller Derby on Saturday and hope the lighting conditions within the hall will allow the camera to be used on one of the players helmets/roller skate but you will have to wait till then to see reality footage from the Liquid Image EGO, till then here is a small trip round my block sticking the EGO onto my car with gaff tape running at 720 60p.

author

Having been working in the video business since 1988 I have amassed a great amount of knowledge of both the kit and production values over the last 30 years.

6 thoughts on “EGO REVIEW £159 from H Preston Media

  1. Wow, could have given your readers a warning that your mug-shot was going to be on screen !!

  2. I’m sorry to say, but that’s not a non-standard “mini HDMI” connector as you put it, it’s a standard micro HDMI connector and cables are widely available.

  3. Only quoting from Liquid Images user manual which wrongly refers to it as a mini HDMI, though I have not come across the micro HDMI connector myself.

  4. I’ve just got one of the JVC Everio Wifi camcorders to have a play with and be a pocket cam when I don’t want to take the NX70 out. Granted it’s a bit bigger and about 80 quid more but it’s a proper camcorder that is pretty controlable over WiFi. I’m thinking of using it for remote shots, just wish it had a bit more robust battery.
    It’s only problem is it seems to only use WiFi channel 1, so in busy areas getting a connection can be frustrating difficult.

  5. FYI – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Connectors

    Imho the micro connector is better than the mini one due to a sturdier construction. It’s commonly found on a lot of smartphones or tablets and is even used on the odd notebook, but I guess it’s not common on cameras/camcorders as yet, but I’ve seen at least a few cameras with it.

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