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INTOVA HD SPORT CAMERA AND FACE MASK MOUNT
On first glance you can notice that it comes with a small 1.5” screen, an easily accessible MicroSD card slot, a standard tripod mount, a row of five buttons that allows user to fully interact with the camera and a big flat lens on the front. As above, the camera is actually built into the waterproof housing, so there is no need to pull it out of it. The unit is made of antiglare UV-injected polycarbonate, it looks solid and the rear door closing system firmly locks it up. As a matter of fact, you need to strongly pull the rear door in order to open it up once you have released the locking system.
Also pushing buttons takes some strength, which works well against accidental operation, but it takes time to get used to. However the chance to use all the camera functions even beneath the water is definitely worth the effort. The flat housing lens prevents the camera to get underwater distorted images/movies and it is very important when you consider that other manufacturers do supply it as non-standard feature, this means you have to buy it separately. Just to understand its tiny dimension you can see it in the pictures below compared to another POV camera you are surely familiar with.
Another very important feature is the manual white balance option, but before going through it I suppose it is better explaining what the white balance is important for. The white balance allows the camera to provide the real colors to the picture/movies it captures, preventing the sensor to provide an interpretation of them. The manual white balancing can be simply performed by selecting the proper function on the camera and by subsequently pointing it towards something white (or grey). By “telling” the camera what white is like in that circumstance, the other color tones will be closer to real ones.
Although the straightforward menu offers all the options one would expect, there is not an underwater preset for the white balance. However you can easily find the common presets for stills (art, vivid, sepia, monochrome and negative) and some important power saving options.
The most important power saving option can be accessed without entering the menu. By pressing the leftmost button on the back of the camera in fact, you can rapidly switch the LCD screen off while in use. Turning it back on only takes a further touch on the same button.
Usually spearfishing at sea means being in the water for longer than 3 hours so saving as much power as possible can help avoiding the frustration deriving from filming many useless dives and once you finally catch a big fish your camera is no longer operating.
Video recording qualities range from VGA to Full HD and the out coming videos are as clear as expected, but what makes this camera different is the feature that allows you to digital zoom up to 4X while filming (not possible when 1080 resolution is set).
Also the battery pack is built in, however if you treat it properly it will last many years and since it is a very good one, I am not concerned about this at all. In the new coming upgraded model the battery pack will be replaceable and there will be wireless features that the actual model does not include.
The Sport HD has a dedicated line of accessories that make it the top choice for your needs but two among them are in my opinion the most useful ones in regards to underwater use: the red filter and the face mask mount.
The red filter is actually a red lens to place on top of the standard one in order to get underwater videos/images that include all the colors spectrum and don’t look all green or all blue once you dive deeper than 10mt.
The face mask mount instead is a pure innovation that only INTOVA has introduced on the market. It is a standard mount with an adjustable clip below designed to fit all diving masks. It is supposed to be fixed on the front part of the frame and it gets locked on it by a knob.
By operating on another knob instead you can easily adjust the inclination of the camera on the vertical axe in order to be sure that it captures what you are actually seeing.
After having described all the technical features I cannot avoid to tell you that this camera makes also the difference when it comes to the price as it is far cheaper that its direct competitors on the market.
I must say that I am sincerely satisfied with the quality of the product I have tested and I have the feeling that they are actually designed by people who really care and, more important, who have really used them before selling them worldwide. At the this stage I cannot wait to test the upgraded model that will soon be reviewed on this website, stay tuned!
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Video Resolution:
HD 1920x1080p, 30fps
HD 1280x720p, 30fps
WVGA1 848x480p, 60fps
WVGA 848x480, 30fps
VGA 640x480, 30fps
Still image resolution:
12 MP: 4000x3000 pixels (by interpolation)
8.0 MP: 3200x2400 (by interpolation)
5.0 MP: 2592x1944
3.0 MP: 2048x1536
Lens:
140° wide-angle
Digital Zoom:
4x (All modes except 1080p)
LCD:
1.5" (3.8 cm) TFT
Burst Mode:
No, 3, 5 or 10 photos
Settings:
Size, EV, Quality (Normal, Fine, Super Fine), White Balance, Metering, Contrast, Sharpness, Effect, Self-timer, Burst, Photo Flip, Time Lapse
White Balance Modes:
Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent
Exposure Compensation:
+/-2, +/-1.7, +/-1.3, +/-1, +/-0.7, +/- 0.3, 0
Exposure Metering:
Average, Spot, Center
Contrast:
Standard, Hard, Soft
Sharpness:
Standard, Hard, Soft
Effect:
Off, Art, Sepia, Negative, Monochrome, Vivid
Self Timer:
Off, 5 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec
Time Lapse:
Off, 1 sec, 2 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec, 120 sec, 180 sec
Slide Shows:
No, 1 sec, 3 sec, 5 sec
Auto Power Off:
Off, 1 min, 3 min, 5 min
LCD Off:
Off, 1 min, 3 min
Light Frequency:
50 Hz, 60 Hz
Flash Memory:
32 MB (internal)
SD Card Slot:
microSD/ SDHC - accepts cards up to 32 GB 1
Construction:
UV-injected polycarbonate Housing
Depth Rating:
200' (61 m)
Battery:
Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion 1400 mAh capacity
Battery Life:
2.5 hr recording time
Connectivity:
TV Out (NTSC or PAL), mini USB ports
Supported Languages:
English, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, Japanese, Chinese
Dimensions:
2.8 x 3.3 x 2.4" (7.1 x 8.4 x 6.1 cm)
Weight:
0.38 lb (170g)
Fireblade CarbonTech 125 X 3 2013 brand new model by GRANDA SUB
Built with 13 strips of mahogany and three layers of 200g bilinear carbon sheets on the lower portion, the Fireblade CarbonTech 125 X 3 is the new big-game hunting for the Mediterranean and the Ocean.
As all guns from Carbontech series, the handle is covered in carbon to provide additional structural rigidity in the points where it is more subject to stresses. The lowered spear-rail and the revised Bull Shark mechanism, make the shot really soft despite the great power provided by the three bands.
The profile of the stem has been reduced by 1 cm at the point of greatest width and 4 mm in the one of greater height. The three holes in the muzzle are separated by 30mm from each other exactly as the pins of the shaft, which ensures the same traction power for all of the bands: 3 x 125cm. Granda also features a new anti-glare coating that leaves unchanged the traditional aesthetics.
TECHNICAL DATA:
Traction power 3 x 125cm (with the possibility to reach up to 3 x 128) Shaft 165 X 7mm (or 7.5mm) Bands Cressi 16.5mm Granda Reel 90mt Overall length: 146cm Max height: 38mm in the middle - 32mm at the tip Max width: 80mm in the middle - 32 mm at the tip Weight (fully equipped): 3600gr
Granda is almost ready to introduce another new totally innovative project which will soon be reviewed on this website.
CARBON BLADES: COMPARISON
JFE - AIR, IMERSION - FREEDIVING SPIRIT, BLACKTECH SHARK SKIN
In the last few months, we have published several reviews on different products belonging to a category that is particularly important to all spearo mates: carbon fins.
We have tested and reviewed the fins from several European manufacturers and presented their innovations but it is clear that in this information jungle we need some strong points to hold on in order to provide a better evaluation.
For this reason we present below a brief summary of the reviewed product’s best features.
PENETRATOR FINS:
100% CARBON MADE FROM AUSTRALIA
Penetrator Fins is an Australian company dedicated to producing high quality freediving and spearfishing fins. With over 20 years composite manufacturing experience in fields such as performance sailboats and motorsport. The owner Larry Gray has coupled his enthusiasm for spearfishing with a capacity to manufacture high quality advanced composites to produce the Penetrator range of fins and soon to be released composite spearguns.
The carbon fiber fin blades are manufactured using the resin infusion method from T300 carbon fibers and high temperature epoxy resin. They are 21cm wide and 86cm long (the power surface is 72cm long). The toe inclination is 25° degrees and this makes surface swimming very easy. Blades are 100%carbon fiber with the exception of a kevlar protection layer in the tip. All Penetrator fins are oven cured for 14 hours to provide full resin properties and a high in service heat distortion temperature. This process creates a fin that is strong, flexible and can withstand UV and sun exposure. From here the blades final shape is cut on our in house CNC cutter to computer generated patterns.
The blades are fitted with a dual purpose side rail that locks into most aftermarket foot pockets without the need for glue. The water channeling rail directs flow along the blade creating more power and maintains form. They are manufactured in Australia also from UV resistant EPDM rubber. The flexible rubber rail does not inhibit the action of the carbon fin blade.
JFE EXCELLENCE AIR 100% T700 CARBON BLADES
Thanks to the collaboration of my dear friend Jean-Yves Giglais I got in touch with Julien Elias the co-founder of JFE, a young French artisan company specialized in the production of carbon fiber fins. JFE is still virtually unknown in Italy, but in France their products have been already appreciated as much as the ones made by longer established companies. It has broken into the market with two sets of fins, the PERFORMANCE and for demanding users the EXCELLENCE. The latter are produced in two versions, the STANDARD with traditional water rails and the AIR with minimal water rails and it is right this one that we are going to take a closer look at.
The JFE EXCELLENCE - AIR are variable thickness blades made entirely of T700 carbon fiber, which for instance is the same material that another well-known Italian company uses for its products. Thanks to an accurate production system (CLS) the steps between the different thickness layers are rounded in order to lower their incidence that is because as we know those steps represent points of potential structural weakness and that can give birth to cracks and breakage. Furthermore, the special coating applied enables the acceleration of the fluids on the surface and consequently it turns swimming into an easier thing. Among the remarkable qualities it should be mentioned the 15° angle of the blade that you can 100% exploit if you use foot pockets from Pathos (see photo). As well as the blades from their competitors, also the JFE ones can be mounted on any foot pocket but we suggest the ones from Pathos as they guarantee a better performance and are already available in stock. Another very important aspect of the AIR is their extraordinary lightness that makes its use really comfortable. According to the hardness in fact their weight ranges from just 190gr to 210gr.
The JFE blades are slightly shorter than the others available on the market in fact they are 76cm long and 21cm wide and end up with "flap" a tip. The water rails have a low profile and are only 10cm long, placed at the end of the blade. Between them and the side members of the foot pocket, there is a 21.5cm gap covered by a side guide that serves only to protect the edge of the blade.
The TEST First, we must point out that the foot fits perfectly in the foot pocket. The combination of JFE blades and Pathos foot pockets allows the foot to express the thrusting power with the front part (metatarsal) avoiding then to force on the ankles during the execution of the kick. The blade is very reactive in water and the shorter length does not constitute a handicap even coming up from greater depths. In fact, the fin stroke is powerful and fluid (thanks to the "flap" tip that makes you feel its grip on the water) and provides the same feeling a longer blade would give.
These considerations, however, only valid as long as the execution of the athletic gesture is good because of the absence of significant water rails. To speak out is like giving a Ferrari to a young guy who has just received his first driving license, so this is not a blade for everyone. Its reduced size make it ideal for any spearfishing technique as well as for long surface swimming but it requires more attention because the tip can break up by hitting the rocks on the seabed.
Price € 330
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