Liquid Image EGO Review (2 part review)
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 8:24AM Here is part one of a two part review of the Liquid Image EGO 1080p sport camera. (Part 2 here)
Over the next two weeks I will spend more time using the camera and then post the final part of the review, together with some downloadable sample.
This is the first time I've split a video review in this manner. I did this because I wanted to give myself more time to perform all the tests that a camera like this warrants, as well as discover any quirks and idiosyncrasies it may exhibit.
If there is anything specific that you want to see in part 2, please put details in the comments and I'll see what I can do.
I bought this camera from Amazon, it cost me approx £120.
PDF Manual on the Liquid Image Site (not much other info there though).
Here is a gallery of all the set-up menus from the Actionconnect app.
Update 27 August 2012
I took the Ego out on the bike yesterday and got some really nice looking video. I'm very impressed with this camera. I'm currently working on my review of the bike and then on the final part of the Ego review...but if you want to see something from the Ego now - you can download a clip using This link. This clip was shot in 1080p30 with a 90º FOV and the plastic protective shield was on. The clip has been trimmed for length using MPEG streamclip (but not re-encoded).
Reader Comments (36)
Nice review again Mat!
Does changing the FOV setting reduce the fish eye effect? Be good to see samples of that in part 2.
Also I imagine you will include answers to normal boring old questions such as can it charge and record at the same time?
I fear that loop recording is not an option with this camera? Bit of a shame that.
Great review again, can't wait for part 2!!
I need to test the FOV setting and see if it works and if it retains the setting after powering off. All the other things...I need to find out myself and then I'll be sure to include the answers to these in part 2. I'm pretty sure that looping the video is out of the question though.
The things I've left out so far traditionally add another week or two to the production time of each video...especially when it comes to waiting for decent weather to go out on the bike.
Am I right in assuming it does not do PAL Frame rates only NTSC (30/60)
If so this is a big mistake - as when mixed with 25P footage it will have ghosted frames
Matt You are correct. 1080p 30 and 720p 60 only. That's why I didn't mix any footage in with the review that I'd already shot and edited at 1080p 25.
If you have time, can you let us know how long it will continuously shoot shoot video while on the battery, and does it gracefully shut down and end/save the video if you let it run out of battery?
That's exactly the kind of thing that will be in part 2 because of the length of time it takes to accurately determine.
some questions
Is it possible to switch of the LED in front?
Is it possible to switch of the sounds?
Memory usage per Video time?
Charge and record at the same time ?
Maximal size of the SD card?
the a lot and regards
Sam 1, 2 and 5 are covered in the video (No, No and 32GB). 2 & 3 .....in part 2
Looks to be the start of a great new review. Good stuff so far. What I would like to know is:
1) Sound quality. Also is it stereo or mono sound?
2) Video jelly effect. A lot of these camcorders exhibit varying degrees of jellyvision. Would like to see some reasonably fast panning on say a fence with vertical slats to see how pronounced the effect is.
Thanks for this great new review (as usual)!
As I understand, the smartphone application can be used as a remote control. This is a very useful feature for action scenes.
Do you have an idea about the WiFi antenna range? Inside (through walls) and outside?
Can't wait for the 2nd part of the review.
Specially for onboard footage! ;-)
Daniel, France
Great review!
Looks very promising. Let's wait for the second part of the review. Can't wait to watch that bike-onboard-test.
Thank you very much!
Mat,
Just a quick question you could maybe answer in part 2.
Will it charge via a 12V car cigarette charger?
If it does and it can charge and record at the same time, this might be a far better option for my R&D project i emailed you about a few weeks back. The 1080p bullet cam has the drawback of having a lot wires going all about the place, where as this camera with it wifi connectivity to a smartphone would eliminate all that by using the smartphone as a viewfinder.
It looks to be a great little camera, but that fisheye effect worries me a bit, hope changing the FOV would sort that out as i have seen sample footage on youtube with both the fisheye effect and another video that had no fisheye effect at all.
Look forward to part 2 and to get a look at that new bike!!
Regards,
Jim.
It will charge with a 12V USB charger. All USB chargers will supply 5V regardless of what the other end is plugged into, car, bike, house, solar panel...etc.
Before any smart alec wants to school me about amps etc....let's just keep this basic...no need to go into that now.
I will be looking at FOV in part 2.
Well it's mono, you can see that in the specs, however I'll be testing the performance of this in part 2. I'll try and find some way of testing CMOS wobble.
I've uploaded a video sample to mediafire and added a link to the bottom of the blog post.
Wauw, really nice quality! I like the colors, are they realistic?
Your suspension is working hard. :-)
It was a lovely day and the sky was blue, I suppose it's possible that the colours might possibly be a tiny bit oversaturated...but it looks about right to me.
I too am interested if the Ego can charge and record at the same time, if you could test this for part two that would be great
I got my very own EGO from Amazon this week, am very impressed by the quality of the video !
That said, I sorry to report the WiFi "view finder" doesn't work with my setup: EGO cam serial A0000367 version 2.1.4.0 (*), Action Connect version 2.1.9 and Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830i running on Android 2.3.6
After sending an email to Liquid Image they responded quite fast, the last thing they did was sending me a firmware update voor the cam, it's now running on 2.2.1.0, but the "shoot" mode in ActionConnect still doesn't work, i.e. shows a black screen with just the phone's wee notification symbols.
Quite a pity because the main reason for buying this cam was it's ability to place it in a cramped space (model railroad layout) and get the correct frame for stills through the smartphone.
Anyone else has this problem ( and hopefully solved it...) ?
cheers, Leo.
@Leo. I have an old Android phone and tried to connect to the Ego without success....I assumed that it was the phone's fault. Would you be so kind as to email me the firmware you got, so I can test it out. Mat@techmoan.com
It's on my site Mat, again thank you for your help !!!
I did go out today and bought a brand new tablet, a Samsung Tab2.
When I went to the GooglePlay store to install the ActionConnect app, the store deemed the Tab2 not compatible, would Android 4.0.3 be too much for it ?
Fingers crossed for updates :-)))
cheers, Leo.
hey there,
got one more request.
i really would like to see some video taken with not that much light. I'm not talking about a night video but something in bad light conditions!
thx a lot ! you are doing a great job!
regards
Got my red ego today from Amazon. Works like a charm.
Some first day comments. Operation with buttons only is stiff.Need to check every time if recording started.
Great quality material.
example of 720 , 60fps link with ego
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116590443392082367419/posts/1R9yhK4t7g8
Sam,
Low light test has been done today. I've all the footage I need now...it just needs editing together (I say Just, it's probably about 12 hours work).
Thx a lot!
I really appreciate it!
regards
Great review as usual. Looks like this camera will be above average.
Great first video. I'm looking forward to part 2 to see what your overall view is. Not sure if this was asked, but will the Go Pro Adhesive mounts work with the Ego ? I can't seem to find any additional mounts currently for sale for the Ego from Liquid Image. How did you mount it to your motorcycle in the test video, as I would like to do something similar.
The mounting brackets look incredibly similar to the brackets for the GoPro, of which I have a variety of mounts for already. It would be incredibly fortuitous (and shocking) if they in fact compatible. Do you know if this is true?
Hi. I bought this camera for a reason it's perhaps not designed for....I'm a short documentary maker about sustainable living and take 3-10min video clips out in the 'field' - this may mean while covered in mud building an earth-oven or covered in cow shit reviewing milking techniques. I got the Ego because I thought it would be incredibly useful to have such a small, no-bother camera. I don't need high-quality video as all my edited stuff goes to youtube so can't be big files anyway.
So far I have been totally happy with not having a viewfinder/display screen and like the hand-held convenience. (people also dont seem to be as bothered by being filmed from such a discrete piece of equipment so I get more realistic, vibrant interviews. However, I am absolutely gutted about the fish-eye effect that seems to pervade everything. I am not particularly technical so I am hoping maybe there is a setting to change or something. Otherwise this would write the camera off for me completely. I read several reviews of this camera before making the decision to buy and I didn't see one mention of the fish-eye quality. I'm feeling a bit like a dumb-blonde having bought something I don't totally understand.
Help would be much appreciated if any one knows if the fish-eye can be changed. Regards, Emma.
Got the Ego as a Christmas present; I had put it on my list largely as a result of your thorough review. I haven't used it yet, at least not the way I want to (on a motorcycle, when the snow clears out in a few months).
Someone asked above if you can charge it and record at the same time. It looks like the answer is "no," because the Power / Mode button doesn't seem operational when plugged into a USB slot.
I noted that the instructions make no mention (and certainly don't show a picture) of actually inserting a micro SDHC card -- they only tell you to make sure it's inserted properly. Bit of a disappointment. I looked inside, to see which side the electrical contacts are, and managed to get it right. The instructions also don't tell you that when charging via the included USB cable the light blinks red, and then it turns a solid green when charging is complete.
By the way, my included firmware is 2.2.1.2. This, for an Ego purchased in the U.S., in December. The Action Connect is iPhone version 3.0.0, and looks a little different from the older version you show: it adds an "Info" button (for Action Connect, not the Ego).
In this part 1 of 2 video, you note that you hold down what you called the "power" button, for a bit, to start the Ego's Wi-Fi. Actually, you meant what the manual calls the "Shutter / Select / Wifi Start & Shutdown button"; the "Power / Mode button" is the other one. If you or someone else has already noted this, sorry for the duplication.
The test I did so far was to have the Ego record my monitor, sitting on my desk, while I was re-watching your part 1 video Came out very nicely.
Thanks again for your time and effort.
Hello Techmoan,
Thanks a lot for your in-depth review. I love my Ego and use it almost everyday.
Firstly I updated firmware from 2.2.1.2 (out of the box from ebay USA) to 2.2.1.0
to solve 30 mins stop shooting issue. Recently the App Action Connect for iOS update
and it notify that 2.2.1.0 is out of date and I lose control function of my Ego.
The app suggest me to find the new firmware at weltin.com.hk. I did download the newest version and tried to update to Ego
many times. But the Ego keep freezing with "UP" shown and nothing happen at all even for an hour.
I have to push the reset button and it still has the 2.2.1.0. Anyone can help?
And I found some trick about using external power. Although LIC said Ego can't be charged and shooting clip at the same time,
but using external power while shooting can be done easily!
Just plug the usb cable to the 5V1A power source, as in my case I mount the Ego and usb powerbank to the handlebar of
motorcycle, insert usb cable then Ego will go to charging mode with lcd show "USB".
Now wait for about 30sec the lcd will change to "CHA", then just simply push the shutter button!
The Ego will bypass the internal battery and use the power directly from external source. Internal battery will not be charged
nor consumed its power So literally, you can't charge the battery and shoot video at the same time.
But you could shoot like 6hour straight (maximum 32g sdhc) by using this trick. Enjoy!
Hi, what mounts are compatable with the camera. Mainly can you use the gopro head strap with the camera? And how do you go about mounting it?
Got an Ego which I am looking to take skiing at the weekend. Love the app to see the preview on my iPad/iPhone.
The go pro mounts don't take the Ego bracket unless you sand down the centre section. That done they seem to hold once sanded down.
Problem I am having is with firmware!!!!
I downloaded the latest version but on following instructions it will not update.
Any solution gratefully received.
Hi,
I've just updated my firmware to 3.3.1.0. (from 2.2.1.2)
Continous shooting now works, but lose about 3seconds of footage with the file switch.
New framerates: 25/30/50/60 for 720p , 25/30 for 1080p. That's very welcome!
But what I found out the photo's quality dropped significantly.
Most obvious in my room with the lights on at night: http://timeslip.hu/files/egophotocomparison.jpg
Photo & video stills quality used to be the same, now the video is still good, but the photos are much worse.
Anybody noticed something similar? The continuous photo mode is a feature I'd use a lot, but with this firmware it's unlikely.
For those of you wondering whether GoPro mounts can be used on the EGO, the anwser is YES :)
I just modded mine and I'm using a bunch of GoPro accessories.
I have version 2.1.4.0, I installed version 2.2.2.2 and 3.3.1.0
http://www.weltin.com.hk/support/liquid-image/
Thereafter, I had a lot of problems, the image is choppy 60 fps.
In addition, I have crashes material version 3.3.1.0, the unit stops, the icons are frozen, I have to do an update and reset.
I leave the link of the video file format "RAR" :
2.2.2.2 to 3.2.1.0 : http://sdrv.ms/16W5PkB
2.2.2.2 to 3.3.1.0 : http://sdrv.ms/16W5Hl3
I went back to version 2.2.2.2 and 3.2.1.0 and everything seems back to normal.
Can you give me the proper handling to update to version 3.3.1.0?
I apologize because I speak little English, my language is French.
You can answer me in English or French.
Thank you for your answer.