Exemode DV533UW Waterproof Digital Video Recorder/Camera [Water sports and filmmaking on a budget]

How many times have you been in the middle of your favorite underwater activity wishing that there was only someway that you could capture it on video for posterity? I can’t even begin to count them myself. Most of my favorite activities take place underwater; basket weaving, yoga, Twister. The list goes on. Well, now your wait is over thanks to Japanese electronics manufacturer Exemode. Their latest budget-friendly video recorder, the DV533UW, is sure to make both your wallet and wetsuit happy.

Looking like a sibling to Sanyo’s Xacti line of digital recorders, the Exemode DV533UW is the latest entrant into the low-cost, underwater digital camera/video market. Actually, this is the first one I have ever seen, so I wonder who there competition is? Anyway, this H₂O-friendly device packs in a 5.17 megapixel CMOS sensor for all of your still-shot needs, a 2.4-inch LCD display, 32MB of internal memory and a SD/SDHC card slot. The video recorder takes 640×480 VGA video at 30fps in XviD format. It’s also able to capture 8 megapixel still images. As for its depth duty, the DV533UW is water-safe up to 3-m/12-ft.

While you don’t get a lot with this gadget, rumor is that its price will more than make up for it. With only a basic set of features and the ability to expand its memory via SD cards, the DV533UW won’t elicit too many ooh’s and aah’s from true tech nerds, but for those looking to get into the wetter side of multimedia without spending too much, it might be just the thing. Release date and pricing has yet to be shared with the general populous, but with such a simple spec-sheet I don’t think I’d be willing to pay more than a couple hundred bucks for it.

If you speak Japanese or just like to look at the pretty characters you can head on over to www.exemode.com for more info.