OPERATION
The camera itself only has two rubberised buttons (Mode and Shot) which makes it very simple
to operate, even with a gloved hand. Make a selection and the lady in your ear tells you what
you’ve done. You can control the camera from the buttons on the Intercom system but I found it
more natural to reach for the camera every time I wanted to record. This does however mean
that all of my clips tend to start with a large gloved clutch-hand briefly obscuring the lens.
Conversely, working through the settings menu with only two buttons and a tiny screen to guide
you is clunky. Thankfully Sena have thought of that, and their handy Prism Camera app allows
you to make settings adjustments direct from your Smartphone screen. It’s simple and works
really well. One useful setting offered is ‘upside down’ for moments when you’ve mounted the
camera in an inverted position, saving the need to flip the picture in post-production.
FLIES ON THE LENS
Naturally, nothing is perfect, and the Prism has a number
of small niggles, some of which Sena could potentially
fix in future firmware or hardware updates.
Possibly the most annoying aspect of the camera is that
there is no simple way to check footage or frame filming
‘in the field’ since the Prism does not feature an
integrated screen. This was also a problem with the
earlier small cameras such as GoPro, but newer models
with Wi-Fi connectivity mean that you can now simply
view clips (or live-view) direct from the camera to a
Smartphone screen. If Sena could add this feature then it
would be a massive boon.
From an imaging point of view I like the fact that the
camera lens is not obstructed by another lens within a
waterproof case, however at the moment the camera
glass is not replaceable and therefore vulnerable to
scratching unless the rubber lens cover is fitted.
Incidentally, the footage takes on an eerie, horror feel if
you forget to remove the lens cap…
For me, the most irritating problem was that each
memory card you install resets the file numbering
sequence to zero. That way you can end up with several
cards all with the same file names (e.g. PRSM0001.MP4)
for different clips. If you aren’t careful when you back-up
your cards then you can end up overwriting one lot of
files with identically-named ones and accidentally losing
your original clips. The Prism desperately needs an
option for the file numbering to continue sequentially
from one card to the next, just like my Canon camera
does. Hopefully Sena can make a small adjustment to
future firmware releases to fix that.