I bought one of the earlier versions of the Logitech webcam range - at that time called the quick cam express. This was USB based and offered pretty good performance - but the highest quality setting was 320x240 and this was a bit grainy. I decided it was time for a bit of an upgrade and so out of habit, the first place I looked was the logitech range... The messenger is a very impressive unit for it's price - around £30 [a certain online bookstore's electronics department sell it for £29.62 including delivery (althought note.. it's not a speedy delivery option!]]. The first obvious advantage is that the camera has a built in microphone which means you can do away with the need to wear a headset (unless you like that Nasa mission control look!). The maximum image capture has been doubled to 640x480 and although granted, is not the quality that Steven Spielberg would demand, it's much better than my last camera - giving me easy capability to video conference. One thing I should point out is that you will need a relatively quick internet connection to run a TRUE video conference... if you are still on dial up it will work, but you will more than likely have to put up with more of a picture conference, updating every few seconds. Broadband should provide a more fluid transmission and if you happen to be running off a highspeed network connection then you'll be all set for lights, camera & action! The camera itself is easy to install, simply take it out of the pack and plug it into a spare USB slot [check you have one spare - if not, a USB hub may be in order], then all you have to do is install the software. Other features include still image capture, web album creator software, short video clips using SpotLife™ and Logitech still offer their free software updates so you can ensure your camera is running on the latest programs.
As far as system requirements go, you must have Win98 or higher and a processor greater than 500Mhz is advised. 64Mb Ram and 200Mb hard disk is also requested on the pack, but obviously you can customise the installation to take up much less than this.
Overall, a very good camera for this price range - obviously a number of manufacturers are producing cameras these days - HP, IMB, Packard Bell: and for a good line up you could pay a visit to a local PC world or dixons - this will certainly help you get an idea for the physical size of each camera whilst also giving you the oppertunity to ask for a demonstration. One other point to make is that there are a number of actual digital cameras out there now which offer the ability to plug into a PC and use as a webcam: I was toying with this prospect but decided I would rather buy a very good quality dedicated digital camera and get myself a much smaller camera which I could leave on my desk without fear that if the cat knocks it off, I'd be looking at a £350 replacement bill!
A cheap, good quality webcam with a host of interesting features.
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Aug 14th, 2003
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