I got a webcam 2 years ago as I was moving to the UK and it would enable me to keep in contact with my dad who also has the same webcam.
LogitechQuickcam Express is like a mini digital videocamera. Quickcam Express can bought starting from £10 at www.novatech.co.uk up to around £30 from www.dell.co.uk. I bought mine on promotion 2 webcams for £30. Or on Ebay starting at 99p to about £10. Just shop around to find the cheapest deal for you.
The webcam is a ball shape with a small bit at the bottom that fits into the stand that comes with it. The stand acts like a small tripod so it doesn't fall off the top of your computer. Although, you have to move it around a lot to get the position you want so it doesn't chop half your head off. The colour of the webcam is off white and the lens of the webcam is trimmed in a pale blue. There's the Logitech
logo on the top of the webcam and also has a blue button. This button is for taking quick and easy pictures or to start recording with the webcam. The webcam is 4cm x 3cm x 4cm and weighs about 200 grams.
The digital capture speed is 30 frames per second so the motion on the webcam is quite fluid and doesn't stick too much unless you're running a lot of programs on your PC. You can put it in black & white or colour. The colour is in 24-bit (16.7 million colours). There's hardly any colour bleeding when you look at the picture.
The video resolution has three options 160 x 120 - Gives the best quality picture but is the smallest in size 320 x 240 - Gives good quality picture and is a good size of image 640 x 480 - The biggest in size, slightly less in the quality
I like to use 160 x 120 if I'm sending anything to my boyfriend as it makes me look better and I use 320 x 240 for talking to people. I rarely use the 640 x 480 setting as I feel like it washes me out and shows all the imperfections in my skin.
The image resolution is 640 x 480 and several different image formats can be chosen. JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PCX, PSD, PNG, TGA. You can link audio to your webcam so when you are using the video options, you can have picture as well as audio. You will have to have a microphone for this.
The focus on the webcam can be changed by turning the blue rim on the lens of the webcam. Do this when you're using the software so you can judge what the correct setting is for you.
This webcam can be used with Microsoft Windows 98 Microsoft Windows ME Microsoft Windows 2000 Microsoft Windows XP Home and Professional Edition
The system requirements are PC with minimum of 266 MHz, 32mb of RAM and has 100mb of hard disk space for the drivers and the software that goes with it.
You connect the webcam through the USB port and it comes with software to manage everything from the colour sharpness of the webcam to the taking still images with your webcam. It's designed to be plug and play and is quite easy to set-up. Just follow the instructions in the manual that comes in the box. Then just pop the CD in and install the software, which is called Image Studio.
The software - Image Studio
You have four options when you start this program
The light blue tab - Create pictures and videos - This is where you can make still images and record videos of yourself, the family pet or whoever. Also this is the best place to change the webcam's settings for example to sharpness of the video picture or turn on autobalance. Go to basic setting. The button is next to the button with 160 x 320 in it underneath the picture of the webcam. From there, you can also go to advanced settings and change it to suit you but be careful as it's very easy to mess up the settings on the colour and sometimes, it takes awhile to get the right again.
The yellow tab - Create a webcam - You can setup a website that takes continuously pictures from your camera and displays them on that webpage for your family and friends.
The dark blue tab - Broadcast Live Video - You can turn your home into a TV station and you can record yourself 24/7 and broadcast yourself to the world using this option.
The grey tab - Look at my gallery - This is an archive for all your videos and images. You can edit the pictures and videos, set the picture as Windows wallpaper or send the pictures to your friend by email.
At the bottom, there's buttons for settings, web links, Help and Close ImageStudio This settings is different to the settings in Create pictures and videos. This setting is where you can test your microphone to work alongside your webcam also options about the programme starting up when Windows starts up and emails options.
Also on the CD comes, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Logitech IM Video companion and SpotLife VideoSnap. Imagestudio comes in different languages and so does the Logitech IM Video companion but Yahoo Instant Messenger and SpotLife VideoSnap only in English on my CD.
So now you have the webcam setup and working what are you going to use it for. Through the internet, you can talk to your loved ones and family members' faces to faces using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo Instant Messenger (YIM), Microsoft Messenger (MSN) and varies other programs to but also you can take still images of yourself to send to them when they're offline or when they just want a picture of you. It's cheaper than owning a digital camera but the quality isn't as good.
To use with the messengers, you have to follow the instructions of each messenger in the help guides as they do vary in setup. A program that will help you with that is Logitech IM Video companion. With that all setup, it's very easy to have a chat to anyone you want and is just as easy as picking up the phone and dialling a number. Also it's cheaper than using the phone especially if the people you're talking to are far away and if you use the audio chat and the webcam together, it's almost like you're in the same room as them.
My webcam came with a 2 year guarantee but if you do have any problems with your webcam before or after your guarantee is up, looking in your manual or check out Logitech's support at http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/support/home/GB/EN,crid=271&categoryid=127 There you will find, support for your webcam but also downloads and upgrades for the drivers. The site is easy to navigate and basic.
Overall Comment It's a great webcam and I've used it loads of time to save money on phone calls which is important to me as I'm a poor student (not that poor though). I think everyone likes to save money, I know there's a lot of cheap phone company out there that offer video calls but what company can beat FOR FREE. There's hardly any delay on it. When you move, the webcam shows you moving. The quality is acceptable but can get a bit jerky when you're using a lot of programs or you don't have much RAM to spare. This webcam might not be top of the range but it does its job. On word of advice though, not about you using your webcam but you accepting to see other people's webcams as sometimes guys that you think you know might flash more than you wanted to it. That aside the Logitech Quickcam Express is a little gem.
Pictures of Logitech Quickcam Express
Picture 1 of me
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Jul 4th, 2005
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