Worth what I paid for it...Of course, it was free...
Written: Sep 12 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, performs basic functions well
Cons: No frills whatsoever
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| basilisk4's Full Review: IBM PC Camera Webcam |
Like the average computer user, I don't do a whole lot of teleconferencing or anything like that, so I don't have a whole lot of use for a PC camera. My father had a spare one that he had gotten for free with his new IBM laptop, however, and he asked me if I wanted it. Never one to turn down an offer for any kind of new toy for free, I took it back to my apartment and hooked it up to my computer.
At first, I played around with it for awhile -- I took pictures of my cat, myself making funny faces, and other silly stuff like that. While this camera supposedly captures images in 24-bit True Color, it can only capture images at an unimpressive 352 x 288 pixels maximum. This is passable for pictures where your face is right in front of the camera lens, but it's certainly nothing special.
On the other hand, this little camera is fairly flexible for being relatively low in price and marketed as basically a "no-frills" model. The camera supports three of the most common video formats (CIF, SIF, and QCIF), and users can save their images/videos is either BMP, JPG, or AVI format. In addition, the included software allows the user to make a few basic adjustments for the lighting (basically no more than brightness and contrast controls). Finally, when using the IBM PC Camera to take short videos, one can make excellent use of the selectable frame rate control, which can be varied between 10 and 30 fps (frames per second). This is extremely helpful in negotiating a balance between video quality and file size.
The IBM PC Camera is tiny, at about 1.5" x 2.5" x 2.8" (height x width x depth). I suppose that for this size, the fact that it can capture any live video at all is somewhat amazing. Conveniently, the camera is mounted on its base in such a way that it can rotate around a full 360 degrees horizontally and 20 degrees vertically. The fact that this camera simply connects to your computer via the USB port adds yet another measure of convenience.
The software that comes with the IBM PC Camera is decent, but certainly nothing at all special. Like I said earlier, it allows one to make certain fine adjustments to the graphical quality and size of your still pictures and videos. It does, however, install quickly and easily and takes up very little hard drive space.
If you're looking for a PC camera with excellent live-action video capabilities, great graphics, and all the other latest bells and whistles, then my advice is to move on; this is definitely not the right product for you. If you're looking for an extremely basic PC camera that is fairly cheap ($40-60) but can still perform most of the standard functions you would expect, however, then this may be a wise choice.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
basilisk4
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 233
Trusted by: 214 members
About Me:
Soon-to-be married 26-year-old lawyer who likes electronics, computers, and cars.
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