Low-priced and reasonable
Written: Jul 23 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Good for videoconferencing
Cons: Limited uses, not always people to VC with
|
|
|
| leetucker1's Full Review: IBM PC Camera Webcam |
This camera is not great or superb, nor is it horrible. It is good at what it does, but there's nothing that makes it stand out from the crowd. Ultimately, if you want an inexpensive camera for stills or videoconferencing, this will work just fine. However, it's not designed for anything beyond that.
Webcams are created for the purpose of videoconferencing primarily. For that, requirements are quite low, and nearly any webcam will suffice. This camera is no exception. Its max. 352x288 resolution is more than most videoconferencing programs can handle, and even on broadband the chances of taking advantage of the full frame rate are near nil. I do not recommend that this camera be used for video beyond videoconferencing as the quality and features are not sufficient or practical. To do any real video, get a video capture card (I recommend the ATI All In Wonder 128) or a MiniDV camcorder. Still pictures are a similar situation. I have taken a small collection of pictures of myself for use on my website with this camera. They are decent snapshots, and serve my purposes. However, they are not of high enough resolution to be useful in print. Even a 640x480 webcam is essentially useless for DTP or photography applications. Therefore, in applications, this camera is limited no more and no less than any other webcam.
Image quality with this camera is good. Unfortunately, my computer is in a poorly lit room, so noise is very noticeable in most of my photos. However, it diminishes noticeably when I get the room as bright as possible. I recommend to eliminate noise that this camera be used in a well-lit room. The color controls in the software are decent: it includes brightness, contrast, gamma correction and lighting controls. Pictures taken under the "incandescent light" setting tend to have a bluish cast, but that may be partially due to the darkness of the room.
I got this webcam as a rebate deal with a new computer. I think it generally retails for ~$40. Shop around for a good price. Probably the best idea is to get several, and give them to all your friends. Unless you have friends with a webcam this will collect dust. But if you have a good use for it, you will probably find that this camera is a good deal and adequately serves your needs for videoconferencing and easy pictures of yourself.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
leetucker1
|
|
Member: Lee Tucker
Location: Ithaca, NY
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.