EZ to use
Written: Jul 03 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy to set up and use, good software package
Cons: poor picture quality in poorly lighted rooms
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| jigette's Full Review: Ezonics EZ-302 Web Cam |
When my husband got me this webcam for mothers day, I really didn't like it, if it hadn't been a gift I would have taken it back to the store, but now I've had it for a while I'm glad I didn't. The pro's with this cam greatly outweigh the cons.
So let me tell you about it, I'll start with the pro's, this camera is so easy to install, it comes with its own software, and, as long as you read the instructions, and install the driver first, all you then need to do is plug the camera into a USB port and you are ready to take pictures, make movies, and video conference.
Ok so here is what you do, install the driver, install the 'intercom live express program', which enables you to take still pics, movies, and make greeting cards with your pictures, install the 'Ulead iphoto express software', which enables you to manipulate your pictures, either taken by web came or from another source, IE scanner, digital camera etc, install netmeeting (if you don't already have it), then just plug your camera into a USB slot.
Once the camera and all software are installed you are ready to use it. Once you are in the process of using your camera, you can change screen size, change the options, brightness, color, contrast, lighting etc, and save to numerous different formats.
The camera has a manual focus dial on the top, so its very easy to focus, is a neutral grey and off white color, so will look ok with almost any computer, has a very sturdy base, and can be angled up or down on the base, with a refresh rate of up to 30 frames per second, it is comparable to most other web cams, but with a much better price.
Now for the cons, the reason why this cam almost was taken back to the store, when we first got this product the picture quality was (in my opinion) absolutely awful, it seemed very gritty, the only way I can really describe it, is that it was like looking at the picture thru transparant sandpaper. We tried everything we could think of, changing the brightness, color, contrast, etc, setting the pic to better quality, faster frames, but nothing seemed to work. Then we started playing around with lighting (you see my house is very dark, its an old house, dark wood panelling and very small windows. We finally decided to buy some extra lights (the flourescent strip lights) for about my computer desk, to my surprise this did the trick, the picture quality was due to poor lighting, I am guessing that due to the darkness of the room, the camera was having problems picking up a picture, thus giving us poor quality. Now we have the extra lighting needed, the pictures are coming out as good as most I have seen.
I would recommend this camera to anyone, the price is great (we even managed to buy it when it had a $30 rebate meaning it only actually cost us $20), it is so simple to use that even a computer novice could have it up and running in a matter of minutes, the only thing I would recommend is that if you have poor lighting, to buy some extra lights when you buy the camera.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: jigette
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Member: Trish
Location: Bossier City. LA
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 19 members
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