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Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro
This page still under development
Logitech's latest portable webcam seems to be another winner within the portable class. A nice size, small enough for portability and with a whopping 1.3 mega pixel image sensor. The case is a bit more squarish than most, departing somewhat from Logitech's traditional eyeball shaped cameras. It is a bit smaller than Logitech's previous Notebook camera. The spring close pin type clamp actually fits on my large notebook screen, unlike some of the other clamp-on notebook cameras, although it is rather tight. I currently have a Dell 9200 Inspiron with a 17 inch screen and a wood grained cover which ends up being a bit thicker than most notebooks.
The camera, as is true with all the new Logitech cameras, has a fixed focus lens. However the depth of field seems to be acceptable for most uses even at low light levels. The lens sticks out the front of the body about half an inch and the glass on the front is flat, without the normal recessed elements most cameras have. While I believe this will make cleaning the lens easer, it does tend to cause some flair problems if you have a light which falls directly on the front of the glass. Try to keep all light sources behind your computer to avoid this problem.
The camera tends to run a bit warmer than most, which would indicate it uses a fair amount of power. A drawback if you want to use it allot on notebook batteries. It has a nice short 18 inch cord and includes a small attached velcro strap to tie up any extra length of cable.
It comes with a simi-hard case which gives better protection than the soft sock style cases which come with most of the other cameras. The only drawback is the thickness of the case, which is required because of the way the clamp sticks out on the back of the camera. While the camera is small the attached clamp makes it thicker than any of the other portable cameras. The closed case is 1 5/8 inches thick, just a bit thicker than is comfortable to fit in my briefcase style notebook carrying case.
The camera includes a corded headphone / microphone very similar to many cell phone headsets. The kind with the microphone as part of the cord about a foot from the ear piece except this one is only 4 inches down from the ear. (photo to come soon)
The camera has many options for image size, from 160x120 to a huge 1280x960. I particularly like the 864x480 as it gives a nice wide picture about the same proportions as wide screen TV.
When running at high resolutions with image preview, the camera takes quite a bit of your computer processing power. I recommend that, unless you need a high frame rate, you chose a slow frame rate and or turn off image preview.
The camera controls are still a bit confusing. There are two ways to access the controls which is a bit confusing. I will be talking about these on a separate page soon, in the mean time check the Quick Cam Fusion page which discusses the software adjustments which are almost identical to this camera. There still is no color control. However unlike some of the other cameras with no white balance, this one seems to deal fairly well with my burgundy walls and red union suit. Note that there is a white balance slider in the camera settings dialogue but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the image.
Overall this is a good camera. My current pick for best portable in the USB 2 catagory.
 | Sample images showing how this camera performs under different lighting conditions |