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Logitech QuickCam Orbit, Purchased Febuary 2004, $130
This camera has been an interesting experiment. It has a really nifty shape and when mounted on its extension pole really attracts attention. The camera itself is in a detachable eyeball with a standard mini-USB connector in the bottom. That plugs either directly into the camera base, which contains the microphone component, or it can be attached with an 8 ½ inch extension pole to bring the camera up closer to face level. The base is solid and doesn't move around like some of the lighter cameras.
The camera is mounted on a motorized gimbal inside the eyeball section and it's quite interesting to watch it rotate, following you as you move. This feature is not well explained on the box or even at the company's website which is surprising since this is the key selling point on this model. The box says "mechanical panning", but what does that mean? All my cameras can pan mechanically by grabbing the camera and rotating it. Poor choice of words, I would have said "motorized panning". I had to buy it before I really knew for sure that it is motorized.
The software that tries to track your face has some serious problems. I suspect part of this is due to my beard creating a fuzzy bottom to the oval shape of my face. The camera seems to try to center on my forehead most of the time. Then occasionally it will, for no apparent reason, slowly wander off and point at the ceiling or a table lamp which was totally out of the frame when it started moving. Sometimes I can get it to come back by making a fist in front of the camera and, so to speak, drag the center back to my face. Then, at other times that doesn't work and I have to turn the face tracking off and use the manual control panel to bring it back to my face. In the long run I have given up even trying to use the auto face tracking, which makes the prime selling feature of this camera useless.
The camera has no focus control. I'm not sure if focus is done with a motor or if the camera simply has a fixed focus lens. Another thing that I find lacking is a manual color balance slider. The software only has auto, incandescent, florescent and daylight. It does have a "freeze" feature, but trying to get the balance where you want it then hitting freeze is very difficult. I found that in the evening, sitting in the living room in my red long johns, the camera insisted my union suit was purple and of course my face ended up blue.
Overall, the camera performs well with good picture quality. However, unless you are one who loves the unique shape and just has to have all the latest gadgets, I would recommend going with the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000. This one isn't worth the extra money.
 | Sample images showing how this camera performs under different lighting conditions |