Purchased Dec 1, 2009 $29.99

This camera has been behaving very strangely for me. It seems to work fine by itself but in conjunction with certain other cameras running on the same computer, the image is extremely pixelated and washed out. Turning off the other cameras, without removing them seem to clear up most of the problems, but not necessarily. You can see the results in the 640x480 resolution shot.

As I begin writing this article, the camera first looked like the large demo image, but after turning off the other cameras this one looks better but still has problems. Right now I am seeing colored artifacts in the form of flashing red and green lines in various places on the image. Then a few minutes later the lines disappear and the image looks great. It would appear part of this is caused when I get a bright light behind me such as when the camera sees the open window, then I see the lines in the dark areas. Moving the camera so not as much of the window shows the lines go away. Proper lighting appears to be a necessity for this camera.

When working properly, this camera works better than the C120, but not all that much better. Somewhat better in low light conditions, slightly better in very low light.

The stand is easer to work with than the C120 as it doesn't have a spring in it. My very low light test shots are slightly out of focus because I couldn't adjust the camera with all the cables and other cameras right next to it. My arms are also just a bit short to reach the test setup and still remain seated in my chair.

Given a choice between this one and the C120, I would go with the C120 for $10 less.

Sample images showing how this camera performs under different lighting conditions

See large images   640x480

Image resolutions available on this camera

Basic
• Manual Focus
• USB 2
• UVC (Universal Video Class)
• 640x480 Image sensor
• Vista Certified

Pluses
• Inexpensive

Minuses
• Strange pixelization at times