I obtained a webcam primarily to permit me to communicate with friends from Europe. Actually the person with whom I planned to use it the most frequently lives in England, and we used the web to choose a cam together, intending thus to find hardware and software which were as compatible and usable as possible. We scouted through the entire market line-up of cameras below the $200 mark, and decided that functionality, picture quality and frame rate failed to significantly increase beyond the levels represented by this cam no matter how much more you paid for one.

Hardware

The webcam itself is a perfect shiny black plastic sphere and would fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. It is pinioned onto either a flat rubberized base, or onto a tripod style base which will perch precariously atop your flat screen monitor. The cam is equipped with a built in microphone. It trails a USB 1.1 cord. This is compatible with USB 1.0 and 2.0 also.

I have a flat screen monitor and have tried to use the top-mounting tripod, but really, between the precarious balance of the tripod and the weight of the cable from it, it is a prodigious balancing act to get the cam to hang on the top of the monitor horizontally, and of course if you dont get it horizontal then it wont stay put. The pinion permits you to adjust the angle of the camera in any plane, and is good at staying in the new position, there is no hint of slippage from your desired angle.

Picture Quality

The cam has a QVGA CMOS image sensor with 640 x 480 resolution. It has been pointed out to me by minds and eyes sharper than my own that the above resolution statement, as taken from Logitech's own literature only makes sense if the image is interpolated, since QVGA is only 320 x 240. I have emailed Logitech, so watch this space. It is also capable of 640 x 480 in BMP and JPEG format for still images. Video capture is in the AVI format and is at a thirty frames per second rate. The image can be adjusted manually with the enclosed software or auto-adjusted to prevailing circumstances. A feature is present to adjust for low light, but this we have found to be gimmicky and provide little or no appreciable difference in image quality at low light levels.

What all this translates to is that the camera is most certainly only at its best in good lighting conditions, but when this is the case the image is crisp, colorful and smooth. As light levels diminish a dusky hue falls over the image which cannot be taken off by anything but the addition of more light. Since I happen to make most use of my cam to talk to friends in England, it is frequently the case that I am speaking with Arizona sunlight streaming through my windows whilst it is night there, and they are lit only by studio lighting. Even strong studio light paints this dusky hue across the image. It doesnt bother me personally, but still images taken in that light would leave much to be desired.

The frame rate of this camera is sufficient to produce a smooth flowing video image over a broadband connection, where the image is of some bloke sitting at his computer with a rum and coke (that would be me) chatting to another guy (that would be Jim Clifford) with a vodka and lemonade. If you go in for a lot of gymnastics or sign language, or have particularly expressive eyebrows, you may find the frame rate to be inadequate. For my sessile needs, it is entirely sufficient. Jim and I plan to do more over the web as time goes by, but as mans growth goes, we are both of average speed, computer wise.

Software

The enclosed software on CDROM for both windows and MAC operating systems covers a lot of different options. The main screen gives the option of Yahoo, AOL and MSN instant messenger services and well as Windows messenger (in Windows XP only.) Since I am currently in a transitional period between ISPs I have been in a position to actually test all of these interfaces with the exception of Yahoo.

The webcam fits seamlessly into AOLIM, slotting onto the side of the IM window, requiring no configuration, and if you do still wish to reconfigure you can do so from within AOL's own configuration software, which is streamlined and effective.

The webcam does not fit quite so seamlessly onto MSN messenger. Audio configuration for MSN messenger is counter intuitive, requiring a combination of maneuvers involving the software options for both the webcam software and MSN messenger itself. We had a whole day of using semaphore because we had sight but not sound. Now we have it down, it goes smoothly, but there is a learning curve with MSN messenger.

Windows messenger, being very similar to MSN messenger, is pretty much the same as above.

The other main option on the main screen, which I use actually more frequently than live webcam communication is the quick capture option. This permits you to switch on your webcam in privacy, disconnected from the internet, and record a video letter for a friend, and then email it to them once it is complete. This, an option preferable for the person whose email contacts are slow but reliable repliers, is excellent since it permits one to speak at length, freely, with genuine emotion and without the need for rubbish emoticons. Observe the caveat that messages recorded in this format that are above 5MB in length may be automatically rejected my some email servers.

There is no upper limit to the length of the video message you can record, up to the capacity of your machine, but unless you and your friend use the same p2p provider you will have serious difficulties exchanging video letters in excess of 50 MB. This is unfortunate, since it is exactly the kind of person who wishes to exchanges greetings in excess of 50 MB who would benefit most greatly from this kind of software.