Customer Reviews

Creative Labs Dual-Mode PC-Cam 350 (WebCam & Digital Camera)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I respectfully disagree with the reviewer who gave this product 1 star. I have had mine for several years; been droped a couple of times and it keeps on going. Try doing that with a 2 or 3 megapixel camera. It comes with a lot of softwear, Ulead Photo; Adobe; and it's own PC-CAM CENTER; where you can download your pic's transfere them to an ALBUM create several albums. I use mine to download pic's on items I sell on ebay. The photos are good but not as good as higher priced camera. Other features I that I really like is that it doubles as a webcam which I use to talk to ppl online. Has a delayed shutter, auto/manual flash Hi/low density pic, which sounds like the 1 star reviewer wasn't aware of. Has a 30 second video feature to make a short movie. Another feature is it can take 5 or 6 pic's in rapid sucession; and all this for around 50 bux new!!!

I have bought several as gifts for children of friends and family who are going off to college and for relatives so we can all chat to each other online (does not come with a mic) which is a heck of a lot cheaper than a $60.00 phone bill each month; and everone loves their 350.

I don't understand the other reviewer's complaints, but you don't buy a Subaru (no offence to Subaru owners) and expect a to run or ride or have the amenities of a Lincoln Continental.

I base my ratings on the following

* initial cost
* features
* ease of use
* value for the amount spent
* Quality

This device functions as a digital camera, web cam, and video recorder.

As a digital camera, I'd give it a "C-." Picture quality is only average. You can improve the picture quality somewhat with the included software, or use your own image correcting program. But don't expect professional quality images. There is also no zoom feature.

As a web cam, I'd give it a "B." It works fine on a Windows 98/ME computer, but frequently malfunctions on a XP machine. There is no built-in microphone, so you will need your own to record sound.

As a video recorder, I'd give it an "A-." Video is recorded in the .avi format, which is quite large, with no sound, up to about 35-40 seconds. Video quality is very nice.

In conclusion, this device should work well on a Windows 98/ME computer, but I cannot recommend it for a machine running Windows XP, even though Creative insists it's XP compatible. If you have XP and want a Creative PC-CAM, get a newer model than this one.

April 2004 update: the camera is malfunctioning. The power does not turn off unless I remove the batteries. When the power is running, I cannot take any photos or switch to different camera modes. I replaced the batteries with new ones, but that didn't fix anything. My 90-day warranty expired a long time ago, so now I'm going to get a better, more advanced, XP-compatible, (and of course more expensive) digital camera. And it definitely won't be a Creative digital camera.

I purchased this camera in December of 2005. I started using it in Janary of 2006. It started looking very strange (the camera image on the live video) by April of 2006 looked very poor.

Details: The image quality was fading, but it did not reach a level where the image had degraded. I compensated for the "fading" image by adding additional light. In other words, it was hard to see me as clearly. Always looked like a dim room.

It is now August of 2006. The color looks like a 1971 rock video. The image is purple, blue, green with many hotspots. The best example is to picture a photo negative (for those of you that remember film). I have upgraded firmware, drivers, programs. This did not help. I plugged, unplugged, use less USB, more USB etc.

I have configured by bypassing the white balance, image correction, gamma etc. I used to work as a videographer, so this was not something daunting and if there were adjustments that could be made , this would have fixed it.

My rating of 1 is that the camera worked fine for almost exactly three months (give a week). I did not describe June or July. I can only say that the colors went beserk (multi colors--eyes and shadows from light were "hot spots", sparkles appeared on different points of the live video.

The warranty from Creative is only for 3 months. This, for me, is mighty suspect. The camera is pristine, left in one spot since installation. I would recommend when buying these webcams, to look at ratings, durability, google, and decide between that balance of buying low cost (due to potential obsolescence) or paying more but still potentially owning the same problem. This was an average priced camera that should have lasted years. My previous Intel camera lasted over 6 years and would still be going but the drivers are unsupported by the company.

I would not recommend this camera (unless) Creative creates a 1 year warranty. (Ah yes my other criteria) Buy a camera but make sure it has a fair one year warranty. A three month warranty is hardly worth the price of admission.

Thanks,

Ralph

This camara is a garbage. I bought one and thought it was malfunctioning. I asked for other and found out that that's the way it is. The pictures are very bad, they are useless. Only the web cam works but its resolution is very very bad. I haven't bother to check its video recording capabilities because I suppose it won't be to my expectation. What bothers me the most is that the PC-cam center software that it brings has two sample pictures that have very good resolution. So it swindles to to think that you can take pictures like those using this camara when in fact you can't. I think Creative is taking us as fools including these pictures. I will never buy any product from this company.