|
|
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Loved the design. Only if they used a better imaging chip., January 31, 2003
I bought this camera to use on a Thinkpad. I have always been fascinated with the design since the original came out on the iREZ Critter cameras made for Macintosh laptops a few years ago. Those cameras died because of very poor image quality. After using this camera, I wonder if Logitech just acquired the origianl iREZ and did nothing to improve it. Shame on them for putting out such a camera with such low image quality, especially at the price.Likes:
I loved the stylish design, but I'm also aware that this is completely subjective. The leg clips on the laptop or flat panel displays nicely. Though it is not as steady as some clamp-based notebook camera mounts, it is more compact and "integrated" as it can be turned over as a lens cover. The camera responds quickly to light changes to adjust exposure settings. It also has decent contrast handling (in spite of the poor images) and high shutter speed. It is very small and light, with a short USB cord true to its purpose as a notebook camera. Very decent construction quality, though the joint where the leg connects to the camera may be a weak link for a travel camera subjective to frequent handling or abuse. Dislikes:
Very poor image quality. It is comparable to the worst of the logitech line, or the Quickcam Express (which uses very dated technology), despite its 640x480 rating. The image is full of noise produced with high gain, yet more significantly, the resolving power of the imager or the lens is abysmal (yes I adjusted the focus ad nauseam). The color is also terrible, with very poor saturation and hue no matter how I adjusted it. The image in short, is grainy, pixelated, blurry and with a grey-ish hue on everything. Even a cheaper Xirlink camera I tried did much better than this. Conclusion:
Logitech tend to use "gain" function rather than prolonging the shutter speed for low light situations. This contributes to the noise of the images througout its camera line. The reason Logitech do this, I suspect, is so that the camera can "freeze frame" the moving subjects nicely even when under low light situations. The higher end Quickcam Pro 4000 has an adjustment for both gain and shutter, and this theory proved its own validity. Such control is not available for this travel camera, however, and grainy image is the norm. This factor was casted aside, since with better software controls the noise may be reduced and not be a "fault" of the camera's hardware itself. However, the image resolution as well as the color is quite terrible, even with all the controls played, looking more like a cheap 320x240 camera. These faults can be primarily attribued to an inferior CCD. Despite the favorable review on CNET among other sources, it is easily out-performed by a cheaper Xirlink made IBM Net Camera we also tried for comparison due to its comparable size and notebook clamping capability. The difference in image was phenomenal, so much that it truly put the little cute spider camera to shame. I sincerely do not want to reject the camera, but for this kind of price and image quality, even its innovatively designed and high quality plastic body cannot save it for becoming a very poor value indeed.
|
Saving...
