Webcam Advice

[Aura]

Hey folks, I find myself in need of a couple of webcams now that my relationship will be long distance for the next 9 months (one for me, one for the gf). I simply don't know very much about webcams and am not looking for anything out of the ordinary but I was still hoping someone could share an experience or two just to give me an idea. The cams won't be used for anything beyond basic web chatting (gchat and skype probably). Need sound for both as well, but I assume that comes standard with most. Budget is probably no more than $50 per webcam.

Here's one that intrigued me earlier today.

Thanks much for any/all help.

[Nebby]

The one I have is the Logitech 9000 and I've found it to be quite good. Amazon has it for $64.22, but it's $49.22 after rebate...not sure if $50 after rebate is ok or not

[Salt Peanuts]

I've no recommendations, but the first thing I thought of after reading your post was Facetime/iPhone 4 commercial.

[manaox2]

I also thought of Skype mobile on a smartphone (EVO 4G Skype mobile > Facetime). But otherwise, I think if you have a desktop and can afford the extra $5, this may be your best option: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-H5D-00001-LifeCam-Cinema/dp/B002MCZJ78/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1282669503&sr=1-2

[morphsci]

I can vouch for the pro 9000. I bought 18 of them for our computer lab and they have all held up perfectly to student abuse for 3 semesters.

[Salt Peanuts]

What happened in the 4th semester?

[Grahame]

Webcam advice?

Don't go to Chatroulette

Chatroulette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jvlgato]

The cams won't be used for anything beyond basic web chatting (gchat and skype probably).

... well, of course, there's doing the NASTAY!

Someone had to say it!

Brian, I'm pretty sure I have a few cams sitting around the house and office that I'm not using. They're a few years old, though, and one of them is USB1. But the price is right. I can send them your way if you want.

[luvdunhill]

I use this Cam on my Mac (interestingly enough, a black hole didn't immediately appear under my desk like you would have expected):

https://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/productdetails.aspx?pid=008

[Duggeh]

I am trying to decide between the Logitech 9000 and the Microsoft Lifecam 720p to replace my labtec webcam (so old the labtec website doesnt have it).

So far I'm leaning towards the Microsoft one (partly because it's cheaper).

...

[morphsci]

What happened in the 4th semester?

I'll let you know when it is over.

[TheSloth]

I use this Cam on my Mac (interestingly enough, a black hole didn't immediately appear under my desk like you would have expected):

https://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/productdetails.aspx?pid=008

How well does that run? I presume that the auto-focus etc. doesn't work? Any comparison to the built in iSight. I've found the current built in iSights to be not great quality in a best case scenario, however extremely consistent in frame rate and picture quality across a wide range of lighting conditions.

[luvdunhill]

How well does that run? I presume that the auto-focus etc. doesn't work? Any comparison to the built in iSight. I've found the current built in iSights to be not great quality in a best case scenario, however extremely consistent in frame rate and picture quality across a wide range of lighting conditions.

The focus does indeed work. The whole thing works quite well. I don't have any built-in cameras, so I cannot comment on that.

[TheSloth]

The focus does indeed work. The whole thing works quite well. I don't have any built-in cameras, so I cannot comment on that.

Are you just using it plug and play as a UVC cam? I didn't think that focus etc. worked with the UVC cams.

[luvdunhill]

Are you just using it plug and play as a UVC cam? I didn't think that focus etc. worked with the UVC cams.

By focus do you mean autozoom? Yeah, it's setup as a UVC cam.

[IceClass]

I use a Playstation 3 Eye on my Mac.

[Eric5676]

I'm looking at that Logitech 9000 or the 910 for myself. I'm surprised I haven't seen a mention of the 910 up to this point. Anything I should be aware of?

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/webcams/devices/6816

Amazon and other outlets are selling it cheaper than that list price.

[manaox2]

Its probably because its still about $80, which was higher then the original goal of $50. If you plan to record videos at your computer with it, it will be nice to have the 1080P feature. Currently, the highest chat quality of any service is 720P, which is tough for many. The fastest home internet service in NC for 90% of its residents doesn't meet the 1MB per second upload requirement to even do that sadly (roadrunner). It might be overkill unless your really trying to future proof.