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Logitech QuickCam Pro, a great webcam!
By Robert Sloan
With an eye to doing some art instruction videos, I shopped for a new webcam. I wanted something with good resolution, a good microphone and easy to use software with a preview screen so that I could set up my laptop just off camera and see what I was doing. This would help me avoid problems like my shoulder or arm cutting off the camera's view of my hand working on the art. I bought it at Tiger Direct on sale for about $20 off their usual price. Most times you can find a product you want at lower than retail if you look online -- actually I think it was quite a bit lower than that if you look at Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. When it came, I found the packaging was annoying. It was heavily theft-proofed with very strong clear plastic that was hard to cut or unstaple, but I managed to break into the box and get out all of its components. I loaded the software into my laptop with no difficulty and skimmed the booklet. I was right -- the software installed as easily as my first QuickCam and did still have the preview screen function. The differences are great. The resolution's good, up at the level of a low end still camera -- and just the right size for posting online without the graininess of a phone cam shot. The color is excellent and the lighting auto-adjusts but that function can be turned off if I want to play with the lighting. On low resolution the videos blur and trails follow motions. At medium or high resolution that problem reduces and disappears, so I have it usually set to medium resolution. That gives a bigger preview too. I don't want to use the full High Definition on test videos since it'd seriously stuff my hard drive, but I like the greater resolution than my phone or my old webcam. Its start bar is easy to handle. I was able to intuitively figure out all the special features including avatars of a dinosaur and a shark for web phoning, various special effects including a black and white streaked "old movie" effect and a bright complementary split screen Warhol-painting effect. Not very useful for art lessons for YouTube but could be fun if I want to have a webcam chat with a friend. My only disappointment with this product other than digging through the excessively tough packaging was that the tether cord is very short. The 12" vertical camera stand is very helpful for changing the camera angle without moving my laptop. I just wish it had an optional longer cord so that I could move it farther away from my computer for setting up my art videos. I might try to find a USB cord extender for it to solve that problem. On heavy anti-theft packaging, I sometimes wonder if companies couldn't save money by packing a product differently for whether it's going to retail or mail order sales. The mail order packaging could be minimal and designed mostly to protect it in shipping, using cheaper recycled packing materials. The anti-theft packaging is a plus for brick and mortar stores since I can see that it would discourage shoplifters. It's just annoying when something was shipped. All in all, despite that short cord, I feel that my QuickCam Pro laptop model was a good bargain and will do the job well for years to come. It's become a very handy snapshot camera for cat photos and avatar self portraits as well as a video camera. With its true color, steady little stand and optimal resolution for online posting, I discovered my new QuickCam Pro was perfect for snapping photos of art to post online when the painting is too large to fit on my scanner bed. The images below are photos taken with my new webcam, showing the resolution, color and clarity that I'm so happy with. It has proved to be so handy for still pictures of anything, since I can tell what I'm getting with a big preview screen and I don't have to worry about hand shakes blurring the image. I'm still practicing on the art instruction videos and when I get a final version edited will post it to YouTube. My first efforts failed dismally not through equipment problems but my own need to rehearse what I'm going to say while drawing -- I seem to focus more on what I'm drawing and forget to say what I'm doing as well as not speak up loudly enough to be understood. Rehearsal will solve that problem, so you may see some online art lessons soon! |
  
Photo of my pastel painting "Bullies" with very true color.
Still life setup photo by Robert Sloan, for his use as photo reference. Contact me to ask if you want to draw from this.
Self portrait photo by Robert Sloan using the QuickCam Pro.
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I ordered this camera today after reading your article. Amazon may have read it as well. I found this blurb on the Amazon web site: "Also Available in Frustration-Free Packaging
This product is now available in easy-to-ship, easy-to-open packaging optimized for our customers. See the Amazon Certified Frustration-Free Packaging version." I started an account with Livestream.com and our artist we publish will be streaming live video while painting and at artist signings. It sounds about like what you are doing. If you have video posted somewhere, or if you are streaming, I would like to hear about it.
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February, 2012
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