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Introduction
For those who did not know, I broke my old Logitech
QuickCam Express webcam by applying too much force on the focus ring, now
the damn thing won't focus properly. The quality of the pictures taken was
awful, pictures were grainly and the colour of pictures are all
pear-shaped. So I got down to a computer mall in Hong Kong where the SARS
is on a rampage, leaving me with endless choices of webcams to replace
that logitech piece of shit. Looked and Looked, there were many types
including expensive (200 quid) NetCams which are cams which work without a
PC. Most Webcams today do provide a fair quality picture at low price,
many are under 50 quid. The newer Logitech QuickCam 4000 feature a digital
zoom and a maxium resolution of 1.3Megapixel. However it would have cost
me 700HKD (60 quid) which is well beyond my budget. Most webcams will be
able to produce a VGA sized (640x480) picture, so the more you pay the
better pictures the cam will produce. Then there was this niffty box that
caught my eye, the V-Gear WebCam and after a sample shot I was impressed
enough to take it home with me, damn thing cost me 250HKD (21
quid)
The Package
I'd say a well presentated packing
Below: Items Includes a bag for the cam, Manual and
driver disc.
Below: The Cam itself
Below: Stands nicely on my LCD monitor, and
replacing that broken POS
Below: The Clips allows it to be used with laptops
or clip it to slim objects
Setup
According to the specification you must have a USB
port a Pentium III 650Mhz, 128MB RAM and CD drive for this thing to
work.
I tested this on a PIII 1Ghz and 256MB and it
worked fine. The installation was simple, it involves nothing more than
putting in the CD and installing the software included. I have only choose
to install the Driver and the security lite software, I did not choose to
install the other software because they were simply too simple as they are
geared towards the average home user. After installing the software I
rebooted the computer and plugged the Webcam into the computer, and even
the drivers were not "digitally signed" by microsoft, I continued to
complete the installtion.
I am glad to say that this camera uses TWAIN
standards (whatever that is) and most software should be able to used the
webcam and capture pictures from it, I have tested this cam with VisionGS
PE, ChillCam, NetMeeting and funny enough the Logitech Video IM Companion
software.
The settings allow some control of the sharpness of
the picture and the contrast of the picture. However there is no manual
control of shutter speed, and the focus is manual like my old Logitech
cam, involves turning the focus ring on the cam. The brightness control
has no effect on the picture for some reason.
The cam has an indicator light to tell you if it is
active, ewww its green.
Testing
We are going compare the quality of the pictures
with my digital camera - Fuji FinePix 6900z in normal light and in low
light condition.
Below: FinePix 1/50 Shutter F2.8 @ normal room
light with 60W desk lamp
Below: FinePix 1/3 Shutter F2.8 @ no electric
light
Below: V-Gear Cam Automatice Control @ normal room
light with 60W desklamp (Note: Picture was taken from the same distance,
the finepix was in the widest angle mode, the V-Gear cam has a fixed
zoom)
Below: V-Gear cam @ no electric light (bad
bad)
At 640x480 the cam did not perform very well.
However, at 320x240 it is more acceptable
At 320x240 we are able to generate very smooth
pictures and videos.
There is the motion detector software, it simply
records 1 mintue videos (wmv format and each of them takes about
1.5MB@320x240 w/ Sound) when there is movment dectected. I think it is
pretty impressive. Also you can schedule when to record, for example you
can make it record for 24 hours a day or just just make it stalk people
who walk pass your room window.
Conclusion
This webcam is great, the value and quality beats
my old logitech one hands down since I paid the same 20 pounds for the
them and I get more from this one. This cam is not native 640x480, the
image is poor probably because the CMOS is only capable of a lower
resolution and the image is being interpolated to make it 640x480 but in
fact the detail that is shown is at a lower resolution. I think you can't
expect too much from cheap products since I payed about 10 times the
amount for the fujifinepix cam. There is also the V-Gear WebCam Pro and
the Pro2 which features the USB2.0 interface providing more bandwidith and
smoother pictures also the Pro includes a in-built microphone while the
Pro2 includes a headset.
Although I saw webcams with better quality pictures
they did not offer such a good package also they just didn't look as smart
as the V-Gear WebCam, I recommand this produce to anyone who wants a
webcam speically on a budget.
Value
Works well for laptops
Useful software included
Bad at low light
Not native VGA
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