Reviews

First time webcam owner – Very easy to use, October 10, 2007

Having never owned – or even so much as used – a webcam prior to this, I don’t have much point of reference. That said, the installation of this product couldn’t have been any easier. On my older desktop system, the installation only took a few minutes. The laptop I have is much newer, and the software installed even faster. Absolutely trouble-free, and within minutes I had a picture on screen and was able to take photos and make videos.

The adjustable clip on the back of the camera is very effective – it doubles as a stand, which came in handy on my bulky old non-flat screen monitor. On my laptop screen it was just as handy, resting firmly in place at the top of the screen.

I was truly impressed by the video quality. Again, I’ve never owned a webcam previously, but I’ve viewed many webcam videos posted on websites – and I was aware that the image quality ran the gamut. The lens on this webcam produces a very sharp, detailed image. Even in relatively low-lighting, the picture wasn’t bad at all. On my several years old desktop, the image didn’t keep up with the movements very well – moving my head from side to side, for instance, resulted in quite a blur. But on my newer laptop, that blur was reduced extremely – the movements registered in more or less real-time. The auto-focus feature seems to do it’s job pretty well, and makes operation very simple.

The audio quality was definitely less impressive than the picture – but it was right in line with what I expected for a little tiny built-in microphone. Loud noises clip and/or distort – I tried playing my saxophone and the result wasn’t listenable (though some would say that’s due to my playing ability). Yelling, or even extremely loud talking, clips. But all things considered, when remaining at a distance of a couple feet and talking at a normal, even volume – the audio quality was very acceptable.

I got a kick out of the various visual features. There are a bunch of filters – my favorite is the ’50s style, creating a vintage black-and-white scratched up film look. Neonize was a trip – darkening everything on screen except for neon-colored borders to everything. The ‘ghost’ filter gives a blurred tracer effect to all movement. I don’t know how much need I’ll have for these, but they’re fun to mess around with. There are also a bunch of options to change the look of your face on-screen – including ‘robot face’ which makes you look like a cyborg or something. I don’t honestly know what the ‘avatar’ feature was supposed to do – I aligned my face within the red box like it said to, but nothing really happened ever once I initiated the feature…

Bottom line – speaking for total, complete, 100% webcam novices like myself: this is a quality webcam that I could not imagine being easier to use. The video quality is top-notch. My biggest criticism – and this is actually kind of minor – is the utter lack of a storage case or pouch for the webcam. I don’t plan to leave mine out all the time and I’d like to keep the lens (rightfully rated highly) in good shape. For the time being, I’m actually putting it back in the box but even a cheap felt pouch would’ve been nice.

Great quality – painful to install, October 2, 2007

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 has probably the clearest image for any reasonably priced WebCam. My daughter grabbed it from me as soon as it arrived and when we got it working her friends were astounded at how much better the image from our house was than all the other friends’ webcams. The auto-focus does a nice job of keeping the picture in crystal clear focus even as you move around and get close to the camera. We used it to make a couple of short videos and at even larger sizes, they still looked great. We took some still pictures at the highest quality and they were razor sharp. Sound quality was also exceptional. The camera has the ability to automatically adjust to the light in the room and that worked nicely. It lets you turn the feature off in case you don’t like the result. The camera has a well designed stand that lets it wrap around flat screen monitors and sit nicely on top of regular monitors.

Installation was painful on our PCs (Windows XP fully updated), however. On my daughter’s computer we had to install twice to get all the correct editing software that comes with the camera. On my computer, the first try caused the installation to crash and when we finally did get everything installed after a couple of reboots we couldn’t get the software to recognize that the camera was installed. We ran an update from Logitech, rebooted again, and everything was finally working. The Skype problem that has been reported in some reviews here seems to be related to the current version of Skype but people have been reporting success using Skype Version 2.5.0.154. Apparently, the Skype developers are aware of the problem and are working on a fix.

Overall, this is an amazing camera. My daughter uses it to talk to her friends using Live Messenger and it works perfectly. It does a fantastic job as a still and video camera (at least one that is attached to the computer). The software lets you add all sorts of silly effects like putting an arrow through your head or giving you silly sunglasses (with more effects available for free downloading from Logitech) and it does a great job of keeping them in the right place even as you move around. I can strongly recommend this camera to anyone in the market for something better than one of those cheap, poor image cameras.

Logitech’s QuickCam Pro 9000 – Great All-around Webcam, July 10, 2008

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is a great all-around web-cam and perhaps the best value in high end models. While there are certainly more affordable models and a couple of higher end models, this one really hits the sweet spot in combining great value and top of the line features.

I recently got to really test Microsoft’s LifeCam VX-5000. It’s a good all around webcam at a reasonable price, but it has some weaknesses. As such it provides a good counterpoint from which to compare the Quick Cam Pro 9000. While the VX-5000 is an improvement over older models, it still has some of the weaknesses we typically associate with web-cams. But at least in a few key areas the Quick Cam Pro 9000 overcomes those weaknesses.

Pros
+ Video quality is very good, and can be used for professional (work) video conferencing if you wish
+ The video capture rate performs much better than competing devices I have tried
+ The microphone sensitivity is above average, but demanding users may still want to use a dedicated microphone
+ The highly touted low light performance and auto-adjustment works very well and not as well as the
+ The software includes less unneeded software than the VX-5000
+ The HD video resolution can scale to full screen depending on your video resolution settings
+ The included software is very easy for non-techies to install and configure using simple buttons
+ Ability to zoom, pan and tilt are nice standard extras
+ Nice video effects, though they take some time and experience to use
+ Advanced features are just a click away, allowing customized settings
+ Nice indicator light alerts you to when webcam is capturing
+ The options to take a snapshot, record video or record sound are nice and useful for basic multimedia stuff

Cons
- The price may seem somewhat high for those who only want a basic webcam
- The base is not the best design for working with a variety of monitors
- Still has some software and driver issues for some versions of Windows
- Not as much support for Mac users in terms of Logitech software

Comparing Against The Alternatives

The Logitech’s Quick Cam Pro 9000 offers a true 2.0 megapixel sensor, but can create pictures that are the equivalent of 8.0 megapixels via interpolation. This is on the higher end of picture quality captured by the current generation of high end web-cams. The Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 also offers a true 2.0 megapixel sensor. Conversely, the VX-5000 only gives you 1.3 megapixels, and those are interpolated up from the VGA resolution that is captured by the camera. Interpolation basically means the resolution is not based on the direct sensor but are *enhanced*. The native sensor capacity definitely matter more than the interpolated values, and the Pro 9000 has admirable numbers.

Since the 9000 has a better built-in sensor, one would expect it to capture better video than the VX-5000 and it does. But it also captures better video than the VX7000 despite the similar listed sensor capabilities. Both the 9000 and the Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000 capture high definition video, but once again the 9000 can capture a higher resolution.

Perhaps the difference is in the Zeiss optics. Now I am not your typical consumer when it comes to optics, having worked with optics professionally as well as for academic reasons. Name brand doesn’t always tell you that the optics are *good* because all optics manufacturers produce a range of products from low to mid-range to high end. In this case, the visual quality definitely seems to be enhanced by some good quality internal optics. I have read they are real optical glass, but I haven’t disassembled my unit to confirm that claim. ;-)

So if you really want a very clear picture and don’t mind spending twice as much, then the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is for you. It definitely has a better auto-adjustment feature than the VX-5000 that allow it to adapt more quickly and accurately to changing light conditions. It also has an auto-focus feature that seems to work very well too.

The Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF is another high end camera that also has some auto-focus features at a higher price tag, around $100. Unlike the Pro 9000, it has a telescoping arm that allows you to extend the camera height more easily and as such it doesn’t need to be rested on top of your monitor. Do your research depending upon your needs.

If you need an inexpensive webcam and don’t need high definition video, look into the VX-5000. If you want a higher quality unit that can be used easily under a variety of lighting conditions, the Pro 9000 is one of the best options.

Enjoy!

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