Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe Webcam (Black)
by Logitech
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe Webcam (Black)
Customer Review: Great Picture But RightLight2 Has Problems
Summary: 3 Stars
I replaced an old IBM webcam with this Logitec Communicate Deluxe (Don't know if this is the exact same one because there are several with the same name).
The picture quality is excellent and I really like the wide angle view. It does fairly well in low light situations, especially when you use the RightLight automatic settings (when RightLight works).
The camera is pointed out a window into a shaded atrium. But if I set it to use RightLight to automatically adjust the picture it switches back and forth from a light image to a dark image for several minutes until it finally stabilizes. It must do this when the light outside reaches a certain level since it happens every day at the same time of day. This wreaks havoc with my motion detection software because it automatically takes a picture with each change in lighting. So I had to turn off the automatic RightLight setting to prevent it from taking a bunch of pictures when there is no real motion going on.
The other problem I have is every once in a while it prompts me to turn on the RightLight setting. Even when I tell it to never use RightLight it still occasionally prompts me to turn it on. The camera stops working when this prompt is up. This is really annoying.
If Logitec can ever get their software perfected this might be a great webcam.
UPDATE: Logitec released an update to their software which seems to have fixed the RighLight problem.
Customer Review: Good value for the money
Summary: 5 Stars
The Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe is a good value for the money. Considering it's features and performance, I'd call it a mid-range web cam. It does a good job without costing a fortune.
The face recognition software does a pretty good job detecting the eyes-to-mouth region. It definitely doesn't have any sort of advanced visual recognition, because the software actually detects movements of the mouth, face direction, eyebrow movements, and so on. It doesn't recognize detailed mouth formations of speech sounds.
The camera has a built-in microphone, and the sound quality is quite good. It seems to filter out almost all of the normal background noises that you'd encounter in a room.
The software package contains a number of special effects capabilities, but most of them-- such as the ability to construct a personal avatar-- seem silly to me. To each his own, though...
Most importantly, the image quality is quite good. The software is good at handling low-light situations and movement.
This is most definitely not a studio-grade camera suitable for professional-quality video. But it's not priced like a high-end camera, either. It's a mid-range camera, and a good one.
I feel like I got what I paid for. I'm happy I bought it, and I'd do it again.
Customer Review: Works well, but not sure its much better than the non-Deluxe version
Summary: 4 Stars
Camera works well and clips on top of my flatscreen HP monitor fine. Have only used it with Yahoo Messenger 9 which severely limits the quality of the video conference to very slow ultra jerky frames per second and very low quality despite the fact that I have 20MB/second internet service, so it appears Yahoo is limiting bandwidth usage for video conferencing to the point its just a jerky stop motion looking video. So the 1.3 megapixel 30FPS is overkill if you plan on using it only with Yahoo. I can't speak for other chat tools.
The major difference between this camera and the non-deluxe version I upgraded from is the Right Light 2 and the Fun Masks & Avatars. I can't tell a bit of difference between RightLight 1 from my first camera and RightLight 2 they both auto adjust contrast and other video settings based on ambient lighting and do a so-so job at that. The FunMasks are cute for about 20 minutes but get annoying to the people on the other side rather quick. The avatars are very CPU intensive and don't really match your mouth and facial expressions well at all. I don't think these two features really qualify for a $30 more expensive camera versus the regular QuickCam Communicate. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have stayed with the cheaper non-Deluxe model.
Customer Review: fine for the $35 price
Summary: 5 Stars
I took hours reading over reviews to find the best webcam for my infrequent use.
Installation was Ok. I read the directions and followed them.
After downloading the webcam's vid software (upgraded) the program would not continue downloading. Not knowing what else to do, I turned off the computer, and when it came back on I went to the progam. If you are going to use it for Skype, skip downloading vid.
When I first used it on Skype, my friends could not see me. After reconnecting, turning off the computer, calling them again ...Eventually they could see me ... and I don't know how that happened. It still works well.
One simple thing: the webcam comes with the shade pulled down. Remember to pull it up so that the logo is no longer facing you, but the lens is!
The lens is wide angle, so there is a lot of background in the image. The person speaking is quite small. Probably good for a whole family that sits together to call grandma. It works for me. My friends can see my cats and dogs playing in the back of the room!
I am satisfied for the price of $35. I would not have ever spent $99 for this.
Customer Review: Decent Webcam
Summary: 3 Stars
A decent overall web cam. The Logitech interface for the driver is fairly annoying and somewhat poorly planned out. The camera itself is good, showing good colors and picks up sound really well. The frame rate drops a lot if the auto lighting features are turned on, and I didn't notice any difference in picture or color quality with them off. The tracking is a gimmick, it did not work at all, actually messed up the camera with it turned on (camera would constantly zoom in and out of one spot). Didn't really use the picture taking aspect, but they are probably of similar quality of most cell phones. Overall a good camera, I would recommend, however, if you're going to spend 70$ (which is the retail) for this camera, why not add 30$ more and get the best Logitech offers. One more note, if you have bad to decent internet, and you're using this with an IM program (aol, msn instant messenger, yahoo) the frame rate will likely be terrible. When using a web cam with a program like that, the frame rate as well as most of the quality of the images/video depend on the internet speed, and that of the person on the other end, as well as the computers themselves.