What we have here is a high quality WebCam system, with a great background which is Logitech, its creator, and the great software that comes with the camera.
Manuals & Software
The QC3000 comes with a 8-foot USB cable with protective cap.
The mounting stand is ideal to locate the camera over a flat surface (like a table or computer monitor) while the innovative SmartClip will allow you
to mount the camera in a laptop screen, which are usually thiner than regular computer monitors. The Privacy cover is a plastic piece that will slide
in front of your cameras' objective so you can block what users see thru it if you set the camera as a WebCam.
The first step then is to install the (CD) drivers (it is VERY recommended that you install the drivers BEFORE you plug in the QuickCam).
A multilingual wizard comes up, and although set up process is easy (you basically click on most of the "Next" tabs in the wizard),
it's a bit long and requires you to reboot the computer (too bad, as main idea behind USB technology is the true plug and play idea, where you plug the camera and it gets operative instantly).
Once you reboot the computer, a new Wizard will ask you to plug the camera. If everything went OK, your new camera will be detected and the QuickCam software is launched.
A green LED below the built-in mic in the camera will warn you that the camera is now operative.
QuickCam 3000 has a snap button, which allows you to instantly capture whatever is in front of the camera by clicking on it with your finger.
Images captured this way go into the "Pictures and Videos Gallery", in the "Create Pictures and Videos" tab.
Other activities you can do are: create a video e-mail (which records a video and compresses it for later usage on most popular email software),
create a web album (of your own pictures, in HTML format, with preview feature), create a WebCam (via SpotLife),
broadcast live video (others will connect directly to your camera and see you live), create animations (with time/lapse movies),
activate motion detection (yes, it works! will save videoclips when activity is detected in front of your WebCam!) and a gallery viewer (for catalogue purposes).
The whole software package is very easy to use and has a basic explanation of every of its features. Third party software is also included, like VideoWave III SE
and PhotoSuite III SE. Also, a couple of "virtual reality" games will make use of your camera to make you interact with the game itself.
Image quality is very reasonable and frame rate is excellent even on big sizes (30fps at 320x240 and 15fps or less in 640x480).
Under low light conditions, image tends to get darker, so watch out for a good light placement for it.
Price is high, but not so bad for all the goodies and product quality you get.
This product is one of our "Editor Picks"!
Buy this camera TODAY!
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