QuickCam Pro

First things first: Logitech’s QuickCam Pro won’t send any digital cameras or camcorders to the breadlines. The latest version of the camera that first sprouted under the Connectix family tree can’t touch the image quality and sharpness of a digital still camera or a camcorder. But the USB-only QuickCam Pro is more versatile than either device, ideal for snapping still images of your soon-to-be-auctioned Beanie Baby collection, for videoconferencing in conjunction with a product such as iXL’s iVisit, for making QuickTime movies, or even for creating a Web cam. And the price is hard to beat: $150, including software for both Mac OS and Windows.

Quick Self-Portrait The QuickCam Pro regards itself in a mirror.

The QuickCam Pro shares its ancestors’ unique shape: it looks like a cue ball with a lens. But while its predecessors sat awkwardly in a chintzy plastic stand, the QuickCam Pro includes a slick base that can sit atop your monitor or, via a spring-loaded mechanism, clamp onto a desk or shelf. You can also pop the ball out of its base and mount it on a tripod. The camera accepts snap-on lenses; Logitech sells a $20 lens kit that includes wide-angle and telephoto adapters.

As for software, the camera includes two simple programs. Cyberauctioneers will make good use of QuickPICT, which snaps still images, saving them to the Clipboard or to disk (see “Quick Self-Portrait”). QuickMovie captures QuickTime movies at frame sizes of up to 640 by 480 pixels and frame rates of up to 30 frames per second (fps)–expect rates closer to 15 fps on most Macs. A time-lapse feature can snap an image at intervals you specify.

The camera works very well, although focusing is difficult, particularly at 640 by 480 pixels, where there’s a noticeable delay between image updates. As for the image quality, let’s just say it’s great for the price. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a QuickCam Pro image for an auction site or a family or school project. For more demanding applications–well, we would hesitate.

The QuickCam Pro also works with other QuickTime-compatible software, such as Rearden Technology’s SiteCam (see Reviews , December 1999).

Macworld’s Buying Advice

If you already have a video camera, a USB-based capture device such as XLR8’s InterView may be a better bet. And if all you need are still images for a Web site, you might consider a low-end digital camera. But if you want one inexpensive device that lets you grab everything from decent-quality snapshots to Web-cam images to time-lapse movies–and that works on either Mac or Windows–you can’t go wrong with the QuickCam Pro.

February 2000 page: 56