Not such a bad camera (Logitech Quickcam Express)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Logitech Quickcam Express
Date:	23/04/01 (2809 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, fair performance, nice and small

Disadvantages: Doesn't work with Windows '95. No good for professional use

I've heard a lot of criticism of the Logitech Quickcam Express - some of it justified and some of it perhaps not.

I think though that for home use, it really is a rather good little camera. It may not stand up to two-hour transatlantic video conferences, but then why are you buying a £40 camera if you need to make use of those sorts of application? Go and buy a professional camera you cheapskate! ;-)

It all depends what you're going to use your camera for really. I think this camera is aimed at those who will use it to capture still images and perhaps to send video e-mail. It can be used for video conferencing and can be set up as a webcam, but I get the feeling that it really isn't designed with those applications in mind. The absence of an inbuilt speaker is surely indication of the fact that this camera was not built for video conferencing...

The picture quality on the Quickcam Express is passable. The picture is small, but the quality is fair if you focus the camera properly. The lens can be focussed by hand, and there are also utilities provided to focus the camera under software.

Speaking of which - the software bundle is quite nice. The CD ROM includes a nice little installation program that will install Netmeeting (if you don't already have it), all the camera drivers, the Quickcam tools, and various other things as well as allowing you to get the camera up and running very quickly. It's all done in one go, all very quick, and all very painless.

The Quickcam tools once installed provide a host of useful features all rolled into one program. You can take still pictures, make a video, send a video e-mail, set up a webcam... anything you might want to do with a camera really.

I'd just like to talk about the video e-mail software too. The quality of the video e-mails I have sent has been remarkably good for such a cheap camera.

When you record a video e-mail, the video that y
ou record is compressed down nice and small (205K for a 20 second clip? That's pretty good!) into a self contained EXE file which can be executed when it reaches the other end. The software also generates instructions on how to view the video which are placed into the e-mail encase the recipient should become confused or unsure of how to view the attachment.

The audio on the videos has been a bit poor I'm told, but that owes more to the poor quality of my microphone than it does to the quality of the Quickcam Express.

One thing I should mention too:

Windows '95!

I know there must be people out there who are still using it. Windows '98 truly is a creation of pure evil, and I've only recently upgraded to Windows ME (which is actually rather nice, I think)

Anyway, I had intended to take this camera with me on my travels, as it is nice and small with a detachable (and rather flimsy) tripod. It really does lend itself rather well to travelling.

On my laptop, I am still running Windows '95. There really is no better OS to use (apart from NT) on a laptop if you must run Windows. Now, it's '95 version 4.00.950C - that's the newest build of Windows '95 with USB supplement... so it SHOULD have worked with the Quickcam Express.

Unfortunately, the Quickcam box lies!

The Quickcam Express does NOT work with Windows '95. I have tried it on several machines (4.00.950B and 4.00.950C), and it always comes up with a black screen during installation and a "The camera is in use by another application" message once installed.

So then, don't bother with this unless you are running '98 or ME (or XP?) or are willing to upgrade your version of Windows.

The Logitech Quickcam Express may not be perfect... BUT.... a USB camera for under £40? A USB camera for under £40 that actually performs rather well in the home?

It's got to be wo
rth £40 of anyone's money.

Summary: