| Product: |
Logitech Quickcam Traveller |
| Date: |
06.01.03 (861 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: challenging, great video, cheap to operate and buy
Disadvantages: battery life, focus ring, lack of logitech support
This is a horrible camera, not because of its quality upon initial reciept, but because of how it decays and becomes disfunctional with use.
The first month with this cam was great for me. No major problems, good picture quality. Plus, the software included seemed to be state-of-the-art. But as I used it more I soon saw its shortcomings; it ate batteries like a black hole, it downloaded directly to my harddisc without prompting, it was terrible for hand-held shots due to massive blurring, and it progressively got worse.
After the first month I started having real problems with the cam. First it would come up registering dead battery, even with fresh batteries. I began using it as a webcam, since it had done well in that capacity before. Within a week I found I could not take snapshots even with the webcam-- they came up black, no picture taken. Pretty soon even the webcam would not work and I ended up deleting all logitech traveller software that was in my computer, and replaced it with my old digital cam, a evision123 cheap camera that has always worked well for me. The quality of the pics is not as good, but at least it works.
All in all, I would rate this camera as one of the worst purchases I have ever made.
UPDATE: 6-19-03
Several months went by and one day I decided to give the traveller another try. i reloaded my program, put new batteries in the camera, and it worked! I have discovered some good tricks for overcoming its shorthcomings... first, get a cdburner. The files the traveller loads into "my documents/traveller/?" can be huge. the video feature alone can be left going long enough to fill your harddrive. pictures can be downloaded to floppy, at about fifteen per floppy at 640x480, but a cdrw can go 800mb, which is good for a half-hour video. secondly, buy the good batteries for this camera. while plugged into the usb the camera doesn't eat them, but go to take pictures and cheap batteries produce bad results
and maybe only one session. Good quality made-for-digcam batteries will get you about 4 sessions. Low batteries while on usb results in loss of video.
The video feature of this camera is my favorite. I like to set it a lowest resolution (less jerky action) and use it to record my own little music videos. With the cdrw, I always record and delete (important!) until I get a clip I want, then load it from "my documents" to the blank cd. Easy as apple pie.
I hereby change this review. I like my funky little camera. It takes a while to get to know it, and it's really primitive, but any beginner or monkey like me could learn to use it within a year or so. Thumbs up! j--
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