Take Pictures and Look Weird! (Mikomi 5MP)

Member Name: lel1969

Product:	Mikomi 5MP
Date:	14/02/09 (663 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple and easy to use with great results.

Disadvantages: None.

Last year my daughter was lucky enough to receive her own laptop for Christmas. She was over the moon with it as it was a great surprise for her. Needless to say she now spends about an hour a night giggling away to her friends on MSN. Not only do they send typed messages to one another, but out comes the webcam and microphone for even more fun. As the months went by though, she started complaining about the webcam saying "it is old and boring"!, "it keeps falling off". (Well it would when you are trying to show your friends a 360 degree tour of your house!!) "And I can't make my picture black and white or make my face look weird"!! I suppose it was really better designed for a desktop pc and it was awkward having the separate microphone attached as well. So off I went to Argos, with my list of must haves, to try and find her a new one for Christmas.

Not being too technically minded I really had to depend on the catalogue description to help me choose a suitable one. After taking some time to have a good read of the descriptions of all webcams on offer and of course, taking in to account the price, I decided to opt for the Mikomi 5MP Laptop Webcam at a price of £24.59. Quite a stylish looking camera with everything Erin needed (I think!) and not too expensive.

**A Bit About The Mikomi 5MP Laptop Webcam**

This webcam is quite a neat little smart looking camera in polished black with a built in microphone, which is really great for Erin as her old one used to fall off all the time and she had to connect the two pieces of hardware, now she only has to connect the one piece with the added benefit of having no wires dangling from her and getting in the way! It comes with an easy to follow instruction booklet and a CD to install the drivers and a more detailed on screen instruction manual. The camera connects to your computer through a USB connection. Compact in size at a mere 2.5" x 1" x 1" this camera is bullet shaped and really quite "cool" looking.

Attaching the webcam to the laptop was very easy with a little clamp to hold it securely in place. As soon as we plugged it in it was ready to go without installing the drivers having "plug and play" capability. However we did install the drivers in order to have the more detailed instruction manual to hand if ever we needed it. Installation of the drivers was very easy by following the on screen instructions.

**How Does the Webcam Perform**

Erin's main use for the webcam is probably talking to her friends on MSN. She has never had any problems at all, with her friends receiving a good clear picture and receiving a good clear sound through the built in microphone. The webcam can rotate 360 degrees, which again is something Erin finds very useful. She likes to show off her room to her friends and she also likes to try and embarrass her family! As well as rotating, the webcam tilts up and down so you can get the perfect position to capture your best side. And if you really want to scare the person you are talking too then you can also zoom in to your face with the 3 x digital zoom. If you don't want to zoom in manually you can activate the automatic horizontal and vertical face tracking. Another great function where the camera automatically follows your face. The camera will also automatically adjust to suit the light conditions.

Another important use Erin has for the webcam is taking pictures of herself, of course! This webcam takes super pictures with the 5MP giving really quite sharp images. If you want to make yourself look weird (Erin's wishes, not mine!) you can change the settings on the webcam giving different effects to your image, these include Neon Light, Spread, Wind, TV Effect, Canvas, Alien Map, Magic Mirror, Emboss, Motion, Glass Tile the list goes on but these are a few anyway. As if that's not enough you can also add different frames to you image, including Postcard, Snow, Paper, Jungle, Television again the list goes on but these are a few examples. Although initially I thought this was an odd function I must admit that some of the effects make the images and ultimately the printed photographs look really professional. So I have to admit I now think this function is a great fun function.

You can also take video clips of yourself, this is very easily done by first selecting the length of time you want to record for and then just pressing the record icon on the screen. If you need to sharpen the image you can use the focus ring, which is situated around the lens.

This webcam is compatible with Windows XP Home and Pro/Vista.

Overall I would definitely rate this webcam with 5 stars - it looks good, is easy to use, gives great quality still images and video clips and also is great for using with chat sites to have fun with your friends.

©lel1969

Summary: A great little piece of equipment.

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