Logitech QuickCam Deluxe Review

<!-- Generated by XStandard version 1.7.1.0 on 2007-05-21T00:26:16 -->

by Vivek Gowri

The Logitech QuickCam Deluxe for Notebooks is a compact and stylish webcam meant especially for the easy mobility of notebook computers. It is meant for videoconferencing on laptops which do not feature a built in webcam, a feature of increasing popularity. While it cannot match the convenience of having a built in webcam, it offers much better picture quality and is still quite portable.

Logitech QuickCam Deluxe (view large image)

Packaging, Setup, and General Impressions

The QuickCam came in the standard Logitech box, with green and red accents. Inside the box, we find the actual webcam, a mesh carrying pouch, and the installation CD. Installation and setup are pretty quick and painless, taking about 10 minutes plus a restart.

(view large image)

(view large image)

 

The QuickCam Deluxe features an integrated microphone, adjustable focus, glass lens, a hard-to-press snapshot button at the top, and an adjustable clip on the back, which I will get to in just a moment. At just over 2-inches long and an inch wide, the QuickCam is rather large, but the design is sleek enough to mask the size. It is also a pretty slim device, with the webcam itself being less than half an inch thick. The back of the device is where the design starts to go downhill. When the unwieldy adjustable clip is factored in, the depth comes to a total of 1.5”, with an unsightly gap between the webcam and the laptop’s lid.  This is quite disappointing for a device advertised as being sleek and stylish. And although the clip is large, it cannot accommodate thicker screens like desktop LCDs. The thickest screen I got it to fit onto was the 0.5” thick lid of my older Toshiba laptop; even that was quite a struggle to get it to fit. Anything thicker and it will likely not stay on properly.

(view large image)

(view large image)

 

The other major annoyance I had with the design is the fact that you could not close the notebook with the webcam installed. Although this is a flaw with all external webcams, it is the one problem that would keep me from using a separate webcam altogether, even if my notebook did not have a built-in webcam.

(view large image)

(view large image)

Also irritating was the length of the USB cable; at over 36 inches, it is longer than the cable on the Apple Mighty Mouse (which is annoyingly short for a mouse). Being designed specifically for notebooks, I would have expected a cord of 12 or 15 inches instead. Making it a wireless device would make it much more convenient to use, but I do not know the technical feasibility of this.

Picture Quality and Ease of Use

(view large image)

The QuickCam Deluxe takes pictures in three sizes: 1.3MP (1280x960), 0.3MP (640x480), and email size (320x240). The installation CD comes with the Logitech QuickCapture software to enhance the functionality of the webcam. QuickCapture offers Face Tracking and options to change the contrast, brightness, and color intensity. Face Tracking is somewhat of a gimmick that zooms in on your face, but it does not really work, as it ends up zooming too far to just a portion of my face. Also, I sometimes found that it would zoom in on objects behind me, like my iHome or jackets.

I found that the pictures taken in the Email size were pretty sharp and had good quality, but the 1.3MP pictures were rather poor. The details were quite blurry in comparison to the smaller size, and there was some visible separation of colors. Pictures taken in the VGA size had the best compromise of size and quality, but they were still rather blurry, just less so than the 1.3MP pictures.

(view large image)

(view large image)

1.3MP pictures taken using the Logitech Deluxe web camera, standard on the left calibrated picture on the right

With the default picture settings, the pictures turn out very dark, and with some calibration, the pictures become somewhat washed out, although they capture darker details nicely. This can be improved by changing the contrast ratio and such.

VGA resolution pictures take with the web camera, standard on the left calibrated picture on the right

The good thing is that there are many different calibration options in the QuickCapture software, so you can experiment with the settings to achieve the best picture quality.

I had two integrated webcams (Motion-Eye in the Sony FJ and iSight in the Apple iMac) and a Sony CyberShot-W50 6MP camera to compare the pictures to.

The Motion-Eye had comparatively horrible quality, producing extremely dark pictures with very little contrast and having quite limited picture quality options.

Pictures taken with the Sony VAIO web camera, standard on the left calibrated picture on the right

The iSight offered comparable brightness and contrast to the QuickCam, but the pictures were even more blurry and there were no configuration options to speak of. One interesting thing to note is that with the light on in the room, the color saturation was better than that of the QuickCam, but without the light the picture turned out quite dark overall. There are interesting video effects in the Photo Booth app included in OS X, so it can create some interesting photos.

(view large image)

(view large image)

Pictures taken with the Apple iSight camera, light on in the room in the right hand picture, no light on in the left

The CyberShot, predictably, was much better than all of the above by a long ways, in both picture quality and detail. No comparison at all between the dedicated digicam and the webcams.

(view large image)

(view large image)

Picture of author outside and then inside using a Sony CyberShot digital camera

Overall, for a portable webcam, quality was very good, much better than the integrated solutions.

Video Quality

The QuickCam Deluxe can record video in VGA (640x480) and email (320x240), and has out-of-the-box compatibility with Skype VoIP, MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and some other instant messaging and video chat programs. Trillian automatically recognized the camera, and setting up a voice chat with some friends through AIM was very easy. The video quality was much better than in the VAIO, as in the still photographs, with higher level of detail and higher brightness, so it was great for videoconferencing, and my friends reported much improved quality.

I made this video with the included QuickCapture software to demonstrate video quality at the 640x480 resolution. The camera settings are mentioned in the video. The video runs for 1 minute 44 seconds, and is 59.1 MB in size, so every minute of video takes up approximately 34 MB on the hard drive.

<object height='350' width='425'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-RuITVWP6ag" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed height='350' src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-RuITVWP6ag" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='425' wmode="transparent" /></object>

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech QuickCam Deluxe is available at bricks and mortar or online retailers for around $59.99.

Conclusion

The Logitech QuickCam Deluxe offers good picture quality and intuitive configuration software, but a few design and detail flaws hold it back from being a truly useful mobile device. While it makes for a great videoconferencing camera, it lacks the tight integration and convenience of a built-in webcam, so I would only recommend this device to those that do not have built-in webcams in their notebooks.

Pros:

• Good picture quality
• Many picture options
• Easy to use software
• Easy to carry
• Carrying pouch included

Cons:

• Can’t close the laptop when webcam is installed
• USB cord is too long
• Inelegant clip

 

Aren't you a handsom fellow! Thanks for the review.

Pictuer quality disapoints me. I cant tell the differance to my 15$ no name cam which is also 1.3MP.

 

at last the long awaited pic of vivek...
u like playing tennis then eh?
hehe
i just remebered that post ur pic thread there
back to the topic of webcams
the quality isnt that bad
but 1.3 MP is quite good too but it would have been a great feature if it had built in flash or something equivalent
cheers mate
and thanks for the great review

 

I think there might be a slight advantage for the iSight camera there as there seems to be more light in the room.

I wonder if that's because your skin isn't exactly white, I half bet that Logitech was counting on the user having a slightly paler shade of skin, it'd be interesting to know. If that is the case we could accuse them of being ethnically insensitive...

Nice review Vivek, and thanks for not being shy with the camera!

 

The picture quality is indeed very dissapointing, and for $60, I would expect a lot more. The resolution is particular is dissapointing.

But anyway, thanks for the pictures !

 

nice review.

 

Wow the room you are in the first few pictures looks exactly like my room, same door and closet placement with the same geometry for the room.. neat

 

I have some iSight pics from when it is somewhat dark, similar to the pics from the QuickCam and MotionEye, its really not that much darker than it is in the pics there. The thing with the iSight is that my iMac is pointing towards my window, whereas my laptop was pointing towards a wall, so the light from the windows probably added some light to the pictures.

I was thinking along the same lines, but I didn't want to make any unsubstantiated claims in the review. It would be a really difficult thing to prove though.

Actually, thats the same room used in all of my pics, except the ones taken with the CyberShot (those were taken in New York and Rhode Island).

And yes, I like playing tennis very much