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1589 of 1620 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing Video Clarity; Troublesome Vista Support Oct 12, 2007
By Robert L. Stinnett
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZL1AFCPWY5BZ The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is one of the better webcams I have had the opportunity to use over the years. Its stylish design fits easily on top of my LCD screen, while its functionality and features continue to impress. However, Vista functionality can be an adventure at a few times.
First, let's talk about the good -- picture quality. Let me put it to you think way: This webcam works better than my high priced Sony Camcorder at picking up video in low-light settings. I was simply amazed the first time I used it in a room with compact flourescents in the middle of the night and had such remarkable clarity and picture quality. Logitech credits this ability with something they call RightLight technology (in the video review I get it backwards -- sorry Logitech!). Whatever you want to call it, it's one of the features that definitely makes this webcam stand above the rest.
Next, the optics themselves are impressive. The 9000 utilized Carl Zeiss optics and you can tell the difference between this webcam and others. If you want to find out what makes Carl Zeiss optics so good, I encourage you to do a quick internet search or visit Wikipedia to look it up. It's hard to describe in text how this optics setup helps -- this is definitely something you have to see to believe.
Overall, I found it worked well with all the major instant messaging applications -- AOL, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo. It also worked very well as a stand-alone camera taking incredible video and decent still shots -- but remember, if you want to take a lot of still shots the quality you get from a product like this is fair at best compared to what you will get with a decent digital camera.
Now, let's talk about a few things that weren't so good about this webcam. The biggest struggle I had was with Windows Vista. Even though the box proclaims it is certified for Vista, I had numerous driver issues. The Logitech 9000 worked in Vista just fine, but for some reason at random intervals it wanted to re-install its drivers. One thing you should know if you purchase this camera is that when installing it you will want to make sure you have the installation program check for updates. I found there were two driver updates for the camera during install. However, even with these updates I continue to have that random re-installation issue.
The "helper application" that comes with the 9000 lets you do a lot of things -- such as configure the webcam, add effects, etc. Although I had no problem configuring it I never got the effects to work. However, this wasn't a big deal for me as I have no use for the special effects.
Overall, if you are looking for a quality webcam that can produce terrific results I highly recommend the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. Just be aware of potential Vista issues (which hopefully Logitech will solve). Other than that it's so easy to use even beginners to computers will be able to get it up and running in no time. A quality webcam at a good price considering all of its features.
568 of 584 found the following review helpful:
 Great Cam; Don't be afraid to play with the software settings! Dec 17, 2008
By RLC
"GrassShopper"
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QQKFQETXGYLZ UPDATE: Uploaded new video around October-November 2010 and this video is current as of February 7th, 2011. LATEST SOFTWARE RELEASE IS BUGGY! Watch Video
Also, I use this webcam to film beauty related reviews on youtube.
For those of you who've had issue with this cam, or those who've heard bad things about this camera; watch the video. I'm no public speaker by any means, but I think it's worth watching so you can get the best out of your new or potentially new webcam.
UPDATE: LATEST Software is Buggy! Watch Video
If you didnt watch the video or want a summary of what I stated in the video, I'll restate the main points below:
1. Always install the appropriate drivers from their logitech site. Often, the drivers on the disc are outdated.
2. Open up the Logitech Quickcam Vision for Enterprises software either through Start>All Programs>Logitech or just click on the icon provided on the desktop if there is one.
3. Unclick both Rightlight Automatic Settings(the eye picture icon) and Automatic Settings for Gain and Exposure(the owl picture icon). You can all find this under the gears icon. You can then adjust the bars left to right (especially exposure and gain) accordingly.
4. Under the camera picture icon in the software, you can also adjust for manual/auto focus, brightness, contrast, color, and white balance.
Doing all of this will raise your picture frame rate and minimize any blurring from motion.
Don't ever worry how you'll mess the camera settings up. If you first don't succeed at what you want, you can always re-click auto settings and start all over. Personally, I find it kind of entertaining when I mess around with it!
630 of 663 found the following review helpful:
 For Mac and OS X Dec 06, 2007
By David Stewart
"dsjl"
This review is for the benefit of Mac users, not Windows. I bought the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision to choose a web camera for an iMac G5 2.0GHz, the generation immediately before the G5 iMac with the built-in iSight camera. And I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.1, the most updated (to date) Leopard. There is currently a camera for sale at Apple retail stores that is labeled the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision MP, for Macs. It is the same hardware as the Ultra Vision and Ultra Vision SE for Windows; all the Ultra Vision cameras differ only in cosmetics, color--they're all the same hardware.
On a Mac, the cameras both run on the built-in Apple drivers. There are no Logitech drivers, no Logitech software. Therefore none of the Logitech special effects or light and sound management that the box lists work for Mac users. No autofocus, no RightLight2, no RightSound. Kind of a drag. In addition, there is no ability to manage color, light balance, etc., from any operating system software on the Mac or from Logitech. This is pure plug-and-play, and you get only the most basic functionality: The camera and microphone work (not sure about quality of sound on receiving end) to deliver picture and sound, neither tunable with what is in the box.
What the two cameras have in common is that they work for Mac users. According to what I've read, any camera that is labeled as Microsoft Windows Vista-compatible or UVC (USB Video Class) will work just as these do in Mac OS X, with this prereq: You have to have OS X 10.4.9 minimum. Tiger (OS X 10.4) is currently at 10.4.11; Leopard is at 10.5.1. Both will support video and sound on UVC cameras.
That said, the Pro 9000 and Ultra Vision differ in some significant ways. The focus on the Pro 9000 (P9K hereafter) is tighter than on the Ultra Vision (UV hereafter). The focus on the UV is comparatively lower in resolution; you can see jaggies on straight lines on either camera, but they're pretty visible on the UV, and you have to look for them on the P9K. I would say the P9K is definitely superior, and neither is as good as the iSight cameras built into any of the current Mac lines (but then, if you had a Mac with iSight, you wouldn't be reading this). The P9K's resolution is finer than the UV.
As to color I would say that if I could have a compromise between the two cameras, the UV and the Pro 9000, it would be better than either. The Pro 9000 color/exposure is a bit washed out; the UV is a bit dim. E.g., a blue pinpoint oxford shirt looks barely blue on the Pro 9000, and much more saturated on the UV. The entirety of the UV's color tilts heavily toward blue, while the Pro 9000 goes more toward yellow. (I would be curious to know if the color balance varies by model or by individual camera. I'd also love to see if other brands, say, Creative Labs, differ too.) Both cameras adjust to changing light, but in low light the Pro 9000 is not just a little but significantly better; in very low light, the UV nearly blacks out, while screen light is enough for the PK9 to deliver a passable image, albeit with low frame rate and lots and lots of motion blur.
Note that on a G5 or earlier (any non-Intel Mac), the support for iChat and PhotoBooth's effects is limited--specifically, they'll do the first two panels (color effects, including charcoal, Andy Warhol-ish, X-ray, B/W, sepia, and the pinch, swirl, and similar effects), but none of the backdrop effects, either still or moving.
I found both to work with iChat, PhotoBooth, Skype, and several of the shareware camera apps available. So I would say they work, period.
While neither Apple nor Logitech provides much more support for cameras, eCamm.com has a bevy of camera titles that provide extra power for web cameras on non-Intel Mac hardware. iGlasses, PowerBoost, and a couple other titles provide color tuning, restore some of the effects capabilities that PPC Macs don't get in iChat and PhotoBooth, and provide recordability with QuickTime output. They do good work. iGlasses provides some control over brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness, gain, white balance. I didn't find these to really improve the images on the P9K, but they did help the UV. Once you get a camera, you may want to get some of eCamm's software.
72 of 73 found the following review helpful:
First time webcam owner - Very easy to use Oct 11, 2007
By TheBandit
Having never owned - or even so much as used - a webcam prior to this, I don't have much point of reference. That said, the installation of this product couldn't have been any easier. On my older desktop system, the installation only took a few minutes. The laptop I have is much newer, and the software installed even faster. Absolutely trouble-free, and within minutes I had a picture on screen and was able to take photos and make videos.
The adjustable clip on the back of the camera is very effective - it doubles as a stand, which came in handy on my bulky old non-flat screen monitor. On my laptop screen it was just as handy, resting firmly in place at the top of the screen.
I was truly impressed by the video quality. Again, I've never owned a webcam previously, but I've viewed many webcam videos posted on websites - and I was aware that the image quality ran the gamut. The lens on this webcam produces a very sharp, detailed image. Even in relatively low-lighting, the picture wasn't bad at all. On my several years old desktop, the image didn't keep up with the movements very well - moving my head from side to side, for instance, resulted in quite a blur. But on my newer laptop, that blur was reduced extremely - the movements registered in more or less real-time. The auto-focus feature seems to do it's job pretty well, and makes operation very simple.
The audio quality was definitely less impressive than the picture - but it was right in line with what I expected for a little tiny built-in microphone. Loud noises clip and/or distort - I tried playing my saxophone and the result wasn't listenable (though some would say that's due to my playing ability). Yelling, or even extremely loud talking, clips. But all things considered, when remaining at a distance of a couple feet and talking at a normal, even volume - the audio quality was very acceptable.
I got a kick out of the various visual features. There are a bunch of filters - my favorite is the '50s style, creating a vintage black-and-white scratched up film look. Neonize was a trip - darkening everything on screen except for neon-colored borders to everything. The 'ghost' filter gives a blurred tracer effect to all movement. I don't know how much need I'll have for these, but they're fun to mess around with. There are also a bunch of options to change the look of your face on-screen - including 'robot face' which makes you look like a cyborg or something. I don't honestly know what the 'avatar' feature was supposed to do - I aligned my face within the red box like it said to, but nothing really happened ever once I initiated the feature...
Bottom line - speaking for total, complete, 100% webcam novices like myself: this is a quality webcam that I could not imagine being easier to use. The video quality is top-notch. My biggest criticism - and this is actually kind of minor - is the utter lack of a storage case or pouch for the webcam. I don't plan to leave mine out all the time and I'd like to keep the lens (rightfully rated highly) in good shape. For the time being, I'm actually putting it back in the box but even a cheap felt pouch would've been nice.
109 of 115 found the following review helpful:
What Do You Know? I DO Need This! Oct 20, 2007
By fredtownward
"The Analytical Mind; Have Brain; Will Travel"
Despite being a computer programmer for... longer than I can now apparently remember, I have never been someone with much desire to be on the leading edge of computer technology. Let somebody else try it out, help work out the bugs, and come up with a convincing argument for why I need such and such a thing, and I'll THINK about it... for a few years. Thus, I was late to get on the Internet, late to buy a home computer, and laughed out loud at the thought I might ever want or need a web cam... until now.
As a still camera, the QuickCam Pro 9000 can take better pictures than my old and long gone digital camera, though at maximum resolution you'd better content yourself with emailing them one at a time. However, it is not a complete substitute for it because even with a very long extension cord that desktop will get heavy in a hurry.
As a video camera, the QuickCam Pro 9000 is truly amazing! At maximum resolution people only familiar with older generation web cams will be openmouthed with astonishment, and viewers of the resulting videos will be able to make educated guesses about their dental health. It has a "Face Tracking" feature that can be set to follow one face or multiple faces and will do so quite well no matter how the subject(s) move, though the resulting video is not recommended for anyone susceptible to motion sickness.
In short a person who did not think he needed a webcam now wonders how he ever did without it.
Defects? Well, the software that comes with it is more than a little buggy; you WILL want to download the latest software from their web site, which cleared up my problems. I also don't like the fact that you can select only a single image size for both still and video because only the three smallest image sizes work for both still and video. If you select any of the five larger image sizes for taking still photos, you will have to reset it for taking videos and vice versa, which since the newest version of the software finally saves my settings between runs, is more than a little annoying. (Note: the latest version of the Logitech software has added two more video image sizes: 1.3 and 2 megapixels, leaving only the three largest image sizes as still photo only.)
A nice accessory would be a tiny protective carrying case because it is small enough to haul with you on trips. The original package will do the job, if you opened it carefully enough, but it is too bulky to fit well in a suitcase.
Note: a more expensive Mac version (apparently because certain features available to PC's in software must be replaced by hardware) is now available: Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro. Word is that there is some cross-compatibility, but I wouldn't count on it. Purchase the one that is compatible with the machine you will mostly be using it with.
See all 1692 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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The
Importance Of Lighting In Interior Design
by Jessica Ackerman
Everyone knows how important
paint color, furniture choices and artwork are to
interior design. One aspect of design that is often
overlooked, however, is lighting. Lighting not only
affects the brightness of the room, but it can also
change the way a paint color looks, cast shadows in ways
that make the room seem smaller and have an impact on
the presentation of art work.
There is no light like
natural light. If you are buying, building or
remodeling, opt for as much natural light as possible.
Oversized windows and skylights are two ways to get the
most natural light. Of course, not everyone is in the
position to be able to do that, so you'll have to work
with what you have.
How much natural light do
you get in your room? If the room in question faces
north, you won't get as much natural sunlight as you
would in a southern facing room. Rooms that face south
get bright, natural light throughout the day. Rooms that
face east will only have good natural light in the
morning hours and western facing rooms will have the
most light during the afternoon.
Once you are familiar
with how much natural light is in each room, you'll be
able to make informed choices about what additional
lighting may be necessary. Keep in mind that rooms with
little or no natural light will need artificial lighting
- even during the day - in order to look their best.
Here are some types of lighting to consider.
1. Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is
perfect when you want to showcase a piece of art or a
special piece of furniture or other item. Since light
draws the eye, it will bring attention to the features
in your room that you wish to highlight.
2. Hanging Light Features
Chandeliers and smaller
hanging lamps can be beautiful as well as functional. A
trip to the local home improvement store will quickly
show you how overwhelming the choices can be. You'll
want to select lighting that blends in with your
existing dÃÂécor. For example, a crystal chandelier in a
country themed dining room probably isn't the best
option. If you don't choose carefully, your lighting may
stick out like a sore thumb and become more of an
eyesore than a lovely accent.
3. Recessed Lighting
Recessed lighting is a
good choice for a room that needs extra light throughout
the day. Because the lighting won't interfere with the
existing decor, it can work in almost any room. It
provides abundant light without taking up a lot of space
or interfering with other aspects of the room.
4. Lamps
Using lamps are a way to
add not only additional lighting, but also punches of
color. If possible, see how much light the lamp gives
off before leaving the store. Many lamps serve as
decoration more than as a light source and give off very
little light. If you love the lamp, but it doesn't give
off quite enough light, consider changing the shade
which will usually solve the problem.
When decorating your
home, remember how important lighting is, and give it
the same thought and attention you give to the other
details of decorating your home.
About the Author
Jessica Ackerman is the
featured author at Wall DÃÂécor and Home Accents. Shop today
for great deals on
metal wall sculpture ,
home
accents and more unique wall dÃÂécor products.
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