Strongest Webcam

Hey everyone,

What's the most powerful external webcam available at the market right now? By powerful I mean how many megapixels is the webcam. And I still want it portable (Don't want a 4 pound video recorder sized external webcam)!

 

most higher end webcams right now are 1.3mp. At this point, the webcam image quality is more about the lens than the number of pixels. 1.3MP = 1280x1024 resolution, that's close to a 1080p HDTV signal and chances are you won't be able to broadcast video of that resolution (your internet connection is not fast enough).

Now, if your goal is not video chat, but to get high quality digital images that will be printed (1280x1024 pics are still very good to view on PC), you should probably consider getting a small digital camera: Casio Exilim S-series or Canon Powershot SD-series for example. The price difference between these digicams and top of the line webcams might be less than you expect.

 

So the highest powered webcams around are at 1.3 MP right now?

Any suggestions on a specific model that displays images nicely and clearly?

I'm using the webcam for video chatting, but I want better quality video chatting, and I'm willing to spend money to get that.

 

how much are you willing to spend?

for example top of the line logitech webcam is $130US...

 

That's reasonable. I'll take it

I'm looking into the Logitech Quickcam Ultra Vision right now, priced at $189 CDN. It doesn't look like it clips onto a laptop though. Really nice looking, nonetheless.

 

I've used the 2 top laptop models from Logitech and Creative, I must say that the Logitech is by far better than the Creative. The Logitech is small and very portable, it gave me the clearest webcam video chatting on Yahoo. I think they are going around for ~$65-85 online. Bestbuy, Circuitcity and other retail store have them for $99.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=10561

 

haha.. I don't think you can go wrong with logitech, just see if you really need the top of the line webcam

 

The Logitech Quickcam Fusion is, from what I've heard, very well liked for its picture quality. It's a little on the large side, but is still capable of mounting to a notebook screen.

 

i second trippy tiger, the fusion is currently one of the best IMO on the market, its gotten alot of good reviews

 

What about the Quickcam Ultra Vision? It looks better than the Fusion, and isn't the Fusion meant for desktops?

 

You can also use many digital cameras as webcams. Have you considered doing that? They'd have a much higher resolution than any special-purpose webcam.

 

sony eyetoy with hacked drivers is pretty **** good

 

Never heard of that. How do you do that?

 

Usually you just use the USB cable for your digital camera, and set it into a different mode than the standard USB Storage Device for transfer. You may need drivers from the camera manufacturer, but I know it's possible on at least both of my cameras, an Olympus and a Fuji

 

I have the Fusion sitting on my desktop LCD, image is good but there is some lag. Also I can't see you hanging one of these out of a laptop screen. As Pitabred says, if you're really after top IQ then a digital camera is the only way.

 

but it's not meant to use as a digicam so as such there's often some lag and even if you use minitripod with the camera it can be rather painful to position the digicam.

 

I've got the Savitmicro Vije Deluxe 1.3 megapixel webcam. Nice image quality. Made in Korea. It also clips right on to the top of my notebook.

 

There is a pic taken here. Please note that the focus is on my hand and the watch. It is hard has heck to take any kind of decent pic with a webcam. http://www.friendsoforis.com/board_entry.php?id=14152&category=all

 

Microsoft has a 2MP webcam (the LifeCam NX-6000) to be released soon.

 

I saw that one. It looks really nice, and not too pricey ($100 US). I'm going to get it when it comes out. I wonder if AnCadre (the original poster) will though, he seems to love Logitech .