web cam (or camcorder) to record lectures

Hi everyone,

Im a CS undergraduate student and im looking for a camcorder or a good enough web cam to mount on the back of my notebook so i could record lectures. (My notebook does have a decent built in web cam, but i don't want to turn it around in order to record).
After a bit of searching on web cams i found out that most can only be mounted
on the front of the notebook and don't have a swivel option to turn them to the back.
Can anyone suggest anything that fits my needs? (or maybe some kind of "trick" with my existing web cam).
also a solution with an elevating device would be very appreciated...

Thanks a lot!

 

Before you bring a webcam to class, ask the professor to make sure he allows this. None of my professor's would think twice about letting a student do this because it would allow people to skip class and have their friends give them video of the entire class. Also it is against school rules to record a teacher's lecture without their permission, so yeah you better ask. Could even be considered illegal because the lecture is the professor's intellectual property and video recording them without their permission is an invasion of privacy as well.

 

That's why i was considering a webcam and not something so obvious as a camcorder (every notebook nowadays as a webcam). I'm not going to sell the videos, just using them for my own educational purposes... plus there are many "officially" recorded courses in my university's video archive (most are outdated), so i don't think that the professor's intellectual property is really an issue...

 

if you know how to solder, go buy a webcam from a notebook and make it work.

 

I still don't know how to solder, but thank you all for your "practical" suggestions...
Anyway, after a bit more searching i found 2 models from Logitech that have a 360 horizontal swivel option: the HD Webcam C525 and C615.
it appears the c525 is more compatible with notebooks while the c615 has better recording features (1080p vs 720p) and has a glass lens (as opposed to plastic).
Now i need to choose between the two :/.
In order to record lectures do i really need more than 720p? does someone know if any of these webcams (or any other webcam) can zoom in?

 

it's still something you should discuss with the professor...

having a webcam pointed at him with the webcamlight blinking is kinda obvious that he's being recorded.

 

While a camcorder would generally give you better quality in both audio and video, it would be kind of obvious and would probably put your instructor on the spot. A small webcam would probably be optimal. However, definitely make sure it is cool with your instructor.

 

Why do you need video? It is going to be of very poor quality. Just do audio. You could also open up your laptop's screen, flip the webcam around, and drill a small hole in the lid for it to look out of.

 

I would strongly advise against using a webcam to record lectures. I've been doing that with a Logitech C910 (hardly a low-end camera), and the videos come out horrible. I'd say the main problem is that webcams are *not* design for focusing on distant objects such as whiteboards or projector screens. Everything that's close to the camera is in sharp focus, while the letters on the projector screen are always fuzzy, no matter how much I tweak the focus manually. Furthermore, the noise is pretty high when the projector is on and the room's lights are out.

I'm starting to look into getting a camcorder or a micro 4/3 camera with an optical zoom to replace the webcam. Any ideas or advice?

Thanks

 

Responding to a two year-old thread is hardly necessary here (you could have started your own), but more importantly, you're asking an imaging question on a laptop forum, so you might have a hard time getting good answers. My suggestion would be to try out a cheap youtube style camera - Flip or whatever they're calling them these days. A cheap (maybe used) camcorder would probably offer better image quality if you need it, but might have some trade-offs as well. Something like a M4/3 camera for filming lectures is not really the right technology for what you need, but also much more money than you need to spend to film lectures. If you want a M4/3 camera as an imaging device and will use it to film classes as an extra benefit, that's great, but it's too much to spend for what you're trying to do.

 

Hey there. Thanks for taking the time to reply

As it turns out, I already have a mid-range DSLR (Canon 60D) with some big and heavy lenses. I'm looking forward to replacing it with a M4/3 camera because my DSLR is so big and heavy that I rarely take it places. It turns out I was also looking to replace my webcam as a way of recording lectures, so it dawned upon me that I could probably combine both purchases into a single M4/3 camera. I guess your last sentence would support that idea

 

Forget the amateurs. Go Pro. Google Glass has nothing on this for style and unobtrusiveness.


Need elevation? No problemo!