A while ago, having a webcam was considered a luxury; nowadays, with VoIP technology and the instant messenger boom, the peripheral ceased to be considered superfluous and became almost essential in this world of social networking, online dating and virtual meetings. Gone is the time of sphere-shaped webcams that blurred the user’s face – now the market has some pretty advanced choices, like the top tier option from Logitech, the QuickCam Pro 9000. Among its several advanced features, it captures high-definition video and compensates for poor lightning. Let’s first describe the product and then proceed to our test.

click to enlarge
Figure 1: The QuickCam Pro 9000.

The camera itself has a horizontal body, with the Carl Zeiss lens to the left and the mic on the right. There’s a button beside the lens to manually take pictures and an illuminated circle around Logitech’s logo to indicate that the QuickCam Pro 9000 is on. The support apparatus is made of a two-hinged structure that bends in odd shapes so the user can either let the webcam stand up on the table or secure it to a CRT or LCD display (with the help of a small ledge bellow the first hinge). The tip of the support structure is rubber-coated to allow for a better grip. Due to its unconventional setup, you can pose the camera like a contortionist artist.

click to enlarge
Figure 2: The support structure.