[redmonkeydemon]

Hi everyone,

Couldn't decide whether to stick this in here or in purchasing advice, so sorry if I got it wrong. I just bought a Logitech Fusion USB webcam, which worked out of the box on my 15" PB G4. I got it mostly for iChat and Skype, but I also wanted to use it for making recordings with Quicktime or other software.

The Logitech Fusion is supposed to be a 1.3 MP camera, but whenever I use it with Quicktime or iChat/Skype, I only ever get 320x240 resolution. Is there any way I can take advantage of the extra resolution in the camera? Any third party software?

Technically, the Logitech should be a better camera than the iSight, but if I can't make full use of the resolution, would I be better served by investing in an iSight from eBay, even if the resolution tops out at 640x480?

Thanks for your help.

[chucker]

As far as I can tell, Logitech's claims are quite misleading. The controller chip in a QuickCam Fusion is a SPCA525A. Quoting Sunplus's press release:

It is embedded with VGA (640x480) CMOS image sensor

[..] up to 1.3MP still image, 30 fps of VGA motion picture

In other words, the 1.3 Megapixels refer to still shots. Motion video is only VGA, i.e. 0.3 Megapixels, which is exactly what the iSight also achieves.

Moreover, you seem to want to use this for video chat, and quite frankly, over a typical Internet video chat, you're lucky to even max out the image quality 0.3 Megapixels can achieve.

[redmonkeydemon]

Thanks for the info.

Looking closer on the box, I can see that the video quality is VGA. Nevertheless, I can still only record in Quicktime at 320x240. Do you think this is the difference between a USB cam and a firewire cam like the iSight?

Does the iSight have any additional software options for recording videos? Can you use it with iMovie?

We have a newborn baby that we want to share with family over webcam chats, but also we want to be able to record moments when we're offline. I'm happy that the Logitech worked straight away, but I can't seem to bump the resolution even to the VGA quality of the sensor.

thanks again

[chucker]

Originally Posted by redmonkeydemon Thanks for the info. Looking closer on the box, I can see that the video quality is VGA. Nevertheless, I can still only record in Quicktime at 320x240. Do you think this is the difference between a USB cam and a firewire cam like the iSight?

This may be a limitation of QuickTime's VDC support.

Does the iSight have any additional software options for recording videos? Can you use it with iMovie?

Yep, you can.

[Perfecting_Zero]

Does anyone know if this iSweet FW webcam is any good? Anyone have any experiences with it, good or bad?

Thanks!

[washington mac user]

Logitech released a new camera with Carl Zeiss lens which can be found here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2bp ro%2b9000

Quickcam Pro 9000:

some of the specs:

Features Ultra-high resolution 2-megapixel sensor with RightLight2 Technology Color depth: 24-bit true color Video capture: Up to 1600 x 1200 pixels (HD quality) (HD Video 960 x 720 pixels) Still image capture: 8 million pixels (with software enhancement) Premium autofocus: Your images stay razor-sharp, even in close-ups. Built-in microphone with RightSound Technology Ultra-wide field of view and intelligent face tracking: Keeps you right in the middle of the action.