Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF: High Definition video

A motorized webcam which is always at your eye height...
The Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF is completely black and is made up of three parts. A spherical motorized base that is relatively heavy offering a good stand, a 23cm arm which can be used if you the desk is too low for the camera to be at your eye level, and finally the main camera which has a Carl Zeiss auto focus lens. The head of the web cam, the supporting base and the arm each have three mini-USB connectors which connect one to the other. Logitech has also provided the device with a sufficiently long USB cable measuring 1.80 meters!


High Definition exclusively for Skype!
Most instant messaging programs are supported, including Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and a whole lot of others. With Skype, streaming video is of a better quality then what you will see in the other programs. You don’t need for the other end of the call to have a HD webcam to be able to see streaming HD videos. This means that even if your correspondent doesn’t have a HD webcam, your sending pictures will still be in HD!

The resolution on offer is 640x480 pixels, showing 30 images per second, which is far from the 320x240 pixels at 15 images per second shown by the opposition. This means that the quality you see today is without equal, offering a new experience to the notion of video conferencing.

Exceptional technical characteristics:

• An automatic focusing system associated with a Carl Zeiss lens, one of the global leaders in terms of photography lenses.
• The motorised following of your movements allows the screen to better follow your actions, automatically keeping you in the centre of the screen.
• A high resolution 2 mega pixel lens equipped with the RightLight 2 technology which is adapted to lighting conditions (low lighting, day light and side lighting)
• Video captures in up to 30 images per second in 24 bits (real colours), running a maximum of 1600x1200 pixels in high definition quality
• Captures and photos taken in 8 mega pixels in the JPEG format, with software clean up.
• Audio that automatically blocks out background noise through the integrated microphone, with sound being greatly improved thanks to the RightSound technology which eliminates the echo, even when the speakers are too close

  

Flexible video swapping that is animated and adapts to your expression
The Logitech Video Effects program which is provided allows you to personalise your conversations. There are about a hundred avatars, face accessories and amusing filters which can be stuck on your face and which adapt to your expressions and movements (transforming your eyes and mouth so that they look like the Mona Lisa’s, a lion, a baby…) You can also install the included HP PhotoSmart Essential application so that you can capture, edit, customize and print your pictures.

A required configuration for Windows XP or Vista
No nasty surprises from this point of view. A Pentium 4 running at 1,4 GHz minimum (2.4 GHz recommended), 256 MB of RAM, a sound card and Windows compatible speakers (integral duplex sound card recommended), a free USB port and as a preference, a high speed internet connection! Dedicated drivers exist specifically for Windows XP and Vista 32 and 64 bit versions. The package is delivered with a multilingual instruction manual and a CD version 11.1. If you visit the Logitech web site though, you will find that version 11.80 is already available.