Logitech releases Mac-only webcam; cats, dogs reported living together
Apologies to Dr. Peter Venkman, but it's hard to believe that it's taken this long for a webcam vendor to encroach on the vacuum left by the discontinued iSight, even though we have hints that a new model of the Apple camera might be on the HD horizon. Logitech has now announced the QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac, featuring "premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss® optics." No word on whether the camera will feature fine Corinthian leather or Posi-traction, but there's hope.Seriously, though, the camera does offer a voice coil motor for autofocus, RightLight exposure technology and a 2 megapixel sensor; this should allow for VGA-quality (640x480) videoconferencing and 720p HD (960x720) local video recording. Snazzy! Logitech expects to ship the unit in July for an SRP of $130.
Update: Commenters point out that the product is quite similar to the QuickCam Pro 9000, which isn't billed as Mac-compatible but actually works just fine with Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5; it's also list-priced $30 cheaper. Hrm.
[via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Marcello said 11:05AM on 6-24-2008
I might be wrong... but I thought the standard 720p HD resolution is 1280x720..
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Michael Rose said 11:15AM on 6-24-2008
You're not wrong. The stated resolution is "4x3 HD" -- the camera doesn't capture in the true HD 16x9 aspect ratio.
Stephen Lang said 11:08AM on 6-24-2008
I know my own needs, and what I need from an automobile I know I get from this new QuickCam.
In QuickCam, I have what I need.
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Michael Rose said 11:17AM on 6-24-2008
Yes!
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/3QWfA7m-Chrysler-Cordoba-commercial-with-Ricardo-Montalban
John V. said 12:42PM on 6-24-2008
And with that posi-traction, you're going to be able to lay down some serious rubber!
ryan said 11:20AM on 6-24-2008
Im a bit confused, can you use this with iChat of photobooth effects? People keep telling me you need an iSight but on the leopard technical specs it just says for effects an iSight or UVC or firewire camera. This is a UVC so why wouldn't it be able to?
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Farmer Joe said 11:23AM on 6-24-2008
Any way to hook it to an iPhone? I NEEEEEED mobile teleconferencing. (In much the same way as I NEEEED a diamond encrusted M3, but still.)
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utterer said 11:30AM on 6-24-2008
Thank god that Mac users can finally pay a premium price for "mac only" webcams now! I thought the premiums would just be reserved for mice, keyboards and other peripherals.
A great day indeed!
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Norbert said 12:03PM on 6-24-2008
Why should any Mac user buy this webcam ("only for Mac") instead of the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000? It's the same camera, same resolutions, the 9000 also works with iChat and Skype. But the 9000 is much cheaper (Amazon has it for $67.76).
The 9000 comes with a lot of software based gadgets: face tracking, fun filters etc. Because the software is only for Windows, Logitech doesn't mention that the camera itself can also be used by Mac Users. But many tests have shown that the 9000 cam works with Macs, without additional drivers, without macam. No problem.
Now they are shipping the same webcam (the look is almost identical, same specifications) without the additional software, call it "only Mac" (you don't get Windows software) and charge a lot more (!) for it.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but based on the specifications on the Logitech page it's the same cam (the 9000 can also capture videos with up to 1600 x 1200 pixels, there's no difference.)
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stompy said 5:59PM on 6-24-2008
I'm sure you remember many "Mac Tax" products. This is Logitech's latest. (Besides the 9000, several other Logitech webcams will work without additional drivers on 10.4 and 10.5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_USB_video_class_devices )
Gary Traylor said 4:26AM on 8-05-2008
Thanks for your advice as it has been so frustrating trying to get a camera to work. What seems to be wrong is Apple´s customer service base. With so many computers sold its obvious the users will want camera´s too. How slow they have been to pick up on this its quite amazing. So I shall buy the camera you recommend and hope it works on my G5.
Best regards Gary
Norbert said 5:36AM on 8-05-2008
Well, I actually missed something here:
the 9000 has software based autofocus, which doesn't work on Macs (but you don't need it, unless you want to hold things very close to the camera).
The Vison Pro Mac has built in automatic autofocus, no software needed. Therefore it works on Macs, too.
The autofocus can be usefull, but it might be annoying, if you can't turn it off.
What we need is a review which actually compares the 9000 with the Vision Pro Mac.
Then we know, whether the Vision Pro is worth the price difference or not.
Nevertheless, both cameras should work well on Macs.
John Pastor said 12:35PM on 6-24-2008
Just wanted to mention that the Windows version of this, the QuickCam Pro 9000, works fine on the Mac. Not sure what advantage this has? Maybe FireWire?
The Pro 9000 that has the same optics as this one works great, the image quality is simply stunning.
http://is.gd/EMP
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fishbert said 2:18PM on 6-24-2008
The 9000 does *not* work just fine on a Mac. With no Mac drivers, there is no way to capture anything but maximum resolution video, and as such, the framerate drops to around 3-5fps. Each frame looked quite good... but any motion turned into a mushy pile of blur.
John Pastor said 2:30PM on 6-24-2008
I don't know what application you're using it with, but it works fine with Skype.
fishbert said 1:05AM on 6-25-2008
Skype, iChat, Quicktime, etc.
It's because there are no Mac drivers or software for the 9000. It has to treat it as a generic UVC device, and thus, does not capture anything but the maximum resolution image. And that means that the frame rate drops to around 5fps, as the "30fps" marketing spec of the 9000 is only true for smaller resolutions.
Maybe 5fps video in skype is fine for you, but I found it rather disappointing, given the $80 I spent for the camera. I'm glad to hear Logitech is finally putting some development effort in to the Mac, so that their otherwise good hardware might work 100% properly.
Moose said 12:37PM on 6-24-2008
I've waited this long for a new iSight, I figure I can wait a bit longer. This thing would look like a bird turd on my Cinema Display.
I'll just wait for the iSight HD, thanks...
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SpinThis! said 1:55PM on 6-24-2008
So take it off when you're not using it?
Sorry to say but you're waiting for vaporware. Apple discontinued the iSight for a reason... it's unlikely they're ever going to bring it back. The "iSight HD rumor" is bogus—that string has been in QuickTime for awhile now...
JohnPQ said 12:48PM on 6-24-2008
It's a shame that Apple doesn't care about headless Macs like the Mac mini and Mac Pro anymore. They should still be selling an iSight of their own.
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Able-X said 12:52PM on 6-24-2008
Looks to me like they're essentially charging a 50 dollar premium or so over what you can get a 9000 for for a driver addition. Pretty freakin lame if you ask me, just release a driver update and make us 9000 owners happy. The only thing this really adds is the right-light technology, which is a 9000 feature on windows.
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