My wife started to work. I have grown rusty at home, she says. I understand. There, at her work somewhere near Kursk railway station on the Yauza River embankment, a mobile telephone catches the cell so-so: you will get through to somebody, if you are lucky only. Well, and as always she does talking to her girlfriends from other towns (and from Moscow too), for communication she has decided in favor of Skype.
Though Wi-Fi for ordinary employees was forbidden there, so a habitual iPad was not a helper for her – she had to use her working PC. But the working computer is for work only. No microphones at all there, to say nothing of a video camera. That is she has to communicate via Skype in the text mode exclusively. But that is, as you understand, a long, boring and labor-consuming process. That is why I decided to select an inexpensive web-camera to her with a built-in microphone, of course.
For several years, I have been already using for Skype communication a cool HD web-camera produced by Logitech: QuickCam Ultra Vision. It is quite an old model, nowadays there are a lot of cooler web-cameras, but mine is one of coolest. It has the two-megapixel matrix (not particularly clear what for), buttons to snap photo and video on butt ends, as well as a heavy and glitchy, but quite sophisticated software lacing, which enables, for example, to pull on the face an avatar during video conversation. Maybe, only one thing is deficient for me in it, and that is the exact focusing. It kind of automatic there, however, I suppose that it is according to hyperfocal distance only. It’s not that the picture from it turns out unfocal, but the focus, however, is not sharp. But that, to say honestly, is not important for video conversations. It costs even today about one hundred US dollars, as compared with that twenty-dollar small camera, which I am ready to pay for my wife’s working computer.
I stated to search. I saw a lot of different web-cameras, even cheaper than that twenty-dollar one. Starting from one hundred sixty rubles! Which, I probably would take. Well... by virtue of sufficiency. However, while leafing through offers another web-camera met my eye. It was appreciably more expensive; however, it fitted in the planned twenty dollars.
It met my eye – and riveted my eyes. It was named SVEN IC-920. It was produced, of course, in China, but had been developed in the vicinity of our country – in Finland. In Europe. Even that one thing would be interesting, but the main thing appeared to be in its appearance. In its beauty. It was as made of stainless steel, with such, I said, decorative polishing. The camera part proper was in the form of a tube. It would be possible even to take it as a telescope, if not its size. And… my old dream – the manual exact focusing. But other parameters were most ordinary, almost the lowest (real matrix resolution was VGA, 640х480), and according to my experience for video communication via Skype – even such specifications were superfluous: no matter how strong a channel was, everything would be compressed and distorted, sharpness would be lost.
And the Skype, even when I had a possibility to select, did not catch greater resolution, in any case, I never succeeded in forcing it, with any web-camera.
The web-camera was delivered. It was nice packed, with a plastic window in the box, through which it could be seen and it only made mouth water by its metallicity. When I unpacked the web-camera, the first thing I did I started testing that metallicity: as it was adroitly, when the plastic pretended to be stainless steel? Ringing due to lightly tapping on a leg with a screwdriver was… well, not especially clear, a little bit suspicious. However, when I after becoming excited and giving myself the trouble made red-hot a needle and tried to stick it in a leg – nothing worked out. As though it was really metal. Or maybe such plastic which you will not be able to distinguish it from metal without special laboratory studies. Some kind of... cosmic. But that, as you understand, was very unlikely.
The wrapper of the viewing hood, that was obviously, without doubts, appeared effective-metallic, and perhaps an aiming rim to focus was made of plastic. But it was so well disguised as metal, that even there was the complete metallic impression. Of course, metal is expensive and rather heavy, and in this case technologically as though and senseless – however has the undoubted decorative advantage. It is, so to say, is an obvious trump.
ИAnd immediately after web-camera fixation (an easy-to-us clip, which is able to be a clip, in case of fixation on the LCD monitor or notebook, which, however, without a built-in web-cameras are not available for many years and – in case if on the table or on the cover of a CRT monitor, – with legs) – so, hardly it is mounted, you will immediately forget even about the plastic ring: from the distance even of two-three centimeters even it – purely stainless steel! The camera demonstrated itself as quite ready for Skype-life: it turned out just I inserted it into a USB port. Well, and it started to demonstrate. Which, generally speaking, was to be proved.
The web-camera by its easiest movement, on its ball-and-socket joint (by the way, in order to emphasize the metallically all other part it is made of black plastic) and a revolving leg, has directed to my face. And by a ring it has made such exact and clear focus around the lens, which I have never seen on my QuickCam Ultra Vision; there is no such a ring there. Additional characteristics of the web-camera are marked on the box – well, like interpolated 8 megapixels (who does need them?) and different options, which can be used after downloading a shell and drivers. I’ve done.
The shell appeared to be Microsoft AMCAMP, but drivers, apparently, are actually produced by SVEN or by Chinese producing the “hardware” (in the proper sense of the word). Drivers are a little bit glitched, but by a long stretch of the imagination they can be made to operate. I, in any event, have succeeded in it.
They enable to correct the picture according to a brightness-contrast-gamut-color-saturation, to select – to eliminate blinking – frequency of supplied power, to increase the picture, turn on quite ridiculous “face tracking” (when only the face is selected from the whole pictute), as well as to lay different effects to the frame. Well, like, “Old photo”, “Embossing”, “Mosaic” and other rubbish, which the above mentioned QuickCam Ultra Vision has even more and more interesting and which after seeing during the purchase will not be turned on never anymore.
There is a possibility to start recording video (programmatically) or save a photo – by a button on the tube.
СуммирI summarize: there is nothing special inside (however, everything in its place, everything is available), – but it is very pleasant from the outside. And that, probably, will be quite important for many people (as for me in this case). So, its cost of ten of dollars is quite justified.