Ecamm iMage USB Webcam
Product Review
Contact: phone
Price: $59.95
Pros: Tiny, multiple mounting options, great video of well lighted scenes, works with pretty much everything that uses video input.
Cons: Less sexy design, smaller CCD, and slower frame rate than iSight, no microphone.
Product Rating
Solid
by Tim Thomas, AAUG Member
Want to use iChat AV or another application that needs video input, but your older Mac doesn’t have a built-in iSight? You still have options. Add an external video camera. There’s the beautiful Apple iSight, at $259. Ouch. Then there’s the slightly-less-beautiful-but-still-very-cute Ecamm iMage USB webcam, at $59.95. Now you’re talking my language.
The iMage USB webcam (pronounce it: image) is a plug-and-play camera that connects to a USB 2.0 port on any Mac with a 600MHz or higher G3, G4, G5, or Intel processor running OS X 10.4.3 or higher. Oh, and it works with Windows XP and Vista too, if you care about such things.
The iMage has a 1/7-inch color CCD sensor, a little smaller than the 1/4-inch sensor in the iSight, and serves up 15 frames-per-second uncompressed video at 640X480, also only half the fastest frame rate of the iSight. And unlike the iSight, the iMage has no microphone. You’ll need to supply your own sound input, USB preferred.
But the iMage is smaller than the iSight by a bunch and can be positioned pretty much any where you want; on top of your display, under it, or wherever. Also, unlike the built-in iSight, you can point the iMage at something besides your face. That’s hard to do with a built-in camera. The iMage has an anti-skid magnetic pad on the bottom of its tiny foot, as well as screw holes for wall mounting, and even a threaded tripod mount hole. Nice touch. I’ll be using that.
The video captured by the iMage looks great in iChat AV, notwithstanding the lower frame rate. It looks quite good in iMovie too, or pretty much anything else that can use video input. The iMage works with Skype, Apple Photo Booth, Yahoo! Messenger, Security Spy, Boinx iStopMotion, and anything else that will work with the iSight. (To make the iMage work with iChat AV, install the included iMage Plugin software.)
If you want to capture video to use with any of the above applications, and you don’t want to spend a lot, spend a little and give the Ecamm iMage USB webcam a try. It’ll be a sweet little addition to your accessory collection.
