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Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 (Black)
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| List Price: | $99.99 |
| Price: | $70.80 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
36 new or used available from $69.50
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8 in Consumer Electronics
- Color: Black
- Brand: Logitech
- Model: 960-000048
- Platform: Windows
- Format: CD
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.86" h x 7.64" w x 3.35" l, .90 pounds
- Native resolution: 1600x1200
Features
- New Logitech Vid software dramatically simplifies video calling (free download)
- High-precision AutoFocus with Carl Zeiss optics for razor-sharp video calls
- Full 2MP video resolution for in person picture clarity and detail
- Built-in microphone cancels echoes and room noise for crystal-clear conversations
- Conveniently clips to any desktop or notebook PC display
Editorial Reviews
From the Manufacturer
Be there to share precious moments - in person - with dramatically simplified, high quality video calling. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 makes PC-to-PC video calls look and sound so real, it's like being in the same room with far-away family and friends. With high-precision Carl Zeiss optics and new Logitech Vid video-calling software, crystal-clear video calling is finally fast, free and easy.
 |  |  Be there to share precious moments with Logitech high quality video calling. You have family and friends miles away. You stay in touch by phone but it doesn't come close to seeing them in person. The QuickCam Pro 9000 can help—the webcam that makes high-quality video calls remarkably easy, so you can just focus on being in the conversation. Go ahead. Blow a kiss to the birthday girl. Give two anniversary thumbs up to your favorite couple. Show off that A+ college paper to the folks back home. Logitech makes it simple to share the moment, and experience every emotion, in astonishing real-life clarity and detail. |
Introducing Vid, Logitech's fast, free and easy new video calling software.
| | Download Vid (Windows)* It's about time video calling became easy for anyone to use. With new Logitech Vid software and the QuickCam Pro 9000, you get a sharp and clear, yet dramatically simplified, video calling experience. It's the "one-click-to-call" software solution that works seamlessly with any new or existing Logitech webcam. And it's free for you and anyone you call.
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Easy set up
| | Just download the free software and you'll be ready to call in half the time it takes using other video call services. With the simple, intuitive interface, you can set up Vid—and your Logitech webcam—in just a few clicks. Click. Chat. Simple as that. |
Fast connections
| | Finally, video calling a friend is as easy as clicking on their picture and email address. No screen names or accounts to remember. With Vid "one-click-to-call", there are no extra steps to keep you from connecting with the people you care about most. All of your contacts are within easy reach. So you're ready to call the moment your webcam is. |
Free for all
| | Vid software is free with your new or existing Logitech webcam. It's also free for anyone you invite to connect with you. Want to add a friend to your call list? Simply choose "Add a friend" to send them an email invitation and software link. Once they sign up, you're both set for free one-click calling—no strings attached. |
Crystal-clear video chats
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Key Features
AutoFocus with Carl Zeiss lens system for sharper, smoother picture quality
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| | QuickCam Pro 9000 features Carl Zeiss optics, the king of high-precision camera lenses. Capture your live video conversations in razor-sharp detail. High Quality Autofocus | |||||
True 2-megapixel videos and 8-megapixel photos-see everything
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Intelligent Face Tracking keeps you and yours center-screen
 | | Feel free to show off, sit up, sit back, rock out, make funny faces and talk with your hands. Just do what comes naturally. You won't have to change the webcam's position or angle. Intelligent Face Tracking always keeps your face in the center of the video frame. And with the ultra-wide field of view, your whole family can take center-screen with you. | ||
RightLight2 Technology for the ideal image-even in dim light
| | Say you're making a late-night video call to a caffeinated friend in another hemisphere. The only light on is a desk lamp, leaving your face in the dark. No problem. Logitech RightLight2 Technology instantly detects and corrects poor lighting—even tricky back- and side-lighting that would otherwise hide your face in shadows. It's like having your own lighting technician who instantly adjusts and balances the brightness on you, the foreground and background. Now, looking great on camera is so easy, it's brilliant. | ||||||
Built-in microphone with RightSound Technology for crystal-clear conversations without a headset
 | | With some webcams, your "voice, voice, voice" echoes back during a video call. Logitech RightSound Technology automatically cancels distracting echoes and background noise. So video calls sound as clear and natural as talking in the same room. Want your video calls to be more private? It's as simple as adding a headset. | ||
Logitech Video Effects: video calls go Hollywood
| | Feel like a queen? Be one on your next video call. It's easy, thanks to included Logitech Video Effects software. Personalize your appearance with hundreds of realistic effects, only from Logitech. Transform yourself into animated avatar characters who mirror your movements in real time. Talk and your avatar talks. Smile and your avatar smiles. Also add fun Face Accessories to your live-action image. Quirky glasses. Crazy hats. A royal crown. It's your choice. Or use Fun Filters to turn your image artsy, neon or creepy as a ghost. | ||||||
Works with all instant messaging programs for hassle-free calling
| All you need to start video calling is the webcam, a high-speed Internet connection and any instant messaging software. We recommend Logitech Vid video calling software. You can also download other IM programs online. Unlike some brands, QuickCam Pro 9000 works with all popular instant messaging programs—yours and whomever you call, so getting connected is hassle-free. Designed with a universal mounting clip, the webcam is easy to attach to any desktop or notebook PC display. | ||
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Which Webcam Is Right For You?
 | Good |  | Better |  | Best | Video Quality | Photo Quality | Optics | Corrects for Poor Lighting | Autofocus | Built-in Mic | Interactive Video Effects |
| For Home or Office | ||||||||
 | Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF | 2.0 MP HD 1600 x 1200 pixels | 8.0 MP | Carl Zeiss with motorized tracking | | | with echo and noise reduction | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 | 2.0 MP 1600 x 1200 pixels | 8.0 MP | Carl Zeiss ultra-wide angle | | | with echo and noise reduction | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac | 2.0 MP 1600 x 1200 pixels | 8.0 MP | Carl Zeiss ultra-wide angle | | | | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe | 1.3 MP HD 960 x 720 pixels | 5.0 MP | Glass ultra-wide angle | | with echo and noise reduction | | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Communicate MP | 1.3 MP HD 960 x 720 pixels | 4.0 MP | Plastic | | with echo and noise reduction | | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Connect | 640 x 480 pixels | 640 x 480 pixels | with echo and noise reduction | | |||
| For Travel or Mobile | ||||||||
 | Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks | 2.0 MP HD 1600 x 1200 pixels | 8.0 MP | Carl Zeiss ultra-wide angle | | | with echo and noise reduction | |
 | Logitech QuickCam Deluxe for Notebooks | 640 x 480 pixels | 1.3 MP | Glass | | with echo and noise reduction | | |
 | Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks | 640 x 480 pixels | 640 x 480 pixels | Plastic | with echo and noise reduction | | ||
Browse for more Logitech products
Enhance your video calling experience with great Logitech accessories.
 |  |  | ||
ClearChat PC Wireless | | Premium Notebook Headset | | V20 Notebook Speakers |
What's In The Box ?
 | | Package Contents | ||
Customer Reviews
Amazing Video Clarity; Troublesome Vista Support
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZL1AFCPWY5BZ The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is one of the better webcams I have had the opportunity to use over the years. Its stylish design fits easily on top of my LCD screen, while its functionality and features continue to impress. However, Vista functionality can be an adventure at a few times.
First, let's talk about the good -- picture quality. Let me put it to you think way: This webcam works better than my high priced Sony Camcorder at picking up video in low-light settings. I was simply amazed the first time I used it in a room with compact flourescents in the middle of the night and had such remarkable clarity and picture quality. Logitech credits this ability with something they call RightLight technology (in the video review I get it backwards -- sorry Logitech!). Whatever you want to call it, it's one of the features that definitely makes this webcam stand above the rest.
Next, the optics themselves are impressive. The 9000 utilized Carl Zeiss optics and you can tell the difference between this webcam and others. If you want to find out what makes Carl Zeiss optics so good, I encourage you to do a quick internet search or visit Wikipedia to look it up. It's hard to describe in text how this optics setup helps -- this is definitely something you have to see to believe.
Overall, I found it worked well with all the major instant messaging applications -- AOL, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo. It also worked very well as a stand-alone camera taking incredible video and decent still shots -- but remember, if you want to take a lot of still shots the quality you get from a product like this is fair at best compared to what you will get with a decent digital camera.
Now, let's talk about a few things that weren't so good about this webcam. The biggest struggle I had was with Windows Vista. Even though the box proclaims it is certified for Vista, I had numerous driver issues. The Logitech 9000 worked in Vista just fine, but for some reason at random intervals it wanted to re-install its drivers. One thing you should know if you purchase this camera is that when installing it you will want to make sure you have the installation program check for updates. I found there were two driver updates for the camera during install. However, even with these updates I continue to have that random re-installation issue.
The "helper application" that comes with the 9000 lets you do a lot of things -- such as configure the webcam, add effects, etc. Although I had no problem configuring it I never got the effects to work. However, this wasn't a big deal for me as I have no use for the special effects.
Overall, if you are looking for a quality webcam that can produce terrific results I highly recommend the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. Just be aware of potential Vista issues (which hopefully Logitech will solve). Other than that it's so easy to use even beginners to computers will be able to get it up and running in no time. A quality webcam at a good price considering all of its features.
For Mac and OS X
This review is for the benefit of Mac users, not Windows. I bought the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision to choose a web camera for an iMac G5 2.0GHz, the generation immediately before the G5 iMac with the built-in iSight camera. And I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.1, the most updated (to date) Leopard. There is currently a camera for sale at Apple retail stores that is labeled the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision MP, for Macs. It is the same hardware as the Ultra Vision and Ultra Vision SE for Windows; all the Ultra Vision cameras differ only in cosmetics, color--they're all the same hardware.
On a Mac, the cameras both run on the built-in Apple drivers. There are no Logitech drivers, no Logitech software. Therefore none of the Logitech special effects or light and sound management that the box lists work for Mac users. No autofocus, no RightLight2, no RightSound. Kind of a drag. In addition, there is no ability to manage color, light balance, etc., from any operating system software on the Mac or from Logitech. This is pure plug-and-play, and you get only the most basic functionality: The camera and microphone work (not sure about quality of sound on receiving end) to deliver picture and sound, neither tunable with what is in the box.
What the two cameras have in common is that they work for Mac users. According to what I've read, any camera that is labeled as Microsoft Windows Vista-compatible or UVC (USB Video Class) will work just as these do in Mac OS X, with this prereq: You have to have OS X 10.4.9 minimum. Tiger (OS X 10.4) is currently at 10.4.11; Leopard is at 10.5.1. Both will support video and sound on UVC cameras.
That said, the Pro 9000 and Ultra Vision differ in some significant ways. The focus on the Pro 9000 (P9K hereafter) is tighter than on the Ultra Vision (UV hereafter). The focus on the UV is comparatively lower in resolution; you can see jaggies on straight lines on either camera, but they're pretty visible on the UV, and you have to look for them on the P9K. I would say the P9K is definitely superior, and neither is as good as the iSight cameras built into any of the current Mac lines (but then, if you had a Mac with iSight, you wouldn't be reading this). The P9K's resolution is finer than the UV.
As to color I would say that if I could have a compromise between the two cameras, the UV and the Pro 9000, it would be better than either. The Pro 9000 color/exposure is a bit washed out; the UV is a bit dim. E.g., a blue pinpoint oxford shirt looks barely blue on the Pro 9000, and much more saturated on the UV. The entirety of the UV's color tilts heavily toward blue, while the Pro 9000 goes more toward yellow. (I would be curious to know if the color balance varies by model or by individual camera. I'd also love to see if other brands, say, Creative Labs, differ too.) Both cameras adjust to changing light, but in low light the Pro 9000 is not just a little but significantly better; in very low light, the UV nearly blacks out, while screen light is enough for the PK9 to deliver a passable image, albeit with low frame rate and lots and lots of motion blur.
Note that on a G5 or earlier (any non-Intel Mac), the support for iChat and PhotoBooth's effects is limited--specifically, they'll do the first two panels (color effects, including charcoal, Andy Warhol-ish, X-ray, B/W, sepia, and the pinch, swirl, and similar effects), but none of the backdrop effects, either still or moving.
I found both to work with iChat, PhotoBooth, Skype, and several of the shareware camera apps available. So I would say they work, period.
While neither Apple nor Logitech provides much more support for cameras, eCamm.com has a bevy of camera titles that provide extra power for web cameras on non-Intel Mac hardware. iGlasses, PowerBoost, and a couple other titles provide color tuning, restore some of the effects capabilities that PPC Macs don't get in iChat and PhotoBooth, and provide recordability with QuickTime output. They do good work. iGlasses provides some control over brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness, gain, white balance. I didn't find these to really improve the images on the P9K, but they did help the UV. Once you get a camera, you may want to get some of eCamm's software.
What Do You Know? I DO Need This!
Despite being a computer programmer for... longer than I can now apparently remember, I have never been someone with much desire to be on the leading edge of computer technology. Let somebody else try it out, help work out the bugs, and come up with a convincing argument for why I need such and such a thing, and I'll THINK about it... for a few years. Thus, I was late to get on the Internet, late to buy a home computer, and laughed out loud at the thought I might ever want or need a web cam... until now.
As a still camera, the QuickCam Pro 9000 can take better pictures than my old and long gone digital camera, though at maximum resolution you'd better content yourself with emailing them one at a time. However, it is not a complete substitute for it because even with a very long extension cord that desktop will get heavy in a hurry.
As a video camera, the QuickCam Pro 9000 is truly amazing! At maximum resolution people only familiar with older generation web cams will be openmouthed with astonishment, and viewers of the resulting videos will be able to make educated guesses about their dental health. It has a "Face Tracking" feature that can be set to follow one face or multiple faces and will do so quite well no matter how the subject(s) move, though the resulting video is not recommended for anyone susceptible to motion sickness.
In short a person who did not think he needed a webcam now wonders how he ever did without it.
Defects? Well, the software that comes with it is more than a little buggy; you WILL want to download the latest software from their web site, which cleared up my problems. I also don't like the fact that you can select only a single image size for both still and video because only the three smallest image sizes work for both still and video. If you select any of the five larger image sizes for taking still photos, you will have to reset it for taking videos and vice versa, which since the newest version of the software finally saves my settings between runs, is more than a little annoying. (Note: the latest version of the Logitech software has added two more video image sizes: 1.3 and 2 megapixels, leaving only the three largest image sizes as still photo only.)
A nice accessory would be a tiny protective carrying case because it is small enough to haul with you on trips. The original package will do the job, if you opened it carefully enough, but it is too bulky to fit well in a suitcase.
Note: a more expensive Mac version (apparently because certain features available to PC's in software must be replaced by hardware) is now available: Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro. Word is that there is some cross-compatibility, but I wouldn't count on it. Purchase the one that is compatible with the machine you will mostly be using it with.
