Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 - Black [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

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.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QQKFQETXGYLZ For those of you who've had issue with this cam, or those who've heard bad things about this camera; watch the video. I'm no public speaker by any means, but I think it's worth watching so you can get the best out of your new or potentially new webcam.
If you didnt watch the video or want a summary of what I stated in the video, I'll restate the main points below:
1. Always install the appropriate drivers from their logitech site. Often, the drivers on the disc are outdated.
2. Open up the Logitech Quickcam Vision for Enterprises software either through Start>All Programs>Logitech or just click on the icon provided on the desktop if there is one.
3. Unclick both Rightlight Automatic Settings(the eye picture icon) and Automatic Settings for Gain and Exposure(the owl picture icon). You can all find this under the gears icon. You can then adjust the bars left to right (especially exposure and gain) accordingly.
4. Under the camera picture icon in the software, you can also adjust for manual/auto focus, brightness, contrast, color, and white balance.
Doing all of this will raise your picture frame rate and minimize any blurring from motion.
Don't ever worry how you'll mess the camera settings up. If you first don't succeed at what you want, you can always re-click auto settings and start all over. Personally, I find it kind of entertaining when I mess around with it!

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.

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.

They have got this one right.. That is for sure...
I had the previous Logitech Pro 5000 and this one beats that one (which is also good) miles away !!

The quality that I have all my family and friends reporting on Skype is just asthonishing.
Because of that, I got a 2nd one and start using it myself during all my trips and I could see the diference from the previous one.

The range of colors is what calls the attention, very good in bringing the true colors of the place you are without have to deal with the controls of it.

The Auto Focus on it is just something to bring the attention to, since you can acctually get close up on stuff that other cameras would not pick up.
I could even show what I had on my monitor to friends and they were able to read it ! (using Skype)

The lens are just great (All sony cybershot's uses the same lens if that tells you anything !!), to which I believe is also the reason for all this image perfecion they have reached with the camera.

And the sound is really good, with eco cancelation and all the bells and whistles.

I mainly use it for web conference, but if you would like to make videos and send them out, that does the job with an A+!!

You will be satisfied with this one, and the price is worht the equipment you are going to get...

That's why I got 2 of those already for my family !
Go for it !