Consumer Webcams With High-Quality Sensors? 218
xmas2003 writes "Since 2005, I've had a live webcam watching my grass grow — another is currently watching a bird nest on my front door — five babies! While I appreciate the 802.11g wireless and Pan/Tilt/Zoom (10x optical) of the five-year-old D-Link DCS-6620g, it has issues, especially image quality. I've investigated getting a new webcam, but except for high-end/security-related gear from companies such as Axis, there doesn't seem to be much improvement in the consumer space, as most offerings are just cheaper and USB-connected for tethered video conferencing, etc." So where, the reader wants to know, are the high-quality, reasonably affordable webcams? (Read on below.)
"I have an 18 Megapixel Canon 7D DSLR that shoots gorgeous 1920x1080x30p hi-def video. While I don't expect that in a consumer webcam, their recently released T2i uses the same chip and sells for $800. And heck, point-n-shoots are a couple of hundred bucks, and now many cell phones have cameras built in, so there're plenty of low-power, speedy CPUs in small packages these days to handle the signal processing. So why hasn't someone taken a sensor with good image quality, downsized to around 1024x768, and put it in a PTZ webcam package with 802.11n wireless for around $500?" Even if it's not that exact combination, what are the best options going these days for high-resolution webcams?
that site (Score:1, Insightful)
can't be from 2005
I think I just found a time machine (Score:5, Insightful)
and what do you do for pan-tilt? (Score:4, Insightful)
The original poster is looking for a replacement for a camera that has pan/tilt/zoom controls.
Re:trendnet IP-TV252W and IP-TV512P (Score:3, Insightful)
Does it provide video of enough quality that it would stand up in court as reliable evidence of the creeps who might break into my house again this summer? I'm shopping for a reliable camera rig & recorder for just that reason and I can't believe how timely this article is to me.
Re:that site (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:and what do you do for pan-tilt? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft LifeCam Cinema (Score:1, Insightful)
Hope you're consistent and eat no food from Monsanto or Kellogg, or don't drive a car from a big manufacturer and so on.
What's the point?
Resolution != Quality (Score:3, Insightful)
The best sensor in the world won't do jack squat for you if you have crap-tastic optics. For pro-am digital photography the lenses are the limiting factor these days, the sensors are more than good enough. And it's not likely you're going to find a webcam with decent glass, sorry. For that form factor (teeny tiny camera) you're not going to get good quality or low light performance.