Web cam recommendation?

[Basalt]

I want to get a web cam that does decent quality stills - there are plenty that claim Hd video plus 14mp stills but megapixels aren't the same as image quality and most reviews don't consider the stills quality

I want it for time laspe work - I'm getting quite into doing time lapses but it ties up my SLR for a long time and I'm a tad concerned about the lifetime of my shutter. I did some photomicroscopy for someone at work the other day and we generated 3500 frames. The end result was suberb but I can't see my D3100 lasting long if I keep doing that so we'll use video in future and just speed up playback.

So my plan - get a reasonable webcam and use that for excessively long time periods ( I'd like to do weeks ) connected to my seldom used netbook where it's the process rather than the image that's the interest, then use the SLR where I want the quality - for instance capturing a sundew leaf wrapping around an insect.

Any got one they particularly like?

 

[Big Mike]

Why not just get a decent P&S digital camera. The image quality would likely be much better than a webcam.

 

[analog.universe]

Why not just get a decent P&S digital camera. The image quality would likely be much better than a webcam.

This is what I was thinking as well. The old Canon PowerShot's used to be able to shoot tethered even, but it looks like s100 doesn't. I don't know how far back you have to go to get one that will, but the s series in general has been pretty high quality for a while.

 

[Overread]

I think the words "web cam" and "quality results" are words that you don't see together. Webcams are -- generally - terrible for being a camera and if you pay enough to get a really good one you'll kick yourself because you didn't get a similarly priced and superior point and shoot/bridge camera or even one of the newer EVIL/Mirrorless cameras.

I'd personally warm to the Mirrorless cameras like the Olympus PEN series or their OMD series since they give you SLR like features and controls whilst being an electronic unit (though I'm not sure if their shutter assembly works similar to a DSLR and thus would suffer over prolonged use - if that being the case then a good high end bridge camera would be my recommendation).

You are also right, many stop motion films kill DSLRs.

 

[NE-KID]

I use to own a Logitech Pro C910 webcam and the quality pictures of webcaming is really good as long as you put the higher mega pixels setting on..The C920 is out now and suppose to be the really good one to buy if your in to web camming on places like Stickam, Yahoo or Skype.

 

[Basalt]

I did check if my S1070 would work tethered but it doesn't appear so and I've not found one that does. The HD hero has the function built in but it's got that massively wide angle lens. I wouldn't want to go into the high end of the compacts - I'd rather be spending the money on the SLR side - that goes everywhere with me.

I'll have a look at the logitec camera, I'll have the luxury of being able to provide good lighting conditions and I suspect the reason many web cam images are poor is simply terrible dim room lights.

cheers

 

[2WheelPhoto]

iMac cam!

 

[Basalt]

That'd mean buying a Mac which I have no intention of doing.

'course if I'm going to spend fifty quid on a webcam, I could just get one of these :


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brinno-TimeLapse-Camera-TLC100-camera/dp/B005REW7DM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1334391026&sr=1-1