Latest Lenovo USB Webcam Featurez

Lenovo USB Webcam

OK, so you got your ultraportable notebook, maybe even a Thinkpad X60 Tablet; now it’s time to accessorize. Since you just saved about a pound or two by going with a super light laptop, you might as well keep things lightweight when buying your other portable devices. They are all getting thrown in the same bag anyway, so to the dedicated traveler, every ounce counts.

If one of the devices you need to travel with is a webcam, than Lenovo might just have the product you need. This article will be taking a look at the Lenovo USB Webcam, a webcam designed specifically to work with your Thinkpad or ultraportable.

Compared to the huge stationery webcams that have been hitting the market lately Lenovo’s model is going to look quite stripped down, . This is especially true once you examine its barebones feature set and thoroughly unbloated software. At 1.97″ x 2.16″ x 4.53″ and about a quarter pound this tiny device is just the thing to shoot a video on the road, whether you need to video conference with your coworkers at home or talk to your kids before bed. It only needs USB power so no addition wires or power adapters are needed which means once it is installed you just need to find a empty spot in your laptop bag and get going.

There are already a few very good notebook-sized webcams on the market, such as Logitech’s QuickCam line, but I am sure most Thinkpad fans will be interested to see how Lenovo approached this product. One paper it does not appear to be much different from the majority of offerings already available- 1.3 megapixel sensor and USB 2.0 connectivity- but there are a few small surprises, such as the beam-forming dual microphones and the spring-retention mechanism. This style ofmicrophone should be able to get a relatively good audio profile despite its small size and also be able to cancel out any unwanted noise. The USB Webcam is held to the top of your notebook (or monitor) using a spring system that clamps the cam onto anything under two inches thick (it helps if it is placed on a squared corner). Rubber feet protect the surface and provide grip while two thin metal arms keep the tension.

Using the webcam is as simple as installing the included software, plugging in the USB connection, and opening the camera. The webcam’s lens is hidden under a sliding cover on the right side of the unit and once it is opened the lens is revealed as is the indicator LED. The LED is normally off but turns green when recording. Adjusting the webcam is just a matter of tilting or rotating it to the direction you would like- it is on a ball-joint that has some tilt and full rotation so you can record something behind the camera if you would like.

The included software is Ulead Photo Explorer 8.5 SE Basic, an application that is not particularly robust or advanced, but will be enough for non-power users. Using this is optional because the USB Webcam is just a capture device, so it will work with a range of utilities, like Skype, or whatever else you use to shoot video. The other half of the software package is Lenovo’s own Webcam software that is controlled through a tray icon. Using this basic settings like brightness, contrast, saturation, gamma, and sharpness can be controlled, as can the image orientation, recording volume, face tracking, and digital zoom. Profiles can be saved if you want to use different settings under changing circumstances or locations.

On the top of the USB Webcam is a button that can be used to capture still images when the product is active. This can be useful for taking a quick shot here and there but since the camera only turns on when being called upon by software the main use for this will be taking a still image in the middle of a video (otherwise pictures can be taken through software controls).

When it came time to test the USB Webcam, I have to admit my expectations were relatively low. Lenovo was clearly not trying to reinvent the webcam, but rather to offer a solid and highly portable product for their clients, most of whom are business users. People looking for motorized pan/tilt, video effects, and high resolution recording are going to look else for their recording equipment, and Lenovo seems fine with that.

Getting the USB Webcam going was quite easy when using the Ulead software on my X60 Tablet notebook, and the strain caused by recording the video was not problem on the notebook’s Core Duo processor, even while doing some light multitasking.

Adjusting the image to get it to my liking took a few seconds in the USB Webcam’s software and, as with any recording, I found proper lighting to be crucial. The image tended to be underexposed, but this is probably due to my initial use of automatic exposure settings as opposed to customized ones. Once you get the camera set up how you like it, a good video can be shot but the quality is still a behind that of some of its competitors. Size has a lot to do with this though, and as you scale down the size of the camera and lens the video quality is going to suffer.

The audio quality was quite good for a product this small and I had no problems being heard or from ambient noise. The beam-forming dual microphones seem to do a good job of picking up sound so long as you speak directly into the webcam and the recording level high enough. Muttering and whispering can be a problem but since you probably won’t be doing any close-up or cinematic video, this is probably not an issue.

One feature that was a great inclusion is the face tracking. Most webcams have this in some form or another, but is it not something I expected from a simple business product. Using the face recognition/tracking from the Lenovo software it is possible to do a face frame (a box around the face), obscure your face (through a blurred tiled mosaic), grey out the background, smooth out the background, or have the camera digitally pan and tilt to follow your face. These add a lot of functionality to the otherwise simple user experience, and the emulation pan and tilt in particular helps improve the quality of video conferencing.

Conclusion
Lenovo’s designers set out to design a webcam that shared the ThinkPad’s design philosophy. The USB Webcam’s design reflects a lot more effort than they put into its name and it brings the lightweight, sturdy design of the Thinkpad to the webcam market, something business consumers will probably be more than happy to consider. The cam does not have the frills or software functionality of some of its competitors, but it is affordable and reliable, so the important bases are covered.