A4tech PK-336MB
Camera purchased and tested in January 2008. Nice entry level camera, surprising good image in low light for this category of price. It can be as easily put on a desk or a CRT monitor as well as on a LCD monitor or laptop. But I wouldn't try to put it on a laptop, the clip is very strong, and I guess you could damage the notebook monitor if it has thin edges. The camera rotates about 30 degrees in left and right, and about 45 degrees in front and back, so you have some space for adjusting. Has an old fashion manual focus, but not so annoying as at the Labtec Webcam 1200, once set the focus you can forget about it, if you note moving the object very close to the camera. Image quality is ok for its price, when the light is too bright the image become overexposed, not so nice, in low light things are not so bad, remember, we are talking about a camera that costs 18$, less than any entry level brand name cameras like Logitech or Creative. I was surprised to see how in a room with incandescent light the camera is acting, the image is white, much worse than in daylight or fluorescent light. A4tech PK-336MB is using a 1/4" 330k or VGA (640x480) sensor at 15fps, focal distance F=2.0, viewing angle=72 degree. It's possible, with interpolating, to use the camera for making still images at 1280x960. The image is sharp in daylight and fluorescent light, but still acceptable in other conditions too. Do not get confused about the big glass, this is just a protective glass, not the real lens, the real lens glass is about 3mm in diameter, behind this big protective glass. Camera has an integrated microphone but the quality is not extraordinary, just to check, better use an exterior mic if you have one. Package contains a 8cm CD with drivers and some image editing soft, nothing interesting to look about, a quick installation guide booklet in English, and the camera, all packed in a nice medium size box colored in white and yellow.
Pros:
* Very cheap
* Snapshot button
* Acceptable in low light
* Integrated microphone
Cons:
* Too strong clip
* Bad quality microphone
* Faded colors
Verdict: Nice entry level camera from A4tech, definitely take a look at it if you are short of money.