Microsoft LifeCam Studio Full HD 1080p

This webcam is pretty awesome. Once you manage to prise it out of Microsoft's iron-clad bomb-proof armored packaging (seriously, it took about seven minutes and a pair of scissors to work it out! Oh, and you might take a while to find the little black rubber lens cap, which is inside the white paper drivers-'n'-documents box), it actually seems surprisingly small and light. Getting it to work also requires Microsoft's annoying proprietary drivers and an internet connection, which I assume is because the ones on the disk are out of date and so I was treated to an agonizing 80MB download. However, once it's up and running it's easy to see why it commands the price it does and why you'll learn to put up with all the slightly annoying drivers and the impossible package.

Also of note is that new firmware is available for the camera, which is meant to make it better, faster, shinier and generally something you should do; I can't comment on whether this is true, because I installed it before I used it. Whether the result of the update or not, the camera seems to work pretty well. The drivers too aren't too bad to use if you can bear the download time; as well as letting you zoom the picture (fairly cool, and doesn't seem to affect quality either), there's a few effects you can apply to the video output even during a video call. Some of them, such as the hats, face distortions, and actually fairly cool background blurring rely on face detection (which is surprisingly reliable), while others overlay filters - black & white, sepia, posterise and so on. The driver interface isn't bad either, with a little icon in the task bar allowing you to change zoom, effects and settings quite easily.

The quality of the camera is outstanding; even at the low resolutions imposed by Skype, the video is bright, clear and without graininess. This is pretty good going, given that my desk isn't exactly photo-lit! Along with the autofocus (which, although it doesn't seem like too much of a big thing at first, has convinced me never to go back to manual), the camera also automatically adjusts the brightness and colour of the picture. I've noticed that sitting in front of my computer at 9pm illuminated only by my screen (lightbulbs tend to fail more often then monitors, it seems) doesn't look too far detached from a sun-lit seat on a nice day.

I suppose that I shouldn't let this get too sugar-coated though, so I must say that the Lifecam Studio is not without flaws.

Firstly, the autofocus occasionally goes a little out of whack, and either picks up the background or some invisible subject a few inches from the camera. This isn't too bad though, because it can usually be solved by holding a hand close to the lens for a few seconds to initiate a re-focusing, then move it away so it picks you up again.

Secondly, the camera's colour-adjusting magic sometimes goes a little crazy and whites you out or blacks everything out, but it's always temporary (it'll go back to normal in about a second) and usually happens if you do something like giving picking up a sheet of paper or move a dark object near the camera.

Thirdly, this camera gets hot. In the product video on amazon.com for this, a few Microsoft hardware engineers discuss the design of the Studio, and reveal that they're pretty chuffed with the tidiness of the overall design and how well it all fits together; they give an example of the aluminium body not only looking strong and shiny and being pretty overall, but also doubling as a convenient passive heatsink. It shows (Well, obviously not literally - I think it'd probably be difficult to heat the whole thing to incandescent temperatures from the 2.5w of electricity you can pull from a USB socket), but after using it for a while it quickly becomes quite warm to the touch, and reaches perhaps 40-45C during extended use. This is probably fine for the camera and I'm sure that it doesn't mind too much (Microsoft peripherals maybe don't boast the 4000K survivability of technologies from vendors like Aperture Science, I've not seen many electronics datasheets that complain too about temperately below about 80C), but it's something that you should maybe be aware of; it's probably not broken, just meant to be like that.

Overall, it's a pretty great camera and I'm glad that I bought it; the price could be a little high if you're only an occasional user, but if you're prepared to pay the price then you're rewarded with a good, high-quality piece of kit. It does have its flaws, but then I'm certain that there's no webcam without them and in the scheme of things they're fairly minor. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

The quality of this camera is great no doubt, however when on skype the difference in quality to any average camera isn't much different

8Mp and 1080p get but again if its for use with skype i would just go for something cheaper because although you can get great quality over the net the quality is the same as any old cam.

I expected this to be better over the net.

This is the best webcam I have used. I had the HD500 before this and the Lifecam VX300 before that. The images are bright and clear even in low light. Using skype, callers say the picture quality is very clear and bright even in low light conditions. You can zoom the image add special effects to yourself, glasses etc using its recognition software. The unit has a rubber mount that securely fits to any monitor and seems the same as the cheaper H5D-00003. The sleek tubular body is elegant and is in a brushed aluminium finish. It looks big on amazon product page but is nice and compact sitting on a large monitor.

The auto focus functionality works well and is relatively quick. The webcam supports 1080p at 30fps in a 16:9 aspect.

I have not used the camera with Live Messenger as I do not use those applications.

Overall a great product. 1080p in a camera this small is nothing short of amazing!