Genius iSlim 1300 V2 1.3 Mega Pixel Web Camera
The iSlim 1300 V2 web camera is a simple to use webcam with snapshot and instant messaging buttons along with an indicator light for all the features you could want in a basic webcam.
Ease of Use, Performance: 18/25
Look & Feel: 20/25
Features 20/25
How much I enjoy 20/25
Total: 78/100
The iSlim 1300 V2 is a decent webcam with plenty of simple to use features like an instant messaging and snapshot button on top and a front indicator. The iSlim webcam from Genius is a simple to use webcam that comes with the webcam itself, a CD with drivers, the CrazyTalk Cam Suite Pro software and the quick installation guide.
The webcam is simple to install and most computers will install the webcam as a plug and play device or you can use the included CD drivers or the CrazyTalk Cam Suite software. The webcam has a three piece articulating design to allow it to rest on the monitor or lid of a laptop while in use but collapses down for easy storage.
The webcam sits easily on the monitors and laptops that I have tried it on and is easy to adjust to get pointed where you want once you connect it. The webcam video is not the best I have seen from both webcams and from camcorders but it works well enough for a simple webcam that only costs about $25.
The iSlim 1300 V2 is a high definition webcam that uses a 1.3 mega pixel image sensor to capture your images and video that uses the manual focus method by turning the camera lens. The webcam saves images in JPEG and WMV formats for stills and video with images up to 1280 x 960 resolution and video from 8 to 30 frames per second depending on resolution.
The webcam has a decent enough looking video for both still and moving pictures but it is a bit on the darker side in a decently lit room. I am mainly using the webcam in my office which has an overhead 40 watt compact fluorescent bulb and two 40 watt CFL bulbs on swing arms.
If I just use the overhead light the picture, as you can see from my screenshot of the video directly from the camera is dim but viewable with my face dimmer than my surroundings. The webcam at its low cost works just fine and the higher definition of 1280 x 960 or 1280 x 720 which is commonly referred to as 720p is good.
The webcam comes with a program called CrazyTalk CamSuite Pro which is a driver set to run the camera with some useful and fun features like avatar creation and media sharing. The program is both useful for the regular camera and with a couple of things that are just fun and frivolous.
The useful parts are the capture and sharing functions like a program that controls which parts of your desktop you show when you stream the desktop using the sharing function. You can actually take part of your desktop screen and stream it over the internet through chat or instant messaging programs.
The frivolous feature is the avatar which replaces your video with a character such as a panda that talks as you in a chat or instant messaging program. The avatar such as a panda will be there in the video window and will speak as you would using the audio from your microphone to mimic the facial movements.
The avatar feature is cute but does not work all that well, it does have a delay and is kind of picky when connecting but it works most of the time. I did have a few problems when connecting on my desktop as the program would often take possession of the camera and not allow the instant messaging program access to the camera.
I did get it to work well enough for a few instant messaging programs and for the cost of the webcam with the software you do get a decent program. It has the monitor(motion detection) feature, drivers and record/capture feature along with the avatar for a pretty good suite of webcam programs.
The CD also has a button manager program that keeps track of which program you want to use when you push the top buttons like Skype or MS Messenger. Simply push the button and whichever program you specify from the popup window will open that program for the webcam use.
The webcam performed well with iGoogle Chat, Skype and YawCam programs as well as several more expensive programs like Adobe Flash and Premiere Pro. The webcam performed just fine and for a low cost solution to add a webcam and capture video for chat and video conferencing it works just fine.
I highly recommend the iSlim 1300 Vs as an inexpensive and good quality high definition webcam that has all the features you need for instant message and video coferencing.