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Monday, February 28, 2005

Logitech's Quickcam Orbit Disappoints
Product Review
By David Johnston (Also goes by the user name GotAMD)

This is Logitech's top-of-the-line webcam. It has the capability of taking still images at over 1 megapixel and video at 640x480 and a microphone positioned in the base which is alright if there's not a lot of background noise (it picks my typing up quite well though) It also rotates left and right and up and down. It has a "face tracking" feature, but it's pretty worthless. It does require good lighting behind it for the best quality images. I've also noticed that with the latest Windows Updates, you have to do a registry hack to get Yahoo Messenger not to crash when using your webcam. You can find that fix on Yahoo's help pages. My camera also had a problem with getting stuck in the down position, so I read that someone else fixed it by taking out one of the layers of plastic that hides the internal electronics. Read the Complete Review Here

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# Permalink Posted at 5:42 AM 5 comments Email this Link

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Any more info on which piece of plastic to remove? Mine is stuck in the down position, and more help would be appreciated.

# posted by Anonymous 8:40 AM

Yes. You know how there is a reflective layer of plastic (metallic looking and has the Logitech logo on it) inside of the outer clear one? There's a slit in it large enough for the camera's sensor to protrude through. It's in a dome shape. I think that should be enough description.

Anyway, to remove it, you need to remove the screws from the back of the ball part of the camera (remove it from the stand(s) first).

Then you can carefully open up the camera unit. There is a ribbon cable inside that is fairly short, so don't jerk it open because you may break it (wasn't a problem for me, just be careful).

Once you get it open, the plastic pieces that cover the front should be easily removable. Remove the reflective one, leaving the outer one on.

Re-assemble the camera and hope it works. Good luck :)

# posted by David 5:19 PM

Oh, I also forgot to mention that after doing this mod you'll be able to see all the electronics inside the camera. It's almost like having a case with a side window:-P

# posted by David 5:26 PM

Many thanks for the clear instructions.

# posted by Anonymous 5:22 AM

Did the mod work for you?

# posted by David 3:32 PM

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