Chris Alexander
Review, Unboxing, Video
27th November, 2009
I was very pleased to find this afternoon when I arrived home that a shiny new LifeCam Cinema had arrived from Microsoft.
The Cinema is quite a large step forwards in the webcam game. Personally I thought Logitech had it stitched up at least a year ago, but it seems that Microsoft have been pushing their hardware division hard and have produced, quite frankly, an awesome beast.
Here’s a brief review, with an unboxing and some preview video.
They really aren’t messing around with the HD sticker either - full 720p High Definition at 1280x720 widescreen. It manages a highly respectable 30fps at full HD, which as you can see from the video below is also very good.
There were a couple of features that really stood out for me.
First of all, the quality is fantastic. When you stretch it to full HD in low light it can be quite grainy, but that is what you would expect from such a diminutive device. Give it enough light and it really does do great justice.
Once again the video demonstrates this, but the focus on this device is truly astounding. I stuck a camera literally 3 or 4 centimetres from the front of the webcam during that shoot, and it focused like a charm. It can take a little while longer than you may be used to, but considering that this is a webcam it is truly epic.
I’ve put together a short video to give you a chance to check out the quality of the camera. This isn’t in full HD as your internet probably wouldn’t cope with streaming it, but it should give you a good idea of the quality it records HD in.
Here are some shots from the unboxing of the webcam, to give you more of an idea what the unit itself is like.