Microsoft Lifecam Studio

usability, price, design

reliability, size

76% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Good features ; Good video quality ; Decent price

Needs a powerful PC for max settings

Beautiful picture quality, stylish and compact, great sound

Somewhat expensive, autofocus is dreadful, plugging into USB hub caused us picture problems

It is a little expensive - although for a 1080p webcam, the street price of £50 really isn't bad - and we are very cross about the auto-focus, but as a webcam the quality is unassailable, and it's a nicely designed camera which plays well with every...

Microsoft's LifeCam Studio brings the webcam bang up to date, with a Full 1080 HD sensor, excellent autofocus and picture quality, improved (mono) sound, plus the option to mount the camera on a tripod.

Razor-sharp video ; 360-degree rotation ; Automatic exposure correction in different lighting environments

Need third-party software to take advantage of 1080p video recording

Sharp, crisp images and video recording. Most natural color balance we've seen from a webcam. Built-in TrueColor and automatic light correction works well in less-than-optimal environments. Warm vocal reproduction. Flexible 360-degree mount includes...

Mono mic lacks noise suppression. Video recording maxes out at 720p and 15 frames per second without extra software. Buggy live effects.

Video, Sound, and Conclusions That said, the LifeCam Studio includes some enhancements that improve the live picture. TrueColor works by tracking your facial movements; this way the unit can change the exposure to compensate for a bright spotlight near...

The high resolution, tripod socket and quick autofocus make this an ideal webcam for video blogging. If you just want something to use with Skype, this is overkill: you don't need the performance, and the price is too high.

sleek design reminiscent of the iSight ; high resolution ; mic is not too quiet ; works in Linux

not able to tilt up enough ; Stand is not universal ; Lens Cap is pretty much useless ; background noise is picked up

The Microsoft Studio LifeCam is a good choice if you are looking for a high-end webcam for your laptop. It looks very professional, and not cheap or plastic like most do, has a good feature set, and it works. I would say this is the best performing...