Sony CMR-PC1 PC camera

Pay attention, Bond. Sony CMR-PC1 notebook camera kit. About the size of a matchbox. Attaches to your notebook PC using this ingenious spring-loaded grip.

The good news is you don't have to be in the employ of MI6 to get your hands on this miniature Sony camera. You adjust the viewing angle by rotating the cylindrical lens mounting and focus the lens by turning the wheel on the tiny lens mount, though you probably won't find this necessary as the lens has a large depth of field and everything from about 5cm to 1m is in focus on the closest setting.

It's USB, so once you've installed the drivers you simply plug and play. A viewer applet lets you see yourself in a video window that you can configure to any size from 40 x 30 pixels to 640 x 480 and set frame rates from 6.25 to 30fps. At 640 x 480 it has a tendency to drop the odd frame, but if you're using it for video-conferencing you won't be running at anything like that resolution so you needn't worry. The Sony applet also lets you capture video clips and stills.

The camera is supplied with Keyware Technologies' biometric password screensaver that you configure for voice and facial identification. However, if the software fails to identify you there's the conventional keyboard entry to fall back on.

Microsoft NetMeeting is included in the package, making this an ideal way to turn your notebook into a mobile video-conferencing centre. Finally, Arcsoft's PhotoImpression 2000 and VideoImpression 1.6 will allow you to carry out basic still image and video editing.

Out-of-the-box mobile video-conferencing kits don't come any better than this. It's tiny, quick to set up and provides superb image quality, even in low light conditions. Try and bring it back in one piece, Bond.

CONTACT Sony www.sony-cp.com

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