I just came back from 2004, and I can only tell you...

If you are ever in need of a camera for stop-motion (particularly brickfilming), there's one option that's the very best there is. I am talking about the top-of-the-line Logitech webcam: The Quickcam Pro 4000.

Seriously though, I don't know that it's really accurate to say a webcam is the absolute best investment a brickfilmer can make. You can do a fair amount more with a DSLR than you can with a webcam, and with the adaptability provided by lens kits, they age much better. When I bought my Quickcam 4K, I thought it had great quality. Six years later, it's still workable, but definitely not top of the barrel, and there's absolutely nothing I can do that would make it better.

Yeah, webcams can be convenient, but I'd definitely accept a little less convenience for better picture quality and more control at this stage in the game- not to mention that there are times my reliance on proprietary webcam drivers has been incredibly frustrating and made the entire experience far from simple. I still recommend that new brickfilmers use a webcam so they can focus on more important things than getting their camera set up correctly, but I wouldn't say webcams are the end-all in stopmotion.

Interesting, I own a c910 as well and I love it. Use it for stop-motion animation whenever I get the time. Got it for $50 new...however, I have to agree with Squash here that, of course, as of now, the c920 and c910 are the top-of-the-line webcam models; but however good the picture quality may look, you will ALWAYS get better quality with a DSLR (a decent one), even if you have to pixel-peep to see the difference. The sensors are bigger --- some are even 35mm (full frame) ---, you have more megapixels, many more focusing points, better color values  through lenses, etc.

But I do concur that the c910 is still great for brickfilming.

Please do explain...

There are numerous reasons why a DSLR is considered superior to a webcam, and is better. I'd first like to point out though that if you're brickfilming, a telephoto lens would be my last choice of a lens to use. Macro would be nice, but just the default lens could do just fine. Also, almost all DSLRs have substantially less light flicker when taking photos, and also have a more in production 'customization'. Changing the depth of field is a key feature that can make a film more cinematic which cannot be achieved with a webcam (unless the newer ones now have a feature of some sort which can achieve the look of DoF)

But if your budget is low, then I absolutely agree with your statement: A Logitech webcam is the way to go. Either model (qkp9k or c910) is fine. If you budget is okay, then get something in the middle. There are more options out there than either a dslr or a webcam... there are camcorders, point and shoot, and if you're crazy: RED.

Last edited by Mason (July 12, 2012 (04:46pm))

'Twas just a joke/highlighting another one of Squash's helpful and thoughtful posts. (Who does he think he is, anyway?)