I went to help a client who had purchased a digital camera, which also worked as a webcam. I’m thinking: “hmmm, sounds interesting”.

Once I got to the client, I tried the usual “lets download & install the latest driver from the internet”… but windows xp couldn’t find a video camera device.

Eventually took the camera home & had similar problems with my own computers. But eventually found that there is a setting within the camera menus, to tell it how to behave when it is plugged into a PC via usb (either storage device, or video camera)… default is storage device.

So now the camera works as a webcam, but the client has since found out that it works poorly in low-light conditions… However, he has previously used an intel webcam, with much better results… I guess name-brands can make a difference in this field.