Labs

Swann's Platinum Max-i-Vision is the only webcam here with a proper mounting clamp. You can fix it solidly to a notebook screen - or anything else you can get the 30mm-wide jaws around - but 30mm isn't wide enough to fit over the top of most TFTs.

Instead, you can peel the backing off a sticky pad and attach it that way, but that's only convenient if you don't need to move your webcam around. The awkwardness is compounded by the split cable, which separates into

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USB and microphone cables (while others carry audio over USB). On some notebooks, this means a bit of a stretch to reach both ports at once. There's a snapshot button on top and a manual focus ring, and the camera body swivels in all directions on a ball joint.

Field of view is the widest of all the webcams we tested, but this meant there was pronounced barrel distortion. The Max-i-Vision coped well with backlighting, though, and there was a fair amount of detail in full-screen mode. However, the frame rate wasn't the greatest; the USB 2 interface brought no advantages here.

Audio quality also left us wanting. Speech sounded highly compressed, giving the impression of speaking while underwater, and background noise was obvious during moments of silence. Making matters worse, Swann's capture software is rudimentary and difficult to use.

Considering the fish-eye distortion, the audio problems, lack of software and limited mounting options, it's hard to recommend the Swann when comparing it to the competition in this month's Labs.