Creative PC-CAM 550, User Manual

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Page 2: ...nt is furnished under a license agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement It is against the law to copy the software on any other medium except as...

Page 3: ...C CAM 550 PC CAM 550 1 1 Buttons and LCD on PC CAM 550 1 3 Buttons 1 3 LCD 1 4 Inserting or Changing Batteries 1 6 Installing Software 1 7 In Windows 98 98 SE Me 1 7 Verifying the installation in Wind...

Page 4: ...a Turning on the Camera 3 1 Battery Low 3 1 Taking Pictures 3 2 Tips on Taking Good Pictures 3 5 Downloading Images from the Camera 3 6 Deleting Images from the Camera 3 7 Docked Mode 3 7 Undocked Mod...

Page 5: ...Video Formats A 3 Exposure Control A 3 Color Balance A 3 Color Matrix A 4 Port Compatibility A 4 Flash A 4 B Troubleshooting Problem Installing Software B 1 Problems Using PC CAM 550 B 1 Problems in...

Page 6: ...Introduction...

Page 7: ...can function as a security camera recording short videos of any movement in its field of view It can also be programmed to take pictures automatically at regular intervals Portable Digital Camera As...

Page 8: ...e various settings for you to adjust allowing you to optimize the quality of your pictures and videos Creative WebCam Monitor If you are thinking of putting a live snapshot of your office garden or ev...

Page 9: ...ble at the time of printing Read the file before connecting your PC CAM to the computer Minimum System Requirements Genuine Intel Pentium 266 MHz AMD K6 2 300 MHz or faster processor 32 MB RAM 64 MB R...

Page 10: ...PC CAM 550 visit http www creative com Document Conventions The following typographical conventions are used throughout this document Creative does not assume any costs charged to connect to the Inte...

Page 11: ...1Installing PC CAM 550...

Page 12: ...1 shows you the front and back views of the camera Front LED Lights up when the camera is connected to the computer Snapshot button Viewfinder Focus free lens Front view Back view Viewfinder Camera r...

Page 13: ...mpression ratio the file size varies according to the picture taken Figure 1 2 Buttons and LCD on PC CAM 550 Self timer single snapshot high resolution and Self timer single snapshot normal resolution...

Page 14: ...sed There are six modes of operation Single snapshot normal resolution Single snapshot high resolution Single snapshot low resolution Self timer single snapshot normal resolution Self timer single sna...

Page 15: ...t you are in Self timer single snapshot mode high resolution In this mode the camera takes a high resolution snapshot after a specified length of time Images are captured at 1280 x 960 pixels with sof...

Page 16: ...ous audio cues built into your camera are enabled When these cues are enabled various beep sounds and shutter sounds are emitted Press the Operation Mode button for two seconds to disable your camera...

Page 17: ...era 2 Holding the camera in one hand push the battery compartment cover catch inwards and then lift the cover up with your fingertip as shown in Figure 1 3 3 Remove the old batteries if any 4 Insert t...

Page 18: ...t connect PC CAM 550 to your computer before installing the drivers If you accidentally begin installation with PC CAM 550 connected the Add New Hardware Wizard dialog box appears Click the Cancel but...

Page 19: ...ation CD with the appropriate CD Note Windows 98 is available in various editions Be sure to use the correct edition for your computer ii In the Insert Disk dialog box click the OK button iii Follow t...

Page 20: ...not repeat the steps in In Windows 98 98 SE Me on page 1 7 In Windows 2000 1 Do not connect PC CAM 550 to your computer before installing the drivers If you accidentally begin installation with PC CAM...

Page 21: ...r computer if you are prompted to do so Verifying the installation in Windows 2000 1 Right click the My Computer icon on your desktop 2 On the menu that appears click Properties 3 In the System Proper...

Page 22: ...ivers and applications are installed 5 Connect PC CAM 550 s USB cable to an available USB port on your computer Figure 1 5 Place PC CAM 550 on top of your computer monitor or another flat surface Wind...

Page 23: ...are tab 4 Click the Device Manager button A window appears 5 Click the plus sign next to the Imaging Device icon The entries Creative PC CAM 550 Still Image and Creative PC CAM 550 Video should appear...

Page 24: ...2Using PC CAM 550 as a Web Camera...

Page 25: ...o start PC CAM Center do one of the following Click Start Programs Creative Creative PC CAM PC CAM Center Press the Snapshot button on the camera If during installation you clicked the option for PC C...

Page 26: ...ee the section Starting PC CAM Center Help on page 2 5 CapturingImages and Videos With PC CAM Center you can take photos and record videos in two modes with and without a preview The preview mode is a...

Page 27: ...view Mode To record a video in the default preview mode 1 In the PC CAM Center window click the Live Video button The current camera view is displayed in the Viewing window 2 In the Video Size box sel...

Page 28: ...Video To view a video you have taken 1 Click the My Album button PC CAM Center is now in My Album mode 2 In the My Album box click the My Video folder and then click the album that contains the video...

Page 29: ...to use PC CAM Center to take pictures and record short videos It also teaches you how to change settings so as to achieve optimum quality for your pictures and videos To start the Help file 1 Click th...

Page 30: ...3Using PC CAM 550 as a Digital Camera 3Using PC CAM 550 as a Digital Camera...

Page 31: ...5 V AAA alkaline batteries into the camera s battery compartment Turning on the Camera To turn on the camera do the following Press the Power button on the camera One beep indicates that your camera h...

Page 32: ...mode the flash is turned off 4 To change the operation mode of the camera press the Operation Mode button Single snapshot high resolution Select this mode if you want to take single snapshots at high...

Page 33: ...nd then press the Snapshot button to take a snapshot The front red LED blinks once and the camera ready green LED blinks when the image is stored into memory and turns on after the image is saved Self...

Page 34: ...blinks indicating that the images are being stored to memory The flash is automatically disabled in this mode The image counter displays that the total number of snapshots left 5 Aim the camera at th...

Page 35: ...e up images may appear blurry Fill the viewfinder with the object Using Flash When in a dimly lit environment be sure that the distance between camera and object is less than 2 5 meters 8 feet but gre...

Page 36: ...er 2 Click the Digital Camera button Temporary copies of the PC CAM files are created automatically and displayed as thumbnails in the thumbnails window 3 Click the Select All button to select all the...

Page 37: ...button on the toolbar All the selected files are removed from the camera s memory Undocked Mode When PC CAM 550 is connected to your computer and you are using it as a portable digital camera do the...

Page 38: ...ATechnical Specifications...

Page 39: ...es of still capture When detached Capable of capturing up to 88 still pictures JPEG format single snapshot high resolution software interpolated 1280 x 960 pixels 88 still pictures JPEG format single...

Page 40: ...Serial Bus USB port Driver and Operating System Compatibility USB model supports Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 and Windows XP Microsoft Windows Image Acquisition WIA support WDM MiniDriver for Di...

Page 41: ...x 144 160 x 120 Undocked mode 1280 x 960 with software interpolation 640 x 480 320 x 240 Light Sensitivity 10 lux Video Formats 24 bit RGB 4 2 0 YUV Planar 16 bit RGB Exposure Control Automatic option...

Page 42: ...Technical Specifications A 4 Color Matrix Preset and integral to camera Port Compatibility Universal Serial Bus port Flash Between 1 5 meters 5 feet and 2 5 meters 8 feet effectiveness...

Page 43: ...BTroubleshooting...

Page 44: ...n your Windows system may not be enabled To install the software from the CD 1 Leave the installation CD in the CD ROM drive 2 Click Start Run 3 In the Open box type D CTRUN CTRUN EXE where D represen...

Page 45: ...exposure and brightness levels have been adjusted The amount of light entering the camera has exceeded the exposure control limit There may be a very bright object in the camera s view Avoid pointing...

Page 46: ...eo and then click the Properties button The Creative PC CAM 550 Video Properties dialog box appears 5 Click the Events tab 6 Make sure that the Disable device events check box is not selected 7 In the...

Page 47: ...If a hardware device driver is not submitted or does not qualify for Microsoft certification a warning message similar to the one below appears You may see this message when installing this driver If...

Page 48: ...CUSB Compatibility...

Page 49: ...ay be related to your PC s USB port the following is a list of available options 1 Contact your PC vendor Your PC vendor may be able to upgrade your motherboard or its BIOS to a newer version that add...

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