As many of you already know, I'm working as a homebased online ESL teacher. I've been doing so for around 8 years now and I'm enjoying it. Of course, there are times when it's stressful, but it's still a fulfilling job. Having a flexible work schedule is also a huge perk because it allows me to do other things like my hobbies and blogging.
One of the challenges though, are the technical issues like having slow or no Internet connection, software malfunctions, and so on. However, I've been trying to do troubleshooting by myself since there are a lot of ways to solve such things online. As per my best friend, trial and error is key. And I've actually solved various troubles which somehow made me happy. haha
When it comes to Internet connection problems, my solution for backup is either use my prepaid Wi-Fi or to connect my laptop on my phone's hotspot data connection. It seldom happens, but it's pretty useful.
One con though, is that my laptop's camera isn't very clear. I have a webcam attached to my desktop which I usually use for work, but it's a hassle to unplug it from the desktop and connect it to my laptop, so I decided to check some cheap options online.
Yes, I'm kind of short of budget, but I hope to at least make my classes done using my laptop much better. So, I checked online and found this 720p camera which is only around $3-4. Hahah
Online shopping is way cheaper than buying at the nearby mall. I checked some webcams of the same quality and they're more than twice the price. xD
It's bubble-wrapped... not very environmentally-friendly, but is definitely product-friendly. XD
Among the cheaper options, this has the much better review and it's compatible to most operating systems...
It's black with a bit of orange. Reminds me of Karasuno volleyball team from the anime *HAIKYUU!!
The clip is adjustable, so it fits perfectly. And there's Karasuno on my PEAKD page. hahaha Black and orange, it is! <3
Appearance-wise, the camera wasn't bad. It's actually better than I expected... but how about its quality? What should we expect from a cheap webcam online.
To compare it with my laptop's camera, I used Webcamtest to check. Let's see the differences.
My laptop's camera:
Here's what it looks like using the full screen option. Although as you've noticed, it doesn't fill in the whole screen. haha
Here's the information from the website. Quality rating is 128... and the resolution is just 640x480. I like its brightness, though. I guess it has a feature which makes the video brighter despite being in a dimly lit room.
My cheap 720p camera
Here's what the full screen option looks like. It's much clearer than the first one.
When tested, the quality rating is much higher at 851 and the resolution is 1280x720. Well, it's just 0.92 MP but still better than 0.31MP in my laptop's built-in camera.
The webcam I use on my desktop is a 1080p webcam, so it's so much better than this. However, this one isn't that bad for a backup. It was pretty affordable, too.
It was actually better that I expected for its price. I'll use it for some of my Skype classes soon... and as backup for my main job's classes when there are some troubles in my usual PC and connection.. (I certainly hope not, though. haha)
Thanks for checking this post out. See you next time! :)
