After Hours

Cracking Open: The Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP

By · June 5, 2007, 3:50 AM PST

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  • Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP

    By: Anthony Sullivan

    In our endless quest to discover how everything works, or at least say we tried, we are cracking open the Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP.

    The QuickCam is the weirdest looking webcam I've ever seen but it also has some pretty cool features like motorized pan and tilt.

    Let's see how it works.

  • The base

    The QuickCam is modular in that you can take it apart and put it back together in a couple of different configurations. In the first, the camera is positioned, presumably, at eye level on top of the shaft. The other configuration takes away the shaft, leaving the camera sitting on top of the base.

    Each of the pieces are connected via a standard USB interface.

  • The base - A closer look

    This is the base up close. It's not terribly exciting on the outside and it pretty much featureless. The only thing of note here is the microphone slot at the bottom of the base.

    The marketing for this thing says the microphone is awesome. I wonder how awesome it can be if this little slot is the input slot.

  • The base - A closer look

    Here you can see the connection port where the camera or shaft can connect.

  • The shaft

    The shaft connects the base to the camera with a simple USB jumper running through a plastic conduit.

  • The camera

    Here is the first look at the actual camera, connected to the shaft.

    It kinda looks like an eye stalk from some alien lifeform. Fortunately, this one doesn't wiggle nearly as much.

  • The components

    Here are the three components of the camera seperated as they are designed to be.

    Now let's start cracking this puppy open.

  • Cracking open the camera

    The camera has 4 screws. Here you can see two of them circled.

  • Cracking open the camera

    Here you can see two screws. One is also circled in the previous picture. The screw near the shaft port has a twin on the other side of the port.

  • Cracked...

    The screws removed, the camera splits down the middle.

  • Disassembled

    Now that it's open, there are two pieces of the front of the casing, lying on the right. The clear casing in the rear right sits over top of the smoked casing in the foreground on the right.

    This is purely cosmetic. The smoked casing serves to hide some of the electronic components inside the camera.

  • A closer look

    Taking a closer look at the camera apparatus we can see the actual lens circled in red.

    The blue circle surrounds the gears that support the motorized pan and tilt.

  • Connections

    A better look at the gears can be had from this angle.

    Circled in red is where the motor connects to the circuit board.

  • More connections

    In this image you can see the cable connection that ties the usb port to the camera circuit board.

  • Motor and gears

    These gears interlock with the gears we saw earier and are attached to a very small electric motor.

    This drives the camera movements.

  • It's looking at you!

    Here we see a direct view of the lens.

    Just below the lens, from this angle, you can see a small red light. This light is on any time that the camera is actually on.

  • Cracking open the base.

    Now that the camera is completely dismantled, it's time to dig into the base.

  • Finding the screws

    It took me a few minutes to figure out where the screws were: cleverly hidden under the feet of the base.

  • Stubborn screws

    After removing the feet we can now see the four screw holes. I've already removed them.

    The screws circled in red came out with minimal effort. The one circled in blue had to be drilled out.

    The kicker is that these four screws where there to hold a wafer thin, plastic cover that was there only for cosmetics.

  • More screws

    Under the thin plastic cover is a big hunk of metal held on by 2 screws.

    At least these screws came out without a fight.

  • The base is boring.

    Here is the metal piece by itself. The cable you see connects the tiny microphone to the rest of the base.

  • The rest of the base

    Lastly, we see what is actually the top of the base. The large black cable leads off to the computer, while the tiny connector circled in red connects to the microphone in the bottom of the base.

    Both of these connect to the housing for the USB port where the shaft or camera would plug in.

  • Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP cracked open

    Here is the entire camera disassembled for you to see.

    In the end, there wasn't much to it. But now we know how it all works.

Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP

By: Anthony Sullivan

In our endless quest to discover how everything works, or at least say we tried, we are cracking open the Logitech QuickCam Orbit MP.

The QuickCam is the weirdest looking webcam I've ever seen but it also has some pretty cool features like motorized pan and tilt.

Let's see how it works.

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