Questions about the QuickCam Orbit/Sphere pan/tilt motion control

Why don't the pan/tilt controls work for certain resolutions?

For the Logitech QuickCam Orbit/Sphere MP camera models (2006 and earlier) this behavior is normal for resolutions above VGA (640x480). It is a hardware restriction and not an error in the driver or application.

However, the described restriction does not apply to the Logitech QuickCam Orbit/Sphere AF model, which is capable of panning and tilting while streaming at any resolution, including the maximum resolution of 1600x1200.

The panning mechanism of my camera got stuck. How do I fix it?

There are different ways to resolve this problem. You should try the following points:

1. Try to use the Pan/tilt reset control to reset the position of the camera head.
2. Plug the camera into a Windows machine that has Logitech QuickCam installed. This should automatically reset the pan/tilt position.
3. If none of the above work, you may need to carefully turn the camera head manually by different angles.

What's the resolution/precision of the pan/tilt motors?

The resolution of the pan/tilt controls is given in units of 1/64 degrees. However, the camera only moves for values larger than 64, i.e. 1 degree.

Note that the mechanical precision is not as exact as these values may suggest. Therefore, panning the camera head 30 times by 1 degree is unlikely to give the same angle of motion as panning it one time by 30 degrees. This is a limitation of the hardware.

Can I control the pan/tilt motors from my own Windows application?

Yes, you can. We have prepared a how-to document including source code showing how to do just that.