Thanking you in anticipation. Michael

__–__

Dear Michael,

Almost every laptop on the market today includes a webcam, and I think it is great! With the webcam, I can talk to and see my children and grandchildren who live far away from Maine.

In order to answer your question, I am going to assume that you want to use your webcam to talk to and see friends and family. The webcam itself does not have the programming for that kind of chatting. Instead, you will need to download and install a program that uses the webcam to chat. The two most common programs are skype at:

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/features/allfeatures/video-call

And Google Video chat at:

http://www.google.com/chat/video

When you install a video chat program, it will detect your webcam, and set it up so that it is ready to use.

Before you decide which program you want to use, find out what program the people you want to chat with are using. You will have to use the same program they do.

Most webcams come with a basic program that allows you to take pictures, and video recordings. I can’t really give you step by step directions because each manufacturer provides their own program. Since you have Windows 7, just click on “Start” and type Webcam in the search box. Any programs installed on your laptop for the webcam will appear in the search results.

My laptop (an Acer) has a program called, “Acer Crystal Eye Webcam” which allows me to see the image from the camera, take still photos (by clicking on the little camera image) and also to record a video. It only has 5 icons, so with a little experimenting, you can figure out all the options.

Elizabeth

Estelle

Dear Estelle,

It sounds like the problem is not with your photo program, but probably with your camera, or the connection between the camera and the computer.

The first thing I would try, would be to hook your camera up to a different computer. Perhaps one belonging to a friend or relative. If the camera is not recognized, you will know that the problem is either with the camera, or the cable between the camera and the computer.

You can always try a different cable if you have one, but an even easier solution would be to get a card reader for the type of storage card that your camera uses, then take the card out of your camera, plug it into the card reader and upload your photos from there. This should work even if there is a problem with the camera.

If your camera works when you connect it to a different computer, you will know that the problem is with your computer and not the camera.

Elizabeth