The New Standard: Logitech Delivers Image-Perfect Clarity for Video Calling and Sharing

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Logitech (SWX:LOGN) (NASDAQ:LOGI), the world’s leading manufacturer of webcams, today unveiled the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro 9000 and the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro for Notebooks, featuring lenses designed in an exclusive collaboration with Carl Zeiss, one of the world’s leading optics companies. Combining Logitech’s webcam leadership with Carl Zeiss’s 160-year history of optical expertise, these new QuickCam Pro-series webcams establish a new standard for webcam image quality – making video calls of image-perfect detail and clarity a reality.

Logitech has been driving webcam technology since its inception and recently shipped its 50 millionth webcam. The company’s cooperation with Carl Zeiss represents a significant step in the evolution of video communications. Logitech’s exclusive collaboration with Carl Zeiss – the recognized leader in optics for many applications, including cameras, eyeglass lenses and space telescopes – ensures that the QuickCam Pro 9000 and the QuickCam Pro for Notebooks are the first webcams to meet Zeiss’s world-renowned standards for lens design and manufacturing. The new QuickCam Pro-series webcams incorporate a Carl Zeiss Tessar® lens, a lens design renowned for delivering superior sharpness while being very light weight and compact.

“We are excited to join forces with Logitech and to expand our reach into this interesting market,” said Dr. Winfried Scherle, vice president and general manager of Carl Zeiss’s Camera Lens Division. “The new webcams announced today are just a preview of the advancements in image quality that we anticipate from this collaboration.”

“People will be amazed by the outstanding image quality of these webcameras,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of the Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit. “Logitech’s goal with our webcams has always been to better connect people from around the world. With Carl Zeiss, the company that essentially invented the science of camera optics, we are closer to making video communications nearly indistinguishable from having a conversation in the same room.”

Logitech did not stop with Carl Zeiss optics. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams also use a premium autofocus system for fast, fluid focusing that eliminates the inconvenience of manual focusing. With Logitech’s autofocus system, the webcams compensate for changes in image-edge sharpness. Logitech’s autofocus system refocuses images in less than three seconds and helps ensure that images remain crisp even in extreme close-ups (up to 10 cm from the camera lens).

Whether it’s a son or daughter showing an engagement ring to their parents, grandchildren giving their grandparents a close-up view of their latest drawing, a buyer showing their business partner the exact color of a new product, or a mother capturing the changing facial features of their sons and daughters for a scrapbook – the QuickCam Pro 9000 and the QuickCam Pro for Notebooks create pixel-perfect images that help people make better connections with their friends and families, coworkers and clients.

Both webcams work effortlessly with popular video messaging applications, including Skype™, Windows Live™ Messenger, Yahoo!® Messenger and AIM®.

For high-definition video capture, the QuickCam Pro 9000 and QuickCam Pro for Notebooks records video at up to 30 frames per second. And because both webcams support the 720p high-definition (HD) video format, recording to disc at a resolution of 960 by 720 pixels, people can capture and view incredibly sharp video clips.

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams also feature a true two-megapixel sensor than can capture up to eight-megapixel photos (with software interpolation), as well as RightSound™ and RightLight™2 Technology – all working together to enhance the video calling experience.

RightLight 2 Technology automatically adjusts for low and uneven lighting environments, such as when a window creates harsh backlighting. Logitech’s improved RightSound Technology significantly reduces background noise, with new noise suppression, in addition to virtually eliminating echo and feedback.

With more than 15 million downloads in the last two years, Logitech® Video Effects™ – which include avatars, face accessories and the new Fun Filters – make video calling more entertaining. The Video Effects software allows people to completely transform themselves into three-dimensional animated characters (avatars), or add accessories such as glasses or funny hats to their on-screen image. Logitech Video Effects are free for webcams supporting the feature and available for download at www.logitech.com/videoeffects.

For the office and the home, the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 comes with a flexible universal base, which allows it to rest comfortably on nearly any monitor. For the on-the-go professional, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks is sold with a protective travel case and an adjustable, spring-tension clip that accommodates even large laptops with panels up to 20 mm thick. The versatile QuickCam Pro for Notebooks also includes a stylish stand that can sit on a desktop and raise the webcam to eye level.

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams are expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in July and will have a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.).

About Logitech

Logitech is a world leader in personal peripherals, driving innovation in PC navigation, Internet communications, digital music, home-entertainment control, gaming and wireless devices. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).

Logitech, the Logitech logo, and other Logitech marks are registered in the United States and other countries. Carl Zeiss and Tessar are trademarks or registered trademarks of Carl Zeiss AG. Used with permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information about Logitech and its products, visit the Company’s Web site at www.logitech.com.

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