Customer Reviews
So So 
2008-03-08
The camera itself isn't too bad but the supplied software has "issues". If I am doing a Skype video call and start playing with the audio FX, sooner or later my system will freeze and have to be powered cycled.
Also the video FX background replacement just doesn't work very well. I really wanted that.
The animated avitars are pretty lame and unresponsive. The marketing information makes it all look quite a bit better than the reality of the product, at least at the current software levels.
No tricks-it just works! 
2008-02-22
I purchased this webcam after seeing reviews for after market cameras for Macintosh. I hooked it up this morning to my MacPro tower running Leopard and "no tricks-it just works". Although one review claimed it would not work with Photo Booth, it does. The spring-loaded clip on camera did not work with my Hanns*G after market monitor, but remedied that with some velcro. Apple Store and On-Line Store only list one choice for web cam and it is $50.00 more than this model. Good camera-good price! Note: for Macintosh people, I have found it better sometimes to seek out alternatives (like this camera) to Apple recommended products through their site or store because you can find good products at much cheaper prices. I upgraded my tower with additional memory, harddrives, video cards, and burners at less than 1/2 the price Apple charges.
Great! 2008-02-08
This was a little more then I wanted to spend but worth every dollar! It truly is plug and play. We have used it on four different computers (with different style monitors) and it's worked great on each of them.
Creative Live! Cam Optia AF Worked Well With Our Macs 
2008-02-06
We had success with the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF.
We have a new iMac-24" aluminum with OS 10.5.x, and a built-in iSight camera. However, we wanted to show a full room, and the built-in iSight camera did not provide a wide enough angle. So we tried the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF, on the end of a 16-foot Tripp Lite U026-016 USB 2.0 Active Extension Cable (both purchased through Amazon). The camera was placed on top of a high book case, in the corner of the room.
It worked very well for us. We plugged the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF into the Mac, opened the iChat Preferences, selected the Optia camera for video ("unknown USB device"), and selected the iMac for audio input. (The Optia camera has a microphone, but as it was placed high up in the corner of the room, we used the iMac for the audio input.)
Our remote chat partner was also on a new iMac-24" aluminum, with the built-in iSight camera. He was able to see and hear all of us well. We held the iChat, over our local wireless Airport connection, for about 2 hours, with no drops. We did see the remote screen refresh itself, like a progressive sweep across the screen from left to right. The remote picture was a bit blotchy, certainly not television quality, but video and audio were acceptable for our solution.
There were three small annoyances.
When our iMac went to sleep and then woke, iChat could not recognize the external Optia camera. To restore its function, I quit iChat, disconnected the cam, plugged it back into the USB port, and then restarted iChat. It was then available in the iChat preferences.
The software that comes with the Optia camera is Windows only. So we had no access to whatever controls a Windows user might have. I don't know what those controls are -- perhaps focus, pan, zoom and various video effects. The upside of this is that the Optia camera plugs in and works with absolutely no additional software or drivers. It is a "UVC (USB video device class)" camera, so support is built into the Mac, the Optia camera, and into iChat.
There is no manual zoom control on the camera. The camera does have an easy pan up-down swivel. It also perches very well on a Mac or any corner surface.
Autofocus worked perfectly, and the camera changed focus quickly from "talking head" to "full room."
I called Optia and talked with their tech support fellow, Enoch, before I made the purchase. He was quite helpful.
All in all, that was $100 well spent!
auto focus is cool 2008-01-07
works as well as advertised, but it's still just a webcam. i wanted that high def pro camera look but realistically i didn't spend a thousand or two that it takes to buy that kind of gear. i guess it's as good as it gets for my budget. ohh, the auto focus is cool!
Works great with a Mac 2008-06-24
I bought this to work with a Mac Mini and it does so at an affordable price.
Creative Live! Cam Optia AF (VF0280) 
2008-06-04
This camera only works with bundled applications and a few others like AOL IM, etc... and barely at that. Even when using Creative's bundled software, switching between modes (video mode, picture mode, etc), the software locks up and forces you to restart.
IF you use another IM client, like Trillian, forget about it. And using it as an imaging device for other software like Photoshop, Paint.net, etc - double forget it.
The camera turns off whenever you are not using one of the bundled apps. Other applications can see the camera is installed, but since it automatically turns itself off (with no manual way to turn it back on), you can forget about using it to grab snapshots for editing.
Customer support? Horrible. They ask you to do the same things any novice would even know to do - download the latest drivers, re-install, etc etc... none of which work.
I returned mine after 3 days, got the Logitech 9000 instead and am VERY happy I did so. These 2 cameras are approximately the same price - but look at the actual customers ratings... Logitech mainly has nothing but praise, while you can see the comments on this one. Check Newegg's reviews; this one barely gets 2 stars there and you know most of Newegg's customers are the tech-y type.
To sum it up - this sucks (like all other Creative cams), has driver issues (like all other Creative cams), and horrible customer support (like everything else Creative - just check their company support forums - you'll see it's filled with unanswered complaints & questions).
[...] Trust me, You'll thank me later.
Excellent product 2008-05-03
The Creative Live! Cam Opia AF camera is easy to install and delivers a sharp, clear picture. We are very happy with our choice and recommend it without reservation.
Not sure yet. 2008-04-27
So far I haven't been able to get this thing to work. The CD is not helping and it doesn't attach securely to my computer. I am giving it a 3 star review because most of the difficulties probably have to do with me being techno-challenged, but I'm not very hopeful at this point. If you're a computer geek you most likely won't have my problems.
Trial & Error 
2008-03-15
My reasons for selecting this camera were because of the time lapse and motion detection features. I wasn't particularly interested in using it as a web cam. On the third or fourth try I finally got the time lapse mode to perform but could not see any way to change the interval from the default period of 30 seconds. My major complaint with this product is the total lack of an instruction manual with any useful information content at all. So you are stuck trying to figure it out by trial and error. Apparently the manufacturers approach is "you bought it, you figure it out". I plan to return it for a refund.
