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You have a limited budget to spend on a digital camera for Web use, and you can't decide whether to buy a video camera or a still camera.

No sweat. Thanks to a new breed of two-in-one models, you can now buy a digital camera that captures live video and still images. I tested two models priced at $150: the Agfa EPhoto CL18 and the Ezonics EZDual Cam. Like most standard Web cameras, the EPhoto CL18 and EZDual Cam use CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensors, and offer a true VGA optical resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. You can easily connect either camera to a PC via a Universal Serial Bus cable for video mail, videoconferencing, and Web video.

However, unlike nonportable Web cameras, which work only when tethered to a PC, you can remove the cable from one of these compact, lightweight units and use it as a battery-operated, point-and-shoot still camera. Both models come bundled with a variety of software for image and video editing, videoconferencing, and print projects.

I tested the cameras using a 500-MHz Pentium III system with 128MB of RAM and a 56-kilobits-per-second modem. The quality of the live video from both cameras was typical of Web cameras using 56-kbps and slower connections: Images were slightly pixelated. But, as with other, similar Internet cameras, you can adjust the frame rates and image sizes to smooth jerky motion.

Despite the similarities, the Agfa EPhoto CL18 clearly emerged as the better buy. Although each unit performed similarly when used as a Web camera, the EPhoto CL18 provided better overall results than the EZDual Cam when used as a still camera to shoot a variety of test images. Both cameras delivered satisfactory results when capturing images in daylight, but the Agfa model was much better at taking shots under low light, both indoors and outdoors. The explanation is simple: Unlike the EZDual Cam, the EPhoto CL18 has a built-in flash, making it more versatile as a digital still camera--and giving you more bang for your buck.

Agfa's Handy Extras

Agfa's palm-size EPhoto CL18 comes with 2MB of internal memory, which allows it to store 16 to 32 VGA images, depending on the selected picture quality (standard or high). Installing and operating the camera is easy. Its controls are accessed through four buttons and a small LCD panel. The EPhoto CL18 also features a tripod screw-mount and is bundled with a handy camera mount, which allows easy positioning of the camera for use as a Webcam or for time-release snapshots. Agfa also provides a 5-foot USB cable, a soft carrying case, two AA alkaline batteries, and an excellent user guide.

Unlike the EZDual Cam, the EPhoto CL18 has a video-out port and cable, so you can play back still images or video on a TV, or record them on a VCR in NTSC or PAL format. In video mode, the EPhoto CL18 captures live video at up to 30 frames per second at a resolution of 352 by 288 pixels, or at 15 fps at a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. In addition to the built-in flash, the EPhoto CL18's video-out feature is another extra that makes this model more versatile than competing dual-mode cameras (such as the EZDual Cam and Creative Labs' Video Blaster WebCam Go) that lack such niceties.

The EPhoto CL18 ships with Corel Photo House 5 and Corel Print Office 2000, ArcSoft Video Impressions (for captured-video editing), and Microsoft NetMeeting. Agfa's PhotoGenie QuickFix, a plug-in module that works with Corel Photo House, can be used to automatically enhance the image quality of your EPhoto CL18 snapshots. I was surprised at how well that feature improved various test images.