Screen Capturing Made Easy

If you want to take a snapshot using your webcam, then Image Captor might help you do that with the utmost ease.

We are all proud of the images we've taken in our journeys with our digital cameras. Every once in a while we want to send to our loved ones a snapshot on the spot. This is where a tool that can capture images from your webcam can come in handy. Image Captor promises to do all that in a very small package (only 875 kb).

This app is small, easy to use and will help you grab screenshots using your webcam in just a few steps. This tool also comes with a portable version, so you can place it on your USB drive and have it with you at all times, just in case you might need it.

Image Captor offers a sleek colorful design with well-placed expressive items. All the needed options can be accessed either by menus or by the taskbar buttons.

Image capturing isn't reduced just to the simple desktop snapshot. You can capture an image from a video device, such as a webcam, or from a TWAIN compatible device (scanner, digital camera). Thus, you can also make a photo of yourself and edit it with this app.

In what concerns screen grabbing, this tool only allows you to capture the whole desktop. You can't get only the active window, or a fixed sized region (300x300 for example). That is a downside, considering the fact that we are talking about an image capturing program.

If you are looking for a screen capturing tool you will surely be disappointed and search for another app. If however, you are only interested in the camera capturing capabilities, this program will suffice.

It's true that this application is mostly oriented to the user who wants to take snapshots with his camera and not so much for those of you who want to a screen capturing software.

In order to provide some sort of image manipulation capabilities, Image Captor enables users to crop the newly created images. You can select the part of the image that interests you and save it separately.

If you want to add the picture to a document you can copy the whole image, or just the part you've selected.

To capture from camera you will use the designated window and press the activate button to start the grabbing process. You can check out the capturing zone through a preview window. When you found the right pose just press Capture and you will have your image.

This section comes with some settings of its own. Thus, you can adjust the resolution, some predefined options are being offered (160x120, 176x144, up to 640x480) plus pixel depth and compression. It's not much, but it's obvious that Image Captor was designed with minimum options, for a beginner with limited needs.

As you make your customization the app will display the size that your image will have, in bytes. This way, if you are limited in any way by size, you will be sure that your hard work in getting the right image was not in vain. This option is particularly useful if you want to load your pictures on a website, or to e-mail them.

The capture from a TWAIN source also comes with some customization options of its own. You can select the resolution and the width and height of the image.

Given the fact that it's an application that can capture from media devices, it would have been nice to be able to also capture videos. It would have formed a more complete application to satisfy even the pickiest of users. That way, if you are interested in an app that can capture both image and video you will have to search for another program.

Another drawback is the fact that you are not able to edit the newly created images in any way. If you want that, you will have to use another app and that might prove to be annoying for most users.

The Good

This tool will help you grab your desktop and your camera image in just a few steps. Not to mention the fact that it's free. It's true that it was not developed for advanced users, but for an average Joe it will do just fine. The fact that you can capture images from multiple devices, like a webcam, digital camera or scanner is a plus. The portable feature also recommends it if you are interested in using applications that don't interfere with your registry entries.

The Bad

The Truth