I was given an older color Connectix webcam to use. The software [1] compiled and worked without incident, although the first image was rather interesting.
The Connectix webcam was easy to take apart (since someone else already did that). The electronics in the unit are on two small boards and it looked like the two boards were being pressed together too close. A small piece of paper folded up provided a good spacer and the subsequent images were recognizable, although way out of focus.
It is easier to focus this one than my other one. [2] But without sufficient light, the pictures appear very muddy and dark.
I'm torn. I like that this doesn't use batteries, but the image quality isn't quite as good. Oh well.
[1] http://www.cs.duke.edu/~reynolds/cqcam/