I am torn between buying a Logitech webcam and the Parallax Propeller microcontroller starter kit (both $100). Would a better camera be worth it for an amateur, or is my 1.3 MP Chicony webcam good enough for now?

im not familiar with the controller kit...whats that?

It isn't related to stop motion. It is a tiny programmable computer for robotics.

Info is at http://www.parallax.com/Default.aspx?tabid=407

You should use the robotics controller to build a motion control camera. I am planning on building one soon. :-)

A servo mounted webcam would be great for precise pans!

here is a panning camera i made from an old web cam and the servo/reciever of a traxxas RC car.

this particular one is my shop security cam...but i have used it for music films and it worked great! Just grab your controller and steer away! Also enables you to use the trim features on the hand controller as well!!

It depends on the rest of your equiptment, I'd say, because if you can't edit in high resolution, and if you're only releasing films on the internet (low-ish res.) then there's no real point in shelling out for a high resolution camera, as long as the Chicony camera does the job ok (I don't know, I've never heard of them )

I decided that my webcam is good enough if I use large non-lego puppets.

the only thing to watch out for with Logitech is to make sure it doesn't support 'face tracking' or anything like that.  I bought one that could be zoomed in through the computer, thinking it would be great for stop-mo, but the facetracking (basically follows a moving object) turns itself on randomly, and there's no fix - so you risk your camera moving mid shot.

Right now I am using a regular digital camera, so image quality is no longr a issue, although this way has its own problems!