I used to have a tiny Canon digital camera in 2003 that had better quality than this.
Under Linux, you can use guvcview to play with the settings to your liking. Here's an example command line for Zoom purposes:
v4l2-ctl --set-fmt-video=width=1280,height=720,pixelformat=MJPG --set-parm 30 --set-ctrl=contrast=32 --set-ctrl=sharpness=176 --set-ctrl=zoom_absolute=133 --set-ctrl=tilt_absolute=-36000 -d /dev/v4l/by-id/usb-046d_Logitech_BRIO_*-video-index0
For Windows, you can check out the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXR27wLhoE
For webcams, the only other decent option is the Avermedia PW513, which only came out a month ago.
See also my comment here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25506629
I used to have a tiny Canon digital camera in 2003 that had better quality than this.