When I google for "Java webcamm", Google asks me if I meant "Java
webcam", and when I say yes, I get
http://www.surveyor.com/support/webcam32help/java.html

   - Oliver

Take a look at "Java Media Framework API (JMF)"
(See here: http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jmf/index.jsp)

Below is a sample that works ok with my 10$ camera...:

//------------------------------------
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.media.control.*;
import javax.media.format.*;
import javax.media.util.*;

/**
* Grabs a frame from a Webcam, overlays the current date and time,
* and saves the frame as a PNG to c:\webcam.png
*
* @author David
* @version 1.0, 16/01/2004
*/
public class FrameGrab
{
 public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
 {
   // Create capture device
   CaptureDeviceInfo deviceInfo = CaptureDeviceManager.getDevice(
       "vfw:Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32):0");

   Player player = Manager.createRealizedPlayer(deviceInfo.getLocator());
   player.start();

   // Wait a few seconds for camera to initialise (otherwise img==null)
   Thread.sleep(2500);

   // Grab a frame from the capture device
   FrameGrabbingControl frameGrabber =
(FrameGrabbingControl)player.getControl(
       "javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl");

   Buffer buf = frameGrabber.grabFrame();

   // Convert frame to an buffered image so it can be processed and saved
   Image img = (new
BufferToImage((VideoFormat)buf.getFormat()).createImage(buf));
   BufferedImage buffImg = new BufferedImage(img.getWidth(null),
       img.getHeight(null), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);

   Graphics2D g = buffImg.createGraphics();
   g.drawImage(img, null, null);

   // Overlay curent time on image
   g.setColor(Color.RED);
   g.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.BOLD, 16));
   g.drawString((new Date()).toString(), 10, 25);

   // Save image to disk as PNG
   ImageIO.write(buffImg, "jpg", new File(
       "d:\\javaProjects\\capture\\src\\webcam.jpg"));

   // Stop using webcam
   player.close();
   player.deallocate();
   System.exit(0);
 }
}
//------------------------------------