This was the test bed for the gmerlin video4linux plugin, but it's a nice application, which lets you take picture with your webcam either automatically or manually. Images can be saved in all formats, for which you have gmerlin plugins installed. Series of pictures can be read in as a video stream at a different framerate by gmerlins singlepicture plugin.
If you use a Phillips webcam, you'll be able to access some advanced settings in the video4linux configuration dialog.