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> But is there a "proper camera" for under $100 that can also offer an improvement over a webcam?

no just buy an off the shelf web camera if that's all you're willing to budget.

but for those of us with these cameras already becuase we enjoy photography, this dual use is quite nice!

Not only that, you can have a decade old DSLRs on ebay for <$200. I already happened to have a D7000 from when it was new. Checking on ebay that same (very serviceable) model seems to cost $150~$250. Of course, that might mean a high shutter count, but for the usecase of a webcam, as long as it can capture an image it will work great.

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