-
Photo: Adorama
Don’t bother with those webcams
Too expensive for what you getNot every webcam is an upgrade over your laptop’s built-in webcam. These are the models I tested, and they ranged from simply nondescript to ones that made me look like the object of a second grade art project.
Microsoft LifeCam Studio for $65: It says it’s a 1080p webcam, but there’s a catch – it’s only for capturing video. Using it for video calls limits you to 720p. My colleagues commented on how unfocused I was all the time. The white balance was so off that I looked more orange than an Oompa Loompa. And the exposure was so exaggerated that I never stopped looking like I was living through the final scenes of The lighthouse. There was also a lot of lag in my movements and poor motion blur.
Razer Kiyo Pro for $140: While it looks similar to its cheaper non-pro sibling, the Pro ditches the light ring and instead relies on software to compensate for low light conditions. I was annoyed that I had to download the Razer Synapse app to get a decent picture out of the Kiyo Pro. Yes, fine-tuning settings is a very wired thing, but most people just want to plug in their webcam. Once you play around with the app settings, the picture is sharp and beautiful. However, it has the same overly obvious autofocus as the regular Kiyo, and it’s also a bit overpriced. It is not Poorly Pick, but again the Logitech Brio can do 4K/30fps, unlike this camera which tops out at 1080p/60fps.
Logitech StreamCam for $150: The StreamCam did strange things with its white balance, constantly automatically adjusting from one extreme to the other. It was a very art nouveau Art house vibe with everything on screen, from blindingly bright blues to warm volcanic oranges and back. And back and back again. It pans left and right, but the panning is unstable, causing the StreamCam to shake a lot, especially when mounted on a laptop. At one of our many Zoom meetings, a colleague asked me if I was on the deck of a boat. The only great thing about it is that it uses a USB-C cable while most other webcams use USB-A.
Anker PowerConf C300 for $130: It’s not a bad webcam, but when I checked the price my eyes widened a bit, Daffy Duck style. The image on the anchor just didn’t look that sharp. While the white balance and autofocus were… good, it’s just not worth the three-figure price tag, not when there’s the sharper Logitech C920 and Razer Kiyo.
Aukey FHD for $35: WIRED Reviews editor Julian Chokkattu didn’t like the FHD. Image quality isn’t as sharp, white balance is just about okay, colors are muted, and video output is overly grainy in low-light environments. It used to be relatively easy to find, but has since Amazon kicked out Aukey It doesn’t even have much to offer for posting fake reviews anymore.
This article was previously published on Source link
