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I used to have a tiny Canon digital camera in 2003 that had better quality than this.
I've also investigated this quite deeply. As I'm sure most of us know, the main problems with 'webcams', either the built-in ones or USB ones that you perch on top of your monitor, are the lens size, and the CCD/CMOS image sensor size. Manufacturers spouting specs like '4k' are deliberately misleading the public if the sensor and/or the lens aren't also upgraded. The only cost-viable methods to get 'broadcast quality…
They are so-so. Well, they are much-much better than any webcam, of course, but 1080p is almost the same as 720p on them. So as a budget thingie it'll work, but Elgato's adapter is much better, of course.
I think the author lost me when they said that a good webcam has to have "decent sound quality" and uses the MacBook as an example. I have literally never seen anyone suggest using your webcams /laptop mic except as a last resort.
> So there is a market gap between so-so webcams for $100-200 and a full-blown setup with a mirrorless camera, an external mic and lighting panels that will cost almost a grand or two, if you're so inclined. Nope. You can get a mirrorless camera set up (with mic and lights) for around $500 to $600. There are plenty of 1" compacts as well in that price range.
A webcam can be more compact because it does not need half the stuff thats in a mirrorless camera
If you are looking to use an iPhone camera for streaming/Video conferencing camo (https://reincubate.com/camo/) works well.
I, like many people have an old smartphone lying around.
My Samsung S7 has better camera (front and back) and better mic than any webcam I’ve owned.
Getting a nice holder and a reliable app that could spit webcam picture out of that phone would be great.
A year ago, you could easily buy a good webcam for very little. The Logitech C920 is, to my eyes, superior to the MacBook Pro webcam, and offered at least semi-decent audio quality. Pre-pandemic, it could sometimes be had for £25 (~$35). Post pandemic, however, webcam prices seem to have at least tripled (if not quadrupled). As I type, the C920 is going for £140. I can understand this as a supply/demand thing, but su…
C920 is still only mediocre IMO. It's ok if you sit completely still but it doesn't handle motion at all.
Owner of a Logitech Brio 4K here. The quality is terrible just like this article mentions and I would have happily spent the money elsewhere if I had options. I used to have a tiny Canon digital camera in 2003 that had better quality than this.
The lazy conglomerates who sell these peripherals often don’t actually produce the parts in them. They simply rebrand commodity cameras and IPS panels in a crap plastic housing and slap their logo on it.
Then they give the product a hilariously user-hostile product name, like “PQS GRT46782-WT” as an extra f-you to the user.
They don’t care about you because they have no ongoing relationship with you, and their executives mistakenly see their own products as commodities.
Combine this with the fact that most home users don’t care about good quality or even know what it is, and you have the current situation.
A friend once described the peripheral market as “Assholes selling crap to idiots.”