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Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

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Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#41

Post by lmilcin »

If you are looking here to improve your webcam because you started to do remote work, don't.

First try to improve lighting and audio.

Any camera will look bad in bad lighting. It is always better to first improve your lighting before you invest in a new camera. Use high CRI lightbulbs and ensure even source color temperature in your room (ie. all lightbulbs should be emitting same color temperature).

Audio is also very important. It is processed by different parts of brain and we don't put so much attention to it but the quality will influence the other person, subconsciously. Also, audio is how the information is being passed.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#42

Post by ClumsyPilot »

konschubert wrote: post #15

> It's easy to buy some "random" sensor that was around for years and most certainly has "meh" quality by today's standards, but we need a good one, with good dynamic range, HDR capabilities and low-light performance. So maybe it's a matter of time until these "good" sensors reach the open market, can be bought in smaller quantities and become commoditised. Then, we may see a good upmarket webcam.

The sensors have been around for ages, nothing stops you using same sensors that are in phone cameras.

But you have to build a chip to control the damn thing over usb. I coupd not find any USB3 webcam except logitech brio

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#43

Post by murkt »

raesene9 wrote: post #36

The article doesn't really go into a lot of depth about which Logitech cameras they looked at. I've got the Brio ( https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/brio ) and it seems pretty good to me. If you are looking to use an iPhone camera for streaming/Video conferencing camo ( https://reincubate.com/camo/ ) works well.

> The article doesn't really go into a lot of depth about which Logitech cameras they looked at.

All of them. Brio is better, but still has much worse quality than any top smartphone.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#44

Post by huhtenberg »

pembrook wrote: post #40

The reason you can’t buy a good webcam is the same reason you can’t buy a high quality monitor outside of LG’s unreliable apple collab. 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 GR…

Take a look at Eizo (pun intended).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#45

Post by mvdwoord »

ThePadawan wrote: post #16

I can't say the same about my experience with (other people's) webcams. From all the video calls I had this year, people either used * their notebook's built-in webcam that's complete garbage * any other webcam, and their image is clear as day, or at least video quality is limited by lighting or bandwidth.

Seconded, to a degree. It seems most people's workspaces are just very dimly lit. Of course, modern hypersensitive sensors from DSLRs are immune to this.

I use a relatively simple and old Logitech (C720 I believe) as webcam, and when I am in calls, I point my desk light straight at my face from just atop the webcam. This alone increases the image quality by an order of magnitude. If I would do more videoconferencing (currently only an hour or so per day, mostly with my own team) I would probably invest in a better light setup and a microphone, before I would think about upgrading my camera. Most small cheapish sensors do absolutely fine, given enough photons to work with.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#46

Post by D2187645 »

praptak wrote: post #26

My entry-level Canon DSLR (EOS 550D) can stream over USB, although it's not "plug and play", at least not on Linux. To make Chrome detect it as a webcam I need to go through gphoto2 -> ffmpeg -> v4l2loopback pipeline.

usb resolution is poorer to start with. older cameras cannot run for 30+ mins before overheating.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#47

Post by AdrianB1 »

bayindirh wrote: post #17

A high end Logitech with a Zeiss lens and auto focus is superior to any webcam you can buy. It'll also last for a long long time. Of course a bigger sensor and a bigger lens (DSLR, Mirrorless, etc.) is something different.

They are mediocre at best, owners say. I know some people that have one they use as secondary cameras (for multi-angle setups), but they bought it first, got disappointed and bought something else, this is the path.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#48

Post by murkt »

lmilcin wrote: post #41

If you are looking here to improve your webcam because you started to do remote work, don't. First try to improve lighting and audio. Any camera will look bad in bad lighting. It is always better to first improve your lighting before you invest in a new camera. Use high CRI lightbulbs and ensure even source color temperature in your room (ie. all lightbulbs should be emitting same color temperature). Audio is also ve…

It seems I needed to include a couple of shots - one is from my laptop webcam, and the other is from my phone. What "bad lighting" is changes very much based on the camera capabilities (lens, sensor, post-processing).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#49

Post by bozzcl »

praptak wrote: post #26

My entry-level Canon DSLR (EOS 550D) can stream over USB, although it's not "plug and play", at least not on Linux. To make Chrome detect it as a webcam I need to go through gphoto2 -> ffmpeg -> v4l2loopback pipeline.

You can save yourself some trouble by using a HDMI capture device. I use one with my Sony a7ii with good results.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#50

Post by aosaigh »

mattowen_uk wrote: post #20

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…

Great comment. Another few things to add to this if you are going for more broadcast quality rather than just Zoom calls:

- The lens you use if crucial. A nice and fast prime portrait lens (20-50mm f1.4 or something) will make a huge difference with indoor light and give you nice bokeh/blurred background.

- Good quality lighting is essential. El Gato have a good, but again expensive, key light you can use as your primary source of light, but you might need side-lights and back-lights too.

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