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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?

#271

Post by arc-in-space »

jimmies wrote: post #98

> So there is a market gap between so-so webcams for $100-200 and a full-blown setup with a mirrorless camera... Don't know where you can buy a readymade one. However, if you don't mind DIY, try our free software project showmewebcam. It uses a Pi and its HQ sensor and some software glue to make a USB webcam [1]. You'll have a wide selection of affordable lenses [2] and cases [3] that people cook up for their persona…

For a few weeks now I've been doing something similar, using a Pi + v2 camera module instead of the HQ¹. This gives me an affordable(and hackable, to boot) webcam of a surprisingly decent quality with 60fps at 720p, which most consumer webcams can't do at all, since apparently no one cares about framerates(I have niche reasons for caring).

¹ It's also over a network with uv4l because the v2 720p 60fps mode isn't supported by the uvc gadget stuff. It's a bit of a shame, but I haven't had problems with the network transfer. The biggest issue with all this is that my Zero will occasionally overheat and the video will start freezing up, and I don't have much of a solution besides "don't put it in any kind of case".

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#272

Post by manderley »

pembrook wrote: post #253
nbzso wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early in my career I learned important lesson, there is no point buying displays from other brands than NEC or EIZO. Preferably upper tier products. The exception from this rule was Apple Cinema Display and Some Dell models. EIZO FlexScans are reliable and rarely have any issues. https://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/index.html

Unfortunately EIZO doesn't produce a single display with the ideal resolution for MacOS. 27" 5k or 22" 4k (4069 x 2304, like the first LG ultrafine was) are the unicorns I am seeking. Unfortunately the LG ultrafine suffers from image retention/ghosting. So there's ultimately no great displays for Mac outside of the wildly expensive Pro Display XDR.

Why are those "the ideal resolution for mac os", exactly?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#273

Post by GordonS »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #67
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…

Those are great tips. I'll add a free one: just put your desk in front of a window and use that natural light

I have my desk in front of a window, facing the window. I keep the blind about halfway down though, because the glare makes be squint at the monitor uncomfortably.

The other option would be to not face the window, but then you have bright daylight shining onto your monitors instead.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#274

Post by pembrook »

gaudat wrote: post #118
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…

Tip: try to find out what panel the monitor you are buying has. Then look the panel up in a database like panelook.com. This way you can get the specifications without any marketing bullshit. It also works the other way round. Find a panel that is good enough for your eyes, then see if there's a mass marketed display with that panel. If you are adventurous, you can grab "DIY" or "assembled" monitors with the panels o…

This sounds compelling. I'd love to get my hands on the LG Ultrafine 5k panel in a cheaper case and just bring my own thunderbolt dock.

What sites are you finding these "assembled" monitors?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#275

Post by bambax »

lmilcin wrote: post #264
bambax wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying "pro" entry-level photographic lightning equipment is about the same cost and much simpler to set up.

You don't need "pro" equipment for lighting. That's one area when you can get very creative. Most people can take lamps they already have and put some bit of white material on it, which is what I am doing for a very good effect.

If you already have something then great; but if you're buying it's easier to just get a lightning set and bulbs with a specific color temp than do a lot of trial and errors with bed sheets and whatnot.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#276

Post by eecc »

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…

Let me chime in: just bought a T14s. Could be a dream machine but the shite 1080 panel (Windows recommends a hilariously crappy 1.5 scaling. Kidding me?) the pesky trackpad and the awfully glitchy Windows 10 (yah, probably the drivers but the platform enables this horror) destroy the value of this otherwise pretty solid device.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#277

Post by manderley »

pembrook wrote: post #217
Joeri wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s more of a “the market won’t pay for quality” problem. People won’t pay thousands of euros for a good monitor, so manufacturers have to slap together the parts available in bulk in order to reach price points people will pay. The LG 5K is a good example, because it is clearly compromised to reach a somewhat reasonable price point. From what I can tell the monitor market mostly exists to cater to the gener…

I don’t think that’s it. Apple is the most valuable company on earth right now, entirely due to their thesis that people will pay for quality hardware. The “creator” market is much more profitable than the gamer market where kids only have as much as mom will allow them to spend (vs The tech workers, coders, designers, youtubers, etc that need high quality displays to make a living). It’s why Apple is able to get ins…

There are tons of expensive monitors available that cater to the professional market. The whole premise is not based in reality. Apple simply has the highest mindshare among average products.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#278

Post by bambax »

yarcob wrote: post #239
bambax wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying "pro" entry-level photographic lightning equipment is about the same cost and much simpler to set up.

To be honest I have no idea what photo and video lights cost now. When I looked into it a couple of years ago a minimum set of two strobes, mounts and a reflector would have cost more than 300€.

I bought a set 7 years ago for $80; it's cheap not just in price: it's basic; but it works.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#279

Post by chrisa »

riho wrote: post #137
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…

Finally made an account, just to reply to this. With newer Canon DSLR bodies you can use the Canon Webcam Utility[1] to directly get the video feed show up as a webcam, with just a USB cable. I've been using the EOS R as my webcam with the RF 35mm F1.8 lens and it's working pretty great. I just hook it up with the USB-C cable and it shows up as a webcam. The only annoyance that I haven't been able to get around yet i…

If you're using it powered all the time, have you checked out the existing plug in "fake battery" options? Here's one example: https://www.amazon.com/Glorich-Replacement-Adapter-Cameras-F...

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#280

Post by rasz »

cjwebb wrote: post #269
milesvp wrote: post #69

This article sort of glosses over the actual cost of designing the hardware. You should be able to get 500 units made working through a factory. Though minimum qty for parts can be as high as 5000, usually factories can find most components in smaller qty for 2-5x the price, especially since they already have relationships with suppliers. At $25-$35 bill of materials for something retailing at $250-$300 you're only l…

Are there any good guides anywhere you'd recommend for hardware startups - and how to reduce this $30K upfront cost? That is a lot of money.

Search for successful hardware kickstarter postmortems (is it still called post mortem if it succeeded?). I think Bunnie might have done one for novena.
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