Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

vsevolod.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 794 posts

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#421

Post by musingsole »

Firadeoclus wrote: post #405
atoav wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked as a freelance DOP and worked with cameras + lenses that coat more than a decent car. And while there is certainly room for improvement with typical webcams: the problem is in many cases not the camera, but the conditions under which it operates. Low light, shooting against the light, smeared laptop lenses, weird angles (not eye level), weird perspective framing, bad combination of light and framerates, mixe…

> And while there is certainly room for improvement with typical webcams: the problem is in many cases not the camera, but the conditions under which it operates. Low light, shooting against the light, smeared laptop lenses, weird angles (not eye level), weird perspective framing, bad combination of light and framerates, mixed light temperatures, low CRI lighting, etc. If you take an 40k€ Arri and a 20k€ Zeiss Prime…

A lot of work has been done on phone cameras to replace standalone cameras, but isn't half of the development investment there on the software side -- in addition to the hardware of the camera? (e.g. echoing GP's "crappy webcam pictures are filtered in ways that make them look acceptable etc" statement)

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#422

Post by ascagnel_ »

em500 wrote: post #321
pembrook wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s literally no good monitors with the proper resolution for MacOS outside of the fragile LG ultrafine line. It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at the problem, nobody is making 27” 5k displays right now.

What does "proper resolution for MacOS" mean in this case? There are tons of 27" 4k that work fine in macOS in Retina mode and matches the medium tier iMac (their low end today is still 21.5" 1080p). Unless you declare everything below 5k subpar, I don't see where you're coming from.

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me at the moment, but a 27" 4K monitor will not match the pixel pitch of every other Mac -- screen elements appear larger when both are set at the same scaled resolution.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#423

Post by rektide »

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…

Went looking for a monitor recently & was so sad to see that there are less than a dozen monitors with full-array dimming, & most of those have 16 zones or less.

I ended up going with a budget option, no local-dimming. It's frustrating how behind, how stagnant, computer displays are. I don't want to sit in front of a 48 inch OLED tv, too big, not high enough dpi, but I feel like I'm throwing money at bad products trying to buy a computer monitor. At least there are some fair budget options (Pixio PX275h 95Hz 4k, $250, doing ok).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#424

Post by deckar01 »

ttunguz wrote: post #411

There's a software solution to this: https://reincubate.com/camo/ Use an old phone for your webcam. The quality is terrific, up to 4k. You just need a phone stand.

I have tried to use use modern phones as dedicated webcams. The power consumption of constant video capture, compression, and streaming is greater than the phone's ability to charge. Once the battery is depleted the phone can't operate directly off of the charger and shuts off. And that's only if it didn't already shut off due to overheating first.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#425

Post by ansgri »

jcims wrote: post #85
ansgri wrote: post #25

Sony recently added support for webcam-over-usb to a lot of their cameras, apparently. And they are known for video quality and good lenses. So that’s $700-800 for a very good camera (new) that also works as webcam. https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/webcam/en/download/

I know they are getting long in the tooth but I wish Sony would do something with the NEX cameras. Latest firmware release was v1.03 released a year or two after they released the camera. Feels like Sony has completely abandoned them.

Nobody updates their old products nowadays. At least they haven’t abandoned the app support for those cameras and continue to expand the APS-C line.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#426

Post by asdfk-12 »

sambroner wrote: post #358
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #329

The real reason is buried in the article: You can’t buy a good webcam because the number of people willing to pay a lot of money for a high end webcam is very small. At the lower end, people are satisfied with their built in laptop parts or a cheap webcam that sits on top of their monitor. At the high end, people go down the rabbit hole of buying a do-everything mirrorless camera that they can use for so much more th…

I'm just not sure I buy this... The number of people willing to pay significant money for a high end webcam was very small. Now my parents and their friends are talking about better lighting and camera angles. It seems like this industry is unusually ripe for a "better webcam" that "just works"

A webcam that "just works" seems like a herculean task if the goal is to have native compatibility with most devices without installing a package - Chromebooks, Apple, *nix, etc. but given how decent cameras are standard on mid-tier phones, you're spot on

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#427

Post by FeistySkink »

shaicoleman wrote: post #90
nailer wrote: post #31

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.

It's terrible out of the box. With a firmware update and bit of tweaking it's not bad. Under Linux, you can use guvcview to play with the settings to your liking. Here's an example command line for Zoom purposes: v4l2-ctl --set-fmt-video=width=1280,height=720,pixelformat=MJPG --set-parm 30 --set-ctrl=contrast=32 --set-ctrl=sharpness=176 --set-ctrl=zoom_absolute=133 --set-ctrl=tilt_absolute=-36000 -d /dev/v4l/by-id/us…

I've been trying to find PW513, but it doesn't seem to exist anywhere last time I checked. Is it out for sale already?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#428

Post by dhosek »

philjohn wrote: post #365
tmountain wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like some company there (besides Apple), should seize the opportunity to differentiate themselves on quality, and deliver supply-chain controlled "boutique" hardware, which I'm certain many would shell out for.

There are already companies who do this, such as Eizo. They cost multiple thousands (or tens of thousands for reference monitors with built-in calibration and Dolby Vision certification).

I'm thinking the op was imagining something in the middle ground. Maybe +10–40% for a guarantee of quality. The case I can think of is Anker for cables although in that case they also don't charge a premium either.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#429

Post by murkt »

tzury wrote: post #408

sounds to me the question is why can't you buy an _high-end_ streaming camera with integrated microphone for an _affordable price_. I use Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Webcam[1] along with Headphones and very very happy for all my needs. From calls to recording training sessions and demos. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-BRIO-Conferencing-Recording-...

Brio is better than most webcams, still worse than all top smartphones.
Post reply on HN