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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?

#551

Post by stan_rogers »

wongarsu wrote: post #359
Matt3o12_ wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The IEC 60320 connectors were specified for exactly that reason. Honestly, I don't get why these were not made mandatory for all kinds of appliances. There are even locking variants available if vibration is of concern. I'm not sure what you mean by the second sentence but you can't use most appliances made for Europe in America and vice versa. Most electronic appliances depend on the input voltage and supplying 24…

My cheap hair drier has a switch to select the input voltage (you need to turn the dial with a screwdriver). For many devices it shouldn't be too hard to make it possible to use them both with 110V and 230V, even more so for already complex and expensive machines like a washing machine. The biggest problem might be the amount of power a device can draw. Half the voltage gives you half the power, which is the reason w…

For resistive loads (like the heating element in a kettle), half the voltage gives you a quarter of the power. (Electric kettles work just fine on 110/120; they just haven't been a thing in the US. They've been ubiquitous in Canada, although they've been pushed aside somewhat by drip coffee makers. You just need a lower-resistance heating element than would be practical with 220/240.)

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#552

Post by x87678r »

atoav wrote: post #396
sambroner wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

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…

I was amazed looking on Amazon you can get ring lights for $20 bucks dedicated for phones, webcams etc. Makes a huge difference.

For me though its the audio. I hate listening to people on speaker so much. Get a headset or at least a good mic, it isn't expensive.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#553

Post by josho »

marta_morena_9 wrote: post #439
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…

This doesn't make any sense. Mirrorless cameras cost a couple thousand dollars (I have one) and the last thing I am going to wear down/abuse this equipment with, is to jump into daily meeting lol. At the low end, there are decent webcams, like Logitech HD 1080p, but it costs over 100$ and honestly, it's a couple of years behind the current. There don't seem to be webcams of around 100 to 200$ that are state of the ar…

What meeting software are you using that streams 1080p?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#554

Post by rconti »

jonpurdy wrote: post #363
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…

I wrote an article a few months back about this(1) and post when it's directly relevant. Main takeaways: audio is more important than video; get that correct first. Easiest thing is using a cheap headset microphone. Advanced noice cancellation algorithms with a great microphone placed far away can't complete with the physics of having a mic close to your month. Since publishing, I also found Webcam Settings, an app f…

I have a logitech 920, bought about a month before the pandemic, and it's great.. except sometimes it completely forgets how to focus.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#555

Post by gonehome »

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"

Yeah I think they’d sell instantly.

I looked all over for one and it doesn’t exist. The mirrorless camera solution sucks because there’s not an obvious winner there either (and you usually need a capture card/camlink to convert the output from the camera).

The room scale ones like the LG meetup are overpriced and generally awful, the PTZ versions from them are even more expensive, use proprietary connectors for the mics and require a host of unnecessary external boxes.

The Facebook portal TV is a great product for most people, but I just want something like that I can plug into a PC.

There’s a vacuum in this market. The current options are either low quality, overpriced enterprise stuff or dealing with the hassle of a mirror less cam setup.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#556

Post by gcblkjaidfj »

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"

The analysis is very good on the article until the conclusion, which ignores all the data.

It sets facts that there is no product in the market, there is A: "I do not care about anything, so I will buy a webcam" and B: "i care a little so i will spend $1000 instead of $300 on a phone with a integrated good camera" and C: "i will spend $10k on a DSLR and use as a webcam"

Then it measures the market size for A and ignores B and C, which are the actual market they will sell to!

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#557

Post by seanmcdirmid »

coldtea wrote: post #178
TulliusCicero wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not-quite-4K 3,840 x 2,160 But...that is 4K. It's what 4K is defined as, exactly 2x 1080p resolution in each dimension. > Windows scaling looks like crap I don't understand. 2x each dimension (so 1 pixel in the old resolution is 4 in the new) is, like, the easiest possible scenario when it comes to scaling in software.

> But...that is 4K. It's what 4K is defined as, exactly 2x 1080p resolution in each dimension. That's irrelevant though, except if we're talking about consuming movies fullscreen. For a monitor I don't want 4K, I want insivible pixels at viewing distances, so hi-dpi. I would also prefer no scaling for assets that are bitmap in nature. This ideally means pixel doubling (less cpu/gpu demanding and less fuzzy than fract…

I have an LG 28" 4K and while definitely isn't as nice as my iMac 27" 5K, it works well enough for coding (I'm primarily concerned about text rendering without visible pixels).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#558

Post by iamacyborg »

mitch-snipline wrote: post #379
iamacyborg wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fuji does something similar with their cameras. I can use their webcam software and get clean video output when I connect my Xt3 via usb to my pc or laptop. No need to purchase extra unnecessary dongles.

I was quite excited to try this when Fujifilm first announced it, but then immediately dissapointed when I found out it does not support the x-t30.

Yeah, I ended up trading in my old XT1 and picked up a used XT3 at a great price which helped. It's frustrating that not all models are supported though.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#559

Post by CivBase »

> Why can't you buy a good webcam?

Why can't you buy a good frozen dinner? Because frozen dinners are designed to be simple and affordable meals, just like how webcams are designed to be simple and affordable image capture devices.

If you're willing to spend more for a good alternative to a webcam, buy a captured card and a camera with support for live video output. You could even use the primary camera on a smartphone.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#560

Post by gonehome »

jldugger wrote: post #504
sambroner wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

Yea, in 2019 this article made sense. If there is ever a year to launch a high end webcam, it was 2020. A ton of professionals with disposable income and very few ways to spend it, sitting in Webex and Zoom calls all day. People are dropping tons of cash for ring lights and Lume Cubes. These are already serving the Youtuber market, the same way that podcasters enjoy Blue Yetis. Which makes me wonder, what cameras are…

When I looked into it they’re mostly using mirrorless cameras like the Panasonic Lumix GH5 or the Sony a7siii with something like the elgato camlink 4k to get clean output.
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