Why can’t you buy a good webcam? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#631

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:47 PM UTC

yarcob wrote: post #122

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…

Here's a trick how to get beautiful studio-like lighting for less than 50€: - buy two large sheets of white styrofoam (1m x 0.5m or bigger) - buy two cheap bright floodlights (the brighter the better) - get some mounting materials (eg. wood and screws, or cardboard and duct tape) - Place the two styrofoam plates right and left behind your laptop. - point the floodlights at the styrofoam, carefully positioning them so…

[deleted]

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#632

Post by beached_whale » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:51 PM UTC

I use a USB HDMI capture device and my iPhone over the Apple lightning/hdmi adaptor(the knockoff I tried first didn't work well). This along with Filmic Pro and the quality is amazing.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#633

Post by aaron695 » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #180

Webcams suck because until recently video calls sucked. > but his camera can't output a live stream into HDMI Buy different camera. Sony a6000/Sigma 1.4 16mm lens plus Camlink looks like this: https://twitter.com/feliciaday/status/1268379532823683072 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/834329198?t=00h09m50s Pretty much every time new person streams/zooms with Felicia they ask about the setup to replicate it :)

> until recently video calls sucked.

As far as I can tell your answer is the only one that makes sense of all the comments.

Most grandparents would pay $ to be able to remote well with grandkids. Most employees would pay $$ to look professional.

But buying a good webcam wouldn't solve their broadband issues.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#634

Post by dathinab » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

This is the mid-range webcam you might be looking for: https://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Streamer-Wide-Angle-Webcam-...

Following some independent YouTube review this seems currently the best webcam for streaming you can get.

Through it's focused on the streaming use-case and has some design decisions which are quite good for that use-case but make it sub-par (for the price) if used for some other use-cases.

EDIT: And like other people mentioned sub-optimal lighting is often a major problem, so investing in any more expensive webcame doesn't make that much sense if you don't also invest in improving the light situation.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#635

Post by digikata » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

Already__Taken wrote: post #498

TheRealPomax wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then there's folks at the mid end, who buy an $80 Razer Kiyo purely for the decent video with built-in ring light so you're never backlit, with a separate $99 microphone and $150 audio interface. Buying all the bits separately gets you what this author wants, just not in a single tidy package.

The price for audio stuff seems truly out-of-this-world compared to everything else. I get microphones have a lot of design/testing that might justify it. But all the interfacing gear seems ridiculous.

If you have niche requirements then expect to pay some premium for the gear because the development costs are amortized into the unit price. It’s that way for AV gear as well as many other niches.

If the market won’t bear the price then people or companies able or willing to bear the development risk will shrink, or in this case maybe never develop.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#636

Post by caturopath » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

Similarly, why can't you buy a good speakerphone?

It seems like all of the professional quality stuff is not amenable to just plugging in at home. I have a Jabra speakermic thing that's passable, but not as good as something in a real conference room.

I, unfortunately, cannot wear something on or in my ears all day, or a high-quality audio setup would be easy.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#637

Post by Ancapistani » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

throwaway09223 wrote: post #627

alchemism wrote: post #623

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are numerous Android/IOS apps which make your phone either a webcam or network camera. Some examples are EpoCam, Camo, NDI Camera, etc.

Yes, this is good advice thank you. The real problem I'm trying to solve is being able to use my phone while running a zoom, though!

Do you have a retired phone in a drawer somewhere?

I recently started taking Zoom calls in my office on my desktop, and didn’t have a webcam at all. I found EpocCam and used it on my iPhone X, but quickly pulled out my wife’s retired Galaxy S7 to use for this purpose.

At this point you can get a used S7 on eBay for ~$60. That’s cheaper than a webcam with similar image quality, and you can use the phone for other projects if that’s your thing.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#638

Post by dathinab » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

hengheng wrote: post #395

ramraj07 wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can https://www.e-consystems.com/13mp-autofocus-usb-camera.asp I bought one of these for using with my lab microscope since the alternatives from thorlabs was 10x more expensive for no reason. It worked fine for a year then it stopped working. Maybe I spillled something on it? Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

$250 is deep into mirrorless camera territory though.

If you by new $250 isn't close to getting you anything decent which also works for streaming as far as I know.

Plus for many cameras you need to capture their video output, i.e. USB is not enough (through that currently changes). So you need a capture chip with low latency or else things are bad for "life" usage. This is often another 60-130€ for something decent if brought anew.

Plus they don't have a monitor clip so you need buy an additional stand.

Sure you can buy used parts but then you also need to compare it with used part prices for webcams which normally (i.e. non Covid19) are also lower.

I mean a Sony a5100 with usable objective currently sells new for ~US$700 but you can probably get it new for that price with capture card and stand if you buy clever and we ignore Covid19 for fairness.

(And even used you are still far above 250€ for any recent decently usable mirror less camera with objective in my experience.)

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#639

Post by ako » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 9:08 PM UTC

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…

Just upgraded my webcam to a very cheap action cam (60 euros). Huge upgrade compared to the laptop camera, but still pretty bad with low lighting. Using a good action cam like the insta360 might be a good fit for someone looking for a better webcam.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#640

Post by throwaway201103 » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

yboris wrote: post #402

gimmeThaBeet wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did somebody say iSight 2?

iSight was such a beautiful-looking product! It's rather mind-blowing that back then its 640×480-pixel VGA resolution was considered good.

It's still good enough. 1080p or 4k is totally unnecessary for a Zoom meeting.