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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?

#721

Post by vyrotek »

wruza wrote: post #317
gaudat wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For monitors it is more than that. For a pretty expensive 144hz/1440p/gsync category that I researched a couple of years ago there were three options: acer, asus and viewsonic (and unavailable aoc). It turned out that asus, despite being a “better, much more money” brand, did a worse job of mounting the panel, so it had statistically worse backlight bleeding at one edge.

It took me a while to find something matching those specs too. I got a couple of these when the price dropped below $300 and they're great. I had to watch a few PC Building deal Reddits to catch the deal.

https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GL83A-B-Ultragear-Compatible-Mon...

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#722

Post by fomine3 »

m-p-3 wrote: post #606
novok wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? With laptops costing $1000+ I think they can afford to put in the $15 smartphone part from $300 smartphones in the higher end ones.

If they can't justify the price increase and it doesn't make then a cpear winner against the competition, the manufacturer will cut some corners to stay competitive. At scale, an expense increase of $15 per device is quite significant.

Generally agree but even Apple MacBooks stuck at 720p webcam, why? Apple products should be able to pay additional cost for such parts.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#723

Post by Guest19023892 »

murkt wrote: post #260
ComodoHacker wrote: post #192

>Even if I think that 4k is not needed, I’m pretty sure it’s really a requirement to have in an upmarket webcam, as it will be really hard to sell a pricey webcam that can only do 1080p. 4K is absolutely not needed. You won't be streaming 4K from your home or average office space anyway. Our pipes are just not that fat yet in upstream direction.

Would you buy a webcam with 1080p only (I promise it's good though!) for $250-$300?

Assuming it's good, why not? Even 720p video from a DSLR will look far better than 4K video from a Logitech Brio. Resolution is almost meaningless when doing video calls. Most people are in environments with poor lighting, so they need bigger sensors and improved lighting long before 4K or even 1080p resolutions.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#724

Post by wyclif »

novok wrote: post #580
gonehome wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

I personally wouldn't want to start in this market, because by the time anything could reasonably ship the COVID vaccine has been distributed enough and most people won't care that much anymore.

I don't think WFH and remote work are going away though, even if COVID does.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#725

Post by randycupertino »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #492
dbspin wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freelance videographer and cam-op here. Your Arri experience is skewing your perspective. Any recent highly regarded DSLR will be significantly better in low light, intelligently apply both sharpening and noise reduction, and do so with auto focus in a package that weighs less than your Zeiss Prime. I AC for an Alexa Mini LF shooter, and it's interested to see just how far divergent evolution has got in this regard.…

Not OP but sitting the presenter in front of a north facing window, positioning the laptop camera at eye level and giving them a well adjusted $70 mic provides an improvement over any badly positioned camera in mixed color temperature silhouetted lighting situation.

Why north facing window? I have a choice of southwest or northeast facing windows to put my office- which should I pick?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#726

Post by neuromanser »

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"

I started looking for a solution to "my webcam is a PoS" problem a few weeks ago. I realized that a good sensor etc. will cost money, so the hardware should be useful outside meetings. I thought I would spend about $500 on a basic DSLR. After some contemplation, I decided that this was an opportunity to take up a new hobby, and now I'm about to buy a Sony A6000 plus some prime lenses. Just an anecdote.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#727

Post by randycupertino »

leokennis wrote: post #641
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…

Right on the money. I’m not sure I get people’s use cases here. Ok, if you’re creating/streaming video, I get that you need a good webcam. But for your teams’ standups, refinements etc...is video quality really an issue? Usually I’m in a call with 5-10 others. One will be sharing a screen or we will be collaborating on a whiteboard. Other people’s webcam feeds are stamp-sized somewhere in the periphery of my vision.…

I think you're underestimating personal vanity. Plastic surgery and teeth whitening has SPIKED since the pandemic started because people are looking at their own faces on zoom all day in tiny boxes next to their coworkers. People will drop endless cash to make themselves look better on camera.

I frequent the reddit beauty forums and hobbyist non-engineers who have zoom meetings for work are dropping $$ on Diva Lights and video filtering apps etc.

Just today driving to the carwash I passed three strip mall aesthetic places advertising fillers and botox.

I posted a tutorial on how to set up a green screen and diva light and within a week I had three coworkers order them- I joked with DVE Store that I should start getting a commission.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#728

Post by andrei_says_ »

randycupertino wrote: post #725
andrei_says_ wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP but sitting the presenter in front of a north facing window, positioning the laptop camera at eye level and giving them a well adjusted $70 mic provides an improvement over any badly positioned camera in mixed color temperature silhouetted lighting situation.

Why north facing window? I have a choice of southwest or northeast facing windows to put my office- which should I pick?

The one that does not get direct sunlight. North guarantees a diffused and somewhat constant illumination.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#729

Post by randycupertino »

lmilcin wrote: post #206
jokethrowaway wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 kinda agree and disagree at the same time. It takes a lot of work to beat natural light coming from your window. If you have restricted budget and can choose the time when you record, this is a very good option that I always recommend to people I talk to. On the other hand, when you do remote work you don't choose the time. Also, you will probably have other considerations for your desk placement. In the end it is…

Also, coming from California and living on the Pacific, I have sort of a "too much light" problem. I've got sunrise on side of the house and sunset on the other and skylights in every room. I had an optimized setup in the living room but when I moved my office to the spare bedroom I am totally blasted out by the sunrise over the mountains and shadows come across my face as the sun moves.

I'm experimenting with moving my desk but the trial and error is a pita.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#730

Post by randycupertino »

reaperducer wrote: post #526
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…

Making a good looking image that feels natural is work, and while the camera is an important cog in the machine, it alone won't do wonders. A agree with your observations. Is photography 101: you need good light and clean gear. I was one of 16 people on a videoconference yesterday. We all have the same MacBook Pros, so all the same cameras. Some people looked awesome. Some people looked awful.

How do you know some of your coworkers haven't upgraded their setup on personal equipment? Or optimized their lighting setups?
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