Curious to know, with all these high quality web cams, do we have the support for high quality bandwidth internet connectivity.
Why webcams aren’t good enough
101–110 of 297 posts
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#102Also add to this that most popular Twitch streamers use a very expensive digital SLR as webcams these days to avoid many of the problems discussed here.
I never gave much thought to the fact that all the old phones I have sitting around have a better camera than my logitech webcam. Interesting. I have multiple Galaxy S8s/S7s around.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#103Great article, a lot of effort went into this.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#104I also noticed fairly early on, that phone cameras were improving by leaps and bounds, while laptop webcams and USB webcams seemed to be at a standstill, image-quality wise. I don't know why that is, but even Apple would seemingly rather shave 50 cents off the BOM by speccing a 720p Facetime camera in their $3000 Macbook Pros, and trying to make up the difference with software, like with the new M1 Macs that have bet…
> even Apple would seemingly rather shave 50 cents off the BOM by speccing a 720p Facetime camera in their $3000 Macbook Pros The reason I've heard is that the macbook display assembly simply doesn't have the depth to house a decent camera. The camera bump in phones exists for a reason - and phones are already way fatter than macbook displays. I have no idea if thats true though.
Is the image quality any better on iMac? At the very least on expensive iMac Pro? If not, the issue is not physical limitations of Macbook, it's most likely cost.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#105Also add to this that most popular Twitch streamers use a very expensive digital SLR as webcams these days to avoid many of the problems discussed here. I never gave much thought to the fact that all the old phones I have sitting around have a better camera than my logitech webcam. Interesting. I have multiple Galaxy S8s/S7s around.
NewTek NDI has both Android and iOS apps, and plugins exist to use it with the OBS Virtual Cam.
They don't have the greatest open source record though (ffmpeg removed integration after they were found to be violating license terms).
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
> even Apple would seemingly rather shave 50 cents off the BOM by speccing a 720p Facetime camera in their $3000 Macbook Pros The reason I've heard is that the macbook display assembly simply doesn't have the depth to house a decent camera. The camera bump in phones exists for a reason - and phones are already way fatter than macbook displays. I have no idea if thats true though.
The display frame has plenty of space for a phone-type camera sensor of any resolution, it's just a flat CMOS. Even a really big phone sensor is only 8x6x3mm A good lens is more difficult to fit in the Z-dimension but that doesn't constrain the resolution of the sensor. A small bump in the bezel and a corresponding recess in the base would allow a better design of lens.
3mm? Based on my measurement just now, the lid of my 16" MBP is just about 4mm thick - so no, after the case and front glass there's enough room for even the sensor, let alone a lens.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#107Different article from a month ago “Why can’t you buy a good web cam?” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25504771 Lots of points. Big one being that the market is bifurcated into: 1. People who just want the minimum as cheap as possible. 2. People willing to pay enough to buy a mirrorless photo camera and plug it in as a web cam when they need it.
I see this pattern everywhere - the market bifurcating into a) race-to-the-bottom garbage products that are barely crossing the legal threshold of fit for purpose, and are essentially a huge waste of natural resources, and b) quality goods sold to specialists or companies, usually severely overpriced (to cover low volume of sales, and/or just because the market will bear it). Does it have a name in economics? Are the…
Mirror less cameras aren't really overpriced. You can get a good entry level canon (M50) and a quality kit lens for 600$
Or you can get a Sony A6100 and crappier kit lens for 700$
These cameras have significant strong (e.g. aps-c sensor size) capabilities not found in anything except mirrorless and DSLR cameras. Seems not to be overpriced to me.
Overpriced is like what nvidia does to the quattro cards...
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Still doesn't explain why a $300phone has a better camera than a $250 logitech BRIO. I recently bought a BRIO and in non optimal lighting the performance is just as mediocre as a $30 C230 so I returned it immediately. In the en I convinced my wife to just use the DSLR (she was hesitant at first because of the extra hassle). A modern DSL had good IQ even ad candlelight, you really almost can't mess it up. Only way to…
A DSLR with a lens costs thousands of dollars. A cheap continuous light with a cheap softbox costs about $150, and gets the job done.
More like 500, around 1000 if you need a high quality lens
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#109Just the other day a user in my problem validation platform posted 'Make entry level webcam better'[1], the main gripe being 10 year old Logitech C270 still being sold at a higher price while improvements in smartphone cameras are being made every 6 months.
Posts like these seems to confirm that there's a real need gap for a good quality webcam. Any of you working on solving this? or have ideas?
[1]https://needgap.com/problems/185-make-entry-level-webcam-bet... (Disclaimer: It's a problem validation platform I created).
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> even Apple would seemingly rather shave 50 cents off the BOM by speccing a 720p Facetime camera in their $3000 Macbook Pros The reason I've heard is that the macbook display assembly simply doesn't have the depth to house a decent camera. The camera bump in phones exists for a reason - and phones are already way fatter than macbook displays. I have no idea if thats true though.
Apple: Thinnest laptop evar! Also Apple: We can't give you a better camera because we gave you the thinnest laptop evar! "We think you're gonna love it!"
Much thicker laptops have equally bad camera.