Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops • Hacker News Board

What is the market for this product? I can't see their being enough people who a. have a laptop without a camera/need a better camera b. are willing to lug this thing around and c. are willing to pay $200.

How is web design this bad acceptable? It's insanely slow, annoying to read and impossible to navigate.

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#6

Post by evanjrowley » Tue, Nov 14, 2023, 4:20 PM UTC

The clip design seems to force the camera to sit and a different angle than the screen. Is it intentional, or a design flaw?

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#7

Post by cloin » Tue, Nov 14, 2023, 4:20 PM UTC

I'm a really big fan of the C1. I'm curious what the image quality is like compared to the current webcam on the M2 Air and compared to the C1. The mute switch on the cable is a great idea.

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#8

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Tue, Nov 14, 2023, 4:24 PM UTC

If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool. (Big if - I believe you can filter by angle, but my understanding of physics precludes filtering by distance; someone please correct me if I'm ignorant)

The mute button is a good idea - I strongly prefer having a nice dedicated button, though in my case it's on the headset - but that placement seems guaranteed to put force on the USB port in a way that risks damage.

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#9

Post by viraptor » Tue, Nov 14, 2023, 4:32 PM UTC

berbec wrote: post #5

What is the market for this product? I can't see their being enough people who a. have a laptop without a camera/need a better camera b. are willing to lug this thing around and c. are willing to pay $200. How is web design this bad acceptable? It's insanely slow, annoying to read and impossible to navigate.

$200 is within a typical tech budget spend and there's lots of people working remotely these days. I've spent over $100 on a good mic alone (not portable though).

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#10

Post by smoldesu » Tue, Nov 14, 2023, 4:32 PM UTC

Do these webcams ship with USB class-compliant video? I considered the original Opal but immediately 'noped' out when seeing the companion app.