You don't need a 4K webcam. Well, almost nobody needs a 4K webcam, but you probably don't even want one — or couldn't use one, even if you wanted to. If you're not a professional streamer or some other type of camera-based content creator, a 4K webcam is not going to do you much good: even in 2026, most video conferencing apps, such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom cap your outgoing stream at 1080p or lower. There's no reason to spend hundreds on one of the best webcams around if nobody is even going to see you in all your ultra-high-res glory.

Maybe you don't need a 4K webcam, but is a 2K webcam a good compromise? There aren't too many 2K webcams, but a little extra resolution might be just what you need to get a slightly clearer picture without going overboard.

Razer's Kiyo V2 X is a 2K webcam that records video at 1440p / 60 fps (also at 1080p / 60/30/24 fps and at 720p / 60/30 fps). It also features speedy (and somewhat trigger-happy) auto-focus, an 80-degree field of view, built-in microphones, and an integrated physical privacy shutter, and is available now in black, white, and "quartz" (Razer's signature pastel pink color) for $99.99.

Design of the Kiyo V2 X

The Kiyo V2 X is the budget-friendly product in Razer's Kiyo lineup, and you can tell immediately by the lack of removable USB cable. The Kiyo V2 X looks very similar to its pricier sibling, the Kiyo V2 — it has the same general design: a slim circle lens attached to a long, rectangular body, atop a fixed L-shaped monitor mount. In fact, it looks almost identical to the Kiyo V2 at first glance, but the differences become clear once you take a closer look.

The Kiyo V2 X is slightly smaller than the Kiyo V2, measuring approximately 4.3 inches (109mm) wide by 2.64 inches (67mm) deep, and is 2.7 inches (67.8mm) high. The Kiyo V2, by comparison, measures 4.7 x 2.57 x 2.9 inches (116 x 65.3 x 74mm) — so it's not gigantic compared to the Kiyo V2 X, but it's enough to be noticeable. The difference in weight is what's really significant, however, while the Kiyo V2 X weighs a mere 5.64 ounces (160g) with its cable and mount included (as they are, after all, non-detachable), the Kiyo V2 is a hefty 8.99 ounces (255g) without its cable.

There are other signs the Kiyo V2 X is built cheaper — not only does it have a non-detachable USB-A cable, which is arguably the hallmark of any budget webcam, it also has a smaller glass lens area and a cheaper, lighter-weight textured ring around the lens for opening and closing the privacy shutter.

Speaking of which, the Kiyo V2 X does have the same built-in physical privacy shutter as the Kiyo V2 and the Kiyo Pro Ultra, which is a fantastic feature to see in a "budget" model. The privacy shutter is very elegantly implemented — a quick, easy twist of the ring around the camera lens, and the shutter closes (it twists over the camera, under the glass lens, like a camera aperture). I especially like that it's easy to open and close without disturbing the webcam's position too much — you don't have to worry about turning your webcam around or knocking it off your monitor.

The Kiyo V2 X comes with its accessories permanently attached: a 5-foot (1.5m) rubber USB-A cable with a built-in cable tie, and an L-shaped monitor mount. The cable is fine, if a little stiff — but that's pretty typical of built-in webcam cables. It's a USB-A cable and it supports USB 2.0, which is a relief, as we've seen a couple of webcams recently that require USB 3.0 to even function (including the Kiyo V2, which needs a USB-C port).

The built-in monitor mount is a standard Razer-style L-shaped mount. It has a small lip at the front to secure the mount to your monitor, along with a rubber-coated "foot" that presses against the back of your monitor to keep the webcam in place. The mount allows you to swivel the camera (360 degrees) and tilt (slightly past 90 degrees), and has a 1/4-inch threaded tripod attachment point on the bottom, in case you want to put the Kiyo V2 X on a tripod.

Well-lit Performance

I take all my webcam test photos in my home office, which is a very well-controlled setting that gets zero natural light. For my well-lit test scenario, I have a ring light, a key light, and four desktop monitors (three 27-inch and one 34-inch) in front of me, an arching floor lamp above me, and two desktop lamps behind me, as well as some ambient lighting from my desk and peripherals. For consistency, I take all of my final photos in Windows 11's built-in photo app at 1080p resolution. These individual photos are used as visual references, but my observations come from my overall testing experience with each webcam.

The Kiyo V2 X performed fairly well in our well-lit test scenario. I wasn't blown away by the picture quality, detail-wise, even with the camera set to shoot in 1440p / 60 fps, but the webcam did a good job of balancing exposure quickly and auto-white-balancing to produce a realistic-looking and vibrant palette. I'd be pretty happy with this image for a plug-n-play product if I was meeting with my colleagues or friends over video chat. I think the lack of detail was mostly a function of the Kiyo V2 X's default software features/settings, as I found that turning off the 2D / 3D noise reduction in Synapse 4 and disabling auto-focus gave me much crisper pictures — at least while I was in the Synapse 4 software, anyway.

Low-Light Performance

To test the low light performance of this webcam, I turned off all of the lights in my home office except for my primary 34-inch monitor. I took this picture with the Windows 11 camera app taking up half the screen and the default Google homepage taking up the other half.

Razer's Kiyo line of webcams has always been pretty impressive when it comes to low-light scenarios, but the Kiyo V2 X didn't perform nearly as well as I hoped it would. It seemed to have trouble balancing exposure, oscillating between way too much and way too little several times until it landed on what was definitely way too little. It was very trigger-happy when it came to both the auto-focus and the auto-exposure — it couldn't seem to keep me in focus at all, even when there was a decent amount of light on my face. Also, any movement — or even no movement — seemed to kick the auto-focus into re-focusing, which resulted in me just... never being in focus.

The lack of detail in the well-lit scenario was definitely exacerbated by less-than-ideal lighting, so I went into Synapse 4 to see if there was something I was missing. Turning off 2D and 3D noise reduction did bring back some detail (it was smoothing over a lot of poorly-lit areas), but, naturally, introduced a lot of noise. But it was really the webcam's inability to stick to focusing on one area that made everything kind of fuzzy.

Overexposed Performance

To test the webcam's performance in an over-exposed setting, I turned off the lighting in front of me, save for my primary 34" monitor. I left the overhead light and the lights behind me turned on. An overexposed lighting scenario is any lighting scenario in which there's a lot of light coming from behind you (e.g., with your back against a window), but I use this particular scenario as I think it's pretty realistic — how often are you really taking on-camera conference calls while sitting up against a window?

The Kiyo V2 X performed pretty poorly in this scenario, too. Not only was it unable to calibrate the light balance properly (resulting in a lot of blown out areas in the background), it also couldn't focus on me basically... at all. It did keep trying, however, which was frustrating, to say the least, especially as even the tiniest movement from me seemed to trigger it.

After many, many minutes of this constant auto-focus battle, it seemed to just give up, and stuck me with an extra-blurry image that focused on nothing. I tried to switch over to manual focus, which worked in Razer's Synapse 4 app... and only in Razer's Synapse 4 app. Switching to the Windows 11 camera app or Google Meet or Discord video chat caused the camera to switch back to auto-focus (or at least, that's what I think it did — either that, or manual focus isn't actually all that manual). I'm sure this could be fixed with a firmware update, but, well, Razer needs to make that firmware update.

Specs

Features and Software

The Kiyo V2 X works about as well as you can expect right out of the box — though you will need to use Razer's universal peripheral software, Synapse 4, to update the webcam's firmware. You can also use it to adjust the camera's settings, though there's honestly not a ton that I'd recommend you change for the Kiyo V2 X (every setting I tried to tweak only made things worse, somehow).

You can set up cropped "scenes" in Synapse 4 using the Kiyo V2 X's 4x digital zoom; this is handy for people who want to crop out the mess around them and/or set up multiple angles to switch between so they can look like newscasters in their work meetings. You can also turn off the Kiyo V2 X's trigger-happy auto-focus and manually focus the lens, but this didn't seem to work outside of Synapse 4 in my testing. Whenever I switched to a different app, even after saving the settings to the webcam multiple times, it was back to non-stop auto-focus.

There are also a handful of other standard settings in Synapse 4, such as auto/manual exposure, low light boost, 2D/3D noise reduction, and the standard picture adjustments (brightness, contrast, saturation, white balance, etc) — but I found the webcam's default settings ended up giving me the best overall picture. The Kiyo V2 X does not support HDR; you'll need to upgrade to the Kiyo V2 for that.

Bottom Line

The Kiyo V2 X is... sort of mediocre. It certainly looks good — like the Kiyo V2, anyway — and it works decently well out of the box in ideal lighting setups. I am a big fan of the built-in privacy shutter, and I think it's one of the best-implemented on the market (it's not creative at all, and other companies — such as Logitech — also do it, but that doesn't mean it's not still really good). But as soon as you're in any lighting situation that's not basically perfect, it goes a little crazy trying to compensate, to the point where it never actually manages to compensate. The auto-focus worked well in my well-lit scenario — it was quick and accurate, that is — but it was still easily triggered by tiny movements. This resulted in me being out of focus about half as often as I was in focus, because it was constantly recalibrating.

At $100, the Kiyo V2 X is the budget option in Razer's webcam lineup, but that doesn't necessarily make it budget-friendly. The Logitech Brio 500 retails for $30 more and only records at 1080p / 30 fps, but it'll make you look better, faster, and it also has a cleverly-implemented physical privacy shutter (plus, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it on sale for around $100, if you're patient). The Elgato Facecam MK.2 records at 1080p / 60 fps and doesn't have a sexy privacy shutter (it does have one, just not a sexy one), but it's currently on sale for $100 at Elgato's website. And if you're looking for something that's actually budget-friendly, Elgato's Facecam Neo offers comparably solid performance for just $60.

It might seem like there's a streaming-specific, AI-enhanced 4K webcam being advertised around every corner — because there... kind of is. YoloLiv is a streaming hardware company that mainly focuses on multi-camera streaming setups, but the YoloCam S3 is a 4K webcam with a large sensor and lightning-fast autofocus that's clearly here to compete with the best webcams on the market.

The YoloCam S3 is a small, sturdy little webcam that captures video in 4K / 30 fps resolution (as well as 1080p / 60 fps). It features a large, 1/1.28-inch sensor, 4x digital zoom, and 82-degree field of view, autofocus, and AI-enhanced face-tracking and low-light performance. It has an all-aluminum body and comes with a magnetic monitor mount that lets you mount it in landscape or portrait mode. The YoloCam S3 is available now, retailing for $199.99 — the same price point as Logitech's newest 4K MX Brio.

Design of the S3

The YoloCam S3 is a small, surprisingly sturdy rectangular metal block with a glass-and-metal encased circular lens on the front. It measures approximately 2.38 inches (60.45mm) wide by 1.87 inches (47.5mm) high, and is 1.28 inches (32.5mm) deep, not including the removable magnetic monitor mount. It weighs 4.07 ounces (115.5g) without the mount, and 6.53 ounces (185g) with the mount, which makes it a little lighter than the MX Brio (4.83oz. / 137g) — though the mount is, arguably, a necessary component for this webcam.

The YoloCam S3 comes with a detachable metal L-shaped monitor mount. Even if you're not perching this webcam on top of your monitor, you'll probably need to use the mount — as the webcam has no mounting attachment points on its body, just magnets (located on two sides, so you can mount the webcam in portrait or landscape orientation. The mount is a fairly standard L-shaped mount, with a rubber "foot" that helps it grip the back of your monitor, but it is made of aluminum — most similar mounts, such as the one that comes with the MX Brio or the one that comes with the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, are plastic.

The webcam attaches to a vertically-tilting arm via a fairly strong magnet — strong enough that I wasn't worried the webcam would get knocked off the mount without some actual force, but not so strong that I was able to adjust the tilt by pulling on just the webcam. There's a lip at the back of the mount, presumably to prevent you from mounting the webcam too far back (and to keep the picture straight); while the mount doesn't really allow for horizontal swivel, you have some space to turn the webcam in front of the lip (but not much).

The mount also has a standard 1/4-inch tripod mounting attachment point on the bottom, so you can use the webcam with a tripod or other stand/mount. But because the only thing holding this webcam on the mount is moderately strong magnetic force, I wouldn't plan on using it as a replacement for your Go Pro. I will point out that the MX Brio also has a detachable, magnetic L-shaped monitor mount, but it's implemented in such a way that the webcam can swivel atop the mount (and the webcam has a tripod attachment point built-in — no mount necessary.

Aesthetically-speaking, this is a nice-looking webcam. It's slightly reminiscent of old-school cameras: It has a matte black metal front plate that's lightly textured to look like leather, as well as an etched metal ring around its circular lens. The ring, though textured, does not move or twist like the rings on Razer's recent Kiyo V2 and Kiyo Pro Ultra; the YoloCam S3 doesn't have a built-in privacy shutter, nor does it come with a lens cover. This seems like a pretty big oversight considering the webcam doesn't fold down (like the Insta360 Link), nor is there an easy way to turn it around — I suppose you can pop it off of the mount and unplug it, but you can do that with any webcam. There's a tiny, pin-prick of an LED on the front of the webcam that lights up when the camera is turned on, but that's not really enough of an indicator for me to be comfortable with an AI-powered 4K lens pointed at me all day long.

In the box, the YoloCam S3 comes with a detachable monitor mount, a thick, rubber-coated 5-foot (1.5m) USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-A to USB-C converter (in case you want to plug it into a USB-C port — the webcam does need to be plugged into a USB 3.0 port to work).

Specs

Well-lit Performance

The YoloCam S3 is a 4K webcam with a 1/1.28-inch sensor and a f/1.85 aperture. It has a fairly wide 82-degree field of view, 4x digital zoom, HDR, and AI-enhanced facial tracking and low-light boosting. It can stream video at 4K (30 fps) and at 1080p (60/50/30/25 fps).

I do all of my webcam testing in my home office, which gets virtually no natural light. For my well-lit test scenario, I have ring light, a key light, and four desktop monitors (three 27-inch monitors, and my primary 34-inch widescreen monitor) turned on in front of me, as well as two desktop lamps and an overhead arc lamp turned on behind me. There's also some ambient lighting from my desk and other peripherals, but it's negligible. For consistency, I take all of my photos using Windows 11's built-in camera app. (Note that my observations are based on my overall experience with the webcam — these photos will give you an idea of the picture quality, but they're not the sole criteria.)

The YoloCam S3 performed very well in the well-lit scenario — I was particularly impressed with how crisp and clear the picture looked right out of the box. Not all 4K webcams are created equal: Resolution is only one aspect of what makes you look good on a webcam (and let's be serious — it often works against that); the lens/sensor and software-based fine-tuning ("post-processing") also play a large part.

While image quality on the YoloCam S3 was excellent, it was a little too high-contrast. You can see in the image above that the result is a slightly washed-out looking subject (me), and blowouts in areas that are very white (the keyboard on my desk). It doesn't look terrible, but it's noticeable enough that it seems like I need to poke around in the companion software and do at least a little tweaking.

Low-Light Performance

To test the YoloCam S3's performance in low lighting, I turned off all of the lights in my office and three of my monitors, leaving only my primary 34-inch widescreen monitor turned on. I took these pictures with the Windows 11 camera app on one half of my screen, and my desktop wallpaper (dark) on the other half.

The too-high-contrast is more noticeable here — you can see blown out areas on my face, which is... not ideal, to say the least. The webcam still did a great job of picking up detail, both on the subject (me) and in the background, and there was very little graininess as I moved around (but, of course, lowering the contrast introduces a little more grain).

Overexposed Performance

To test the YoloCam S3's performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off all of the lights and monitors in front of me (except for my primary 34-inch monitor), and kept the lights behind and above me turned on. This is probably one of the more common lighting scenarios for people who aren't professional streamers, as most people don't have studio lighting set up to shine at them from behind their monitor.

The YoloCam S3 performed well in this scenario (no webcam does very well). It attempted to light both the subject and the background and ended up leaning a little too heavily on both contrast and saturation, which is pretty typical for, well, most webcams. The webcam didn't disappoint or impress in this scenario, it performed as expected.

Features and Software

The YoloCam S3 is configurable through the YoloLiv Compose companion app. The app gives you a nice amount of control over picture quality: You can manually adjust exposure, white balance, sharpness, contrast, and saturation; switch between continuous, single, and face-focused autofocus (and manual focus); switch the frame rate and orientation, and zoom and crop areas of the image (you can set four hotkeys for different "scenes").

The app also has a color-grading feature "similar to DaVinci Resolve" that lets you color-grade your images in real time — a nice feature for streamers, but it's too involved for the average person (and even the average streamer) to use constantly.

Bottom Line

YoloLiv mainly makes hardware for streamers, and the YoloCam S3 is... also for streamers. The image quality is excellent — on par with that of the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra — though you'll need to do some fine-tuning once you get it out of the box. But if you're not looking to move into professional streaming any time soon, the YoloCam S3 is a little too aimed at pros. It's designed to fit into a professional streaming setup, not a home office (or just home) setup — it needs a USB 3.0 port to function, there's no privacy shutter or lens cap, and you'll need to play with the software to get the picture perfect. If you're looking for something that will make you look good right away and still has 4K/30 fps resolution (even though video conferencing apps still limit you to 1080p outgoing at most), the Logitech MX Brio is a bit more amateur-friendly.

Too many of today's best webcams are 4K webcams these days, but at least that means they're starting to get more affordable. At $150, Razer's new Kiyo V2 isn't necessarily a steal, but it's half the price of the $300 Kiyo Ultra Pro. And, since you (probably) don't actually need a 4K webcam in the first place, this might just be the perfect price point for the average person seeking 4K image quality.

The Kiyo V2 captures video at 4K / 30fps, 1440p / 30 fps, and at 1080p 60/30/24 fps. It features an 8.3MP Sony STARVIS sensor with a 93-degree field of view, auto and manual focus, and a focal length of 3.0mm. It also has HDR (at 30 fps), 4x zoom, built-in omnidirectional stereo microphones, and a built-in monitor mount with a tripod attachment point on the bottom. At $149.99, it's cheaper than a lot of 4K webcams, and it comes in three colors: black, white, and quartz (pink).

Design of the Kiyo V2

The Kiyo V2 is a 4K webcam with a detachable USB-C cable and a built-in L-shaped monitor mount. It also features a built-in physical privacy shutter similar to the one in the Kiyo Pro Ultra, though it doesn't come with a lens cap, like the Pro Ultra does (the shutter is under the glass here).

The Kiyo V2 is no longer the single giant circle lens we're used to seeing in the Kiyo line — it's now a slim circular lens attached to an elongated body — it looks a bit like the Logitech MX Brio 4K, just... exaggerated. The bad news is that this definitely doesn't look as cool as the pure circle lens did (in my opinion, anyway). The good news is that being lower and wider over taller and more aesthetic probably makes it more convenient.

Well, probably. It's still pretty large: With the stand, it measures approximately 4.6 inches (116mm) wide by 2.6 inches (65.3mm) deep, and is 2.9 inches (74mm) high. The MX Brio 4K is quite a bit smaller, by comparison, at 3.84 x 1.73 x 1.42 inches (98 x 44 x 36mm). The Kiyo V2 is also pretty hefty, weighing 8.99 ounces (255g), versus the MX Brio 4K's 4.83 ounces (137g). The size and weight of the Kiyo V2 wasn't too much of an issue for me with my crazy 4-monitor setup, but it seems like it could be a bit of a liability on a laptop.

I'm a big fan of the Kiyo V2's built-in privacy shutter, which works exactly like the privacy shutter in the Kiyo Pro Ultra (and in the MX Brio 4K). All you need to do is twist the textured ring around the lens, and the shutter snaps into place, covering the lens and preventing any webcam-related mishaps. I do wish that it came with some sort of lens cap, however, just because the glass lens area is still pretty large (about 1.75 inches / 44.45mm in diameter), but that shouldn’t be an issue unless you regularly travel with your high-res webcam.

The Kiyo V2 comes with a permanently-attached L-shaped monitor mount that allows for both tilting and 360-degree swiveling. The monitor mount is sturdy, with a rubber-coated "foot" that helps keep it from moving around too much on your monitor. It also has a 1/4-inch universal tripod attachment point on the bottom, so you can attach it to a tripod or other stand if you prefer.

In the box, the Kiyo V2 comes with just one accessory — a detachable 6.5-foot (2m) rubber-coated USB-C to USB-C cable. The webcam must be plugged into a USB-C port with this specific cable to get the full 4K quality picture, however, which is a little inconvenient — both because the cable is a bit stiff, and because some of us don't have an abundance (or any) free USB-C ports on our PCs.

Specs

Well-lit Performance

I take all my webcam test photos in my home office, which is a very controlled setting that gets almost no natural light (I also take most of them at night, so there's zero natural light). For my well-lit test scenario, I have a ring light, a key light, four desktop monitors (three 27" and one 34") in front of me, and two desktop lamps and an arching floor lamp behind me. There's also some ambient lighting from my desk and other peripherals. For consistency, I take all my photos using Windows 11's built-in camera app, at 1080p resolution. (Note that my observations come from my overall testing experience with the webcam, not just these single photos.)

The Kiyo V2 performed very well in the well-lit testing scenario, especially when it came to white balance and auto-exposure. The white balance was almost perfect right out of the box: It gave my skin enough color that I looked alive, but not so much that it was obviously oversaturated. The webcam also did a very good job with auto-exposure, though I still found that I preferred the picture I got by tweaking the exposure manually in Razer's Synapse software.

I wasn't a big fan of the webcam's extra-wide 93° field of view, as it ended up showing too much of my space. Luckily this can be configured in Synapse (with zoom/crop). But the picture still looked good at a wide angle, with less distortion and warping than I expected. Razer's webcams tend to be tuned for a slightly more dramatic, cinematic picture than most webcams, which I particularly like — I don't think most people are looking for a webcam that's just pure, undiluted image quality; most people want a webcam that makes them look good.

Low-Light Performance

To test the webcam's low-light performance, I turn off all of my lights and three of my monitors, leaving just one 34-inch monitor as my sole source of illumination. I take my photos with the Windows 11 camera app occupying about half of that screen, and my desktop wallpaper takes up the other half.

The Kiyo V2 performed decently well in this scenario, though it tended to overexpose the subject (me) at the expense of the background. Still, I didn't look too washed out most of the time, and the overall image quality was good: There wasn't too much artifacting, and it was a little noisy in darker areas (as expected).

Overexposed Performance

To test the webcam's performance in over-exposed settings, I turn off all of the lights in front of me, except for my single 34" monitor, and keep the lights behind/over me turned on. If you're not sitting in a pitch-black room, the most common lighting scenario most people are going to end up with is (at least slightly) over-exposed — unless you're streaming professionally, you probably don't have a ton of lights behind your monitor.

The Kiyo V2 also performed fairly well in this scenario — or, well, it lit everything pretty evenly. It did a good job of balancing the exposure of the subject with the exposure of the background, and it also managed to get plenty of detail from the background without too much notable blowout. The result wasn't necessarily the most aesthetically-pleasing, but it worked well enough.

Features and Software

The Kiyo V2 works pretty well out of the box, especially if you already have decent lighting set up. It does an excellent job with auto-exposure and white balancing, but the ultra-wide 93-degree field of view is probably too much exposure (the other kind) for most people. Most of us don't want people to see everything we have in the background. To configure this and other settings, you'll need Razer's universal peripheral software, Synapse.

Synapse is far from my favorite piece of software, but at least for webcams, its clunkiness makes sense. Synapse lets you adjust the webcam's field of view (by zooming — up to 4x), auto focus, auto exposure, and color balance, manually. It has some streamer-friendly features, such as the ability to save different zoom presets and assign shortcuts, so you can quickly switch between angles while you're streaming.

You can also toggle on some software-based features, such as HDR, dynamic noise reduction, and low-light compensation. There are a couple of microphone settings as well, but let's face it — you're not using the webcam's built-in mics unless you're absolutely desperate (or your computer automatically switched to them when you plugged the camera in, and you didn't realize it). Like most webcam mics, they're just average; you'd be better off using the built-in mic on your laptop or anything else, first.

Bottom Line

The Kiyo V2 is a nice follow-up to the wildly expensive Kiyo Pro Ultra — it's got great image quality and 4K resolution, though the Kiyo Pro Ultra still looks better overall, if you're looking for the best picture (both in quality and aesthetics). If you have a free USB-C port, this webcam is definitely worth a look. If you don't have a consistently free USB-C port, however, this might be frustrating — nobody wants to keep plugging in a chunky USB-C cable every time they want to get on cam, and there are other things vying for that port (in my case, an external hard drive that could probably be plugged in elsewhere, but still). While I get that the Kiyo V2 probably requires a lot of power, other webcams that strongly advise you use their specific cable/port combo usually still work pretty well if you don't — but the Kiyo V2 doesn't even try.

You need a webcam in a hurry, and you can’t get to the store or wait for Amazon to get the best webcam, so that old Android smartphone that is now lying in a desk drawer, waiting to be recycled, could just save your skin! Yes, that old smartphone that you keep in case of emergencies or to keep your child amused while grocery shopping, now it can be brought back into service as a webcam!

In this how-to, we’ll look at Camo Studio, a free tool that turns your old Android phone into a wireless webcam. This would be useful for general webcam duties and for streamers who need an additional angle in a shot. We’ll show you how to set up your Camo camera and then how to use it in OBS.

Camo is easy to install, and all you will need is a spare Android smartphone and a PC running Windows 11 or 10. The process works over Wi-Fi, but if you intend to use the setup for some time, it would be prudent to externally power the smartphone, as the process can drain your smartphone battery.

So let's get started!

Installing Camo Studio for Windows

Installing Camo Studio for Windows is really simple, and it provides us with the user interface that we will use to control the webcam.

1. Download the Camo Studio app from the website.

2. Navigate to the Downloads folder and double-click to install the downloaded exe file. The installation process will use the Microsoft Store to install the application.

3. Follow the prompts as the installation progresses.

4. Open Camo.

The Camo Studio User Interface

The user interface is broken down into four key areas.

1. Device: Here, we can select the device that we wish to use as a webcam,

2. Device Settings: Tweak the settings of the selected device, set the resolution, focus, and light modes. We can switch between the front and rear cameras

3. The main output: See what the camera sees, including any filters.

4. Filters and templates: Tweak the look and feel of the video stream using predefined filters and templates.

Camo can be used with normal USB / laptop webcams and our Android smartphone. But, for the latter, we need to install an app on our Android device.

Installing Camo on your Android device

1. Open the Google Play Store.

2. Search for Camo Camera and install the application.

Connecting Your Smartphone to Camo Studio

With both the Camo Studio and Camo Camera app installed, we can now connect the two together.

1. In the Camo Studio Windows app, click on Device >> Pair a device. In the graphic, look for 1 to spot where this is.

2. Open the Camo Camera app on your smartphone and click on the Wi-Fi+ icon. Your PC and Smartphone must be on the same network.

3. Scan the QR code displayed in the Camo Studio app using the Camo Camera app on your Smartphone. The phone and your computer should connect in a few seconds. If it fails, restart the process from step 1.

4. You should now see a live video stream from your smartphone. You won’t have to do the full process every time. In the future, your smartphone will be listed in the dropdown.

Tweaking Your Webcam Settings

The basic camera settings are fine, but we can easily tweak them to get the best possible output.

1. Click on the dropdown under Lens, and swap between the front-facing and rear cameras.

2. Under Background, try blurring the background.

3. Under Effects, try out some of the effects; Sketch and 8-bit are great fun. Emoji Face is very “Black Mirror.”

4. The Adjustments section is where we can alter the temperature, tint, contrast, etc. of the video stream.

Templates to Tweak Your Scene

On the right of the screen (4), we can see a selection of templates for our video stream. By default, Watermark is active. Clicking on any of the other templates will trigger the template to apply to our output. Let's tweak our scene to “Meet & Greet”.

1. From the templates, click on Meet & Greet.

2. Click on the Layers icon.

3.Select a text element from the list.

4. Click on the text dropdown and select Variables. You’ll find this dropdown on the right side of the UI.

5. Tweak the variables to meet your requirements and then close the dialog box. The changes have been made to the template.

This same process applies to all of the templates.

Using Camo with OBS

Open Broadcaster System (OBS) is like having a full TV production and mixing suite on your desktop. With Camo and OBS, we can coordinate the Camo webcam along with our usual webcam and create a multi-camera setup for use on streams and YouTube videos.

1. With your Camo setup running, open OBS.

2. Under Scenes, click on + to create a new scene called “Camera2” and click OK.

3. With the Camera2 scene selected, under Sources, click on +.

4. Select “Video Capture Device” from the list.

5. Create a new source called Camo and click OK.

6. From the list of devices, select Camo and click OK.

7. The Camo video source should now be displayed in the Camera2 scene.

8. Click on the Camera2 and another scene to swap between the Scenes in OBS, giving you multiple camera angles for your next stream.

The Emeet Piko+ is the "world's first AI-powered dual-camera 4K webcam," according to the company. Of course, it seems like every smartphone since 2014 has had two or more cameras, so the Piko+ might be new in the world of webcams, but we've seen it before.

That said, we're here to answer the question: Is the best 4K webcam actually two 4K webcams?

The Piko+ features a 1/2.55-inch Sony sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, and records video at 4K / 30fps or 1080p / 60fps. It has a 73-degree field of view, 1.5x digital zoom, and features two lenses — one for imaging and one to help out the webcam's AI with focusing and metering. It also has three built-in noise-cancelling microphones and works with Emeet Studio, which lets you link and switch between multiple cameras (complete with multi-device audio mixing). Perhaps the most enticing thing about the Piko+ is its price — its MSRP is listed at $95.99, which is already pretty good for a 4K webcam, and it's currently $16 off at Emeet, bringing it down to just $79.99.

Design

The Piko+ is smaller than most webcams — but, thanks to its design, it’s also higher-profile. This small, oval-shaped webcam measures 2.2 inches (56mm) high by 1.69 inches (43mm) wide, and is 0.87 inches (22mm) deep. On the front of the webcam, you'll see two lenses under a round glass cover — similar to what you see on the back of most smartphones these days. The Piko+ has two lenses: a primary lens (used for imaging) and an AI lens, which is used to help with focus, face detection, and metering. The Piko+ comes in three colorways — black, white, and mint green (our review unit came in black). There's a small indicator light, right under the dual lenses, that glows blue when the camera is streaming.

The webcam has a glossy finish that's pretty fingerprint-prone — not that you'll be touching your webcam too often. However, it was noticeable enough that I did start to wish the company had sent over a lighter color, where fingerprints would be less noticeable.

The back of the webcam features a USB-C port, and the bottom has a 1/4-inch threaded mounting point for attaching the webcam to a standard monitor mount or tripod.

The Piko doesn't have a built-in privacy shutter, but it does come with this cute, rubbery panda-wearing-sunglasses lens cover thing, that attaches to the Piko's lens magnetically. The lens cover is cute and it works pretty well — the magnet isn't very strong, so you can easily remove it from the webcam without moving the camera itself — but it is a completely separate piece. I don't love this, because it means it's easy to lose. I don't know about you, but I definitely misplace things often enough that I know it's only a matter of time before this goes missing. It's also not terribly useful for anything other than sitting on your desk — the moment you toss the Piko+ into a bag or, I don't know, lightly brush it against anything, the privacy cover falls off. Webcam privacy covers aren't necessarily designed to protect the lens, but most of them do — this little panda is cute, but gimmicky.

My review unit came with a lightweight aluminum tripod in lieu of a traditional monitor mount. I don't mind a webcam tripod, but everything about this tripod just feels cheap. It has three legs that measure 3.76 inches (95.5mm) and extend 2.44 inches ( 62mm) for a total length of 6.16 inches (156.4mm). With the legs fully extended and spread, the tripod lifts the webcam about 7 inches (177.8mm) off the surface of your desk. The tripod also tilts and swivels, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep yourself in-frame.

I like the idea of a webcam tripod, but not as a primary mount — it's hard to find a place on your desk for something like this, even if your desk is clutter-free. This tripod is also very flimsy and easy to knock over (I know this because I kept knocking it over). Anyway, I'm not the only one who doesn't particularly care for webcam tripods, and the Piko+ now ships with a clamp-style monitor mount instead of a tripod.

The thing about the Piko+ is that, at 2.2 inches (56mm) high, it's taller than most webcams. This might not be a problem for most people, but I have four monitors — two horizontally stacked in the middle, with a vertical 27-inch on each side — and the Piko+ adds just enough extra height to interfere with my top screen. I realize this is due entirely to my unique monitor setup, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who prefers a low-profile webcam.

Speaking of which, the Piko+ comes with just a handful of accessories: a 5-foot (1.5m) USB-C to USB-C cable with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, a small desktop tripod (now a clamp-style monitor mount), and a magnetic, panda-shaped lens cover.

SPECS

Well-lit Performance

Our well-lit webcam scenario is very well-lit — more well-lit than the average well-lit lighting scenario. Most webcams perform nicely in a well-lit setting, and this is usually where 4K webcams really shine — especially when it comes to all that extra detail. The Piko+'s performance was just okay in this scenario. The webcam did a decent job with color balancing, but the default settings looked a little overexposed. Also, getting good picture quality was tricky — the autofocus worked well enough for video, but couldn't keep me in focus long enough to get a good still photo.

The Piko+'s well-lit image wasn't nearly as crisply detailed as the images from other 4K webcams, such as the Logitech MX Brio, Elgato Facecam Pro, and Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, but this seems to be partly due to the dual lenses attempting to autofocus and create artificial depth of focus. Too much light meant too much to try to focus on, and the algorithm ended up kind of just putting everything in focus — but it also uses the AI lens to apply a pseudo depth of focus effect, and it ended up also applying this effect (mildly) to the whole picture.

This also explains why the Piko+'s image looks flatter and less dynamic than the pictures from other 4K webcams. In videos, however, the AI lens did a pretty good job of keeping a moving subject in focus, though the depth-of-field effect was still a little touchy.

(I should point out that the default Windows Camera app doesn't support 4K resolution, so unless a 4K webcam comes with its own app for taking photos, it can be tricky to get good still pictures of the webcam's image quality.)

Low-Light Performance

Our low-light scenario is basically just darkness — the only source of light in the room is one 27-inch monitor, set to 70% brightness, with a dark wallpaper and the Google homepage open in a browser window on half the screen. The Piko+ performed adequately in this lighting scenario — it tried to light the scene evenly, but it was still pretty dark overall (not to mention very grainy/noisy). It's pretty clear that I'm sitting in a dark room, and the Piko+ doesn't even try to make up for that.

Overexposed Performance

Our overexposed lighting scenario might seem unusual, but it's actually more common than you might expect — most people put lights everywhere except behind their monitor/laptop screen (screens are backlit for a reason). So, while you won't necessarily end up in a scenario manufactured to be overexposed, like ours — which consists of a 27-inch monitor with its brightness set to 70% and a screen that's split between a dark wallpaper and relatively white webpage (Google home page) and a bunch of overhead and background lighting — the average home or work office lighting scenario leans toward overexposed.

The Piko+ performed relatively well in our overexposed lighting scenario. Like just about every webcam, the Piko+ struggled to adjust the light balance between the subject and the background. The subject is fairly dark, and the background is still overexposed, but it's more balanced than the Logitech MX Brio — which lights the subject well but blows out the background. The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra lights the background nicely, at the expense of the subject.

Features and Software

The Piko+ works with Emeet's combination peripheral / streaming software, Emeet Studio. You'll find the standard webcam settings in Emeet Studio — image adjustments and auto/manual exposure, white balance, and focus. The software also has some streamer-oriented features, including the ability to set up multiple linked cameras and switch between them (e.g., for switching between angles/scenes/close-ups). You will, of course, need more than one webcam to set up multiple cameras, which is why Emeet also sells a three-camera MultiCam Bundle (currently $209.99 — $69.99 each).

The Piko+ has three built-in noise-canceling microphones, which sound better than most webcam microphones — but that's not saying much. I was impressed with how well the Piko+'s mics picked up my voice: I was still pretty loud and clear even when I was a couple of feet away and facing a different direction while speaking. But don't be fooled into thinking this means the Piko+'s microphones are good — they're still webcam mics, after all. Voices are loud and clear, but sound a bit thin and hollow, a pretty common issue with webcam mics. I wouldn't recommend anyone actually use the mics in the Piko+ for anything real. But if you happen to be in an emergency that can only be solved with a webcam microphone, the mics in the Piko+ are better than most.

The Piko+ also has some other features, such as whiteboard mode — which autofocuses on the text or diagrams on the "whiteboard" behind you, and AI-powered autofocusing and light metering.

Bottom Line

The Emeet Piko+ packs a decent amount of power in a small package. It features two 4K lenses and uses AI to improve images (or, well, at least.... try to). I'm glad to hear the company scrapped the wobbly tripod for an actual monitor mount, and the sale is tempting me a little.

While we definitely got 4K video quality from the Piko+, there's more to image quality than just resolution — from the lens and sensor size to firmware updates and software workarounds/adjustments. The Piko+'s AI lens did a decent job of keeping a moving subject in focus, but it was a bit too finicky if you weren't moving all over the place.

So don't run out and buy this webcam just because it's relatively budget-priced — it comes down to what you're going to be using it for. If you'll be presenting or lecturing or otherwise moving around, the Emeet Piko+ is a pretty good budget alternative to fancier AI-enhanced action webcams, such as the Insta360 Link. But if you'll mainly be sitting in front of your PC and streaming, and you're looking for impressive 4K image quality, I still recommend the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra.

It might seem like all of today's best webcams are packed with crazy features — 4K resolution, AI-powered tracking and focusing, giant sensors, and next-level color and level balancing. But not everyone is looking for a webcam that they can shoot an Academy Award-winning motion picture with — some people just want to look… good enough.

Elgato's Facecam Neo is designed for those people: It's a simple, budget-friendly webcam that records video at 1080p / 60 fps, and has a 1/2.9" CMOS sensor, an autofocus lens, and a physical privacy shutter. It's part of Elgato's Neo lineup, which is all about being easy — easy to use, easy on your wallet, and easy on the environment (it all comes in recycled packaging). The Facecam Neo has a fixed USB-C cable that can plug into your Windows PC, MacBook, or iPad, which already makes it more versatile than most webcams. It's simple, straightforward, and easy to use — and Elgato permanently slashed the retail price from $99.99 to $59.99, which makes it one of the best budget-friendly webcam options we've seen.

Design of the Facecam Neo

The Facecam Neo is a budget-friendly webcam that records in 1080p / 60 fps. It's a pretty standard-looking webcam, housed in a lightweight plastic chassis that measures 3.5 inches (88mm) wide by 1.6 inches (40mm) tall and is 1.3 inches (32mm) deep. The front of the webcam features the lens, which has a black ring around it denoting the specs, as well as a large white LED on the left side that lights up to indicate whether the webcam is currently streaming.

On top of the webcam, there's a small oval-shaped slider that controls a physical privacy shutter. It's not very fancy — it slides into place and has Elgato's circular "play" symbol logo debossed into it. The slider works well enough — it's smooth but has a little resistance, so I did find myself moving the webcam on my monitor when I went to open or close the shutter. This isn't a big deal, but it can be frustrating if you've spent time perfecting your webcam setup.

That said, the webcam is extremely lightweight — it weighs just 2.82 ounces (80g), not including the cable and stand, or approximately 3.1 ounces (88g) if you include the cable. The cable, which feels sturdy and is braided, is hardwired to the back of the webcam and is fairly stiff — in other words, this webcam is pretty easy to accidentally knock out of alignment even if you're not operating the shutter.

The Facecam Neo comes with a standard clamp-style monitor mount, which attaches to the bottom of the webcam via a standard quarter-inch threaded attachment point. The mount is designed to sit on top of your monitor and "clamp" itself against the back. It's a pretty basic monitor mount, but it does have a transparent front piece (so as not to interfere with the picture on monitors with thin or nonexistent bezels), and it allows for tilting (forward and back) and is detachable — more than I expected to see with a budget webcam.

Like the other products in the Elgato Neo lineup, the Facecam Neo is designed to be plug-n-play and it comes with just two items in the box: the webcam itself, which has a non-detachable 4.5-foot braided USB-C cable, and the detachable monitor mount.

Specs

Well-lit Performance of the Facecam Neo

Our fully-lit lighting scenario consists of lighting all around the subject — in front, behind, and overhead. It's similar to a very well-lit office with a window — there's quite a bit of light in front of me, coming from four monitors, a ring light, and a fill light. Almost every webcam performs well in this scenario, and the Facecam Neo was no different. It performed pretty well, picking up a lot of crisp detail closer to the camera (you can practically count the strands of my hair) and balancing color fairly well. It did struggle with light levels (many webcams do in this scenario, which is very bright), and some parts of the image, such as the keyboards on the desk behind me, are blown out.

The Facecam Neo does have HDR, which you can turn on using Elgato Camera Hub. That’s Elgato's free webcam companion software. It’s not required for this webcam, but does give you access to some useful settings, such as HDR, auto/fixed focus, and digital zoom.

With HDR turned on, the Facecam Neo did a better job of adjusting light levels, but it wasn't perfect. As you can see, HDR did a better job of lighting my face — though I'd argue it needs slightly more contrast. Also, the keyboards behind me are still a little blown out. But turning on HDR did improve the light and color balance, even before I started manually tweaking settings. Turning on HDR does drop the Neo's frame rate to 1080p / 30fps, but that probably won't be too much of an issue for the Neo's target audience. Nobody is really considering this webcam for semi-professional Twitch streaming, let alone fast-paced action shots.

Low-Light Performance of the Facecam Neo

The Facecam Neo did surprisingly well in our low-light scenario, which is essentially complete darkness — the only light source in this picture is one 27-inch monitor, at 70% brightness, with a dark wallpaper and a website with a lot of white space (the regular Google homepage) open on half the screen. While the image still looked very grainy — there's a ton of noise and artifacting in the darker parts of the picture — I was impressed with how otherwise balanced the lighting and color representation looked. It's obvious from this image that I'm not in the best lighting scenario, but I don't think anyone would guess I'm practically sitting in the dark.

Overexposed Performance of the Facecam Neo

Our overexposed lighting scenario consists of one 27-inch monitor (at 70% brightness, with a dark wallpaper and half the screen open to the Google homepage) in front of the subject, and bright lighting over and behind the subject. This is generally the worst lighting setup for any webcam, but it's also one of the most common lighting setups (albeit, not necessarily quite as extreme). After all, most people work and game in well-lit rooms, but do not set up lighting behind their screen (unless they have a reason to, e.g., streaming).

The Facecam Neo didn't perform nearly as well in the overexposed scenario as it did in our other scenarios. It struggled a lot with lighting the subject — and it still ended up overexposing light-colored objects behind me. The webcam did a slightly better job with just a little more light — I maximized the Google homepage on my 27-inch screen, and the sensor adjusted the light balance instantly. It managed to get a decent amount of light on my face, but the picture quality is still pretty shaky.

Features and Software of the Facecam Neo

The Facecam Neo, like the rest of Elgato's Neo lineup, is designed to be as plug-and-play as possible. (But let's be serious: most webcams are fairly plug-and-play — while all come with software for tweaking settings, none require said software for the camera to work.) The Neo's out-of-the-box performance is good enough that you don't need to download any software, but Elgato's Camera Hub is fairly robust for a webcam app.

Camera Hub lets you toggle off automatic focus, exposure, and white balance, giving you fairly detailed control over how the webcam handles light. You can switch between standard and high dynamic range (HDR) in the exposure menu, and you can also adjust the webcam's post-processing (noise reduction and anti-flicker). The software has a handy "Frame" feature, which lets you zoom and crop the picture (you can save four presets and click to switch between them for different angles/focuses). It also has a handful of built-in effects, including filters and green screen-style backgrounds/background blur.

Camera Hub is only available for Windows / Mac OS — the webcam works on other platforms, but you'll need to change any settings on a PC or Macbook. The settings do save directly to the device, though — you don't need to have the software installed or running for settings like manual white balancing or HDR to work.

The Facecam Neo does not have a built-in microphone, which is not too surprising — webcam mics rarely sound passable, let alone good, so they're mostly just a waste. The Facecam Neo does seem to be designed for portability — it's lightweight and USB-C compatible, so you can plug it into a laptop, Macbook, or iPad — and most portable devices have built-in mics anyway (not that these are great, but they're no worse than webcam mics), so even a terrible mic would probably be redundant.

Bottom Line

The Elgato Facecam Neo originally launched with an MSRP of $99.99 — $30 cheaper than the Logitech Brio 500, a 1080p / 30fps webcam that's similar in size — but not exactly cheap. But Elgato permanently dropped the price of the Facecam Neo by $40 — down to $59.99 — this past summer, and that price makes it much more enticing. You won't get the same picture quality in the Facecam Neo as you will in 1080p webcams with better sensors and lenses, such as the Elgato Facecam MK.2, but you will get decent performance in both well-lit and low-light scenarios.

There are cheaper webcams out there, but the Facecam Neo is a solid performer that works on multiple platforms — you can't get much better for $59.99.

A new documentary featuring ALS patient Brad Smith has been published today. You may already know of Smith, as he was featured by Tom’s Hardware back in May after successfully using the Neuralink brain computer interface (BCI) to edit videos with added AI-voice narration. Now, Smith has teamed up with Insta360 to produce “a second pair of eyes,” as you can see in the short film below.

Smith’s powerful 8-minute video documents both the practical and heart-warming benefits of movable AI camera technology for those afflicted by ALS. Having a second pair of eyes has been life-changing for this devoted husband and father’s experience of family life.

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (in the U.S.), or Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in the UK. Scientists don’t know the cause of ALS, nor a cure. However, even with the best treatment, those afflicted can reach a stage where they are unable to eat or breathe.

Smith has been confined to a wheelchair for the last seven years. In November 2024, he became the third-ever Neuralink BCI patient. As indicated in our intro, this new technology was quickly embraced by Smith, and back in May, we reported on his newfound YouTube video editing skills. These were augmented by an AI recreation of Smith’s voice, allowing the non-verbal ALS patient to provide narration.

Insta360 engineers work alongside Smith

As well as not being able to move around or speak, Smith began to feel particularly constrained by being unable to turn his head, to engage naturally with his children during conversations. “Trapped in a static world, while life continued dynamically around me,” is how Smith poetically describes this situation. Moreover, he feared being an absent father “even while being physically present.”

At around five minutes into the documentary, we hear that Smith’s research into solutions led him to investigate the Insta360 Link 2. He sums up the appeal of this well-regarded webcam as a “small, movable webcam… to regain a view of my surroundings.”

Using one of the best webcams and with the engineering help of Insta360, Smith has happily been able to start to “look around, take photos and videos, and engage with my family in ways I couldn’t before, restoring a sense of mobility in my gaze.”

Some examples of the enhanced presence and interaction opportunities are shown in the documentary. For example, the video shows Smith panning the camera view to see his children’s merrymaking, becoming more of a part of daily family life.

Actually, Smith comments that he has felt a “dramatic change” in interactions with his children and wife since the Insta360 Link 2 became integrated with his MacBook and Eyegaze system setup. He feels more connected, more useful in the family, and can even participate to outdoor events. Overall, Smith seems especially satisfied that his Insta360 collab has helped him in “reclaiming my role as the family storyteller.”

There are some Raspberry Pi projects that are just so cool, you don't have to bother to ask why someone would ever create them. In our opinion, some of the best Pi projects come from makers who ask, "Why not?" and that's exactly what maker and developer André Esser has done with his latest creation. Using our favorite SBC, he's put together an ASCII video camera project and showed it off at the latest Pi Jam conference.

If you're not familiar with ASCII art, it's a way of displaying images using text in something like a terminal. The characters comprise the image in either a simple but crude fashion or with great complexity. ASCII art was much more common in retro computing, but you can still find some fun modern examples like this project today. In this creation, the Pi is able to convert video frames into ASCII art, which is then displayed frame by frame to make a video feed using Python.

In the project source files, we see an example of this in action using a demo video known as "Bad Apple". This demo is in black and white, which is great for showing off the ASCII format's potential. However, Esser wanted to make something interactive for the conference and took things a step further by integrating a camera connected to the Raspberry Pi as a main input source. This made it possible for people to walk up to his booth and see themselves represented by text in real-time.

You don't need too much hardware to recreate this project, nor do you need any special components. Esser opted to use a Raspberry Pi 5 as the main board, which has plenty of processing power for a project like this. It's connected to a screen, the larger the better in this case, which lets you see the ASCII output. For video input, Esser opted to use a Raspberry Pi camera module.

Esser was kind enough to make the project open source and has shared all the source code over at GitHub for anyone interested in either recreating the project or just digging deeper to see how it works. There are two versions of the project, according to Esser, one that uses Python and another that uses Cython. The project also requires OpenCV to operate. You can find not only the code, but also instructions on how to set everything up over at the GitHub page.

If you want to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project in action, check out the video shared to YouTube by Esser.

Whether you are a professional content creator or you just need to make video calls on a regular basis, it’s important to have a high-quality webcam that not only takes great images, but also makes you and your surroundings look good. Insta360, a well-established player in the camera space, has just announced two new products that use the power of AI facial recognition to make sure you (and they) stand out from the crowd. Designed to compete with the best webcams on the market, the $199 Insta360 Link 2 and the $149 Insta360 Link 2C will track you as you move around at your desk or complete a task across the room. They also feature powerful sensors that can film at up to 4K / 30 fps in HDR for sharp, colorful images.

I had a chance to spend a few days testing out both cameras ahead of their announcement and came away impressed with both the image output and the AI tracking ability. They are expensive compared to the cheapest models on the market, but reasonably priced considering their 4K image sensors and powerful AI software — such as Insta360's original Link, which debuted in 2022 at $299.  However, I learned that you need a decent computer to take full advantage of the software and its AI features. 

Design

The Insta360 Link 2 is the more interesting camera because it comes with a built-in, 2 axis gimbal that can physically tilt the camera lens up and down or rotate it on its base.  The Link 2C has the same image sensor but saves money and space by not having a built-in gimbal and motors. Instead of physically moving, it just digitally adjusts the image cropping to center a subject. Both cameras have a fairly wide 79-degree field of view, so there’s plenty of room to zoom or crop without a motor. 

The cameras both have magnetic bottoms that allow them to snap onto included monitor clips. If you want to attach your camera to a tripod, there’s a standard ¼-20 UNC screw thread (the kind every camera uses) built into the monitor clips. If you lose your monitor clip, you may have issues because then you’d have no way to mount your camera on either a tripod or a monitor. The cameras come with detachable USB-C to USB-C cables that will plug into your computer. There’s also a USB-C to USB Type-A adapter in the box. Because the cables are detachable, you can easily swap them out for third-party cables that are either longer or have USB Type-A built-in. 

The Link 2 has a large green status light that is on when the camera is active. It is solid most of the time, but flashes if the camera is acknowledging an AI gesture (more on that below). The Link 2C, instead, has a single green status light. One big difference between the cameras is how they handle privacy. When it’s off, the Link 2 tilts downward so that its lens is not facing you, similar to how Insta360's original Link works. However, the Link 2C has a built-in privacy shutter that you can slide closed with your finger. I prefer the shutter, because it’s definitive — no software can cause it to open like it could potentially cause the Link 2 to tilt back into position. 

Another big difference between the Link 2 and Link 2C is their respective heights. Because of its gimbal, the Link 2 is much taller and heavier, which makes it a bit less secure to mount on top of a laptop. Also, if you have a set of monitors stacked on top of each other, mounting the Link 2 on top of the bottom one might be an issue. I have four monitors at home, mounted in a 2 x 2 configuration, and the Link 2 was too big to fit between my lower and upper row monitors, which is where I like to stick my webcams. This is not a problem many people will have, though, and using a tripod is one solution — but I wish there was a way to get the camera to jut out over the front of my monitor so it could fit.

You can use any tripod or mount you want with either of the cameras, but the company also sells its own mini tripod / selfie stick for $25 and we were sent one to test with our review unit. The tripod is very small and easy to carry, but it's not very weighty and the hinge isn’t very secure (and tends to flop over a bit). There’s a tiny little bolt that’s meant to lock the hinge in place, but mine kept falling out. You can make the mount a little taller by pushing the middle stick upwards, but it doesn’t get particularly tall. Overall, I found the tripod flimsy and annoying, so I’d recommend buying a third party one that's heavier and more solidly built.

Software

You can control either camera via the Insta360 Link Controller software, which is available for Windows or macOS. You can also use an Android or iOS device to control the camera remotely when it is plugged into a computer — though when I tried this briefly, I was unable to get a connection.

The controller software is well-laid out and easy to use. It has a large preview window, a series of buttons to toggle on or off major modes (AI Tracking, White Board, Smart Whiteboard and Desktivew) and it has three tabs in a sidebar: View, Effects and More. The View tab features an on-screen joystick that allows you to move the camera motor (or on the 2C, just digitally change its perspective), zoom buttons and the ability to choose a mode for AI Tracking. Head mode follows just your head, Half Body mode follows your torso, and Whole Body mode is for when you’re standing up and walking around a room and you want the camera to follow you as you move.

The Effects tab allows you to change the exposure, temperature, brightness, contrast, and other image settings. There’s also the ability to add a background or enable background blur or bokeh modes. There’s a set of color filters to choose among, including Portrait, Daylight and Vintage modes. However, I found that these just made slight changes to the color temperature.

The More tab is where you can enable or disable the three AI gestures: enable AI Tracking mode, enable Whiteboard mode and Zoom. It’s also where you can choose among a few different microphone audio modes and decide if you want to horizontally or vertically flip your image.

There’s a preview window in the Link Controller software that shows the camera feed here in your app and allows you to switch among 4K / 30 fps, 1080p / 30 fps and 720p / 30 fps modes. If I wanted to use the camera in any other app – even Windows camera – I had to disable Link Controller’s preview because otherwise the other program would not have permission to access the Link 2 / 2C. That’s not a real problem — in Windows, only one application can use your webcam at a time. 

In many apps the camera appears under two different names: Insta360 Link 2 (or 2C) or Insta360 Virtual Camera. If you’re using any of the special effects, including the AI tracking feature, from the Controller app, you’ll want to select the Virtual Camera option.

Stability and System Requirements

It took me several days and a few emails back and forth with Insta360 to figure out that the processing power of the computer you use matters a lot. A company rep said that the bare minimum requirements for running the software are a Core i5 CPU (5th gen or later) and 8GB of RAM. However, to use certain features, you need at least a 10th gen Core Series processor (or AMD equivalent) and the company recommends that you have a 13th Gen Intel CPU and RTX 2060 or higher GPU.

I did most of my testing before receiving this guidance from Insta360. So I used my laptop, a six year old Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a Core i7-8650U CPU and 16GB of RAM. For the most part, processes worked as advertised, but I did experience a significant amount of lag and the video feed would sometimes freeze, either in the preview window of the Link Controller app or in an individual app such as OBS. I also occasionally got an error message in the software that said “Video Stuttering detected,” which advised me to try a lower frame rate. This helped a little, but didn’t really fix the problem.

I didn’t have the problems with the image freezing or lagging in Windows Camera or in Chrome browser (using Google Meet), likely because these were operating at lower resolutions when I ran them. 

When I tried the Link 2 and the Link Controller software on my desktop, which has an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU and an RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, all of the lag disappeared, even at 4K resolution. The AI tracking was much smoother and it seemed to pick up my face and body a little more easily. When I looked at Windows Task Manager, I could see that the Virtual Camera Service was using about 5 percent of the CPU and the Insta360 Link Controller app was using about 4 percent of the GPU.

So the bottom line is that, if you want to run at 4K or use AI tracking, it pays to have a reasonably modern processor and graphics.

Tracking Capability

If you turn on AI Tracking, the camera will keep your face (or body) centered in the frame as you move around. On the Link 2, this is clearly better than the 2C, because the camera can actually move to follow you rather than just cropping in on your face. Depending on whether you are sitting at your desk or standing up, you can choose either Head, Half Body, or Whole Body tracking. You can also adjust the tracking speed so the camera motor moves faster or slower.

I tested the tracking extensively and it works pretty well, but not flawlessly. I found that it did a really good job of following my head as I tilted my neck in different directions. When I stood up and did whole body tracking, it did a good job, but occasionally lost me if I was moving too quickly or if I moved out of frame and then quickly back in again. One downer is that the camera doesn’t zoom in automatically if you, say, walk backwards — it follows you left and right but the image doesn’t get closer to you.

There’s also a group option, which tells it to track multiple people. When my son and I moved around in Whole Body mode, the Link 2 camera managed to stay centered on us.

AI Gestures

The cameras also have the ability to respond to three gestures. Holding all your fingers up to the camera is supposed to toggle AI Tracking mode. Holding two fingers up enables Whiteboard mode and holding your thumb and forefinger up should cause the camera to zoom. Unfortunately, I found that the software was very inconsistent and often didn’t recognize these gestures. The only one of them that really matters is zoom, and it rarely worked in my tests. Luckily, you can also just hit a button in the software to perform these tasks.

Whiteboard and Deskview Modes

If you’re using the Link 2 or 2C for a presentation that involves an actual whiteboard, the Link Controller software has two different modes to help you: Whiteboard and Smart Whiteboard. Smart Whiteboard mode uses AI to recognize a whiteboard and stay focused on it. I tried this mode in my office but, unfortunately, the software did not detect my whiteboard. (On the other hand, if I just pointed the webcam at the whiteboard and turned off autotracking, the board would stay in frame because the camera wouldn’t be moving.)

There’s also Whiteboard mode, which is like Smart Whiteboard but uses stickers to help it find your whiteboard. The cameras come with a few stickers you can place on the borders of your whiteboard for this task, but I didn’t want to mar the walls in my workplace with stickers so I didn’t test this function.

Deskview mode seems more useful. It’s designed to straighten out the image when you want to show something that’s flat on a table. It points the camera downward to show your keyboard or whatever else might be at hand-level and it seemed to work reasonably well.

Image Quality

The image sharpness and color quality was fantastic on images I took both in low light and normal lighting conditions. In photos taken at 4K, the hairs on my beard and the lines on my forehead were sharp and detailed. The teal in my glasses really popped and the green of my shirt was color-accurate too. The red letters on my Tom’s Hardware hat looked detailed and vibrant, too.

When I shot a photo of myself with my back against a sunny window, my face was more than a little washed out. That’s unfortunately very common and a problem on most webcams.

Just to see what would happen, I tested the camera in a completely dark room with just the light from my monitors. Clearly, this is a situation where most webcams would have a lot of visual noise and the Link 2 did also.

Audio Quality

The Insta360 Link 2 and 2C promise superior audio quality, thanks to their dual microphones and AI noise canceling. I haven’t been able to test the input in a noisy environment or compare it to my desktop microphone yet so we’ll update this story when we can do more extensive testing of the recording capability. Still, we generally recommend that you buy one of the best microphones if you want to sound great — built-in webcam mics are a last resort.

Bottom Line

Both the Insta360 Link 2 and 2C offer fantastic image quality and the flexibility of tracking you as you move around the room. If you’re just doing conference calls, you’re probably best off with the 2C, which is smaller, cheaper, and fits better atop a thin monitor laptop screen. However, if you’re a serious content creator who’s doing tutorials that require you to move around a workspace or showcase your hands doing something on your desk, the Link 2 seems like a great choice.

To avoid the lagging I experienced, you’ll definitely want to make sure you have a system with a processor that’s at least 10th Gen (or AMD equivalent). Having discrete graphics or a more recent integrated GPU may help as well, though it’s probably not a necessity.

Acer has been a leader in glasses-free 3D screens for a while now, having released a series of monitors and laptops under its SpatialLabs brand. Now the company is providing a means to create content for these displays, the SpatialLabs Eyes, a stereoscopic camera cable of capturing at up to 8-MP (aka 4K) per eye at 30 fps or 2K per eye at 60 fps. Available within the next few weeks for $549, the Eyes can record still images or videos either to a microSD card or, via USB connection, directly to your computer where it can also make video calls.

I had the chance to go eyes-on with the Acer SpatialLabs Eyes at Acer’s Computex 2024 media suite and I was impressed with the output, though fully aware of the challenges this intriguing technology faces. Acer had a nice demo where the camera was pointing at a Lego city that had a model Godzilla stomping it.  I stood in front of one of the SpatialLabs View 27 monitors and looked at a live feed where the Godzilla figure and Lego blocks appeared to pop out of the screen slightly. The objects looked like they were at different depths with Godzilla clearly in front of the Lego buildings that were behind him. 

Then I went over to another demo station where a SpatialLabs Eyes camera was connected to a computer and an Acer booth assistant called me from a different computer in another part of the room. As she waved some small toys in front of the camera, I could see them pop out of the screen. 

But there was also a catch: when my colleagues stood next to me, the View 27 monitor’s output became a little blurry because the eye tracking was confused by having multiple people in front of the screen. These glasses-free 3D monitors have cameras that track your eyes and, if they detect more than one pair of pupils, it can mess up the images. 

Acer reps explained that the way the camera works is that it actually shoots dual, side-by-side images, which the monitor then turns into a 3D image. If you look at the video feed or images on a non-3D monitor, you’ll see two, nearly-identical images next to each other, which is not a good user experience. During my video call, the side-by-side images of me were displayed in a preview window, which you can see below.

To see the 3D output, you either need one of Acer’s View monitors or laptops or something else that can turn side-by-side images or video into 3D. Acer reps said that if you view them in a VR headset, these images should also appear as 3D. 

But if you want one of Acer’s monitors, it will cost  you. The company has two 27-inch monitors, a 15-inch portable monitor and a pair of laptops with the glasses-free screens. The portable monitor alone is $1,099 and the gaming version of the 27-inch monitor, which was announced at CES, is supposed to be about $1,999 (but we haven’t seen it listed for sale yet). 

We reviewed the Acer SpatialLabs View portable monitor back in April of 2023 and lauded its 3D output and image quality. However, $1,099 is a lot for any monitor, especially one that's just 15.6 inches.

Acer reps told us that several programs, including Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, already support 3D calls. But to make a 3D call on them, both users obviously need the hardware. So, at minimum, we’re talking about two cameras at $549 each and two portable monitors at $1,099 each. That’s more than $3,000 just to get this going on a 15-inch display. 

An Acer rep told us that the camera can operate in 2D mode so, in theory, you could buy the Eyes and use it to do regular, 2D calls, enabling 3D mode only when you are talking to someone else who can see the output. However, you can get one of the best webcams with 4K output for a lot less than $549 so only consider the SpatialLabs Eyes if you plan to use its 3D functionality.

It’s important to note that the Eyes is not just a webcam. It has a built-in battery that promises two hours of endurance and it has a microSD card slot. It features a f/2.0 aperture, 80-degree field of view and 3.0mm focal length, all solid specs for a camera. It captures still images as JPGs and movies as MP4 files. 

So you can capture 3D images and videos on the go and then share them later. YouTube supports 3D, side-by-side videos so that’s one place  you could share your outputs. And it’s possible that someone using an inexpensive VR headset could view them.

The output is certainly impressive and the Eyes camera itself, which is very compact and looks like an ultra-slim point-and-shoot, is easy to carry with you. However, in order to make it a worthwhile purchase, you’d not only need to be able to view stereoscopic 3D images, but also have an audience or call partners who can view them also.

On the bright side for 3D, Acer is hardly alone. Apple’s iPhone 15 can film spatial video and its Apple Vision Pro headset can view it. The Meta Quest 3 headset can also view spatial videos so it should work with videos that the Acer Eyes camera shoots.

There aren't too many 1080p/60fps webcams. Don't get me wrong, some of the best webcams are 4K webcams that also record in 1080p/60fps, but they also cost $300 or so — if you want 60fps but you don't need 4K resolution, you can halve your expenses by picking up a 1080p/60fps webcam like the new Elgato Facecam MK.2. 

The Facecam MK.2 is Elgato's update to the original Facecam, which also features 1080p/60fps uncompressed video, a f/2.4 aperture fixed-focus lens, and an 82-degree field of view. The new Facecam MK.2 features a lower-profile redesign with a built-in privacy shutter, onboard memory, and 4x digital zoom. It also adds HDR and a couple of types of noise reduction, but otherwise image quality hasn't changed that much. It's definitely a nice update to the original Facecam, and its launch price of $149.99 is $50 less than the original Facecam's debut MSRP of $199.99 (however, the original Facecam is now going for $129.99).

Design of the Facecam MK.2

The Facecam MK.2 looks like a mix of the original Elgato Facecam and the 4K Elgato Facecam Pro (but closer to the Facecam).  The original Facecam measures 3.1 x 1.9 x 2.3 inches (79 x 48 x 58mm), and the new Facecam MK.2 is more of a flat rectangle (like the Facecam Pro), measuring 3.3 inches (84mm) wide by 1.5 inches (38mm) high by 2.4 inches (61mm) deep. The Facecam MK.2 weighs 3.17oz (90g) without the detachable monitor mount, which is slightly lighter than the original Facecam (3.38oz / 96g) — the webcam itself is very lightweight.

The Facecam MK.2 has the same overall aesthetic as the Facecam and Facecam Pro. It's housed in a boxy, black plastic chassis that looks and feels sort of cheap, but certainly contributes to its light weight. Elgato's arrow-in-a-circle logo is debossed on the top, and is printed in white on the right side along with the word, "Facecam." 

The back features a USB-C port near the bottom and venting to keep the Facecam MK.2 cool while it runs. The webcam gets a little warm when running but it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

The Facecam MK.2 has a built-in privacy cover that slides over the lens from the right side. Physical privacy covers are a must, in my opinion — not because I'm overly concerned about webcam hacks, but because it's far too easy to accidentally turn on your webcam in various apps and programs. It's also nice to see one that's built-in; the original Facecam had a detachable privacy cover, which is far too easy to lose, and the Facecam Pro had nothing. This privacy cover isn't particularly impressive, as far as privacy covers go: it's a little stiff to open and close, and it might be tricky to catch the little nub without nails. But it works well enough to cover the camera lens, which is all I'm really concerned about.

The Facecam MK.2 comes mounted on a detachable monitor mount clamp that's very similar to (but slightly smaller than) the Facecam Pro's monitor mount clamp. The clamp is simple, with a lip that hangs over the edge of the screen and a rubber-covered clamp that helps stabilize the mount on top of your monitor. It's not a particularly tight clamp, but it doesn't really need to be — this is a very light webcam, and should sit pretty securely on top of most monitors (so long as there aren't any earthquakes).

While mounted, the webcam can swivel and tilt forward (up to 90 degrees). If you'd rather use a different mount or a tripod, the mount easily screws off to reveal a standard 1/4-inch thread tripod mounting point. The mount measures 2.56 inches (65mm) wide by 2.03 inches (51.6mm) deep and weighs 1.71 ounces (48.5g), so it doesn't add much weight to the webcam.

Like its predecessor, the Facecam MK.2 connects via USB 3.0 (it comes with a thick, 6.5-foot / 2m USB-C to USB-A cable). It requires a USB 3.0 connection to record uncompressed video, but it doesn't require USB 3.0 to work — you can connect it via USB 2.0, it will just record in MJPEG format.

Specs

Well-lit Performance

The Facecam MK.2 records video in 1080p resolution at 60fps (and 30fps), which is the same resolution and frame rate as its predecessor, the Elgato Facecam. It also records video in 720p and 540p at 120/60/30fps. 

It has a fixed-focus Elgato Prime Lens with a focus range of 30 - 120 cm (11.8 - 47.2 inches) and a f/2.4 aperture. It has a focal length of 24mm and a diagonal field-of-view of 84 degrees, and sports a 1/2.5" Sony Starvis CMOS sensor.

I take all webcam test photos in my home office, which gets virtually zero natural light. (And as usual, I took these in the middle of the night so there was absolutely zero natural light.) For my well-lit scenario, I have a ring light, a key light, and four monitors (three 27-inch, one 34-inch) in front of me, an arching floor lamp overhead, and two desk lamps behind me. 

The ring light is set to 35% brightness at 3600K, and the key light is set to 15% brightness at 4100K. My three 27-inch monitors are set to display white screens and my main 34-inch monitor has the Windows 11 Camera app open on one half of the screen and the default Google homepage open on the other half. Trust me, this is plenty of light, and most older webcams tend to read this setting as overexposed. I take all photos using the Windows 11 Camera App.

The Facecam MK.2 performed fairly well in this scenario, with decent auto-exposure and auto-white balancing. I was surprised to see that the Facecam MK.2's auto-exposure actually skewed toward underexposed rather than overexposed, because I'm used to seeing the opposite. The auto-white balance isn't perfect and trends a little toward the warm side, but it's not too bad — and a little too warm is usually better than a little too cool when it comes to skintones, anyway. The Facecam MK.2 offers the detail you'd expect from a 1080p webcam, though the image is noisier (and therefore a little less detailed, especially if you look at the books in the background) from the lower exposure.

The Facecam MK.2 has a couple of software/processing settings that make a difference in image quality, including noise reduction (set to medium by default) and HDR. The webcam has two types of noise reduction: spatial "2D" noise reduction, which looks at surrounding pixels to determine what is noise, and then smooths over that graininess, and temporal "3D" noise reduction, which uses pixel data over multiple frames to determine what is noise. 

2D noise reduction looks softer/smoother and loses more detail, while 3D noise reduction retains more sharpness. In the case of the Facecam MK.2, there are three levels of noise reduction — "low," or 2D only, "medium," or 3D only, and "high," or 2D and 3D together (you can also turn it off).

Noise reduction reduces noise at the expense of detail (by smoothing over noisy parts of the image). I was surprised at how noisy my well-lit images were with noise reduction turned off — if you zoom in on the first image above, you can see a lot of noise and graininess, especially on my sweatshirt. This improves a little with medium (3D) noise reduction, and a lot with high (2D and 3D) noise reduction, but you do end up losing some detail in the last photo.

HDR, on the other hand, is turned off by default on the Facecam MK.2. HDR (high dynamic range) on a webcam isn't the same as HDR on a display — HDR on a webcam is a capture process that involves combining multiple exposures of the same shot for a more evenly-lit image that shows detail in both dark and light areas without under- or over-exposing the rest of the picture. 

SDR vs HDR is perhaps best represented by my French bulldog, who has a brindle coat with darker and lighter areas. In the first photo, which has HDR turned off, you can see some of his coloring but he's mostly pretty dark. 

In the second photo, with HDR turned on, you can see more dimension in his coat. However, the image also seems to have lost some detail and is much noisier and fuzzier. So... that's not great. While I did find that turning on HDR made a difference, I mostly preferred this webcam in SDR.

Low-Light Performance

To test a webcam's low-light performance, I turn off all of my lights (ring light, key light, overhead light, desk lamps), as well as my three 27-inch monitors — leaving my 34-inch monitor as my only source of light.

The Facecam MK.2 actually performed pretty well in this scenario: there's a little too much light on the subject (me), but at least the subject is lit, and there's some attempt at lighting the background as well. 

The image is fairly noisy, but that's what I expect to see from any webcam's low-light photos (the Logitech Brio 500 is an exception — Logitech's RightLight 4 technology is definitely doing some heavy lifting here). The Facecam MK.2 also did a good job with color balancing here — the slightly warm-leaning auto-white balance seems to be what's making me look more alive in this image, despite being illuminated by a single computer monitor.

Overexposed Performance

The last lighting test scenario I use is an overexposed lighting scenario. I turn off (almost) all of the lights in front of me: the ring light, the key light, and my three 27-inch monitors, leaving just my 34-inch monitor turned on as well as the lights behind and above me. This simulates a fairly common overexposed scenario, because most people don't place bright lights (or a window) behind their screen. 

The Facecam MK.2 performed... not as well, in this scenario. Ideally, a webcam will light both the subject and the background adequately without blowing the background out too much in an overexposed setting. While the Facecam MK.2 did manage to light my background without blowing it out, it didn't do the best job of lighting me — and let's face it, most people are more concerned about the subject over the background in this case. 

The Brio 500 does a good job of lighting both the subject and the background with only some minor overexposure in the background, which is very forgivable given how well the subject is lit. The Dell Pro Webcam (WB5023) does blow out the background quite a bit, but at last the subject is well-lit.

I tried turning on HDR to see if that might help boost the webcam's foreground lighting, but it didn't seem to do much. It did slightly improve contrast (especially in darker areas), and turn down some overexposure from around the light sources, but otherwise lighting largely stayed the same.

Features and Software

The Elgato Facecam MK.2 can be configured with Elgato's Camera Hub software, which offers fairly detailed control over exposure and image, a handful of processing effects that you can toggle on and off, and a framing section with four customizable presets so you can quickly switch between different shots. It does have onboard memory so you can save all of the settings directly to the hardware, which is a pretty unique feature for a webcam.

The Camera Hub lets you adjust exposure using shutter speed and ISO, as well as color temperature, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. You can also toggle HDR and adjust noise reduction (low, medium, high, and off). In the framing section, you can zoom, pan, tilt, and set presets so you can switch quickly between scenes. You can also turn off the Camera Hub's image preview option, which means you can continue to use the app to adjust settings while the webcam is active in another program.

The Camera Hub software also has a handful of AI features, some of which require the Nvidia AR SDK. These include backgrounds and blurring (basically what you'll find in any generic video conferencing app), as well as AI-powered face tracking and Nvidia's weird eye contact feature.

The Facecam MK.2 doesn't have a built-in microphone, which isn't too much of an issue — built-in mics on webcams are usually mediocre at best.

Bottom Line

If you're looking for a webcam that records 1080p/60fps uncompressed video (or 720p/120fps, for some reason), the Elgato Facecam MK.2 is a pretty good option — and it's well-priced at $149.99. The Razer Kiyo Pro also records 1080p/60fps uncompressed video, but it's a few years old now (though it's currently on sale at Amazon for $89.51 — down 55% from its retail price of $199.99).

If you don't need 1080p/60fps uncompressed video, however, the Facecam MK.2's image quality is mostly on par with (and, in some situations, below par with) that of the Logitech Brio 500 — which features a better built-in privacy shutter and better overexposed lighting performance, records video in 1080p/30fps, and is currently on sale at Amazon for $88.01, down from its retail price of $129.99.

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Logitech was once one of the only webcam games in town, but that has changed a lot in recent years — thanks, pandemic! The Logitech Brio 4K was one of the first 4K webcams on the market, and it was pretty impressive when it came out... in 2017. 

But it's 2024, and the competition for best webcam — especially best 4K webcam — is pretty fierce. 

The Logitech MX Brio is an update to the Brio 4K — it's got the same resolution as its predecessor (4K/30fps, 1080p/60fps), but it features a bigger, upgraded sensor and improved AI face-based image enhancement for (according to Logitech) an image that's twice as detailed, compared to the Brio 4K. The new MX Brio also features a sturdier, more professional-looking aluminum chassis, a large glass lens with an integrated privacy shutter, built-in dual beamforming mics, and is certified for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Chromebooks, Google Meet, and Streamlabs. It's available now for $199.99, and it comes in three colors (pale gray, graphite, and black).

Design of the MX Brio

The MX Brio is a pretty standard-looking webcam. Unlike Logitech's Brio 500 and Brio 300, however, the MX Brio doesn't come in fun colors and isn't made of post-consumer recycled plastic — instead, it's housed in a sleek, professional-looking aluminum chassis and comes in the exciting colors of pale gray (silver), graphite (dark gray), and black. So basically, several shades of gray.

The Brio features a large, 1.58-inch lens on the front, which has a movable ring around it that twists to open and close the webcam's integrated privacy shutter. This is very similar to the privacy shutter on the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, and I'm a big fan — all webcams should have privacy shutters like this! The MX Brio's privacy shutter rotates easily and smoothly and doesn't jostle the webcam on its perch. Unlike the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, however, the MX Brio does not come with a lens cover — not a necessity, but it would be nice to have a way to keep dust off of this large glass lens (and also for protection during travel).

The MX Brio is on the smaller side compared to other 4K webcams, measuring 3.84 inches (98 mm) wide by 1.73 inches (44 mm) tall by 1.42 inches (36 mm) deep. It's a little larger than its predecessor, the Logitech Brio 4K, but not by much. It won't take up too much space on your monitor, nor does it need a lot of back clearance. It is quite a bit heavier than the Brio 4K, however — the MX Brio weighs 4.83 ounces (137 g) without the monitor mounting clamp attached, while the Brio 4K  weighs less than half that at 2.22 ounces (63 g). If you're looking for a tiny, lightweight 4K webcam, your best bet is probably the Insta360 Link, which measures just 3.71 x 1.61 x 1.77 inches (69 x 41 x 45 mm) and weighs 3.73 ounces (106 g).

The MX Brio comes with a monitor mounting clamp, which attaches magnetically to the bottom of the webcam. The monitor mounting clamp measures 1.5 inches (38mm) wide by 1.78 inches (45 mm) deep, and is 0.79 inches (20 mm) high when folded. With the mount attached, the webcam is 2.44 inches (62mm) high and 2.04 inches (52 mm) deep, and weighs 6.21 ounces (176 g). The clamp is a pretty standard monitor mounting clamp and is very similar to the one that comes with the Brio 500, with a lip that catches the front of your monitor and an adjustable foot that sits against the back of your monitor to stabilize the camera. The foot has a microsuction adhesive pad that helps it stick tight to your monitor. I don't love adhesives, but this webcam is on the heavier side, so this will help keep it stable (especially on thin laptop screens).

Once attached to your monitor, the mounting clamp allows you to tilt the camera back about 5 degrees and forward over 90 degrees. The magnetic attachment point is round, so the webcam also rotates easily on the mount. If you'd rather not use the included monitor mount, the webcam also has a standard tripod mounting point (1/4-inch thread) on the bottom.

The MX Brio comes with a thick, stiff 5-foot (4.75 feet of cable — the connectors are pretty long) USB-C to USB-C cable and requires a USB-C port that supports the USB 3.0 standard. If you don't have a USB-C port, you can use a USB-C to USB-A cable (or an adapter), so long as you plug it into a USB 3.0 port.

Specs

Well-lit Performance

The MX Brio is a 4K webcam with an 8.5MP Sony Starvis sensor with an autofocus lens, 4x digital zoom, and a 90-degree field of view. It features Logitech's RightLight 5 image-enhancement technology, which I'll assume is some slightly more advanced version of RightLight 4 (found in the Logitech Brio 500). Logitech says the MX Brio offers 2x finer image detail and face visibility compared to the Brio 4K, as well as "AI face-based image enhancement" for even more detail on faces. 

I take all my webcam test photos in my home office, which has almost no natural light (I actually took these photos at night). For my well-lit scenario, I have a ring light, a key light, and four monitors (three 27-inch, one 34-inch) in front of me, an arching floor lamp overhead, and two desk lamps behind me. The ring light is set to 35% brightness at 3600K and the key light is set to 15% brightness at 4100K. My three 27-inch monitors are set to display white screens, while my main 34-inch monitor has the Windows 11 Camera app open on one half of the screen and the default Google homepage open on the other half of the screen. This scenario is very bright (most older webcams tend to read it as overexposed), and has a lot more light shining at me than most users will have — it's more of a streaming setup.

The MX Brio performed very well in this scenario, producing a bright, evenly-lit image with a decent amount of detail — though not quite as much detail as I expected to see from a modern 4K webcam. It did a very good job with both auto-exposure and auto-white balancing; the image looks very balanced (maybe a little too balanced) and colors appear accurate. The image does look slightly undersaturated (or maybe I just need more sun), but these pictures were taken using the webcam's default, out-of-the-box settings — you can manually adjust settings, including saturation, contrast, and vibrance, with Logitech's Logi Options+ and/or G Hub software. 

The MX Brio does seem to fall right into place with the rest of Logitech's webcam lineup: Its auto-exposure and color balancing profile is similar to that of the 1080p Logitech Brio 500, but the MX Brio's image is more detailed and has slightly better color balancing (likewise, the Brio 500's images look like an upgraded version of the Brio 300's images). All of Logitech's webcams do a very good job with balancing exposure and lighting, and the MX Brio is no different — the images are bright and evenly-lit, with plenty of detail in both the foreground and background. This is great for a professional/office setup, but it isn't as interesting or cinematic as the shots you'll get from something like the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra.

According to Logitech, the MX Brio brings twice the detail of the Brio 4K, thanks to the combination of its larger, improved sensor and AI image enhancement. This does seem to be accurate — you can definitely see a lot more detail in the MX Brio's image, especially in my face (the background seems to have about the same level of sharpness and detail). But the MX Brio's image still wasn't quite as detailed as images I'm used to seeing from other 4K webcams, such as the Insta360 Link. This seems to be partly because of the lighting boost and AI image adjustment. The MX Brio, like the other Logitech Brio webcams, tends to over-adjust the lighting for a very evenly-lit image, which sounds like a good thing but ends up making everything look a little flat. The AI image enhancement involves noise reduction, and this seems to be part of what's smoothing over finer lines — i.e., details. I did see some of that (offensively) high-resolution detail as I moved around in front of the MX Brio, but it was fleeting as the webcam went in and out of autofocus. 

The autofocus on this webcam was decent — fairly quick and accurate, even if it wasn't giving me extreme detail consistently (frankly, I don't really want extreme detail from a webcam in the first place). While it's not the best webcam for certain types of advanced content creators, the MX Brio is a pretty good option for most non-content-creation situations. The bright, even lighting is especially good for professional use because it just looks better. The important thing to note here is that the MX Brio (and all of Logitech's Brio webcams, to be honest) does a good job of balancing light and making you look professional and well-lit in more typical lighting scenarios. If you're not planning on setting up studio lighting for your webcam, and most people probably aren't, the MX Brio will give you a solid, well-lit image in your home office, straight out of the box.

Low-Light Performance

To test how well a webcam performs in a low-light scenario, I turn off all of my lights and my three 27-inch monitors, leaving my 34-inch monitor as my only light source.

The MX Brio's low-light performance was about average. It did a decent job of lighting me, and the color balancing is good, if not perfect — though I probably didn't help by wearing a blue shirt. But the background isn't lit or color-balanced well at all, unlike in the Brio 4K and Brio 500 images. The Brio 4K and Brio 500 low-light photos obviously have their own issues, but they do a pretty good job of trying to evenly light the scene, while the MX Brio doesn't really do much for anything except the subject. When it comes to details, the MX Brio outperforms its predecessor, but it's not one of the best low-light performances we've seen.

Overexposed Performance

The last lighting scenario I use to test webcams is an overexposed lighting scenario — I turn off all of the lights in front of me, including three of my four monitors, and leave the lights above and behind me turned on. This isn't the most extreme overexposed lighting scenario but it's a pretty common one, because most people don't position their computers in front of a bright light source (like a window).

The MX Brio's performance was a little underwhelming in this scenario, especially with Logitech's RightLight 5 allegedly working to boost lighting in less-than-ideal lighting conditions. While the webcam did fine with keeping the background lighting balanced, it didn't do the best job of lighting me. But maybe this is a good thing (or, at least, not the worst thing) because the image does retain a little more detail in my face than seen in the Brio 4K and Brio 500 photos — because there's less artificial light-boosting. But most people would probably prefer a brighter-lit subject, even if it meant sacrificing some detail.

The MX Brio does have HDR, which is turned on by default. HDR didn't make much of a difference in well-lit images, but it made a big difference in overexposed images — with HDR turned off, the MX Brio was better able to light me, but at the expense of the background, which is so bright that it's blown out.

Features and Software of the MX Brio

The MX Brio can be configured using Logitech's Logi Options+ software (for its productivity line), Logitech's G Hub software (for its gaming line), or Logi Tune (for its enterprise line).

You can use both pieces of software to toggle auto-exposure, auto-white balance, and autofocus, as well as HDR, low-light exposure, and "Show Mode" (which we'll talk about in a moment). You can manually change the webcam's field of view (and zoom/crop your image), adjust exposure (shutter speed, ISO), adjust color settings (temperature, brightness, contrast, saturation, vibrance, sharpness), and adjust focus. Each section has some built-in presets and you can save additional custom presets in the software.

The MX Brio also features "Show Mode," which is a presentation-focused feature that lets you tilt the webcam down to display whatever is on your desk. It's not particularly revolutionary — Show Mode just flips the webcam's orientation when it's pointed downward, so that people can easily see what you're working on. It's not difficult to tilt the webcam down using the included monitor clamp mount, but it does require a modicum of force — enough to mess up the webcam's perfect positioning on top of your monitor. This isn't really the best way to show off your real-world desktop, as you can see from how fuzzy the text is when you zoom in enough to read it, but if you think you might use this function with any regularity, a better option would be a gimbal-mounted webcam like the Insta360 Link. 

The MX Brio has built-in dual beamforming noise-reducing mics for when you don't have a good gaming headset, let alone a standalone USB gaming microphone, nor do you have a pair of Apple AirPods and the built-in mic on your laptop is broken and so your only option is to yell at your webcam and hope people can hear you. Just kidding (sort of) — while built-in webcam mics are notoriously terrible, the MX Brio's mics are actually not bad. In my testing they did a good job of eliminating constant background noise (like my PC and its 17 fans) and my voice sounded crisp, clear, and relatively full. (Maybe about 75% full, which is significantly better than most webcam mics make me sound.) There was still some echo, but that's sort of understandable when you're sitting three feet away from a mic. The MX Brio's mics are still nowhere close to a dedicated one (like the Logitech Yeti Orb) or a great headset mic (like the Razer Blackshark V2 Pro), but people I talked to over video chat said I sounded better over the MX Brio's mic than I did over Apple AirPods — which isn't much, but is still something.

Bottom Line

The Logitech MX Brio does a good job of bringing Logitech's 4K webcam offering into 2024, and it's a solid update over the Brio 4K — it's got a solid, sturdy build with a fantastic built-in privacy shutter, an improved sensor with objectively better image quality, and very good built-in dual beamforming mics. Also, it's nice that Logitech made the MX Brio compatible with at least three of its many different companion apps. If there's anything I dislike more than overwrought peripheral software, it's having to download three of them from the same company. 

Anyway, the MX Brio does what I expected it to do, which is produce pretty balanced, evenly-lit, professional images, right out of the box, in higher resolution than the Brio 500. And that's great... but I'm not sure it's enough. After all, this is a $200 webcam. Sure, $200 is on the lower end of the price range for 4K webcams — most are $300+. Of course, the MX Brio also isn't really on par with most $300+ 4K webcams — it doesn't offer the extreme detail and image quality of the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra or the Insta360 Link or even the Elgato Facecam Pro. 

It's a solid option for someone who's mostly video chatting with coworkers and friends, and maybe casually streaming, but I wouldn't recommend it for content creators. And $200 for work meetings, friend chats, and the occasional Twitch run is pretty pricey. Also, despite its work- and collaboration-focused angle, the MX Brio isn't compatible with Windows Hello (the Brio 4K was). (There's also a business version of the MX Brio, the MX Brio 705 for Business; it's also not compatible with Windows Hello.) 

The MX Brio is a tough sell when there are several 1080p webcams (remember, most video chat and streaming services limit your output to 1080p anyway) that also offer great image quality, auto-exposure, and auto-white balancing out of the box, including Logitech's own Brio 500, which is currently $88.09 at Amazon.  

That tape over your webcam may not be enough. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have highlighted imaging privacy threats enabled by ambient light sensors, in a paper recently published in Science Advances. Device users concerned with security and privacy may be comforted by hardware solutions (shutters) and software permissions restricting webcam use. However, researchers have shown visual information can be gathered via one of the common ambient light sensors installed in many devices. These small sensors usually aren’t shuttered or disabled by users and are typically permission-free on a device level.

Ambient light sensors are categorized as low-risk by device makers and can often be accessed directly by software (or malware) without any permissions or privileges. Nevertheless, previous studies have shown such a rudimentary sensor can provide enough information to infer keystrokes on a virtual keyboard and steal a device PIN, about 80% of the time. The new research shows what an ambient light sensor can do when combined with an active light source component – namely the device' screen.

For their experiments, the MIT researchers used a Samsung Galaxy View 2. This rather old and large (17.3-inch) consumer tablet has its ambient light sensor next to the front-facing (selfie) camera, which is still a very common configuration.

In brief, the researchers found that the position and shape of a user's hand could be determined using their technology. Also, hand gestures could be revealed, as could the number of fingers used and gesture directions. Lastly, it was possible to detect other shapes, like the presence of a human face, for example.

The scientists explained that the ambient light sensor reads the light emitted by the screen shining on a person’s face and being partially blocked by the hand / screen interaction. A whole lot of complicated math, aided by AI and image processing technology, was used by the researchers to deliver their results.

Every device offers a variation in light sensor speed and measurement bit depth, screen brightness, and light sensor precision so some devices will be more vulnerable to this ambient light sensor spy technique than others (see figure above). In the source article figures you will see some of the image captures took several minutes on the tablet device used. However, ambient light sensor imaging snooping tech is demonstrably real and could be refined and optimized.

As ambient light sensors are quite useful, we don’t want devices to get rid of them due to security concerns. Instead, the MIT researchers propose the following adjustments to their implementation:

• Rethink ambient light sensor device permissions
• Reduce sensor speed
• Reposition the sensor so it doesn’t face the user

The above security-conscious changes could easily be implemented by device manufacturers without any obvious drawbacks, so we hope to see them adopted going forward.

If you're wondering why the camera on your Surface Pro X suddenly stopped working this week, you're not alone. A flood of Surface Pro X owners took to Reddit yesterday to complain that their webcams unexpectedly stopped working — an issue that can have various repercussions.

Surface Pro X owners attempting to use the camera are greeted with the following error message: 

Error code 0xA00F4271 (0x80004005). 

What's interesting about this particular issue is that it affects every single Surface Pro X customer. Given the encompassing nature of the camera failures, the most likely culprit is an expired security certificate, according to Reddit user Wapitiii. If you roll your Surface Pro X back to any date before May 23, 2023, the camera "magically" starts working again — giving credence to the suggestion that a security certificate is to blame. This isn't a good workaround, by the way, as rolling back the date on your device can result in authentication problems for secure websites or programs on your PC.  

"Well, setting the date manually back to April, but as stated before, the incorrect date interferes with date/time sensitive websites or apps," wrote PCurrington on the Microsoft Community forum. "Chrome immediately started blocking my email website, and I was unable to access a travel message board. Any software/website that tracks the date. So, when I want to use the camera, I have to manually adjust the date back, use Zoom, and then correct the date to automatic to use other apps or websites."

Without functioning cameras, Surface Pro X customers are unable to partake in video calls using Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Meet (among other popular apps used for work and education). In addition, the Surface Pro X's camera also works as a way to log into Windows 11 using Windows Hello. Users with non-functional cameras will need to login using alternative methods. 

Despite the widespread nature of this latest Surface Pro X problem, Microsoft hasn't officially commented on the problem yet. The company is at least aware of the problem, as a note in the Windows 11 Feedback Hub shows that Microsoft is "looking into it." Unfortunately, there is no timeline for a fix, so customers will need to roll back the system clock manually to use the camera (and risk upsetting other programs), or perhaps invest in an external webcam. 

Microsoft's Surface Pro X is a bit of an odd duck in the broad PC market to begin with: it's a 13-inch convertible powered by a Microsoft SQ1 or SQ2 Arm processor. The use of a power-sipping Arm processor allows the device to last up to 15 hours per charge. 

Microsoft earlier today released the Windows 11 "Moment 3" Update (KB5026446), but it is doubtful that it addresses the camera issues faced by Surface Pro X owners.

Now that the pandemic is (sort of) over, and every webcam on our list of best webcams isn’t in short supply, Logitech has been revamping its line of regular consumer webcams. It started with the 1080p Logitech Brio 500 in September, and released the Logitech Brio 300 — also 1080p — earlier this year. 

The Brio 300 is a smaller, lighter, more budget-friendly version of the Brio 500. It records video in 1080p and 720p at 30 frames per second and has a fixed-focus 2MP lens with 1x digital zoom and a 70 degree field of view. It has an integrated privacy shutter, a built-in monitor mount, and a non-detachable USB-C cable (like the Brio 500, it doesn’t come with a USB-C to USB-A converter). 

It’s available in pink, black, and white, and it retails for $69.99 (currently on sale for $59.99), which might be pretty tempting if you’re looking for a sub-$100 1080p webcam. But you can also find the 1080p Logitech C920s, which has a better lens and a more flexible stand, for around the same price these days.

Design of the Brio 300

The Brio 300 is an interesting-looking webcam: it has a cone-shaped body with a large, circular faceplate at the front that tapers into a point in the back. The webcam’s small lens is surrounded by a wide faceplate with Logitech’s logo printed on the left side and an LED activity light on the right side. Below the camera is a single noise-reducing microphone.

I don’t love the way the Brio 300 looks, but at least it’s relatively small and unobtrusive, especially on a laptop. Logitech lists its measurements as 2.58 inches (65.63mm) tall, 2.09 inches (53.1mm) wide, and 1.78 inches (45mm) deep. While it is 2.58 inches (65.63mm) tall, this measurement includes the built-in mount — if you place it on your monitor it will rise approximately 2.21 inches (56mm) above the screen. The webcam weighs around 2.63 ounces (74.6g), including the built-in mount and cable.

Like the Brio 500, the Brio 300 is made with part post-consumer recycled material (48% - 62%, depending on color), and its matte, speckled plastic finish reflects that. It comes in three colors — graphite (black), rose (pink), and off-white. It has a built-in physical privacy cover, which is a little circle that flips up to reveal the lens. The shutter is pretty well-integrated when closed, but the top part of the circle does extend past the webcam’s faceplate when it’s open. This doesn’t seem like too much of an issue — it could snap off if it was tossed into a bag and jostled around, but it feels fairly sturdy so it would probably take a decent amount of pressure for that to happen. (Also, who’s tossing webcams — with the shutter open — into a bag? Not most people, I suspect.)

All of the Brio 300’s accessories — mount and cable — are permanently attached to the webcam, so there’s nothing else in the box. The webcam has an attached, five-foot USB-C cable (and no USB-C to USB-A converter, so plan accordingly), as well as an attached clamp-style monitor mount.

The mount is lined with rubberized, non-stick material for stability, and features an adjustable foot to “clamp” (sort of) onto your monitor or laptop screen. The foot is adjustable enough to fit even a very slim laptop, and in my testing I found the Brio 300 to be relatively stable — though I credit this more to the small size and lightweight of the webcam, rather than the integrity of the mount.

The webcam does not swivel on the stand, which is unfortunate as it means that it can only sit perpendicular to your monitor. It does tilt — approximately 25 degrees backward and 40 degrees forward. If you don’t want to put the webcam on your monitor/laptop screen, you’ll have to balance it on a flat surface or something, because it does not have a threaded tripod attachment.

Specs

Well-lit Performance of the Brio 300

The Brio 300 is a 1080p full HD webcam with a 2-megapixel image sensor with a fixed-focus lens, 1x digital zoom, and a 70-degree field of view. It does feature Logitech’s RightLight 2 technology, which helps boost lighting in low-light conditions but isn’t the same as RightLight 4 (in the Brio 500), which uses face-tracking and other factors to ensure the subject is well-lit.

I take all my webcam test photos in my home office, which has almost no natural light. For my well-lit scenario, I have a ring light, a key light, and four monitors (three 27-inch, one 34-inch) in front of me, as well as some ambient lighting from my desk, desktop, and various plugged-in peripherals. There’s an arching floor lamp and a desk lamp behind me. The ring light is set to 35% brightness at 3600K, and the key light is set to 15% brightness at 4100K. This lighting scenario is actually very bright, and many older webcams tend to read it as overexposed. For consistency, I take all photos using Windows 11’s built-in camera app.

The Brio 300’s performance was solidly average in this lighting scenario. It produced an image that was bright and evenly-lit, but, upon closer examination, seemed unnecessarily over-processed. While there’s a decent amount of detail in the photo (especially in the background), all of the edges are very soft. The Brio 300 has a fixed-focus lens — unlike the Logitech C920s, Brio 4K, and Brio 500, which all have autofocus lenses — but this seems like less of a focus issue and more of an overall processing issue. There’s also a lot of graininess in the photo, considering this is a very bright lighting scenario — no gain boost should be needed with this much light.

The Brio 300 did a pretty good job with white balancing (though perhaps it was aided a bit by my choice of a bright white sweatshirt), and the picture looked pretty true-to-life with the webcam’s out-of-the-box settings. I changed my shirt and toyed around with the picture adjustment settings in Logitech’s Logi Tune software, but I couldn’t come up with anything that looked much better than what the Brio 300 gave me with its auto-exposure and auto-color balancing.

Low-Light Performance of the Brio 300

To test the Brio 300’s low-light performance, I turned off all of my lights, including three of my four monitors, leaving just one monitor as my sole light source. I took the first photo with the Windows 11 camera app taking up approximately half of my screen, and my desktop wallpaper taking up the other half. 

The Brio 300 did not perform very well in this scenario — not that I expected it to, as this is a tricky scenario for even the best webcams to navigate. But I’d say this is lower than my expectations, given that this is still a 1080p webcam released in 2023. The picture is extremely noisy and the lack of sharpness is even more apparent, and the white balance is pretty off. This is still better than what I’d expect from a standard built-in webcam in a laptop, but not so much better that it’d be worth the extra hassle and expense.

The low-light scenario is one in which very small changes in lighting can have a pretty drastic effect, so I opened up a browser window on half of my screen and navigated to a mostly-white page (the Google search page) to see if I could get the Brio 300 to color balance properly. This did have a pretty big effect, and the color balancing here actually looks pretty good — even if it did come at the expense of exposure (again, probably due in part to my white sweatshirt). This is a much better picture, though the image is still pretty noisy in all areas despite being much darker.

Overexposed Performance of the Brio 300

To test the Brio 300’s performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off all of the lights in front of me as well as three of my four monitors. While this isn’t the most extreme overexposed lighting scenario, it’s a fairly common one — most people do not have bright lights or windows behind their computers, so this type of lighting scenario is often seen in both casual and professional video calls. 

This was, unfortunately, the Brio 300’s worst lighting scenario. It’s basically as noisy as the low-light photo, and it’s especially noisy in the foreground where the webcam attempted to boost the lighting. This is kind of the opposite of ideal, since the subject should be the focus of the picture, yet the background looks better than I do. While it’s not totally unusable, 

I definitely expected a better showing from a 2023 Logitech webcam — part of Logitech’s RightLight technology is supposed to be about spot-lighting and focusing on the subject, after all. Before you jump to the Brio 300’s defense, consider the level of noise in photo I took with the built-in webcam on my IBM ThinkPad on April 21, 2004:

Microphone on the Brio 300

The Brio 300 has a built-in noise-reducing microphone with a range of up to four feet. No webcam’s built-in mic is particularly impressive, but the Brio 300’s mic isn’t terrible — it’s pretty sensitive to sound and it picked up my voice clearly, even from a few feet away. My voice did sound a little hollow and echo-y, however. 

I’m not sure what kind of noise-reducing tech Logitech thinks it’s put in this mic, because it did not seem to be able to reduce any outside noise at all — not from my PC fans, not from my dog barking, not from my husband talking in the other room. Even left-clicking the button on my mouse came through loud and clear. Let’s just say it’s a highly-sensitive mic, but it will work if you need to take an emergency video call in a very quiet room and your laptop’s built-in mic is broken.

Features and Software of the Brio 300

The Brio 300 is largely designed to be an easy, plug-and-play device — and for the most part, it is. It is supported by Logitech’s Logi Tune software, which has a couple of settings that can be toggled on or off, as well as a handful of image adjustment sliders for fine-tuning the picture.

In Logi Tune, you can toggle the Brio 300’s auto-exposure, auto-white balance, and low light compensation settings. Turning off auto-exposure gives you an adjustable exposure slider as well as an adjustable gain slider, and turning off auto-white balance gives you a color temperature slider. Turning on low light compensation won’t affect how the static picture looks, as it’s a feature that dynamically varies the frame rate to compensate for low lighting conditions. 

In addition to the exposure and color balance adjustments, Logi Tune also has adjustable sliders for brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. I played around with the sliders for a bit, but for the most part the webcam’s default settings looked best. Logi Tune also has a “filters” tab with six preset filters, none of which are particularly inspiring. The filters are just image presets, so if you apply a filter and go back to the adjustments tab, you’ll see that filter’s presets (e.g. the black-and-white “mono b” filter is just the saturation slider dialed to 0).There’s no way to save your own custom image adjustments as a filter, however, which is too bad.

Bottom Line

The Logitech Brio 300 does some things well — its best settings seem to be its default settings, so it’s a decent plug-and-play device, so long as you have a USB-C port handy. It produces a pretty good picture in brightly-lit settings, managing auto-exposure and auto-color balance better than expected. It’s also smaller and lighter than many webcams (though oddly-shaped), and it has an easy-to-use built-in physical privacy shutter. 

But even in perfect lighting conditions, images look a little noisy and fuzzy around the edges, and image quality quickly degrades as lighting conditions become less-than-ideal. Don’t get me wrong — the picture isn’t objectively bad, but it’s not so much better than, say, the standard built-in webcam on a laptop that I’d recommend purchasing a separate device. Plus, the Brio 300’s built-in monitor mount doesn’t swivel or have a tripod attachment, and the built-in cable is USB-C and doesn’t come with a USB-C to USB-A converter. 

The Brio 300 could work for very specific situations, but Logitech’s older C920s has a better lens (and the C930e has an even better lens) and a detachable mount with a tripod attachment, and can be found for the same price or less. The Microsoft Modern Webcam is another budget-priced 1080p webcam that has a better handle on low-light and overexposed lighting scenarios. There’s just no compelling reason to choose this webcam over any of its competitors or over the one that’s built into a laptop.w

Razer debuted its first webcam, the Razer Kiyo, in 2017, and followed it up with the Razer Kiyo Pro in 2021. And now, in 2023, Razer’s back with the newest iteration of its gamer-slash-streamer-oriented webcams: the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra. (Let’s hope Razer comes up with a new product line name for the next one, and doesn’t call it the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra Max, or something like that.)

The Kiyo Pro Ultra is Razer’s first 4K webcam, streaming in 4K/30fps (as well as 1440p/30fps, 1080p/60/30/24fps, and 720p/60/30fps), and it features the largest sensor ever put in webcam — a 1/1.2-inch Sony Starvis 2 sensor with a wide f1.7 aperture that allows for the artsy shallow depth of field you get with a DSLR where the subject is sharp and in focus but the background is blurred. (You can also do this with the “background blur” effect in various video conferencing apps, but... you shouldn’t.) It also has 4x digital zoom, an adjustable field of view of between 72 and 82 degrees, and an innovative integrated physical privacy shutter (as well as a separate lens cap to protect the glass from dust and scratches). 

There’s no question this is one of the best webcams we’ve tested, and it’s priced to match: the Kiyo Pro Ultra costs $299.99 (available exclusively at Razer.com), which is $100 more than the Kiyo Pro but in line with other premium 4K webcams such as the Insta360 Link and the Elgato Facecam Pro.  

Design of the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra

The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra has the same overall design as its predecessor, the Kiyo Pro — large, round, and all lens (well, all glass, at least). It looks a little like a detached camera lens, complete with a movable “focus ring” that twists to open and close the webcam’s new iris-like privacy shutter. The webcam’s properties are listed around the lens in white, and Razer’s logo is subtly embossed under the glass. A white LED indicator light at the top of the webcam tells you when it’s being used. 

 The Kiyo Pro Ultra has the same dimensions as the Kiyo Pro, measuring approximately 3.01 inches (76.5mm) in diameter and 2.36 inches (60mm) deep (not including the mount). Although it’s large, it’s not overly heavy — the webcam weighs 6.28 ounces (178g), and the mount adds another 5.61 ounces (159g). The Kiyo Pro Ultra is smaller and lighter than the Elgato Facecam Pro (4.6 x 3.1 x 1.5 inches / 116 x 79 x 38mm; 8.47oz / 240g), but is still quite a bit larger than the Insta360 Link (2.71 x 1.61 x 1.77 inches / 69 x 41 x 45mm, 3.73oz / 106g). 

The Kiyo Pro Ultra comes with an L-shaped, clamp-style monitor mount (already attached), a lens cover, and a 5-foot, braided USB-C to USB-C cable. The USB-C cable is a little stiff — a webcam cable doesn’t need to be as malleable as does a mouse cable, but positioning the webcam would have been a little easier with a more flexible cable (I ended up using one of Razer’s “Speedflex” mouse cables, for convenience).

The Kiyo Pro Ultra doesn’t necessarily need to be plugged into any specific USB port on your PC, but Razer does recommend plugging it directly into a USB 3.0 port for the best performance. The webcam still worked for me when plugged into other ports, but I did see some stuttering in higher-res video (both in preview mode and while streaming).

The monitor mount screws into the webcam’s universal tripod mounting point, and features rubberized, non-slip material for extra stability and grip when it’s sitting atop your monitor. Once attached, the mount allows the webcam to tilt a few degrees upward and 90 degrees downward. 

There’s no built-in swivel, but the screw mount makes it relatively easy to turn the webcam as needed. The webcam sits at the front of the mount, so the overall depth of the webcam and mount together is approximately 3.68 inches (93.5mm). The mount also has a universal tripod mounting point, in case you want to put the webcam on a tripod without removing the mount.

The Kiyo Pro Ultra comes with a soft, rubbery physical lens cap, as well as an internal privacy shutter that’s cleverly designed to mimic an iris. Twisting the webcam’s outer ring to the left closes the privacy shutter, while twisting it to the right opens it. I love this implementation: it’s smooth and easy to operate, and I was able to open and close the shutter without knocking the webcam off my monitor or even mildly displacing it.

For those of you keeping track, this webcam has not one but two physically-operated privacy controls, while other impressive 4K webcams such as the Insta360 Link and the Elgato Facecam Pro have none. Also — closing the privacy shutter does not turn off the camera.

Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra Specifications

Well-lit Performance of the Kiyo Pro Ultra

The Kiyo Pro Ultra is a 4K webcam with an extra-large, 1/1.2-inch image sensor with a f1.7 aperture, 4x digital zoom, and an adjustable field of view of between 72 and 82 degrees. It can stream video at 4K/30fps, 1440p/30fps, 1080p/60/30/24fps, and 720p/60/30fps.

I take all my webcam test photos in my home office, which is a very controlled setting as it gets almost no natural light. For my well-lit test scenario, I have a ring light, key light, and four desktop monitors (three 27” and one 34”) in front of me, and a desktop lamp and an arching floor lamp behind me. The ring light is set to 35% brightness at 3600K, and the key light is set to 15% brightness at 4100K. There’s also some ambient RGB lighting from my desk, desktop, and various peripherals. For consistency, I take all photos using Windows 11’s built-in camera app.

The Kiyo Pro Ultra looks great with its default, out-of-the-box settings. It does an excellent job with auto-exposure and auto-color balance, even better than the Insta360 Link. 

It has a nice, shallow depth of field, which gives you that blurred background effect without the use of software. It does have an overly-sensitive autofocus, as many webcams do, but you can turn this off in Razer’s Synapse 3 software (though you may have to do this several times before it saves — more on that later).

The Kiyo Pro Ultra’s autofocus is overly-sensitive but relatively quick, and the webcam does a pretty good job of on-the-fly light metering for those who move around a lot. I went into Synapse 3 and played with the image settings, but nothing I did dramatically improved the picture — the default settings are very good.

Like other 4K webcams, the Kiyo Pro Ultra’s extremely high resolution is absolutely overkill for most users — the majority of video conferencing platforms, including Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, limit your outgoing video resolution to 1080p or 720p, and Twitch also limits your streaming output to 1080p/60fps.

Low-light Performance of the Kiyo Pro Ultra

To test the Kiyo Pro Ultra’s performance in a low-light scenario, I turned off all of my lights, as well as three of my four monitors, leaving just one monitor as a light source. I took this photo with the Windows 11 camera app taking up around half of my screen and my desktop wallpaper on the other half.

The Kiyo Pro Ultra performed well enough in this scenario. It did a very good job of evenly lighting both me and my background — it lit my background so well that I had to double-check to make sure there was no light leaking in from outside my office (there wasn’t). In fact, this scene is almost too well-lit and could probably use a little more contrast. 

Also, this kind of lighting boost doesn’t come without a price — there’s a lot of noise in the image, though there’s still plenty of detail. This photo was taken without any of the low-light processing effects toggled on, however, so I went ahead and turned on 2D and 3D noise processing:

As you can see, both images are still noticeably noisy, though less so over the subject (me), and the last image managed to do a better job of color balancing.

Overexposed Performance of the Kiyo Pro Ultra

To test how the Kiyo Pro Ultra performed in an overexposed lighting scenario, I turned off all of the lights in front of me as well as three of my four monitors. (This isn’t the most extreme overexposed lighting scenario, but it’s probably the most common overexposed scenario.) 

The Kiyo Pro Ultra didn’t do quite as well in this scenario, lighting my background but leaving me somewhat dark and grainy (and pink). The Insta360 Link and the Elgato Facecam Pro did better in this situation, but the difference isn’t too significant — none of them are great.

I turned on several of the webcam’s processing features, including HDR, low light compensation, and 2D and 3D dynamic noise reduction, and the picture was a little better and more subject-focused (though it seems the HDR managed to make the brightly-lit areas even brighter, somehow). The Insta360 Link produced a similar image with better color balancing after a reset, but with less graininess.

Microphone of the Kiyo Pro Ultra

The Kiyo Pro Ultra has a built-in omnidirectional microphone, which is... not the best. No built-in webcam mic has ever come close to the mics you’ll find on the best gaming headsets, let alone a standalone USB gaming microphone, and the mic on the Kiyo Pro Ultra was solidly average among webcam mics. It picked up my voice fairly well (albeit a little on the quiet side), and my voice sounded a little thin but not too echo-y. 

Unfortunately the omnidirectional nature of the mic means it also picked up everything else in the area — most notably, the sound of my PC fans (which are, admittedly, pretty loud). The mic isn’t bad, it’s just not particularly good, and I wouldn’t recommend using it if you don’t need to.

Features and Software of the Kiyo Pro Ultra

The Kiyo Pro Ultra is configurable through Razer’s Synapse 3 software, which as you may know by now is my favorite gaming peripheral software. Wait, did I say favorite? Sorry, I meant to say least favorite. Synapse 3 is the bane of my existence. Why is it never running when I’m trying to use it? Why does it update 17 times a week? I’m not kidding when I say that it feels like I’m getting punk’d with this software.

Anyway.

The good news is that Synapse 3 does offer some pretty detailed control over the webcam, letting you manually adjust focus, exposure, and image settings, as well as resolution and processing effects. The bad news is that you must be in Synapse 3 with the in-app preview open in order to change any of these settings (turning off the in-app preview locks all of the settings), and Windows only lets you use your webcam with one app at any time. Plus, while Synapse 3’s settings are supposed to save to the webcam when you hit “save,” they don’t... always manage to do that.

So, if you’re trying to set up an image in a program other than Synapse 3, and I assume you are, you will probably find yourself going back and forth between the two programs... constantly. And since Synapse 3’s settings only save to the webcam about half the time, this is, needless to say, a very frustrating experience.

There are three sections in the Kiyo Pro Ultra’s menu: camera, processing, and image. The camera section lets you control focus and exposure (and turn off auto-focus and auto-exposure), and lets you zoom, pan, and tilt to crop your scene. Once you’ve zoomed, panned, and tilted perfectly, you can save that setting to one of five presets, which can be tied to any shortcut key you choose.

In the processing section, you can set the Kiyo Pro Ultra’s preview resolution and MJPEG quality, as well as turn on HDR, lens distortion compensation, low light compensation, and 2D or 3D dynamic noise reduction. For the most part, these processing tweaks are pretty subtle (some are too subtle). Turning on HDR did improve the image slightly in lower lighting conditions, but it wasn’t able to tame overly bright areas (it has “dark room” and “bright room” options, but the difference between the two isn’t noticeable). 

The low light compensation also didn’t seem to do much, even as I moved between a light and dark room on camera. The dynamic noise reduction worked okay, but images were still noisy in darker settings.

The image section gives you manual control over brightness, contrast, saturation, and white balance (which can also be automatic), as well as anti-flicker adjustment. There’s a toggle for a watermark, in case you’re a Razer brand ambassador (or you just want everyone to know you’re using a $300 webcam), as well as a toggle to mirror your video stream, which you should never do, especially if you have words in the background or on your clothing (as you can see, my entire life is words). Razer does include a handful of image presets, but none of them are particularly good — in fact, the “cool” preset looked incredibly warm until I tried the “warm” preset, which made me look orange.

Synapse 3’s camera, processing, and image controls are actually pretty impressive and refined, and they fix most of the minor issues I had with the webcam’s performance (such as the trigger-happy auto-focus). But trying to get Synapse 3’s settings to save to the webcam and work in other programs is so frustrating — and all I was doing was taking photos for this review. I can’t imagine being a content creator and wanting to wrangle Synapse 3 every other time I try to hop on and stream or record.

Bottom Line

The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra is one of the best webcams we’ve tested. It delivers incredible image quality straight out of the box, with a beautiful depth of field and excellent auto-exposure and white balancing. Razer wasn’t kidding when it said “DSLR-like quality.” Plus, it’s well-built, relatively lightweight, has a nicely integrated privacy shutter, and it looks cool perched atop your monitor.

That said, Razer really needs to do something about Synapse 3, because it is possibly the most frustrating piece of software I’ve ever had to deal with. The good news is that the webcam works very well out of the box, so if you’re just looking for a webcam that will make you look great in work calls and while you’re chatting with your friends, the Kiyo Pro Ultra is an excellent option (assuming you have $300 burning a hole in your pocket).

But serious streamers and content creators will be better off with the Insta360 Link or the Elgato Facecam Pro, which are both similarly-priced 4K webcams with top-notch image quality and well-made, detailed, usable software. Unless you’re already so deep into the Razer ecosystem that you have to wrestle with Synapse 3 on a daily basis anyway, I can honestly say I do not think it’s worth the frustration. But hey — maybe this won’t always be the case. Maybe one day Razer will fix its peripheral software and then this webcam will be perfect.

It’s hard to make eye contact with your webcam. But it’s also hard to connect with people you’ve never met, in a Google Meet/Zoom/Microsoft Teams/Discord/etc. video call, when everyone seems to be distractedly looking at their screens. Of course, they’re looking at their screens because they’re looking at you, probably — but even when you know that, it doesn’t really feel that way. 

Because eye contact is that big of a deal. 

But webcams, including the best webcams, are mostly mounted at the tops of monitors, so you usually need to make a choice: do you look at the webcam, so others will feel like they’re making eye contact with you, or do you look at the screen, so you can actually see the people you’re trying to connect with? Wouldn’t it be great if you could do both? 

Well — do both and still look like a human, and not a killer robot clone (or something). It’s pretty low-tech compared to Nvidia’s AI-powered Eye Contact effect (which is how you can look like a killer robot clone), but the Center Cam might be the real answer to the eye contact problem. The Center Cam is a small webcam that sits in the middle of your screen, designed to be unobtrusive enough that you can place it over whatever you want to look at — someone’s face, a script you’re reading from, a game you’re playing, etc. — and look like you’re making eye contact with the camera. 

The Center Cam is available now in a standard package ($120), which comes with a monitor clip and a USB-C adapter, as well as in a deluxe package ($140), which includes a ring-light mount and a soft storage case.

Design

The Center Cam doesn’t look like a typical webcam. The camera itself is tiny, measuring 0.63 inches (16mm) square, and is 0.71 inches (18mm) deep. It’s attached to an “eye-to-eye flextube,” or a flexible metal gooseneck arm approximately 16 inches (40.64cm) long. The end of the flextube is attached to a 3.5-foot (1m) USB-A cable. The Center Cam comes with a monitor clip mount and a USB-A to USB-C adapter (for Mac users).

To set it up, you thread the USB cable through the holes of the monitor clip until you get to the flextube, and then thread about half of the flextube through as well. Next, clip the monitor clip onto your monitor and determine where you want the camera to sit — ideally, it should be as close to eye level as possible, but you’ll also want to make sure it’s in front of the screen.

Once you’ve determined where you want the camera to fall, bend the flextube and snap it into place on both sides of the monitor clip. I was initially concerned about clipping the mount onto my main monitor, which has no bezel at the top, but snapping the flextube into place decreased the clip’s tension to the point where I wasn’t concerned about placing the clip directly on my screen. 

This proved to be an issue with my laptop, however, because the clip didn’t really have enough tension to stay put on such a thin screen (some fiddling helped, but it still didn’t seem particularly sturdy). The monitor clip fits monitors up to 2 inches (5cm) thick. 

Keep in mind that, even if the Center Cam fits securely on your monitor, you will have to move it into place before every call and then bend it back or remove it entirely to go back to using your computer normally. There’s no way you can just leave it there as it blocks a significant portion of the desktop when you’re trying to work or play.

The Center Cam comes with a 6mm, f2.1 lens with a 65-degree horizontal field of view and a small plastic lens cap for privacy (it’s not particularly notable, but it’s better than nothing). It has a 2MP 1/2.9 inch CMOS sensor, which is separate from the lens.

Unlike other webcams that have autofocus or fixed focus lenses, the Center Cam’s lens is manual: you’ll need to twist the lens to focus on the subject (you), based on your distance from the camera. This is trickier than it sounds, because you’ll need to be within arm’s length of the camera to focus it but you may want to sit further than arm’s length from your screen, in which case finding the right focal point will require some back and forth.

Once you focus the camera, you can lock it in place by using the nut at the base, but this is also tricky to do without bumping the lens out of focus.

Specs

Well-lit Performance

To test a webcam’s performance in a well-lit environment, I turn on all the lights in my home office — and there are a lot of lights. In front of me I have four monitors (three 27-inch, one 34-inch ultrawide), two lights (Elgato Ring Light, Elgato Key Light Air), and the ambient light from my desk (Cooler Master GD160 ARGB). Behind me, there’s an arching floor lamp and an LED desk lamp that I use for fill. Most webcams have difficulty with this much light, so I wasn’t too surprised when the Center Cam’s default settings washed me out:

The Center Cam is designed to be an easy-to-use plug-and-play device; subsequently, it doesn’t come with software. Any number of third-party programs should be able to open the webcam’s settings (I used Nvidia Broadcast because I already had it open).

After manually adjusting the Center Cam’s settings — mainly brightness, exposure, gain, gamma, and white balance — I managed to get a better picture:

The final result is still grainier than I’d like, especially for such a well-lit setting, but otherwise it looks pretty good. Colors are vibrant (without being oversaturated) and are relatively accurate. Manually focusing the lens was a bit tricky, but I appreciate the depth of field you can achieve with a fixed focal point; the Center Cam’s picture looks more dynamic (though, perhaps a little less flattering) than the flat, balanced lighting of the Logitech Brio 500. 

The Center Cam is a full HD (1080p) webcam, so it can’t exactly compete for quality with 4K webcams such as the Elgato Facecam Pro or the Insta360 Link. But it’s able to balance lighting better than older webcams with the same resolution, such as the Logitech C920S.

Low-Light Performance

To test the Center Cam’s low light performance, I turned off all of my lights, my desk, and three of my monitors — leaving one 27-inch monitor as my only light source. Different webcams handle this type of lighting scenario differently — some focus on lighting the subject, leaving the background in darkness, while others try to light both the subject and the background (but this often washes out the subject). The Center Cam is the former:

I was impressed with the Center Cam’s low-light performance. It didn’t even attempt to light the background, but it did a pretty good job of lighting the subject — me — evenly and in a way that was at least fairly flattering if not perfectly color-accurate.

Overexposed Performance

To test the Center Cam’s performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off almost everything in front of me (the two lights, my desk, and three of my four monitors), leaving one 27-inch monitor and my background lights on. While this isn’t an extremely overexposed scenario, it’s a pretty realistic one in a home office setup — most people don’t place lights behind their screens unless they’re trying to look good on camera.

This lighting scenario is where the Center Cam performed best — and this was using the webcam’s default settings (I did some tweaking, but I wasn’t able to improve much). The Center Cam did a great job of keeping me well-lit without blowing out the background, and it even managed to keep the colors pretty accurate. This photo is pretty grainy (as is the low-light photo), but I expect some graininess in poorly-lit settings and it’s not that much grainier than the well-lit photo.

Features and Software

The Center Cam doesn’t come with software and is pretty light on features overall. It does have a built-in microphone, which is, unsurprisingly, terrible — it picks up sound inconsistently and muddles voices, and I wouldn’t recommend it over basically any other microphone option.

The Center Cam’s lens is also interchangeable. Center Cam sells additional lenses on its website for $17 each — a narrower telephoto lens with a 52-degree HFOV for people who are further than 2.5 feet from the camera, and a wide lens with an 80-degree HFOV for people who are sitting closer to the camera (such as laptop users) or who just want a wider angle.

But the Center Cam’s main feature is being unobtrusive enough to sit over your screen so you can maintain eye contact with the camera lens while also being able to see what’s happening on your screen. And it does this very well. It’s one of the best solutions to the whole webcam-eye-contact-problem I’ve seen, because it solves both the problem of you maintaining eye contact with your camera and being able to look at the person you’re talking to. If you’re looking for a camera that will let you have a pretty genuine heart-to-heart, this is it.

There is a drawback to this feature, however: when you’re not using the webcam, you’ll need to move it off of your screen. It’s unobtrusive enough to use during a video call, but it obstructs too much of the screen to just leave it in place while you’re doing other things. The clip mount is easy enough to unclip and move to the side, but it’s still more of a hassle compared to a normal webcam that doesn’t need to be moved (plus, this means you’ll need to re-position it every time you make a call).

Bottom Line

The Center Cam isn’t the best webcam we’ve tested in many (okay, most) ways. But it’s not trying to be. It’s here to do one thing — facilitate human eye contact, on both sides, and it’s surprisingly effective. 

I wouldn’t recommend it for the audience most webcams seem to be made for these days: streamers, content creators, professional speakers, extremely vain tech journalists reviewing webcams, etc. It doesn’t have the image quality, polish, or features most professionals are looking for (the Elgato Facecam Pro and the Insta360 Link do, however). 

But if your webcam needs are less scripted, more personal, and primarily about connecting one-on-one with other humans rather than an audience, the Center Cam is a very solid contender. The main caveat with the Center Cam is that it does require some manual setup and adjusting — it’s not like the Logitech Brio 500 or the Dell Pro Webcam (WB5023), which work almost perfectly out of the box. It also needs to be moved to the side when you’re not using it, which might be more effort than you’re willing to make for the illusion of eye contact.

Razer just debuted its newest webcam, the Kiyo Pro Ultra, which has the “largest image sensor ever used in a webcam” (according to Razer). The Kiyo Pro Ultra is the company’s first 4K webcam and features AI-powered face tracking as well as an HDR mode. It’s available on Razer’s website today for $299.99 — which is pricey, but in line with other similarly-equipped 4K webcams. 

The Kiyo Pro Ultra uses a Sony 1/1.2-inch Starvis 2 sensor with a pixel size of 2.9 micrometers, and has a F/1.7 aperture lens to let in more light. I had a chance to see the Kiyo Pro Ultra in action at Razer’s CES suite, and while the picture looked pretty good (too good, like all 4K webcams, in my opinion), I wouldn’t say that it looked shockingly well-lit compared to the low-light performance of other 4K webcams.

It’s a large webcam — though, Razer was quick to point out, not as large as the Elgato Facecam Pro — but it features the same round, lens-focused design as its predecessor, the 1080p Kiyo Pro, one of the best webcams. Like the Kiyo Pro, this webcam comes with a physical dust cover that slides easily over the lens to protect it from dust and scratches.

Unlike the Kiyo Pro, the Kiyo Pro Ultra also features a built-in physical privacy shutter, which is situated behind the glass and opens and closes with a twist of the ring surrounding the lens. I’m paranoid, so I love to see a physical privacy shutter, and this one is very nicely integrated into the webcam’s design.

The Kiyo Pro Ultra can record 4K video at 30 frames per second (fps), or 1080p video at 60 fps, and use a “cutting-edge processor” to transcode it to 4K at a cinematic 25 fps, 1440 at 30 fps, or 1080p at 60 fps while streaming. It can’t record 4K video at 60 fps, so the Elgato Facecam Pro remains the only webcam that can record in that resolution.

It features AI-powered face tracking, which is designed to keep your face in the center of the picture while applying a background blur with a bokeh effect. Notably, Razer said this doesn't require any extra software, which would suggest you don't need Synapse for that feature. For those who do use Synapse, the Kiyo Pro Ultra will have a number of settings you can change in the software, including the pan, tilt, ISO and shutter speed.

It also supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) — but only at 30 fps — and Razer says the camera can correct over or underexposure and adjust lighting and contrast on the fly.

If you’re serious about streaming, you need a webcam that’s serious about streaming — and what’s more serious than streaming in 4K at 60 frames per second (fps)?

Okay — maybe that’s a little too serious. It’s definitely too serious for anyone who’s not a streamer, since most web conferencing software caps resolution at 1080p or lower, and 60fps can be problematic for bandwidth. But for the professionals who want to take their streaming to the next level, there’s Elgato’s new Facecam Pro.

Designed to compete with the best webcams on the high-end, the Facecam Pro is a 4K webcam that captures video in 4K/60fps — the world’s first; other 4K webcams, such as the Insta360 Link, max out at 4K/30fps. The Facecam Pro also sports a large Sony STARVIS CMOS sensor and a premium autofocus lens, and has a wide 90-degree field of view. It’s definitely not for everyone, but for the right content creator it’s pretty damn powerful (it also draws a lot of power — more on that later). The Elgato Facecam Pro is available now for $299. 

Design of the Elgato Facecam Pro

The Elgato Facecam Pro borrows much of its design from the Elgato Facecam, which is the brand’s 1080p streaming webcam introduced about a year ago. The first Facecam was pretty large for a 1080p webcam, and the Facecam Pro is...larger.

The Facecam Pro is housed in a boxy plastic chassis measuring 4.6 inches (116mm) wide, 3.1 inches (79mm) deep, and 1.5 inches (38mm) tall. The chassis features some unexciting branding and has vents at the back for heat dissipation. The plastic doesn’t exactly scream “high-end,” but it feels sturdy enough and weighs very little (8.47oz/240g) — making the Facecam Pro slightly more maneuverable when it’s sitting on top of a monitor.

The Facecam Pro comes with a detachable monitor mount, which attaches via the webcam’s tripod attachment mounting point (standard size — 1/4-inch). It’s a pretty basic L-shaped mount, with rubberized backing and tilt adjustment (90 degrees). I do think the Facecam Pro is too big to be elegantly mounted on most monitors — period. But I have no complaints about the mount, which kept the webcam perfectly stable atop my main 27-inch monitor.

The Facecam Pro also comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable, which plugs into a USB-C port at the back of the chassis. This webcam requires a certain amount of power to work, so you’ll need to plug it into a USB-C port or perhaps a USB 3.1 port using an adapter.

The Facecam Pro does not come with a physical privacy cover/shutter...but it should. No webcam, but especially no offensively high-def 4K webcam that streams at 60fps, should not come with a privacy cover. (Also, the first Facecam had a lens cap, so I’m not sure what Elgato was thinking.) 

Elgato Facecam Pro Specifications

Well-lit Performance of the Facecam Pro

My home office gets almost no natural light, but I have plenty of artificial light. My “well-lit” lighting setting includes a dedicated ring light, a dedicated key light, four desktop monitors (three 27” and one 24”), an arching floor lamp for background light and a desk lamp for fill. There’s also some ambient RGB lighting from my desk, PC, and various peripherals. It’s a bright, evenly-lit setting with a busy, colorful background; webcams usually struggle with adjusting auto-exposure and auto-color balance, as well as auto-focus.

In my well-lit scenario, the Elgato Facecam Pro managed pretty well using its default settings — not incredible, especially when compared to a webcam with wizard-level AI processing such as the Insta360 Link, but fine for a quick setup. The Facecam Pro handled auto-exposure adequately, though the resulting image was perhaps a little too evenly-lit and flat-looking overall. It struggled with auto-white balance, however — images leaned very warm, even after I adjusted the temperature of my lights to be much cooler. 

Luckily, this was easy to fix with a few manual adjustments in Elgato’s Camera Hub software.

Low-Light Performance of the Facecam Pro

To test the Facecam Pro’s low-light performance, I turned off all of my lights and three of my monitors — leaving just one 27-inch monitor as a light source. The Facecam Pro did not perform very well in this scenario with default settings, and produced an extremely grainy image. I managed to tweak the image into something acceptable, but it was still pretty grainy..

The Facecam Pro performed pretty well in this setting, considering. It managed to light both the subject (me) and the background — unlike the Insta360 Link, which very dramatically left the background in darkness. Also, while the graininess isn’t great, the only real alternative is some kind of software-based smoothing like we see in the Logitech Brio 500, which isn’t really any better.

Overexposed Performance of the Facecam Pro

To test the Facecam Pro’s performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off all lights except for the floor lamp and desk lamp behind me, as well as three of my monitors. (This is actually a pretty common lighting scenario because people generally try to avoid having a lot of light behind their monitors.) 

The Facecam Pro performed okay in this scenario, though it did a much better job with the background than it did with the subject. I found it difficult to tweak the webcam’s settings for this one, and I couldn’t find a combination that satisfied me. That said, this is the type of lighting situation that’s much more likely to come up in a non-professional webcam setup — and very unlikely to come up in a professional one. So it’s not too much of a ding for the Facecam Pro, which isn’t aimed at most webcam users. 

Features and Software of the Facecam Pro

For the most part, the Facecam Pro works okay out of the box. But you don’t spend $300 on a webcam for “okay.” 

I’m not a big fan of peripheral software in general, and I usually find webcam software particularly offensive. Elgato’s Camera Hub, however, is an exception — not only does it offer detailed control over things like exposure, focus, and white balance, it also has some handy features to help streamline (haha) the streaming experience.

Camera Hub has several sections for adjusting the Facecam Pro’s image, including exposure, white balance, and picture, with more detailed controls in each section. I’m a big fan of the exposure section having controls for shutter speed and ISO instead of generic nonsense like “gain.” The same thing goes for the white balance slider listing temperature instead of vaguely indicating warmth.

There’s also a framing section that lets you narrow the webcam’s 90-degree FOV and frame your image. This section has four customizable presets, which you can use to quickly switch between different “scenes” while you’re streaming. It’s not quite a multi-cam setup like the Logitech Mevo where you can switch between cameras, but the Facecam Pro’s wide FOV and detailed zoom allows for a decent amount of creative freedom.

Bottom Line

The Elgato Facecam Pro is aptly named — it’s definitely designed for professionals. While it didn’t blow us away in some of the standard webcam scenarios, it’s also...not really a webcam for standard webcam scenarios. The Facecam Pro will definitely be a very powerful tool in the hands of the right person, but it’s not a purchase to take lightly.

Almost no non-professional needs or even has use for a 4K/60fps webcam; nor do many professional streamers. If you’re a creator who needs that smooth 4K video, the Facecam Pro is a no-brainer (it is, after all, the only webcam on the market that captures 4K/60fps). That’s not the only reason to buy it, however — the Facecam Pro is not only bundled with Elgato’s pro-level Camera Hub software, it’s also part of the Elgato streaming ecosystem, which means it will work with other Elgato streaming devices (such as the Stream Deck).

Of course, if you’re just a regular webcam user looking for a good webcam, this is not the webcam for you. A good 1080p webcam like the Logitech Brio 500 will do a better job of making you look good during early-morning Zoom meetings and late-night heart-to-hearts (and is less than half the price).

It’s been...quite a while since Logitech released a webcam for non-creators — the Logitech Brio 4K was released in 2017, while the company’s ride-or-die C920 first hit shelves in 2012. 

So, after only a decade, Logitech is finally releasing a new 1080p full HD webcam aimed at personal and professional users: the Logitech Brio 500. While a 1080p webcam might not sound that exciting, especially when Dell’s new similarly-priced webcam is 2K and especially when the 10-year-old C920s is...also a 1080p full HD webcam, there’s more to webcams than just resolution! (Plus, it’s not like most video conferencing apps will let you stream at more than 1080p, anyway.)

In addition to its 1080p/30fps; 720p/60fps resolution, the Brio 500 also has a 90-degree field of view (configurable  to 78º or 65º), dual microphones, a built-in privacy shutter, and both Logitech’s RightLight 4 image adjustment technology and an experimental “RightSight” AI auto-framing feature. 

The Brio 500 comes in three colors, including off-white and rose (pink), and costs $129. That’s not quite budget-priced, and is approaching some 4K webcams on sale (including Logitech’s own Brio 4K), but the webcam market is still a little skewed from the pandemic. 

That said, you can find many 1080p/30fps webcams for less than $100, and the Brio 500 doesn’t have any specs that particularly stand out. But while its main selling point may be the internal improvements Logitech has made, remember that, pre-pandemic, Logitech was practically the only webcam game in town. The company has a lot of experience here, and while the specs may not show it, the Brio 500’s performance does.

Design of the Brio 500

The Logitech Brio 500 has a different, more modern design than its predecessors — not that that’s saying much, considering its predecessors are between 5 and 10 years old.

The Brio 500 is housed in a wide, cylinder-shaped plastic chassis, which comes in three colors: graphite, off-white, and rose (my review unit was rose). The webcam is certified carbon neutral, and the chassis is made with post-consumer recycled plastic (68% for graphite, 54% for off-white and rose). It’s not the sleekest or smallest webcam (it’s actually bigger than the C920s, C930e, and Brio 4K), but it’s low-profile and lightweight (2.8oz, not including stand), so I have no complaints.

It’s not a wildly innovative design, but it does (finally) include a built-in privacy shutter, which slides upward to reveal the camera when you twist the right end-cap. I dislike having to touch my webcam once I have it perfectly positioned on my monitor, but I am also paranoid enough to not trust non-physical privacy shutters; the Brio 500’s privacy shutter hits the right balance of being a physical shutter that’s easy to maneuver without disturbing the camera’s position.

The Brio 500 has a 5-foot, non-detachable USB-C cable, so you’ll need to plug it into a USB-C port or find a USB-C to USB-A adapter (not included). The webcam also comes with a magnetic monitor mount, which clamps onto your monitor and has an adjustable “foot” lined with microsuction tape — while I don’t love adhesive, removable or not, on monitor mounts, it’s relatively easy to remove/move and it does make the mount extremely stable.

The webcam attaches to the mount magnetically; the attachment point is round, which allows the camera to rotate while it’s on the mount, and the mount also has built-in tilt adjustment. The magnet unscrews to reveal a standard tripod mounting point.

Adjusting the webcam on the mount is pretty easy, the only minor hiccup is that the magnet is a tiny bit too weak to effortlessly lift the tilt adjustment; I kept accidentally pulling the webcam off of the mount if I tried to tilt it too quickly. It’s not impossible; it’s just not totally seamless — which is too bad, because the webcam’s “Show Mode” feature is designed to show off what’s on your desk, and presumably involves a lot of tilting.

Specs

Well-lit Performance of the Brio 500

My home office is extremely well lit, thanks to my four monitors (three 27-inch and one 24-inch), as well as actual lighting (Elgato Ring Light, Elgato Key Light Air, Logitech Litra Glow), plus an overhead lamp and a desk lamp. While most webcams read this as overexposed, the Brio 500 did a good job of adjusting exposure and white balance to produce a nicely-lit, balanced image out of the box.

I was especially impressed with the Brio 500’s auto-white balance, which is almost always a struggle. While the Brio 500 could still use some tweaking, in my opinion, its auto-white balance and auto exposure are very impressive, especially for a webcam that isn’t $200 or $300.

The Brio 500 does produce a flatter, less-dynamic overall image than other webcams we’ve tested, such as the Insta360 Link. This isn’t really an issue that will concern most people — a flat, evenly-lit image is, for the most part, a best-case scenario when it comes to webcam performance.

One of the features Logitech is touting with the Brio 500 is RightLight 4 — the most recent evolution of Logitech’s RightLight technology – which uses face-tracking and other factors to make sure the subject is evenly-lit in less-than-ideal lighting situations.

Unfortunately, RightLight 4 is still trying to do this even in very ideal lighting situations, which is why my well-lit setting looks kind of flat. I tried playing around with my lighting to see if I could create a more dynamic picture, but RightLight 4 thwarted me at every turn, evenly-lighting me no matter how dramatic I tried to make my lighting. Again, this isn’t really an issue considering it’s a webcam — but it might not be the best webcam for creating dramatic YouTube shorts.

Low-Light Performance of the Brio 500

To test the Brio 500’s low-light performance, I turned off all of my lights and three of my monitors, leaving just one 27-inch monitor as my only light source. The Brio performed pretty well — it’s clear that I’m sitting in a dark room, but you can see both me and my background. This is probably partly due, once again, to RightLight 4.

Also, while the Brio 500 definitely had to pump up the gain to compensate for the lack of light in this setting — you can see this in the lack of detail in my facial features — it still managed to produce a decent-looking overall image. The Brio 4K’s low-light image is pretty similar to the Brio 500’s, but displays less detail and has a grainier texture.

Overexposed Performance of the Brio 500

To test the Brio 500’s performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off all of the lights in front of me, as well as three of my four monitors, leaving my background lights and one 27-inch monitor on. The Brio 500 did an excellent job of keeping me well-lit, though my background still looks pretty over-exposed. It’s not perfect — if you look closely, you can see that there’s still a lot of detail lost in my facial features as compared to the well-lit setting — but the overall image looks very good, and I’m especially impressed with how evenly-lit and un-grainy my skin looks.

Microphone of the Brio 500

The Brio 500 has built-in dual microphones with beamforming noise-reducing technology designed to pick up your voice even if you move around in front of the camera. While most webcam mics are...kind of terrible, the Brio 500’s mics are not bad — they were able to easily pick up my voice, even from a few feet away, so long as I was facing the webcam.

My voice also sounded fuller and richer than it does on most webcam mics (which tend to make you sound hollow and distant). When I was close to the Brio 500 and speaking directly at it, the mic quality was — dare I say — comparable to a basic headset mic: not incredible, but definitely usable.

Features and Software of the Brio 500

The Logitech Brio 500 works with Logitech’s Logi Tune software, which is Logitech’s ... non-creator webcam software for newer peripherals, I guess (Logitech has a lot of different peripheral apps). You can use Logi Tune to update the Brio 500’s firmware, turn on features such as “RightSight” (AI auto-framing, still in beta) and “Show Mode” (makes things on your desk more easily readable/visible), and change the field of view. Logi Tune is also designed to be a productivity app, and integrates with calendar and video conferencing apps to (sort of ) streamline your schedule.

Logi Tune also has an image adjustments section, with toggles for autofocus, auto-exposure, auto-white balance, and HDR, as well as brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness sliders. If you turn off autofocus, auto-exposure, or auto-white balance, manual sliders will appear. Logi Tune isn’t the most precise or detailed webcam app — it gives you slightly more control than Logitech’s Camera Settings app, but I still miss Logitech’s old Webcam Software.

Bottom Line

The Logitech Brio 500 is actually a pretty impressive webcam that not only does a very good job of keeping you evenly-lit (too good of a job, arguably), but also manages to make you look...really good in less-than-ideal settings. It’s got a cute, lightweight, carbon neutral design, an easy-to-use built-in privacy shutter, and a microphone that doesn’t make you sound like you’re talking over a walkie-talkie in an underwater tunnel — what more could you want? Better peripheral software and a lower price point, perhaps.

The Brio 500 is $129, which isn’t insane, but the C920s, which has the same 1080p/30fps resolution, can often be found for less than half that. The C930e, which has the same resolution and the same 90-degree field of view, can often be found for around $80, and even the Brio 4K will often go on sale for around $150, which is just $20 more. There’s more to the Brio 500 than just resolution, but if $129 still seems too pricey for 1080p, the Dell Pro Webcam WB5023 is worth a look — it also has excellent auto-exposure and auto-white balance, and adds a little extra with 2K 1440p/30fps as well as 1080p/60fps streaming. Whichever model you eventually settle on though, it'll always be worth checking to see if there's a Logitech promo code available.

Dell impressed us with its sleek, sexy 4K Dell Ultrasharp webcam — but $199 is a lot to pay for a webcam, especially when most of the popular video conferencing platforms only support a maximum resolution of 720p or 1080p. 

Well, if you’re a pandemic-displaced remote worker with a tight home office allowance, the Ultrasharp now has a cheaper, lower-res, more pedestrian sibling: The Dell Pro webcam. The Dell Pro webcam is a 2K QHD 1440p/30 fps (1080p/60 fps) webcam with a 78-degree field of view, HDR, and 4x digital zoom. It has a built-in monitor clip with a tripod attachment point, a built-in microphone (the 4K model has no mic), and features such as AI auto-framing, which can track your face as you move to keep you centered in frame. 

It might seem difficult for the average webcam to compete against pricey 4K options when it comes to pure performance and image quality, but there’s a reason our list of best webcams isn’t just a list of 4K webcams. Not only do most people not need a 4K webcam, most people couldn’t use a 4K webcam to its fullest potential even if they wanted to. With its 2K QHD resolution, the $135 Dell Pro Webcam  offers something more than 1080p without breaking the bank.

Specifications

Design of the Dell Pro Webcam

The Dell Pro Webcam looks similar to its 4K sibling: It also has a gunmetal gray cylinder-shaped body, a large, round, glass-covered lens, and a removable magnetic lens cap. Including the lens cap, the Dell Pro webcam measures 3.6 inches (92 mm) long by 1.73 inches (44 mm) in diameter — just a tad shorter and wider than the Dell Ultrasharp webcam.

The similarities mostly end there, however. While the Dell Ultrasharp has an all-aluminum body and premium features such as a detachable USB 3.0 cable, the Dell Pro is made of plastic and has a non-detachable USB 2.0 cable. The Dell Pro also has a built-in monitor clip with a threaded tripod mounting point. The monitor clip is rubberized to prevent slipping and has a movable “foot” that allows you to adjust the webcam’s tilt angle and helps keep it fastened securely to your desktop or laptop screen. This is actually an improvement over the Ultrasharp’s interchangeable magnetic mounts — which, while visually sleeker, are less secure and easier to misplace.

The Dell Pro webcam connects to your computer via a permanently-attached, five-foot long USB-A cable. The cable is perpendicular to the webcam’s body, so it doesn’t jut out awkwardly or take up more space than necessary.

Well-lit Performance on Dell Pro Webcam

My home office has almost no natural light and a ton of artificial light: Four monitors (three 27-inch, one 24-inch), three direct lighting sources (Elgato Ring Light, Elgato Key Light Air, Logitech Litra Glow), an overhead lamp for background lighting, and a desk lamp for fill. When all of my lighting is turned up, most webcams (understandably) read this as extremely overexposed.

The Dell Pro Webcam, however, did a good job of reining in exposure levels — maybe too good a job, because the resulting image seems a little too dark. The webcam’s auto-white balance was decent but not perfect; I’m not overly orange or blindingly blue, but my skin looks a little sallow. It’s not nearly as good as the Insta360 Link’s auto-white balance, but it’s better than what you’ll find on most webcams. Also, this might not bother others but it did bother me: The Dell Pro Webcam’s sensor takes … a while to adjust its auto-exposure/white balance/focus/etc. It’s not too long but it is a noticeable second or two, and I’m very impatient.

Low-Light Performance on Dell Pro Webcam

To test the Dell Pro Webcam’s low-light performance, I turned off all artificial lighting sources except for my main 27-inch monitor. The Dell Pro Webcam impressed me with its ability to light the scene evenly; not only can you see the details of my face pretty clearly, most of my background is visible and relatively crisp. Other webcams, such as the Logitech C920s, don’t even attempt to light the background.

The Dell Pro Webcam features Digital Overlap HDR, which is supposed to offer a better image, with more accurate colors/white balance, in extreme lighting situations. Turning on HDR in my low-light setting did seem to net a more evenly-lit picture with slightly more accurate colors, but at the expense of clarity — this picture is significantly grainier than the first.

Overexposed Performance of Dell Pro Webcam

To create an overexposed setting, I turned off all of the lights and monitors (except for my main 27-inch monitor) in front of me, and left my background lighting on. This is actually a pretty extreme lighting situation, it just looks less extreme because the Dell Pro Webcam was able to adequately light my face and body (though the background still looks very overexposed). While the image has some expected graininess, it’s not overly grainy especially on my face — unlike the overexposed image taken with the Logitech C920s or the Logitech C930e.

Turning on HDR in my overexposed setting definitely improved the background exposure levels, but didn’t do much for me (colors are slightly improved, but not much more accurate).

Features and Software of Dell Pro Webcam

Dell’s Peripheral Manager software automatically installs when you first plug the Dell Pro Webcam into your PC, and runs through a very quick, basic setup that guides you through picking an image preset and turning on things like HDR and AI Auto Framing. Dell Peripheral Manager isn’t the most robust webcam software I’ve used, but it has sections for camera control (adjusting FOV and zoom), capture settings, and color and image adjustments.

Using the software, you can play with the webcam’s white balance, brightness, sharpness, contrast, and saturation. I played around with these settings and found it difficult to tweak the image to my ideal — I would definitely like to see sliders for adjusting exposure and gain. Luckily, there’s not much to adjust anyway because the Dell Pro Webcam’s auto-exposure and white balance are pretty good.

Microphone on the Dell Pro Webcam

The Dell Pro Webcam does have a built-in microphone (unlike the Dell Ultrasharp Webcam), which is handy if you’re ever so desperate for a microphone that your only option is one placed as far from your mouth as possible. Most webcam microphones are not great, and the Dell Pro Webcam’s is…also not great.

It had trouble picking up my voice when it was perched on my monitor (which makes sense — my monitor is a little over two feet away from my face), and what it did pick up sounded tinny and hollow. This isn’t at all unexpected; most webcam microphones are terrible. But perhaps Dell could have left the Pro webcam mic-free and knocked a few dollars off the price.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for something that just works, the Dell Pro Webcam might be the webcam for you. Stick this webcam on your monitor, plug it in, and do nothing else except go about your video-conferencing-twitch-streaming-selfie-taking day, and the Dell Pro Webcam will serve up high-definition, impressively balanced images with relatively accurate coloring in just about any lighting situation. Remember, when it comes to most webcams’ out-of-the-box auto-exposure and white balance settings, you usually end up with an image like this:

The Dell Pro Webcam is an excellent webcam for most people, but it’s not for everyone. If, like me, you want to be able to manually fine-tune the image to your exact standards, Dell’s Peripheral Manager software lacks detailed controls (and the controls it does have aren’t nearly subtle enough). The extremely image-detail-oriented may just want to skip straight to a 4K webcam such as the Insta360 Link. But for everyone else, the Dell Pro Webcam offers very good image quality at a very reasonable price.

Insta360 is best-known for its action cameras, most of which are durable and waterproof and shoot 360-degrees’ of…well, action. While some of Insta360’s action cams can be used as webcams, the company hasn’t made a webcam — until now.

The Insta360 Link is an AI-powered 4K/30fps webcam perched on a 3-axis gimbal and packed with a variety of capture modes. The Link sports a 1/2-inch sensor and has some of the most impressive auto-exposure and auto-white balance we’ve seen in a webcam. It’s got built-in dual noise-canceling microphones and features AI-tracking, 4x digital zoom, and gesture controls. 

The catch: It’ll set you back $300, which puts it solidly in the “very, very expensive” camp. Most of the pricier products on our list of best webcams top out at $200. But this is because the Link isn’t really designed for business professionals (no matter what Insta360’s marketing may say). It’s not so much a webcam as it is a 360-degree action cam in webcam form. 

Design and Build Quality of the Insta360 Link

The Insta360 Link is small and sturdy, with a weighty base and a smooth 3-axis gimbal that allows it to easily swivel and turn as it tracks subjects’ movements. The webcam’s housing is all plastic and is somewhat prone to fingerprints, but it feels very well-built.

The Link’s gimbal is perched atop a base, which has a built-in monitor mount and a 1/4-inch tripod mounting point. The monitor mount is designed to fit monitors approximately 1.25-inches thick, and has rubberized backing to help the webcam stay firmly in place. It’s not a particularly adjustable mount, but it doesn’t need to be. The 3-axis gimbal gives you all the angle/tilt adjustment you need.

The Insta360 Link’s base features a “touch key” on the front, which you can double-tap to reset the camera’s lens positioning. The camera’s AI-tracking does occasionally get a little confused — especially if you’re quickly switching between modes and/or apps, so double-tapping the touch-key is a convenient way to re-center the camera. I’m not a big fan of tapping things that are sitting precariously on my monitor, however, so I used the software to reset and re-center the camera when necessary.

The Link has a bright LED light strip around its base, which lights up when the camera is in use. The light changes colors to indicate different modes, statuses, and gesture recognition. The Link doesn’t come with a physical privacy shutter, but instead has an automatic privacy mode that activates after 10 seconds in standby. In privacy mode, the camera turns on its gimbal to face downward, and the light around the base turns off. I am paranoid and prefer physical privacy shutters, but the camera’s gimbal makes a physical privacy shutter difficult to implement (and constantly touching the moving parts potentially invites damage), so the Link’s privacy mode makes sense.

The Link has a built-in microphone (actually, two built-in noise-canceling microphones) which, like most webcam mics, isn’t great but will work in a pinch. I tested the Link’s mic capabilities over a Discord call, and while it was able to pick up my voice pretty well, it sounded a bit hollow and echo-y, and its noise-canceling capabilities were no match for my barking Pomeranian. (To be fair, almost no microphone is a match for my Pom.)

The Insta360 Link comes with a 5-foot USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A adapter, four reusable whiteboard corner-marking stickers, and a microfiber cleaning cloth. Unlike some 4K webcams, the Link does not need to be plugged into a USB 3.0 port for all of its features to work.

Specifications

Well-Lit Performance

My home office has no natural light, but it has a ton of artificial light: I have four monitors (three 27-inch, one 24-inch), three main lights (Elgato Ring Light, Elgato Key Light Air, and Logitech Litra Glow), plus an overhead light that I use to light my background and a desk lamp I use as a fill light. Oh, and my desk has ARGB lighting along the front and back edge for even more ambient light.

Most webcams read this as overexposed — see the above photo, taken with the Logitech C930e using default, out-of-the-box settings.

The Insta360 Link did an excellent job of balancing both exposure and white balance, producing an image that required almost no tweaking out of the box. One of the Link’s main selling points is its “True Focus,” which uses Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) to quickly auto-focus on a subject. I wouldn’t say the Link’s auto-focus was “near-instant” — it definitely wasn’t — but it was much quicker and more consistent than other webcams I’ve used.

Low-Light Performance

To test the Link’s low-light performance, I turned off all of my lights (including my desk) and all but one 27-inch monitor. While the Link didn’t exactly hide the fact that I’m basically sitting in darkness, it did do a good job of capturing my face and body to produce an image that has relatively little graininess and no major artifacting.

Overexposed Performance

To test the Link’s performance in an overexposed setting, I turned off all of the lights in front of me and all but one 27-inch monitor, and left my background lights (overhead and fill) on. This is a pretty common at-home lighting scenario — people often have lighting behind or beside them, but not in front of them (minus their monitor/computer). As you can see in the above picture, the Link initially had some trouble adjusting when I switched from regular lighting to background-only lighting.

I ended up resetting the Link by tapping the touch key and after the reset the camera was able to produce a higher-res and more white-balanced image, though it still wasn’t perfect.

For an even more overexposed shot, I turned on my lights and monitors and pointed the Link directly toward the Elgato Key Light Air. The Link actually performed adequately in this setting — it’s not easy for a camera to manage being pointed directly at a light source — the details of my face are visible, even if this lighting is casting some less-than-flattering shadows.

Features and Software on the Insta360 Link

The Insta360 Link works okay as a plug-and-play device, but you’ll need the Link Controller companion software to get the full experience from this webcam. The Link Controller software has three sections: Gimbal Control, Image Settings, and More Settings. In Gimbal Control, you can manually control the gimbal to adjust angle, tilt, and position, as well as the camera’s digital zoom. When you find a position you like, you can add it as a preset (up to six).

In Image Settings, you’ll find toggles for auto-exposure and auto-white balance, as well as sliders for brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. If you turn off the auto-exposure, you can use the software to manually set the camera’s ISO and shutter speed, and adjust the exposure curve. This level of detail is nice for people who like to play with their image settings but is probably a little too much for most; luckily the Link has some of the best auto-exposure and auto-white balance I’ve seen, so you shouldn’t have to do too much tweaking.

In More Settings, you’ll find settings for the Link’s gesture controls and AI-tracking and zoom, as well as toggles for HDR and “Streamer Mode” (vertical 9:16 video — yes, in case you want to stream vertically, like you’re holding a phone).

The Link’s big selling point, aside from its unnecessarily high definition and excellent auto-everything, is its four alternate AI-driven capture modes. These include tracking mode, whiteboard mode, overhead mode, and deskview mode. In tracking mode, the Link uses AI-powered tracking to follow your movements and keep you centered in frame. Whiteboard mode enhances the text on a whiteboard, which you can designate using the included reusable whiteboard corner stickers.

Overhead mode is designed to capture a top-down view of a flat surface — you’ll need to mount the Link sideways, on a table stand, for this to work. Deskview mode is a variation of overhead mode that doesn’t require special mounting; switching to deskview mode angles the camera at your desk.

The Bottom Line

Insta360 is marketing the Link as the perfect webcam for a variety of situations — from making presentations at work to filming a dance tutorial for YouTube. Don’t get me wrong: The Link is an excellent webcam, but for a very specific audience. Most of the Link’s features are overkill for the average webcam user, especially in a work environment (unless you’re trying to outfit a dedicated meeting/presentation room). Features such as whiteboard, overhead, and deskview mode aren’t really necessary in most work environments, and will shine better in some sort of educational Twitch lecture or maker’s tutorial on YouTube.

When it comes to image quality, the Link offers some of the best auto-exposure, auto-white balance and auto-focus I’ve ever seen on a webcam. And its 4K images are crisp, detailed, and so hi-def that I’m kind of offended. I took one look at this webcam and spent, like, two hours doing my makeup. But this perfectly-tuned focus and ultra-HD detail will be lost (or at least highly diminished) on any web conferencing platform.

The Insta360 Link is an excellent, multi-functional webcam for streamers and content creators, or perhaps for a conference room. But it’s probably too much if you just want to look incredible during team standups. If you’re on the hunt for an impressive work webcam, the Dell Ultrasharp webcam retails for $100 less and offers bright, crisp images at 4K/60fps resolution.

AMD briefly mentioned Privacy View for Radeon graphics cards at CES 2022. Now it has released a fuller exposé of the technology, which is designed to minimize the opportunities for shoulder surfers or other office snoops to check what's on your screen. AMD Privacy View has been designed in partnership with Eyeware of Switzerland.

If you've looked into eye tracking previously, some use cases and applications have required expensive dedicated or higher-end hardware for this kind of technology to be effective. AMD has partnered with Eyeware of Switzerland for its Radeon Software Privacy View, as it only requires a standard webcam — and a Radeon GPU, naturally.

In the video above you can see a laptop user in a busy public place toggle on the AMD Privacy View feature. The brief clip shows that, once enabled, the section of the screen central to your gaze remains clear, while the rest of the monitor is cast into darkness. This obscuring of the screen contents could be pretty effective against a casual snooper.

Privacy View isn't a simple on or off choice, a pop-up control panel offers controls over variables like blur type and visible gaze area/shape. Furthermore, users can use the eye tracking tech for user presence detection, window focus switching, and using a gaze pointer when screen sharing. Last but not least, AMD and Eyeware have all-important calibration tools available via the control panel.

If you are curious about the technology behind AMD's Privacy View, dev partner Eyeware says that it uses "patent-pending computer vision algorithms and machine perception AI to enable remote head pose and gaze tracking for consumer device integrations." The tech is platform independent, but as an AMD driver feature, it will be restricted to Radeon GPU use. The first driver featuring Privacy View is slated to arrive sometime in H1 2022.

Technology Potential Beyond Privacy

Last but not least, this might be only the beginning of AMD and Eyeware collaborations in adding features to the Radeon driver. Interestingly, Eyeware's pages suggest this same tech can be a big positive for immersive gaming. It already has an Android/iOS app where you can purpose your smart device as an eye and head motion tracker for PC gaming. This could be folded into Radeon Drivers to use a PC / laptop webcam as a neater solution.

There's also the potential (not discussed yet) to use the technology for something akin to foveated rendering, where the area of the screen you're looking at gets rendered at a higher resolution than the rest of the display. We're speculating here, and integrating that sort of thing — and integrating it well — would prove difficult, but there are plenty of future use cases for this type of technology.

The Microsoft Modern is one of the best webcams you can buy on a budget, beating out Logitech’s C920 with an arguably better picture and a definitively lower price. But with this discount, it’s an essential purchase for anyone looking to upgrade their webcam.

Right now, the Microsoft Modern Webcam is just $41.99 after a steep $28 price cut.

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As you can read in our Microsoft Modern Webcam review, provided you can look past the weirdly obvious name, this is a seriously good option for meetings and video calls with an impressive build quality.

It provides good fidelity across a range of lighting conditions and gives you the option to switch on HDR, which is incredibly rare amongst cameras at this price. Plus, you get the benefit of additional security thanks to the integrated privacy shutter and LED usage indicator.

So, what are you waiting for? If your laptop has the webcam equivalent of a potato or you need a cheap and high quality option for your PC build, this is the deal to get.

Even the best webcams can’t always measure up to what you’ll find on smartphones and especially DSLRs, so why not just strap a smartphone-shaped DSLR style webcam to the top of your computer monitor? That’s the solution behind startup Opal’s new Opal C1, an upcoming $300 webcam with a purportedly DSLR level sensor (no mirrors or viewfinder though) made specifically with Macs in mind.

Opal’s made up of former Apple, Beats and Uber employees, although I doubt the C1’s going to be able to pick you up from the bar. Instead, it’s aiming to be “the first professional webcam,” which is a bit of a stretch given how much compression Zoom and Google Meet put on video calls anyway. The 4K you’ll find on the likes of the Dell Ultrasharp Webcam is already a bit overkill for most users, even in professional settings. However, higher fidelity still does have its perks if you need to do more with your webcam than make video calls.

Currently in private, invite-only beta, the Opal C1 is essentially a big rectangle with a mirrorless 7.8mm 4K Sony sensor, a microchip capable of making “4 trillion operations per second,” and a large omnidirectional “MicMesh” for capturing high-quality, noise-canceled sound.

It’s not clear whether the chip is custom; however, as the website says, the camera both uses “Intel’s new 14nm VPU chip” but also something called the “Opal Trillium.” 

What is clear is that this webcam is made with Macs in mind. While you’re always free to use third-party software like Nvidia Broadcast, Opal’s own C1 software is “made exclusively for Mac.” This software is where you’ll find the camera’s ability to blur the background or use facial recognition to touch up and filter the image, so it’s a pretty hefty exclusion for PC users.

Still, this webcam aims for DSLR levels of picture, and at $300, it’s far less expensive than connecting a standalone DSLR to your computer. It also promises a 4K, 60 fps sensor with a 78-degree field of view, so it’s specced to keep up with existing webcam competition too. At the same time, with the compression that streaming and even video hosting services apply to devices, is it worth the extra $100 over the already high quality on devices like the Dell Ultrasharp Webcam and Razer Kiyo Pro?

I suppose we’ll have to wait to find out. The Opal C1 doesn’t have a public release date yet, but you can add your email to a reservation list for a chance to purchase a beta version.

About ten years ago, Intel began to tap into emerging markets like wearables, AR/VR applications, smartphones/tablets, and smart cameras for robotics in a bid to fuel its further growth. Few of the company's newly established businesses were a success, so in the recent year Intel pulled the plug on its smartphone, wearables, AR/VR, and some other efforts. This week the time came for its RealSense camera and computer vision business.  

In a bid to concentrate on its core businesses, such as developing and selling CPUs and SoCs for servers and client PCs as well as other applications, Intel decided to shut down its RealSense smart camera and computer vision business, the company confirmed to CRN. People, technologies, and IP developed by the company for RealSense products will be transitioned to better serve the company's new core businesses.  

"We are winding down our RealSense business and transitioning our computer vision talent, technology and products to focus on advancing innovative technologies that better support our core businesses and IDM 2.0 strategy," an Intel statement published by CRN reads. "We will continue to meet our commitments to our current customers and are working with our employees and customers to ensure a smooth transition." 

Intel established its RealSense business unit in 2014 ~ 2015 with the aim to develop computer vision technologies for a wide range of applications, from PCs to robots. The company has developed a pretty wide range of RealSense-branded products, including stereoscopic cameras, RGB cameras, a LiDAR, vision processor ASICs, and a number of other units. The company also uses RealSense for its drones.

While Intel had put rather significant efforts into its RealSense products and enabling hardware and software, the lineup has always remained a family of niche products aimed at emerging developers of applications that need computer vision. While computer vision technologies are gaining importance these days, large companies like automakers tend to develop their own technologies, whereas smaller makers do not need high volumes, whereas Intel is all about making products in high volumes. 

It remains to be seen how Intel uses technologies developed for its RealSense products going forward. Perhaps, Intel will be able to use some of the IP for its MobileEye division that develops self-driving cars and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), but at this point we can only speculate about Intel's intentions.

The pandemic may be easing in many places, and the best webcams may mostly be back in stock, but that’s not stopping Lenovo from releasing two new 1080p webcams to cash in on the work from home trend. Of course, with mainstays like the Logitech C920 easily available again, these cameras are going to need plenty of special features to compete. However, the Lenovo LC50 Monitor Webcam and MC50 Monitor Webcam are both so special that they’re unlikely to have very broad appeal.

Both of these webcams shoot at 1080p @ 30 fps, have a 4x digital zoom and come with two built-in noise cancelling microphones. They also both use autofocus and have a 90 degree field of view. But that’s all normal. It’s in how they’re built where you start to see just how these webcams stand out, both from each other and the competition.

First, both webcams have privacy shutters, a standard feature for Lenovo’s laptop webcams, but less common on standalone cameras. They also both have fairly generous tilt and swivel functionality. They tilt 30 degrees up and down and swivel 45 degrees side to side. They also each have lights that turn on when they’re recording (which Lenovo touts as a unique feature but is actually a fairly common inclusion). What’s special is in how these cameras physically attach to your monitor.

The LC50 connects to monitors magnetically, while the MC50 uses a special rail system that can be locked with an external key to keep your webcam from being stolen. But while these features provide extra utility, they also severely limit which monitors you can use these webcams with. Magnets definitely won’t attach to any of the monitors in my home office, and the MC50’s rail has to have a Lenovo monitor to attach to. 

There’s also the question of how useful locking your webcam to your monitor is in preventing theft. I suppose stealing a whole monitor from the office might be more conspicuous than just stealing a webcam?

Regardless, it’s encouraging to see companies experimenting with a method of mounting external webcams that doesn’t require the typical, always clumsy feet method. Lenovo expects to launch the LC50 Monitor webcam for $79 starting this September, and the MC50 Monitor webcam for $99 sometime in Q3 of this year.

Last year at this time, webcams were in such high demand and short supply that it was nearly impossible to find the best webcam and clear industry leader, Logitech's C920, in stock for anything less than scalper prices. That's when we started to see a slew of cameras from lesser-known brands such as Ausdom, whose AF640 we tested and found to be very similar in quality to the C920. 

The Ausdom AF640 has a similar design to the C920 with a form factor that makes it easy to mount on a monitor and rotate, along with a high-quality, built-in microphone. Like the C920, the AF640 records in 1080p, 30 fps, but it actually has a wider field of view (90 degrees versus 78 degrees) and its mic was unquestionably better in our tests. When we took the same pictures with both webcams, we noted that the difference were slight, though colors on the C920 were a bit more vibrant and images were just a bit more detailed.

Fast forward to spring 2021 and, with shortages improving, you can now snag a Logitech C920 for less than $80 and, at its regular price, score an Ausdom AF640 for $39. However, in an amazing early Prime Day sale, you can now score the AF640 for just $8.99 at Amazon after you apply the coupon code YJB57BK9 or just check the redeem button.

If you need a webcam, whether it's for your primary PC, as a spare or for a Raspberry Pi project, $8.99 is a hard price to resist. As you can see in the comparison images below, the quality is really good.

For more Prime Day savings, check out our Prime Day live blog and lists of the best Prime Day gaming PC and laptop deals, best Prime Day SSD deals, best Prime Day Monitor Deals, Best Prime Day Dell Gaming deals and the best Prime Day hardware deals overall. Our sister site, TechRadar, has a broader list of Amazon Prime Day deals that includes product categories we don't typically cover such as smart home devices, TVs and phones.

Have a fear of being spied on? Then look out because the Eyecam is an eye-opening, open-source, Raspberry Pi-powered camera that eerily resembles a human eye. Half pet, half unused concept from David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, this fleshy camera from Germany’s Saarland University is less of a Best Webcams contender and more of an art piece that highlights the surveillance we open ourselves up to when attaching sensors to personal devices.

“Imagine Eyecam waking up on its own,” the camera’s reveal video says. “Imagine bonding with Eyecam,” the video continues as a man pets the camera. “Imagine Eyecam becoming emotional,” the video eventually says, as the camera scowls.

The goal here, according to Eyecam creator Marc Teyssier, is to “broaden the discourse on sensing technologies and spark speculations on aestheticism and functions.”

That’s a lot of big words, but Teyssier’s website goes into deeper detail about the problems traditional cameras present by capturing data but not conveying emotion,. It also discusses the societal consequences of surrounding ourselves with sensing devices “up to the point where we become unaware of their presence.”

Well, Eyecam certainly does a good job of making me feel aware of it.

Kidding aside, Eyecam has a good point here. The idea of being spied on by a real human eye terrifies me, but keeping my webcam plugged in at all times without even putting a cover over it doesn’t (hackers, forget you read that).

Still, despite being branded as a “design fiction prototype,” you can totally build an Eyecam of your own right now, if for some reason you want to turn your monitor into a cyclops. All the software and .stl files for the Eyecam are free on Teyssier’s Github. You’ll need a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino Nano, a small camera and a 3D printer. You’ll also need plenty of gumption, since Teyssier’s build tutorial isn’t quite finished yet.

When it comes to the best webcams available right now, the Razer Kiyo ranks highly for its quality, built-in light and thoughtful design. And now, with this discount, there’s another reason why it's great.

For a limited time at Walmart, the Razer Kiyo is just $87, which makes it all the more appealing for anyone looking for an all-in-one option for streaming or a feature packed webcam that will make you look great on Zoom calls.

• More: Best Webcams
• Best Tech and PC Hardware Deals
• Best Gaming Microphones

Our own Andrew Freedman wrote a Razer Kiyo review for Laptop Mag when it launched back in 2017, and it is impressive to see how much it holds up even after a few years.

Capable of 720p at 60FPS or a FHD resolution at 30, the compact design makes this a versatile piece of kit that will slot into your setup no matter how big or small (helped by the universal screw mount for tripods on the bottom.

And of course, to stop any fuzziness of the imagery, the LED ring light keeps the picture bright and colorful.

Of course, there is a Razer Kiyo Pro available for those who can spring the two hundred bucks for it. But if you need something on the cheap that is good for streaming, the standard Kiyo offers great value for money.

Having all your telecommuting equipment in one dedicated device is an enticing promise, which is probably why ring-light equipped webcams like the Razer Kiyo exist. But as someone who still attends work meetings with a headset, even the best webcams still leave me wanting a separate microphone. That leaves demand for a proper all-in-one device, which is at least one reason why the Movo WebMic HD Pro Kickstarter hit its $15,000 goal in less than three hours when it launched earlier today.

Coming from audio equipment and smartphone recording accessory maker Movo, the WebMic HD Pro is essentially a cardioid condenser microphone (think the Blue Yeti or Razer Seiren) with a built-in 1080p @ 30 fps camera and halo ring light. There’s also a detachable stand that’s supposed to double as a handheld grip for more stable video, plus a clamp for attaching it to a monitor or laptop. 

We don't often cover Kickstarter projects, because they’re just too volatile and prone to making promises that are too big. But Movo’s a well-known company--a video journalism course I took at Columbia actually provided me with some Movo gear as part of the tuition. And given how necessary good recording equipment is right now, having a product that takes down the technical demand of managing multiple devices is appealing.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our concerns. Chief among them: We can’t imagine it’s easy to get the most flattering angles and the best audio at the same time with this device. Normally, flattering video angles tend to come from above (hence the 'Facebook angle' meme) while the best audio comes from a microphone that’s closer to your mouth. That means you’ll probably need to compromise between the two with the WebMic HD Pro, and even in Movo’s promotional images, you see a lot of sample use cases that would result in what we lovingly call the 'nose cam' effect, which is when a webcam is placed in a way that it shoots up your nostrils.

There’s also a lack of special features on the camera itself. There are 5 options listed on the Kickstarter, though all of them only capture footage at 30 fps, only two capture in 4K, and only two have the ring light. One option even only has the microphone, which seems to go so against the concept of the device that it almost shows a lack of confidence in it.

Finally, Movo doesn’t specialize in cameras themselves, so much as camera accessories, so we worry about video quality and low-light performance.

Still, the price is right. The 1080p WebMic HD Pro with the ring light, microphone and camera currently starts at $89 to “super early bird” backers, which is the same price as the similar Razer Kiyo, but will also get you that microphone functionality. That’s listed as 47% off the normal price, which would put its typical cost closer to $168, which is still great value given the device’s supposed functionality.

It’s also likely that this is one Kickstarter project that will come to fruition since Movo is such a well-known brand. In fact, because the Kickstarter project’s goal was so low, it was most likely put out to gauge interest in and promote the WebMic HD rather than actually fund it. With that in mind, it’s not too surprising to see a promised June delivery date.

Webcams that can capture footage at 1080p and 60 frames per second can be expensive, like  the $170 Logitech StreamCam or $200 Razer Kiyo Pro. There’s good reason for that, since 60 fps is a niche feature that’s best paired alongside video game footage. Unless you’re a game streamer, you probably won’t need it. But game streaming is also getting more accessible than ever from a technical standpoint, which is why budget 60 fps cameras like AverMedia’s new PW315 webcam are so enticing.

Coming in at $119, the AverMedia is still more expensive than 30 fps alternatives, but it does veer much closer to casual-use cameras like the Logitech C920 than other, more professional-focused 60 fps options. It also works well across lighting scenarios and comes with some cute though only somewhat useful post processing software. However, the camera’s image quality seems to have taken a hit along with its price.

Well-Lit Room 

Logitech C920 

Razer Kiyo Pro 

AverMedia PW315 Webcam 

I tested the AverMedia PW315 in a well-lit room alongside both the $79 Logitech C920 and the $200 Razer Kiyo Pro, and it’s in this scenario where the camera disappointed me most. While its 95-degree lens captured more of my background than either competitor (and without the fish eye effect present on the Kiyo Pro’s wide angle options), the AverMedia was the only camera to show grain in my room’s standard, most optimal lighting conditions. While photos taken with it look OK shrunken down or from a distance, zooming in shows heavy pixelation, to such a degree that I’d forgive you for thinking you’re looking at a 720p picture. 

That’s a shame, because the AverMedia webcam is also one of the few webcams I’ve tested to have almost perfect color accuracy out of the box. Unlike the C920, my skin doesn’t look cooler than usual, and unlike the Kiyo Pro, it doesn’t look warmer either. But then again, lower image quality tends to make everyone look better.

Low Light Room 

Logitech C920 

Razer Kiyo Pro

AverMedia PW315 Webcam 

I also tested the AverMedia PW315 in mid-day with my curtains drawn, my door shut and all artificial light sources turned off except for my monitor. The result? It looked better! Unlike the Logitech C920, which introduces some blur and takes a slight hit to image quality in low light, the AverMedia’s picture quality looks relatively unchanged. But in addition, my face looks brighter despite having fewer light sources, and colors look even more pleasing to the eye than before.

By contrast, the Razer Kiyo Pro presents a more true-to-life picture that better resembles what the light in my room actually looked like to my naked eyes when taking shots. Picture quality is still far ahead of either competitor, but if you want your dark rooms to look more well-lit than they actually are, the AverMedia seems to do that well.

It’s a shame that its grain persisted here, too.

Overexposed Room 

Logitech C920 webcam 

Razer Kiyo Pro Webcam

AverMedia PW315 Webcam 

Finally, I tested the AverMedia PW315 in an overexposed room, where I pointed my camera directly at my window. I normally don’t expect accurate shots from this situation, and instead use it to see how well each camera responds to heavily lit situations. For instance, you can see some of the Kiyo Pro’s light sensor technology at work in its overexposed shot, as it shows more of the world outside my window than any other camera here, albeit at the expense of seeing my face..

The AverMedia shocked me, however, by being the only of the three cameras to accurately show my face in overexposed conditions. As with my low light photos, I arguably look better here. By contrast, I have so much shadow covering my face in the Logitech and Razer photos that I almost appear demonic.

Yes, the AverMedia’s grain is still present in these shots, but it doesn’t really matter. It was the only camera to give me anything usable in such heavy light.

Build Quality of the AverMedia PW315 

The AverMedia PW315 has a thin, cylindrical design that feels lightweight and inexpensive but offers plenty of customizability when it comes to camera placement. The camera can tilt both up and down and swivel 360 degrees. There’s a hole on the bottom of its monitor mount to attach it to a tripod, and it fits snugly whether placing it on a monitor or a tripod. Its USB Type-A cord is 56.5 inches long, which also gave me plenty of room to attach it to either a front or rear port on my desktop. 

The AverMedia PW315 also had a built-in sliding privacy shutter, plus dual microphones that tend to produce loud but tinny and echo-filled audio.

As with most webcams, there’s also an LED that lights up on the AverMedia PW315 when it’s recording.

Special Features on the AverMedia PW315 

The AverMedia PW315 webcam is a color accurate webcam that’s resilient to both high and low light environments but suffers in quality more than I’d expect from its $119 price point. But special features is where this webcam makes its best argument for itself. Unlike most 60 fps webcams, which range from $50-80 more expensive than the AverMedia PW315, this camera can capture high frame rate footage on a budget. 

And to the PW315’s credit, those claims held out in my testing. When I navigated to OBS, turned on 60 fps recording, and took a video, I could easily see the clear uptick in frame rate without even trying. The video also only took up 20 more MB on my hard drive than a normal 30 fps video, and the extra frames helped counterbalance the lack of image quality, since the camera’s footage tended to look best in motion.

The AverMedia PW315’s other special feature is compatibility with AverMedia’s CamEngine software. You can use CamEngine to adjust your photos’ brightness, gamma and other settings, though most of these functions are available in other software like OBS and produce similar results there as well. 

But a facet of CamEngine that’s unique to the AverMedia PW315 is the ability to turn on AI framing, which attempts to follow you around as you move similar to the auto frame feature in Nvidia Broadcast. It’s an impressive utility, but I found it to be too slow and chunky for regular use. Slightly more useful is the ability to adjust the frame and zoom manually, although it’s possible to easily end up with negative space in your photos if you’re not careful. 

CamEngine also has a number of cute, Snapchat-esque virtual masks you can place over your face. The face tracking works surprisingly well here, even following you when you turn your head to the side, although there’s no real reason to use this over Snapchat’s free and more versatile software. 

Bottom Line 

AverMedia’s well known for its capture cards, and with products like the AverMedia PW315, it’s clear that the company has ambitions of moving beyond components and into peripherals, though that’s a far more crowded space. It’s going to have to step up image quality if it wants to compete with the best webcams.

There are some unique positives to the AverMedia PW315. It’s one of the cheaper 1080p @ 60 fps webcams from a known manufacturer on the market, and it’s resilient to both low light and overexposed environments. Its software also gives it a touch more customizability than your typical webcam, although much of its usability is perfunctory.

But its images are also grainy and heavily pixelated. It’s a problem for a $119 camera to have such drastically lower quality than a $79 competitor, especially when its 60 fps selling point is so niche. If you’re looking for a good casual use webcam and are confident with your room’s lighting, you can do better for cheaper. Meanwhile, if you want to stream at 60 fps, it might be worth spending the extra $80 on something like the Razer Kiyo Pro or Logitech Brio 4K to give your audience a more pleasant viewing experience. 

Coming to us from ClearOne, a company best known for office conferencing equipment, the ClearOne Unite 10 Webcam is the company’s first true budget webcam. It’s the first Unite series camera to be cheaper than a Logitech C920, which tops our list of best webcams, costing a modest $69 (on all listings we could find) versus the C920’s $79, and is the follow-up to the 1080p Unite 20 Pro Webcam. 

Our sister site PC Gamer listed the Unite 20 at number 5 on its webcam rankings thanks to its 120 degree field of view, but that camera also has the disadvantage of costing closer to $100 depending on where you buy it. That’s a lot for a 1080p webcam that lacks any special features outside of its wide FOV, given that plenty of the best webcams for casual use right now fall closer to the $50 - $60 range.

With that in mind, the Unite 10 is looking to serve those who don’t need to pay extra for an especially wide angle (PC Gamer recommended the Unite 20 for tabletop game streamers) but still want to telecommute at 1080p. That means it’s pretty light on anything but the basics -- the fanciest feature you’ll find here is autofocus and the built-in digital microphone. But with the Unite 10 boasting 1080p @ 30fps recording plus an 87 degree field of view, how does it hold up against the just slightly more expensive best-in-class Logitech C920, which also has 1080p @ 30fps recording but only a 78 degree field of view? 

Well-Lit Room 

Logitech C920

ClearOne Unite 10 Webcam 

Like a lot of webcams from lesser-known companies, the Unite 10 suffers from two glaring issues that might immediately disqualify it for some. The first is aggressive zoom-in, which rendered its supposedly large field-of-view relatively useless in our testing as it ended up showing off less of my background than more zoomed-out competition. The second is that it tends to portray colors as much warmer than they actually are.

While that first issue might actually be a pro for some, particularly for those who want to keep the action on their face during video calls, it’s always hard to justify a lack of color accuracy. Under normal lighting conditions in my office, which was mid-day with my lamp on and curtains up, I appeared considerably tanner on photos taken with the Unite 10 than I am in either real life or in photos taken with the Logitech C920. In particular, my cheeks looked like something off a Raggedy Anne doll.

While a little bit of extra color can be more flattering on some occasions, I found that wasn’t the case here, giving me a flushed appearance that overrode the mild but effective makeup job I had done that morning and was actually quite proud of.

The Unite 10 also suffers from the type of grain I’d expect to see from a 720p camera, though it’s only lightly apparent in a well-lit room. However, that grain becomes oppressive in lower light.

Low Light Room 

Logitech C920 

ClearOne Unite10 Webcam 

While the Unite 10 offers a usable, if not ideal, experience in optimal lighting conditions, working in low light introduced severe grain to any photos I took with it. For this test, I put my blinds down and turned off any lights in the room aside from my monitors. My Logitech C920 suffered a bit -- it kept the same photo quality and color profile, but you can notice significant glare on my face coming from my monitors, as well as a lack of focus as my camera tries to find its bearings in the dark room. However, the Unite 10 webcam became borderline unusable during this test.

The same unnatural warm tones I noticed in the last test persisted here, but were overshadowed by a significant drop in detail. Film grain is the defining feature of the shots I took with the Unite 10 in low light conditions, and while the camera will still work to show your basic presence in a video call, any photos you take with it in low light come across as if they were captured by a flip phone. This is not what I think ofwhen I hear “1080p.” 

Overexposed Room 

Logitech C920 webcam 

ClearOne Unite 10 Webcam 

If the Unite 10 Webcam was only borderline unusable in a poorly-lit room, an excessively lit room pushes it over the edge. To be fair to ClearOne’s webcam, not many cameras can handle being pointed directly at a window during the height of the afternoon. But while my Logitech C920 captured objects on my window sill just fine and did a decent job of silhouetting my facial features, the Unite 10 lost most of the detail on my face and instead showed a largely blank red oval with only vague impressions of a nose and mouth, plus creepy black shading where my eyes should have been.

While this test is a touch extreme even for the best webcams, it does enlighten (sorry) us about two of the Unite 10’s key issues. The first is that, regardless of whether the Unite 10 is operating with too little or too much light, it tends to favor warmer tones. Second, regardless of the lack of facial detail, the excess of light here has almost erased the issue of film grain, which confirms that low light can decrease the camera’s quality.

Design and Mic of ClearOne Unite 10

Build-wise, the ClearOne Unite 10 is also fairly standard. You can tilt it up or down, but that’s about it. And don’t be fooled by the ridges to its side. These are purely aesthetic, with the actual microphone being hidden inside a small slit on the left side. Unusually, the Unite 10 also doesn’t have an LED that turns on when it’s recording, so you might want to invest in an external webcam cover for it, which would raise the price. It also doesn’t have a tripod mount on its bottom, so don’t expect to mount it on anything other than a monitor.

The Unite 10’s built-in microphone is on par with other webcam microphones in its price range, which is to say that it’s compromised but usable. This microphone picks up plenty of background noise and leans on the quiet end, but ultimately leaves my voice clear. On the C920, by comparison, my voice is fuzzy, yet loud and not drowned out by background noise. Perfect built-in webcam microphones tend to be rare even among the pricier options, so choosing one over the other is almost always a matter of picking your poison rather than finding one that stands above the rest.

One area where the Unite 10 definitively comes up short (heh) is cord length. While the Logitech C920’s cord is over 5 ft long and thus can easily stretch behind my desk and to just about any port on my tower, I can’t say the same thing about the Unite 10’s cord, which is only 4.5 feet when pulled taut. It doesn’t sound like much of a difference at first, but those lost inches meant I couldn’t easily reach all of my computer’s USB ports like I can with the Logitech, especially those on the front. 

Special Features 

The Unite 10 webcam also appears to have one more trick up its sleeve at first glance, though it fails to offer more than the competition upon further examination. That’s ClearOne’s Zoom-like Collaborate service, which sets itself apart from its competition by having a free usage tier with unlimited call time. ClearOne’s branding heavily pushes the service, which I tried using both the Unite 10 and the C920. The UI is navigable enough, including the same customizable miniature view that you can use to keep up with conversations when tabbed out that Zoom has, although I found that compression was harsh and that lag was pretty apparent. For instance, my framerate on both cameras looked stunted in Collaborate, but was flawless in recordings. 

Because Collaborate is free, however, there’s no harm to trying it out, and it doesn’t take any value away from the Unite 10 despite any shortcomings. The issue here is that it’s not unique to the Unite 10. You’d be forgiven for thinking from the Unite 10’s advertising that you can only access Collaborate’s free tier by getting it as a bundle with a ClearOne-branded camera. But it’s actually open to anyone regardless of camera. That’s great for consumers and smart for software that depends on having a lot of users, but it means that we can’t really count it as a special feature that the Unite 10 has over its competition.

Bottom Line 

After our testing, we were ultimately left with a webcam that borders on unusable under all but the most ideal lighting conditions, plus lacks swivel or tripod options and comes with a short cord. The Unite 10 makes up for these shortcomings somewhat thanks to its $69 price tag, but it’s difficult to recommend when paying just $10 more will net you the industry’s gold standard, the Logitech C920. The one benefit here is that the Unite 10 is more regularly available than the C920. But given that other competitors like Aukey and Ausdom have been able to better emulate the C920 at closer to $50, the Unite 10 is still hard to recommend. 

If you've been shopping for a high-quality webcam lately, you might think you'd have an easier time finding an RTX 3080 card or a Ryzen 5000 CPU. For most people, "high-quality" means a Logitech C920 series camera, the big Kahuna of webcams. Unfortunately, in this new work-from-home world, everyone is thinking the same thing and the C920 and its variants (C920e, C920x) are either out-of-stock or available only at jacked-up prices most of the time.

The good news is that there are a lot of excellent Logitech C920 alternatives, which we've tested and ranked on our best webcams to buy now page. One of our favorites, the Aukey PC-LM1E, also known as the Aukey FHD webcam, is now on sale for just $29, reduced from $59. That's one of the best Cyber Monday deals you'll see today.

Below, you can see a couple of sample shots we took with the Aukey FHD webcam. While its colors are a little warm, its image quality was very strong and nearly o par with the Logitech C920 and more-expensive competitors like the Ausdom AF640 (on sale today for $71). 

As you can see, the red in the Tom's Hardware logo on the hat is a really vibrant red and images in the foreground, particularly the skin on the face and hands look smooth and sharp. We shot these near a window so one side of the face is better lit than the other, but your mileage will vary based on your environment.

The Aukey FHD webcam also has a couple of features that even the C920 doesn't. Its base rotates a full 3060 degrees and it tilts up and down further than Logitech's camera.

The camera records at up to 1080p, 30fps and it has an excellent built-in microphone. If anything, we found the mic occasionally too sensitive as it picked up some background noise. For $29, this is a steal.

For more savings, check our list of best Cyber Monday deals overall, best Cyber Monday monitor deals, best Cyber Monday SSD deals, best Cyber Monday CPU deals, best Cyber Monday graphics card deals, best Cyber Monday laptop deals, best Cyber Monday gaming PC deals and best Cyber Monday Raspberry Pi deals.

One of Logitech's latest flagship webcams is back in stock on Amazon. The Logitech C920x was hard to keep on shelves this year due to continuing supply chain delays rippling throughout many tech industries.

The Logitech C920x is in high demand with a well-earned reputation. The Logitech C920 series is even on our list of best webcams for 2020.

We reported on the Logitech webcam shortage as recently as April, with an update in August. Even though the C920x is available again, it's listed with a considerable mark up in price through some sellers, especially ones with promises to deliver faster. That said, you can find units available at a lower price with alternative shipping options and sellers, many of which are getting fulfilled through Amazon. And even at $20, the markup is still less than we've seen up to now.

Stock is also fluctuating between sellers, so don't give up right away even if the site says there are only a few units left. Amazon itself even has an option to pre-order the webcams for December at normal price, though it seems to come and go.

The C920x webcam has Full HD 1080p support with the ability to record up to 30 fps. It has automatic HD lighting adjustment features as well as the ability to autofocus.

The camera supports stereo audio recording by means of two built-in microphones. Users can also choose to use Logitech Capture--software designed for capturing input from Logitech devices.

It's not clear how long these will be available in stock. Visit the Logitech C920x Pro HD webcam page on Amazon for more details and checkout options and take a look at our Amazon promo codes to see if you can save on the C920x Pro. You should also check out our list of Logitech promo codes and look for any alternatives too. 

Telecommuting continues to remain a norm for many workers as 2020 reaches its end, with some companies even declaring that it might remain even once the pandemic dies down. With that, webcams from well-known manufacturers like Logitech and Razer have flown off the shelves, leaving the rest of us to stick to products from lesser-known competitors. 

We’ve been maintaining a list of the best webcams to buy now that the whole category has become a bit of a free-for-all, and now our #2 recommendation on that list- the 4K Looca webcam- is on sale for $50 at Amazon.

The 4K Looca webcam is an 8 megapixel camera with a video resolution of 3840 x 2160 and an FOV of 75 degrees. In testing, we found that its images are much clearer than most of the other webcams on the market right now, with the only drawback being that it zooms in heavily on your face. That can actually be a plus for videoconferences, though, and the webcam’s mostly spot-on color accuracy and included tripod only make the deal better.

Even if good webcams weren’t so hard to come by right now, $50 for a 4K camera would still be a great deal. If you’re in the market for a new webcam, pandemic or no, this is a great place to start without breaking the bank.

If you've been looking for a name-brand webcam at a reasonable price, you may be looking quite a bit longer. The market continues to deal with a supply shortage as the new telecommuting normal shows no signs of stopping. Though Logitech, the clear leader in webcams,  told us in April that supplies would return to normal by May, it's still difficult to find one of the company's webcams -- especially its popular C920 series -- in stock at anywhere near the MSRP.

Perhaps because of Logitech shortages, new competitors are appearing almost daily and some have even made our list of the best webcams.  However, the demand for Logitech cameras remains practically insatiable and the company says it's trying to keep up with demand but can't say when the shortages will subside. 

“While we cannot commit to a specific date,” a Logitech PR representative explained to me over email today, “we are doing everything we can to increase the [webcam] supply, especially with the upcoming back to school season”

This comes months after our April 7th email interview with the company, where a representative confidently told us we could expect more webcams to hit store shelves in early-May. “We have aggressively increased production,” they explained. “We have every confidence that demand will be met in the next 4-6 weeks.”

Even big box stores were sure that Logitech webcams would come back into stock soon, with then-current B&H listings promising new stock would arrive in June.

However, as the pandemic continues and more states abandon re-opening procedures, webcams remain in as high a demand and as short a supply as they did back during the lockdown’s early days, and Logitech’s products are still either sold out or price-gouged in most stores.

“We have aggressively increased production,” Logitech repeated to me over email earlier today, before briefly delving into why supply is still so low. “However, due to high demand, we continue to sell out quickly leading to the ‘out of stock’ messages you see on our website.”

The representative then directed me to the company’s recent July 20th quarterly report for a more detailed explanation. Here, Logitech President and CEO Brecken P. Darrel told investors that “PC webcams continued the strong momentum exiting last quarter with Q1 sales more than doubling to the highest quarterly level in a decade...we’re ramping our capacity to meet demand, working to overcome component shortages as we do. We expect Q2 supply to improve, but still -- it still could remain pretty tight throughout the quarter.”

In both this presentation and our email interview, it’s clear that the company is now, wisely, avoiding setting expectations for when exactly we can expect supply to normalize again.

We don’t blame Logitech for initially overestimating production, given that states like California have made similarly overly optimistic calls. The pandemic is hard to predict.

Still, it seems like we’re going to have to wait a while for Logitech webcams to be readily available again- perhaps through the next financial quarter. In the meantime, you can buy some Logitech webcams marked up through third-party sellers on stores like Amazon- the normally $80 Logitech C920 is currently selling for $158 new on Amazon while the normally $50 Logitech C310 is currently selling for $67 used. Alternatively, you can check the official Logitech site, where webcams frequently enter and leave stock by the minute (the C920 shifted from being in-stock to being out-of-stock as I wrote this article) and there is a current order processing delay of up to 7 days.
 

With coronavirus forcing “non-essential” workers to work from home, tools for building a home office are selling out almost as much as toilet paper. We recently covered the best webcams that are still available to buy and explained how to use a Raspberry Pi as a PC webcam, but there are other options out there. If you need to video conference now and you can’t wait for a delivery or don't have a Raspberry Pi with camera module, you can use your phone or DSLR as a webcam.

How to use a Phone as a Webcam

With built-in video meeting apps like Facetime, most modern smartphones already come with video conferencing in mind. This means that, at the very least, distressed work-from-homers can join video calls from straight from their phone. But what if you want to take calls at your desk, using your phone’s camera as a plug-in accessory?

For both iPhone and Android, there are apps to do just that.

On iPhone, the most popular webcam app is EpocCam, with an average 4.3 star rating across 15.5k user reviews. EpocCam is a free download with a paid upgrade option that allows either a Windows PC or a Mac to read an iPhone as a webcam, either over Wi-Fi or using a USB connection. You’ll have to install separate drivers to your target computer from EpocCam’s site, but after that, you’re good to go.

Out of the box, EpocCam lets you choose between streaming your front or back phone camera, and ets you take advantage of your phone’s flashlight and autofocus while using it as a webcam. It boasts full compatibility with video chat and streaming programs like Skype and OBS, where your phone’s input will just show up as “EpocCam” in your webcam options.

The free version of EpocCam does have a catch in that it only offers sub-HD 640 x 480 pixel resolutions, but the $8.00 EpocCam HD version does offer full 1080p support, as well as background replacement on devices with a TrueDepth camera, which includes most recent iPhones.

EpocCam is still available on Android, though user reviews aren’t as confident, averaging 3 stars for the free version and 2 stars for the paid version. Instead, most Android users seem to have shifted to IP Webcam, a free app that has an average of 4 stars across 90k reviews.

IP Webcam is a home security app that lets you stream your Android phone’s camera to any web browser over local Wi-Fi. However, it also includes drivers for emulating a webcam in video chat programs such as Skype, at the caveat of no audio support. Just download the app, press the “Start Server” button, and enter the IP address that shows up on your phone to begin streaming your phone’s video to your computer. From there, you’ll be able to download drivers for either Windows or Linux that will let you set a resolution and use your phone as a webcam in video chat.

IP Webcam also allows video recording, easy uploads to Dropbox, activation upon motion and sound detection, and bonus niceties like text overlays. There is a paid version available for $3.99, although the only additions are a customizable UI and Tasker integration (for automating your phone’s processes). For basic video conferencing, you shouldn’t need either. 

How to use a DSLR as a webcam

If you somehow have a DSLR on hand, but not a webcam, there’s a good chance you can actually use your DSLR to substitute one. 

1. Check to see if your camera is either Nikon or Canon branded. If not, you're out of luck.

2. Download the free SparkoCam software from the company’s main site, which also has a full list of supported webcams at the bottom of its home page. 

3. Plug your DSLR into your PC using the cable that came with it. This will usually be either a microUSB, miniUSB, or full USB cable, depending on the camera. If you’ve lost your original cable, you’ll most likely be able to use a third-party replacement, so long as it’s the right type.

4. Click on the device tab in Sparkocam, where it should auto-detect your camera. 

5. Open Skype or any other video chat app and select “SparkoCam” as your webcam. You’ll have to find your own microphone, but otherwise, you’ll be set.

SparkoCam also includes options to change your DSLR’s exposure, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance, as well as add overlay effects like glasses or hats. The free version does come with a watermark, so you will need to pay for a pro license to remove it. Licenses offering DSLR support start at $50.00.

Logitech has “aggressively increased production to focus on more quantities of webcams” and has “every confidence that demand will be met in the next 4-6 weeks,” the webcam (and general accessories) maker told Tom’s Hardware today. 

Webcam demand is high right now, as much of the world moves to a work-from-home ecosystem, due to the coronavirus. Specifically, webcam sales are up 179% according to the NPD market research group. Unfortunately, this has led to shortages across more general sellers, like Amazon and Walmart, and even more tech-focused retailers, like Newegg. 

As such, we've sought to help by writing a guide detailing the best webcams still available to customers as stock sells out. Here, we were able to include our personal favorite webcam, the Logitech C920, but added a note that stores with stock of it are hard to find and that listings are often marked up.

Not satisfied with that caveat, we reached out to Logitech to learn how COVID-19 has impacted its supply chain and when we can expect new webcam shipments to hit stores.

“With a dramatic shift in remote work, distance learning and telemedicine over the past few weeks, many Logitech products are in high demand across the globe,” a company representative told us over email. "Our factories are well-positioned to meet ‘normal’ demands of our business; however, the events of the last few weeks have significantly changed that demand, and we are increasing production to meet those needs.”

A B&H listing says it expects more Logitech webcams in June. Logitech confirmed that better availability by then and, in fact, said we should see more availability by May. 

“We have aggressively increased production to focus on more quantities of webcams in order to meet the high demand. We are utilizing every distribution option to improve supply and each week more supply is coming in to fulfill market demand,” the rep said. “We have every confidence that demand will be met in the next 4-6 weeks.”

Price Gouging

Since the pandemic has worsened, we've seen pricing gouging on Logitech and other webcams and office products. We asked Logitech about the situation, and the vendor said it has limited control over the issue. 

“While Logitech sets an MSRP, we do not set or control retail pricing," the spokesperson explained. "Unfortunately, we have seen the occasional price gouging by bad actors on some online marketplaces. Where possible, we report them as soon as we become aware of it.”

So, Logitech is aware of the situation, but can’t do much about it. On that note, it might be best to wait to buy any Logitech webcams until 4-6 weeks from now, when the company claims it will be able to meet the current high demand.

Making Adjustments 

While webcam makers are seeing more demand from individuals working at home, public sector entities, such as schools, hospital and governments, are also impacting demand. 

“With the proliferation of cloud apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google, we’re seeing a lot of meetings take place over video...Individuals as well as businesses and institutions are all looking for these solutions,” Logitech’s representative said. 

Going into specific needs, she said Logitech is “seeing business use cases for individuals who have switched to communicating or sharing content over video, such as fitness instructors and gyms, educators and hospitals leveraging telehealth.”

The vendor also had an explanation as to why so many people and groups are buying external webcams when most laptops come with built-in cameras.

"While laptop and other built-in cameras can be useful, webcams provide higher quality video. This offers users more versatility to where they can set their workspace based on lighting, for example," the rep said. 

The NPD market research group reported record U.S. sales of computers and productivity peripherals in the first three weeks of March, as most of the country's workforce adapts to the new work-from-home status quo, starting at a 31% uptick for mice and ranging all the way up to a 179% increase for webcams, as reported by Yahoo Finance Sunday. 

“Whether working or learning from home, productivity hardware is required, and with many Americans settling into this new reality, we saw historic sales increase over the first two weeks of March,” NPD group vice president of technology and mobile Stephen Baker said in a March 30 blog post. 

This mirrors a statement IDC vice president of market research group Linn Huang made to Yahoo Finance, characterizing the new demand as a “‘stuck-at-home’ bubble."

“There are a lot of casual sort of tech users nowadays who are comfortable carrying most of their computer needs in their pocket with their phone. And now that they’re stuck at home, they are realizing how important the other stuff is," Huang told Yahoo Finance. 

Describing products becoming personal needs that are typically supplied by an office, NPD’s numbers show a 29% increase in router sales, a 31% increase in mouse sales, a 40% increase in both laptops and desktops, a 64% increase in keyboards, a 118% increase in docking stations, a 134% increase in PC headsets, a 138% increase in PC monitors and a massive 179% increase in webcams (naturally, it's become hard to find one -- for help, here are the best webcams you can still buy)  compared to the same time period in 2019. 

All of this reflects statements from Nvidia two weeks ago about increasing demand in its mobile, workstation, virtual machine and cloud sectors.

March's pandemic-fueled PC sales increase also marks the first instance of PC sales numbers going up, aside from a mild 2.7% bump in 2019, in eight years. 

However, IDC’s Huang isn’t confident about the industry’s near future beyond that. The exec told Yahoo Finance that most of the current tech stock is leftover from a winter season overstocking influenced by the U.S./China trade war. Huang said Q2 might feature a dwindling supply in comparison, as China recovers from factory closures caused by Lunar New Year and the coronavirus.

“By the time we go into Q3, we could be months into a global recession, and so we’re concerned about how consumer confidence will track then," Huang said.

Tom’s Hardware has largely reported on recovering supply chains within the past few weeks, though coronavirus-related shipping roadblocks could still reduce consumer availability for tech in the next quarter.

It's not often that a seven-year-old peripheral is still the leader in its field, but that's the story of the Logitech C920, the best all-around consumer webcam for themoney. First released in 2012, this 1080p, USB camera captures crystal-clear images with bright colors and wide angles and even offers great audio capture through its dual microphones. Now, for Prime Day, Amazon has the Logitech C920 on sale for $39.99, the lowest price it has ever been.

• Logitech C920 Webcam for $39

I can vouch for the C920, because I've been using it as my home webcam since I bought one in 2015. At work, I use the $88, business-oriented C930e, which is nearly identical but has a slightly wider field of view and a privacy shutter.

Logitech makes a few other, pricier cameras that are basically the C920 with a couple of extra features. The $64 C920s is the same camera with a privacy shutter while the $74 C922x adds green-screening technology that replaces the background behind you. But, for most people, those aren't must-have features.

Logitech's camera design offers the kind of image quality you won't find on other external webcams and it blows away even the best built-in laptop webcams. Because it uses USB, you can use the camera in a variety of applications. It's compatible with a Raspberry Pi so you can use one to create a home security system or do facial recognition.

The C920 is so accurate that many businesses and government agencies use them for taking official photos; I always see this camera at passport control when I'm entering another country coming back home to the U.S.

At $39, the Logitech C920 is $10 less than it normally sells for and the lowest Amazon has ever sold it for. If you don't own an external webcam, this offers a quantum improvement over whatever is built into your laptop. If you already own a C920, this might be a good time to buy another to use with a second computer or to carry in your bag for trips.

For more savings, check out our list of best Amazon Prime Day deals and best pc hardware deals overall as well as dedicated lists of current sales on ssds, cpus, gpus, gaming laptops and Raspberry Pi stuff.

Intel announced a new standalone inside-out tracking camera for autonomous devices that require high-performance guidance and navigation.

Intel RealSense Tracking Camera T265

Intel designed this type of camera for lightweight robots and drones that require navigation even where GPS service is not available -- for instance, in warehouses or remote outdoor areas.

Agriculture is another use for this type of technology. Robots can use the T265 camera to navigate farmland in a precise pattern and avoid obstacles. The camera could also be used for autonomous delivery robots inside hospital wards.

Sagi Ben Moshe, the vice president and general manager of Intel's RealSense Group, said:

“Understanding your environment is a critical component for many devices. The T265 was designed to complement our existing Intel RealSense Depth Cameras and provide a quick path to product development with our next-generation integrated V-SLAM technology.”

V-SLAM stands for visual simultaneous localization and mapping, which is a technology that uses image processing to construct a representation of the explored zone by the robot, which also uses it to determine its location.

Intel T265 Technology

According to Intel, the T265 camera delivers six degrees of freedom (6DoF) inside-out tracking by gathering inputs from two fish-eye cameras, each with an approximate 170-degree range of view. All the position calculations are performed directly on the device, which allows the T265 to run on devices with very low compute resources.

The T265 camera itself uses a Movidius Myriad 2 visual processing unit (VPU) that handles the necessary data tracking on the machine. Intel said the only additional hardware needed is sufficient non-volatile memory to boot the device and USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection to provide it with 1.5W of power.

The RealSense T265 tracking camera is now available for pre-order for $199 and will start shipping on February 28.

Intel launched a new generation of RealSense depth cameras this week, and they feature stereo cameras, updated depth modules, and Intel RealSense D4 vision processors. Intel’s RealSense D400 Series Depth Cameras offer advanced computer vision capabilities in a convenient form factor with USB connectivity. But these cameras aren’t built for consumers; you need to be a developer to get any meaningful use out of them.

Intel said it designed the new RealSense D400-series cameras for makers, educators, and developers. The D400-series cameras come in a compact USB-powered form factor for easy deployment in hardware prototyping projects. The USB connectivity also makes the new RealSense D400 cameras convenient options for prototyping software that takes advantage of the new depth modules and the integrated vision processor.

“Many of today’s machines and devices use 2D image recognition-based computer vision, but with Intel RealSense’s best-in-class depth technology, we are redefining future technologies to ‘see’ like a human, so devices and machines can truly enrich people’s lives,” said Sagi Ben Moshe, vice president and general manager of the RealSense Group at Intel. “With its compact, ready-to-use form, the Intel RealSense D400 Depth Camera series not only makes it easy for developers to build 3D depth sensing into any design, but they are also ready to be embedded into high-volume products.”

Intel’s RealSense D400 series includes two cameras that serve somewhat different purposes. The RealSense D415 camera features rolling shutter sensors with small lenses that have a narrow field of view. It also includes an Intel RealSense module D410 depth sensor, which processes depth information from the stereo cameras in real time. Intel said the narrow field of view of the D415 provides high depth resolution, which is “ideal for precise measurement.” The combination of smaller lenses, rolling shutter sensors, and the D410 module allow Intel to keep the price of the RealSense D415 under $150.

The RealSense D400-series also includes the RealSense D435 depth camera, which offers global shutter sensors and larger lenses for better low-light performance than the cheaper D415 camera. The D435 also features a more powerful RealSense module D430. Intel said that the D435 camera is the “preferred solution for applications such as robotic navigation and object recognition.” The RealSense D435 with its larger lenses and global shutter sensor is somewhat more expensive than the RealSense D415, but it's still under $200.

Both RealSense D400-series cameras support depth output 1280 x 720 active stereo depth resolution at up to 90 fps. The D400-series cameras can also capture RGB video at up to 1080p, but we experienced significant frame drops at that resolution. They can capture 720p video at a smooth 30 fps.

The Intel RealSense D400-series cameras feature a strong aluminum outer shell, which should protect the components from the elements and from abuse. The aluminum body of both cameras include slots on the top and bottom to allow air to pass through and keep the components cool. The bottom of each camera includes a standard ¼” thread for a tripod mount. Intel includes a miniature tripod in the box, but we’d suggest getting something a little sturdier for long-term use. The back of both cameras also includes two smaller thread points that you can use to mount the camera to the device you’re building.

So, What Can You Do With These Things?

Intel sent us one of each RealSense D400 cameras ahead of the launch so that we could give them a test run. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do a whole lot with them. Unless you have a development background, which we do not have, the RealSense D415 and D435 cameras aren’t much use right now. Currently, there are no applications available that support the D400-series--you must create your own.

Intel’s RealSense depth camera platform isn’t new; the company has several devices on the market already. But the new cameras aren’t compatible with the existing RealSense drivers. Intel released a new RealSense software development kit alongside the new cameras, and the old software isn’t compatible with the new version. We tried a variety of RealSense apps, but not one of them detected our cameras.

We were, however, able to play around with the tools in the software developer kit. The RealSense SKD 2.0 includes the Intel RealSense Viewer application, which allows you to see what the camera sees and adjust the camera’s settings. From here, you can configure the two infrared cameras, the depth camera, and the RGB camera to suit your needs.

The RealSense Viewer application is split into three panes. The left pane is the source window, which allows you to select the camera that you wish to adjust. On the right, you’ll find the Preview pane, which allows you to see one or more camera feeds. The Output pane, found below the Preview pane, give you information about the camera’s behavior.

The RealSense Viewer software can address multiple cameras, and each RealSense D400-series camera has its own individually addressable stereo modules and RGB camera. You must enable the module that you wish to view in the preview pane, and you have to make your resolution and frame rate configuration changes before enabling the camera. The software doesn’t allow for on-the-fly adjustment to those values.

The RGB camera offers a few basic adjustments such as the resolution, frame rate, and color profiles. The camera supports 1080p video, but you can scale the resolution down as low as 320 x 180 to save bandwidth if you don’t need the crisp video. The RGB camera also supports 60, 30, 15, and 6 fps video feeds. You can also toggle between auto exposure or manual control, which allows you to adjust brightness, contrast, exposure, gain, gamma, hue, saturation, sharpness, and white balance independently. Exposure changes can be made while the camera is streaming.

The options for the Stereo Module are somewhat more complex. Like the RGB camera, you can adjust the resolution of the Stereo module. It supports 424 x 240 up to 1280 x 800 in several different aspect ratios. It also supports 90, 60, 30, 25, 15 and 6 fps modes. The Stereo Module options panel handles the configuration for the depth camera and the two infrared cameras. You can choose to enable one, two, or all three modules at once. These options must be selected before enabling the camera.

The Stereo Module allows you to make several adjustments to the video feed while the cameras are enabled. You can change the Visual Preset of the depth camera, which adjusts the accuracy of the depth perception for different use cases. You can select the Short Range option, which ignores the background beyond roughly 2-feet, or the High Accuracy mode if you need a precise depth profile of your surroundings. Intel provides five pre-configured profiles, and you can also create a custom profile if the presets don’t work for you.

You can change the exposure and the gain, and you can raise or lower the laser power. These adjustments can be made with the live preview open, so you can watch how the sliders change the image as you adjust them. The settings don’t allow you to disable the infrared emitter, but you can turn the power down low enough that the camera no longer detects the pattern of infrared dots from the emitter. We found it fascinating to watch how the IR lights affected the accuracy of the depth camera. When the lights are not visible, the depth accuracy drops off considerably. However, we found it interesting that the intensity of the IR pattern has little to no effect on the depth accuracy after a certain point, which tells us that developers can fine tune this setting to maximize accuracy while conserving power.

The Stereo Module configuration pane also offers depth visualization options, including a variety of visual presets. You can choose from Dynamic, Fixed, Near, or Far, which changes how the depth pane highlights the surroundings. You can also change the color scheme for different needs. You can select Jet, which assigns colors to different depth values, like a topographical map, but with the colors of a typical heat map. The Classic preset uses blue to represent objects that are near, red to define distant objects, pink to highlight medium distance objects. The Bio, Cold, and Warm options are a lot like Classic, but with different contrasting colors. The software also offers Black to White and White to Black options; a Quantized view, which is like Black to White that’s brighter; and a Pattern option, which looks like a back and while kaleidoscope. The software also allows you to define the minimum and maximum depth perception.

The Stereo Module also offers an advanced mode with copious options, such as Depth Control, Color Correction, Depth Table options, and nearly a dozen other advanced controls that we’re not familiar with and would be best left to visualization professionals. You can also make changes to the post-processing settings by adjusting the Decimation Filter, Depth Disparity, Spatial Filter, and Temporal filter, which each offer multiple adjustment settings.

When you adjust the camera settings, you’ll see the changes in the preview pane. Here you can see the cameras that you have enabled. If only one is running, you’ll see it in the full screen view. When you have more than one video feed enabled, they all show up at the same time. Two live previews would be side-by-side, and three or more cameras show up in a quadrant view.

The preview pane also offers a 3D view, which allows you to visualize the depth profile in real-time. In the upper right corner of the RealSense Viewer, you’ll find a button that toggles between the 2D preview and the 3D preview. Like a 3D modeling application, you can move the camera around to see the depth of your space. This view works with one camera, but you would need multiple RealSense cameras in opposing corners to create a comprehensive 3D map of the space in real time.

The RealSense SDK 2.0 also includes another application called the Depth Quality Tool. This tool looks just like the RealSense Viewer app, but it’s designed for diagnostics. This application allows you to adjust the resolution and frame rate in real time and it records live metrics which you can dump into a report to examine later. To use the Depth Quality Tool, you must point the RealSense camera towards a flat surface.

Promising Device, Now We Need Software

Intel isn’t marketing the RealSense D400-series to consumers, but with sub-$200 price tags and advanced depth sensing capabilities, we imagine there could be several reasons for people to want one of these cameras at home. Older models of RealSense device enable things like automatic background removal without a green screen, or 3D scanning objects and people for use in modeling software or product previews online. The new cameras should provide better accuracy for both those use cases if the software developers embrace the new devices.

For the most part, it appears that Intel is more focused on making these devices accessible and adaptable for hardware designers. We can see the D400-series cameras becoming a standard addition to every high-school and university robotic lab. Computer vision is an important advancement in the tech sector, and to see this technology available at such an affordable price leads us to believe we’ll see a wide variety of devices with computer vision capabilities sooner than later. It’s up to hardware and software designers to figure out what those devices will be.

The RealSense Depth Camera D415 is available through Intel’s website for $149, and the D435 model is available for $179. Intel began shipping the cameras on January 18, but “due to overwhelming demand” the cameras are on back-order, and the company is unable to provide accurate ETAs for new orders at the moment.

When it comes to webcams for desktops, most of us likely want something that does one task, and one task only: capture a video image. We don’t care all that much about the image quality, although perhaps we don’t want the webcam to look all too clunky on top of our monitor. Today, Logitech announced BRIO – a 4K webcam for those of us who do care. The webcam is also known as the Logitech 4K Pro Webcam, and with it Logitech is stepping away from numbered product names for webcams such as the C920 or C930e, which didn’t give consumers much insight about the product.

What Can This Thing Do?

The Logitech 4K Pro Webcam comes with a 13-megapixel sensor that can stream, you guessed it, a 4K image, although you’ll be hard-pressed to find applications that support live 4K streaming for conferencing. Fortunately, the webcam comes with a heap of features beyond just a 4K resolution that make it interesting. For starters, aboard is a second infrared LED and sensor, which paired with the primary sensor and some software trickery makes the webcam Windows Hello certified, meaning you can use it for facial recognition as a login securely – the infrared sensor ensures that “hackers” won’t be able to login to your system by holding your family portraits in front of it. Allegedly, Microsoft even claims that the system is so accurate that identical twins won’t be able to log into each other’s systems.

Logitech Rightlight 3 and HDR ensure that the lighting will look notably better than most webcams in bright or high-contrast situations, and due to the large sensor, users can opt to adjust the viewing angle to 65-degree, 78-degree, and 90-degree fields of view. 4K streaming works at 30FPS, whereas the webcam can stream 1080p at 60FPS and even 720p at 90FPS. However, the 4K functionality only works when the webcam is plugged into a USB 3.0 port. It also comes with a 5x zoom feature with which it can stream a 1080p image zoomed in 5x without any upscaling.

Physically, the webcam comes not only with a standard adjustable clip you can use to place it atop your monitor, but also a tripod thread, privacy shutter, and a USB Type-C connector at the rear. Included with it is a USB Type-C to a USB 3.0 Type-A connector.

Is This The 4K Webcam You're Looking For?

If by now you’re asking yourself the above question, chances are that the 4K Pro Webcam is not for you. However, Logitech is targeting YouTube streamers that want an easy step up in video quality, as well as business users that need the additional security: the facial recognition may be highly valuable in certain branches and customs, and the background replacement or background blur may be useful in offices where sensitive information might be in sight. Currently, the background replacement feature isn’t quite 100%, but Logitech is working on improving it, and indicated that it's experimenting with the use of the IR sensor to improve the background/subject separation.

The Logitech 4K Pro Webcam is available immediately from Logitech directly if you absolutely have to have it today, and will be coming to e- and retailers over the coming weeks. Pricing sits at $199 in the U.S. and €239 in Europe.

At CES, Lenovo announced its latest X1-branded products, including the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ThinkPad X1 Yoga, and ThinkPad X1 Tablet, as well as the new Miix 720 detachable notebook.

Lenovo seems to want to keep an open mind going into 2017 about the devices consumers would like to use. It has already created a range of different types of notebooks to cater to different users and has some of the most popular notebook brands, such as the high-end ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the Yoga tablet.

The company said it will continue to focus on this range of devices, while also working on new types of devices such as VR headsets or smart home devices.

“Our approach to innovation is to ensure we’re constantly evolving and understanding how technology is infused within every individual, business and home,” said Gianfranco Lanci, president and chief operating officer, Lenovo. “We’re dedicated to understanding our customers and will never stop creating better experiences, whether PCs for work, play or gaming, next generation AR/VR innovation or within the smarter home,” he added.

ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Lenovo claimed the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon is “the lightest 14-inch business notebook,” weighing just 2.5 pounds (1.13 kg). Despite its thinness and low weight, the company claimed that the notebook can reach up to 15 hours of battery life. The display will come with either a 1080p or a 1440p resolution, the latter which may offer somewhat lower battery life.

Some of of Carbon’s more unique features this year include support for LTE-A, as well as WiGig wireless technology. It also comes with three Thunderbolt ports, a fingerprint reader that’s powered by a dedicated biometric chip, as well as a new face recognition infrared camera for Windows Hello seamless authentication.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon will ship in February starting at a price of $1,349.

ThinkPad X1 Yoga

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga is Lenovo’s “multimode” device. The company so named it because you can use it as a notebook or flip it and use it as a “docked” tablet. The new model brings a 14-inch OLED screen, a new redesigned rechargeable pen, and an improved “rise and fall” keyboard.
The X1 Yoga will be available in February as well for a starting price of $1,499.

ThinkPad X1 Tablet

Because the Yoga may be too heavy to lift and hold as a tablet for long, Lenovo is also selling the ThinkPad X1 Tablet. The new model should be even lighter this year, although the company didn’t say by how much. The new tablet will also have an additional five hours of battery life compared to last year’s model.

The new ThinkPad X1 Tablet will also offer support for modules that can extend the number of ports or the battery life of the tablet (by an additional five hours). A projector module is also supported.

The whole X1 product family will come with Windows 10 Pro on board, and Lenovo promised there won’t be any trialware or unwanted apps installed on it.

The X1 Tablet will become available in March for a starting price of $949.

Miix 720

The Lenovo Miix 720 is not part of the company’s ThinkPad lineup of products, but it seems to offer much of the same things as the X1 Tablet, without the customization options. Just like the X1 Tablet, it’s also a 2-in-1 detachable device, so you can use it either as a laptop or as a tablet.

Unlike the X1 Tablet, it includes the keyboard cover, so you don’t have to pay extra for that. The Miix 720 also includes an infrared camera with Windows Hello support, and you can purchase the Lenovo Active Pen 2 separately for $60. The Miix will be available in April and will start at $1,000.

The last time we saw Razer’s Stargazer webcam was at CES earlier this year. Back then, the company planned to release the peripheral in Q2 of 2016. Obviously, that release window passed, but Razer now has a new (and definitive date) for release: October 2.

The Stargazer is powered by an Intel RealSense camera, specifically the SR300 model. This allows the camera to detect your face and your gestures, or you can use it to scan 3D objects from the real world and implement them into a digital environment.

For video, you can capture 60 fps at 720p resolution. If you increase the resolution to 1080p, you get only 30 fps for video. It also includes a feature called Dynamic Background Removal that distinguishes the foreground and background of an image. That way, it can capture just your face (without your background) while you stream, which eliminates the need for a green screen during your Twitch sessions.

Starting today, you can pre-order your own Stargazer a month before the release date. Initially, Razer was going to sell the Stargazer for $199, but it lowered the price of the camera to $149.

A couple of years ago, Intel brought us the RealSense Camera F200, its first short-range depth-sensing camera. Since then, RealSense has come a long way; the F200 found its way into a handful of notebooks and all-in-ones. Depth and motion detection lead to many useful applications, such as creating virtual green screens and replacing passwords with facial recognition.

The F200 is just a short range camera, however, and its limited range has caveats. Intel’s response to this is the new RealSense Camera R200, a long range depth-sensing camera. The new R200 contains dual-infrared cameras for depth sensing a high-resolution camera capable of capturing in 1080p. The R200 has an operating range of up to 3.5 meters. With this much operating room, the R200 can recognize more levels of depth, which is a huge step forward from the F200's maximum range of 1.2 meters.

The increased range that the R200 provides brings several new possibilities to the table. Intel suggested that the R200 be used to provide a more robust online shopping experience; to that end, Intel partnered with Zappos during CES to illustrate such functionality. Other examples that come to mind are 3D scanning or enhanced photography with depth-based special effects. Personally, I can imagine RealSense’s depth-perceiving technology would be useful in a pair of augmented reality lenses.

Also revealed was Intel’s RealSense Camera ZR300, which was announced along with the RealSense Smartphone Developer Kit. The DK will feature an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 SoC and will soon be available to Android developers. The ZR300 will also support Google’s Project Tango Product Development Kit. The entire ZR300 package consists of six sensors, including the RealSense Camera R200 accelerometer/gyroscope combo, an 8MP rear-facing RGB camera, and a 2MP front-facing camera. With mobile applications like Instagram and Snapchat becoming ubiquitous with the smartphone experience, a depth-perception couldn’t have come at a better time. 

Alexander Quejado is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Alexander Quejado on Twitter.

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This week, Intel released the RealSense SDK for Windows beta, a new toolkit for building applications that take advantage of Intel's RealSense 3D camera for the PC. Unlike the previous SDK, developers can now add augmented reality, facial analysis, gestures, hand and finger tracking, and speech recognition to their applications.

According to Intel, the new SDK is only meant to develop applications for Ultrabooks, laptops, 2-in-1s and All-in-Ones. This new SDK doesn't apply to the RealSense technology used on tablets like the upcoming Dell Venue 8 7000, which Intel calls RealSense Snapshot. The SDK also doesn't seem to apply to the integrated RealSense 3D camera that will be crammed into tablets and detachables.

Intel stresses that once developers download the SDK, they're not on their own. There are a number of events planned for 2014 including tutorials, webinars, Virtual AE sessions, hackathons and more. There's also the RealSense App Challenge, which provides $1 million in prizes.

We recently contacted Intel to provide us with additional information regarding the three technologies:

Tom's Hardware: Besides the Dell Venue 8, what other tablets coming out in the near future will have RealSense 3D technology? When will the technology be offered in smartphones?

Intel: The technology available on the Dell Venue 8 is called Intel RealSense Snapshot, and there is also a premium real-time depth-sensing solution called the Intel RealSense 3D Camera for tablets, which will be in the market later in 2015 on both Intel Atom processor and Core-based platforms from various OEMs. There is also a third camera tied to the announcement made on Tuesday about the SDK – the Intel RealSense 3D Camera for laptops, 2-in1s and All-in-Ones. As for the tablet-focused Intel RealSense Snapshot, no additional plans to extend the technology to smartphones have been announced as of yet, however, it is possible depending on OEM interest.

TH: Presumably, tablets will have the RealSense 3D camera on the front. Is there one on the back as well? How much power does the camera consume in tablets?

Intel: Our depth camera solutions for tablets are rear cameras which are designed to see what we see.  In this way, it is possible to augment the real world with a digital world, to measure objects, to take depth-enhanced photos and videos, and to capture objects in 3D.  We have not disclosed power consumption but the 3D camera module is optimized for tablet usage.

TH: Why should consumers be excited about RealSense 3D technology? What kind of pricing should consumers expect from devices that are equipped with RealSense 3D cameras?  

Intel: Intel RealSense 3D camera technology (for laptops, 2in1s and AIOs) is exciting in that it represents the next evolutionary step in computer interface. The technology will supplement existing interfaces like keyboard, mouse and touch, with far more natural interaction elements including gesture, speech recognition and facial analysis.

Consumers can look forward to applications that adapt to their communication style, rather than having to learn custom interfaces. Additionally, 3D cameras will enable brand new experiences, including video chat with the background removed from the scene as well as 3D scanning of people and objects.

As far as pricing, the solution has been optimized for mass market adoption. Manufacturers and retailers will be setting the price of their devices equipped with integrated Intel RealSense 3D cameras. We don't discuss specifics, but it will be surprisingly affordable, and we will even offer solutions in Intel Atom processor-based tablet platforms later next year.

TH: Why should consumers be excited about the Intel RealSense 3D camera for tablets? (Note: this is the premium, real–time depth sensing solution. This is not Intel RealSense Snapshot.)

Intel: The Intel RealSense 3D camera for tablets aims to change and expand what consumers expect from their devices. Users will be able to capture objects, people and environments as stunning 3D models, to be shared with friends/family or sent directly to a 3D printer. Intel RealSense technology also enables a new class of photography/video applications. Users can add real-time visual effects to specific elements (based on depth) in photos and videos.

Finally, we're excited about how Intel RealSense technology will change how people play and learn. Because devices equipped with Intel RealSense technology can sense depth, applications can effectively merge virtual and real worlds. Instead of playing a game that exists entirely on a device's screen, users will be able to add fun, educational graphic overlays to the real world.

TH: How has the reaction been from game developers regarding the RealSense 3D camera for mobile and PCs? What about regular software/app developers?

Intel: Building on the success of Intel's perceptual computing SDK (with over 30k downloads), the Intel RealSense SDK for Windows, for use with laptops, 2-in-1s and All-in-Ones, has just launched as a public beta. Reactions from developers have been great. More than 60 independent software vendors have committed to launch their applications by the time systems with integrated Intel RealSense 3D cameras become commercially available.

Additionally, Intel is working with a number of talented game developers to add more natural and interesting interfaces to their games. This post on Intel's software blog has additional information on how some developers are working with Intel RealSense technology.

Intel RealSense Snapshot SDK is not publicly available at this time and thus there is not much developer feedback.

TH: If I understand correctly, there's a new version of the 3D camera for PC. How has it improved over the previous model? Will this camera remain $99 when it goes retail? When is this camera expected to go public?​

Intel: Starting in Q4, the Intel RealSense 3D camera will be integrated into laptops, 2-in-1s and All-in-Ones. Additionally, a peripheral version of this camera called the Intel RealSense Developer Kit has been made available to select software developers and will be more broadly available to developers later this year. The $99 price referenced in yesterday's announcement was the cost of the peripheral camera, which are being offered so developers can write applications ahead of consumer availability. There is no plan to make this developer peripheral version of the camera more broadly available to consumers.

The new camera has a 4X improvement in depth-resolution over our original camera, having gone from QVGA to full VGA resolution. The SDK has, accordingly, been rebuilt to take advantage of the new capabilities which include:

• Gesture Tracking: The 2014 SDK identifies 8 static poses and 6 dynamic gestures that provide a natural way to interact with software. Static pose examples are things like thumbs up or peace sign, while dynamic gesture examples might be a wave or circular motion.
• Hand and Finger Tracking: This capability provides 3D positions of each joint in a user's hand. In 2013, the SDK supported limited tracking, but in 2014 the Beta SDK supports 22 points of hand and joint tracking for greater accuracy and robustness. 
• Facial Analysis: Using the Intel Perceptual Computing SDK, facial analysis was limited to frontal, 2D detection and 7 landmark points including eyes, mouth, and nose. Now, 3D Facial Analysis for 2014 supports depth-based landmark tracking, enabling the tracking of 78 landmarks, true 3D face detection as well as roll, pitch, and yaw of the face. 
• Capture and Share (coming in a future release): This capability was developed in conjunction with 3D Systems. With the Intel RealSense SDK, developers will be able to write apps that can scan, modify, print, and share small 3D objects.
• Augmented Reality: In 2014 the SDK is improving its augmented reality capability with the addition of depth information and the help of AR industry leader Metaio.
• Background Removal: Introduced during 2013, background removal lets developers add green screen types of functionality to applications.

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