With my usual remote-work setup, my laptop’s built-in camera isn’t an option, as I use attached monitors instead of the laptop screen. That’s really no loss, as the built-in camera is…let’s go with poor quality to be charitable. But that means I’m in need of a decent webcam and a light, as my workspace does have a window that faces me, the daylight can be obscured by the trees outside, the shadow of my monitor and plain old clouds or darkness.
While I’m not so sure it’s necessarily a good thing for my colleagues that this camera/light combination is good quality, as they’re stuck seeing me relatively clearly, it does provide a professional appearance that’s a step up from the older, lower quality webcam I had been using. With the light built in, it also saves me space atop my monitor, and a USB slot since I need only one.
For some context, my most usual conferencing service is Teams, and I use a separate headset/microphone. With that in mind, I’ve found this camera to be reliable, easy to use and capable of delivering a high-quality video call. I also use a portable green screen behind me most days so that the background feature in Teams works a little better, and this camera is far better than my previous one at making the background look smooth–few weird bits of my room/screen tend to show on the screen, just me and the backdrop.
The 1080p quality is noticeable, and that’s the step up from my older 720 camera. I look…less fuzzy, for lack of a better term. I can still soften the focus with Teams’s filters. I always looked a little harsh on the previous camera, now I look more “real,” without the odd sort of jagged edges. The built in light also helps with that, as it directly surrounds the camera, instead of needing to be mounted next to it, and angled awkwardly, creating an inevitable “Phantom of the Opera” type shadow effect on my face. I also wear glasses, and while I do sometimes see some reflection of the light with this camera and light, it is nowhere near as bad as the annoying circle of light I would see reflected in my lenses before, with a fairly standard ring light setup. The light has three modes (I usually prefer the cool mode) and you can control the brightness by holding the button at the top of the camera (a light tap switches mode, a press and hold changes the brightness).
I’m also a fan of the somewhat narrower field of view on this camera, 78 degrees. While still considered wide, this is, to me, far better for a single user than the 90+ degree cameras out there. Those tended to make me as one person on screen look ridiculously small relative to the background. It also might be better to have a narrower field of view if you want to keep people from having too much of a look around you at home.
Also easy to use is the built-in privacy slider. In lieu of an obvious cover over the lens, you simply slide a lever and a red disc slips over there camera letting you know it’s covered up and should slide it back before trying to go on camera.
All things considered, I’m quite happy with this webcam/light combination. It’s been an improvement to my remote working, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
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