As I said in my Razer Kiyo V2 X review, the 1440p webcam market is almost as niche as the 4K one, and that's almost entirely because of its price point. With the likes of the Emeet Pixy regularly sitting at the $90-100 mark, the $100 Kiyo V2 X really struggles to justify itself, and yet Dell's Pro 5 2K webcam is $20 more than that.

But Dell does have a few tricks up its sleeve to justify that extra cost, even if I think it's comparably as attractive as the Kiyo V2 X. One big feature, Windows Hello, is genuinely good and shows that resolution is important, but it's not everything when it comes to picking out a webcam.

Dell have crammed a Sony sensor in its 2K webcam and, for the most part, it's rather solid. Texture in my hair is captured well, lighting off the side of the webcam doesn't look too blown out, and autofocus is fairly snappy. Its focus doesn't match the near-unnatural speed of the likes of the Obsbot Tiny 3 or Tiny 2 Lite, but it's still more than good enough for showing off a box or label to your buddies over Discord.

One area I do think it drags behind other webcams I've tried is in colour accuracy. Video and pictures just look a little lighter than real life. For instance, the red streak in my hair comes through well in the DSLR-like Yolocam S3 but almost looks orange in the Dell webcam. The same goes for colours on my shirt and my background. This is definitely a matter of preference, but for me, I wanted to immediately tone that down.

Unfortunately, though Dell's own software is fairly easy to use, I couldn't quite tone down the image as I would have liked. Bringing up vibrance makes colours look a little more natural, and sharpening contrast helps it along, but it just looks like a brightness filter has been placed atop the image, which I can't seem to take off.

As well as this, I'd say none of the presets are worth using in a moderately well-lit environment. The 'smooth' preset cuts out all sharpness and looks generally too glossy, and both the 'Vibrant' and 'Warm' presets are simply too bright. The 'default' preset offers a decent enough level of quality, but one that feels like it has more of a software helping than I would like.

One could argue that treatment is necessary on an otherwise cheaper webcam to try and pull up that quality, but 1440p isn't exactly low. In fact, many bits of software won't even run at 4K if you want them to, so 1440p should be a great middle ground between quality, accessibility, and budget. The Sony sensor inside Dell's webcam shouldn't need that much of a software hand to help it out.

As far as design is concerned, the Dell Pro 5 is inconsistent. The webcam itself is chunky and sturdy, with the magnetic stand offering a comfortingly heavy weight, but the stand connects to the webcam with a magnetic pull, and that pull is simply not good enough. It won't fall down by itself, but if you accidentally tug on the wire a little, the webcam will slide, messing up your otherwise perfect framing.

This means that, despite the cable being one and a half meters long, you actually won't want to use it any more than 1.4 meters away from your computer; you need some slack in the wire to stop it wiggling on the stand. I suspect a chunkier wire would cause all sorts of problems, as it does for the weak magnetic stand of the Obsbot Meet 2, but the Dell webcam has a single attached wire. I don't like this, as it adds another point of failure to the device's design. If the wire goes, the webcam goes with it.

I do like the webcam's built-in privacy filter on the top. That's a welcome feature, and it's easy to use, but once again, that magnetic stand means that using the filter moves the webcam. This isn't a huge problem as you can simply adjust the webcam whilst you're flicking the switch, but it's a sign of just how weak the magnetic connection is.

The webcam's built-in omni-directional microphone picks up sound decently, with passable quality. Recording sounds a tad hollow, but it doesn't have any awkward filtering on it, and is generally fine for a quick call or conference.

The Dell Pro 5 Webcam feels like it's designed for more of an office setting, with its smooth, brightened software enhancement, ease of use, and, of course, its Windows Hello functionality. With this, you can register your face and sign into Windows by simply sitting in front of your computer. It works really well in practice and is a very strong feature for an otherwise just okay bit of hardware.

It's a shame that the lack of IR sensors means other webcams can't do the same, as I like the feature a lot, but I certainly wouldn't trade out my day-to-day webcam for the Dell one just because of Windows Hello.

Ultimately, the Dell Pro 5's biggest weakness is its price point. Though I do prefer it to the Kiyo V2 X's 1440p capture, it is very expensive for visuals that are worse than some 4K offerings and lacks the level of customisation necessary to really fine-tune it. The tethered cable and weak stand only make it a worse all-round package.

Ultimately, when you can get 4K webcams on a gimbal for smart tracking that provide better quality video for less money, it's Dell's name recognition, ease of use, and Windows Hello functionality that might pull it ahead. And for me, it's only that final quality which would grab me.

Though I have a lot to say about it from a technical perspective, I don't think I have that much to say about the Razer Kiyo V2. That's because, after testing tons of 4K webcams, it's pretty middling. Its quality is worse than the more expensive DLSR-like Yolocam S3 but better than the value-oriented Obsbot Meet 2. It doesn't have the flashy ring light of the first Razer Kiyo (for the better), but in doing so, I think it struggles to have a unique pull in an already pretty strong market. It does have ultrawide, but to some, that's an upside and to others, a downside.

In fairness, with a digital zoom in Razer Synapse, you don't have to use it in ultrawide mode, but then swapping to a more traditional zoom means taking a hit to the quality of the Kiyo V2.

But what the Kiyo does, it does well. It's a solid 4K webcam with a strong aesthetic, and, importantly, it's relatively plug-and-play. You need a USB 3.0 cable to get 4K (there is a colour-matched one in the box), but once set up, you barely need to touch its settings to get a solid picture and video quality.

Just because it's good out of the box doesn't mean it won't benefit from software, though. The Kiyo V2's HDR modes are well worth enabling, offering a greater depth of colour. Compared to the similarly priced Insta360 Link 2C, the Kiyo V2 is brighter with its HDR mode on, and a bit crisper too, with strands of hair being more well-defined. I'd say the former is closer to 'real-life', but the V2's image looks prettier, so that's more a matter of preference.

I'd say the Kiyo V2 is less cinematic than the Yolocam S3, with a less pronounced bokeh effect, but, out of the box, it offers better colour and light correction. It has a super solid auto exposure and some visual noise reduction, so when Razer says the Kiyo V2 'makes 4K intelligent', I get why. Its AI-enabled features actually feel useful, and it's not trying to generate AI scripts or get me to talk to it like the Insta 360 Link 2C or Obsbot Tiny 3. Its quality is less sharp than the S3, but it makes up for it with sheer intuitiveness.

I recently had the chance to test out the Razer Kiyo V2 X, and the V2 solves many of my problems with it. First is autofocus. The V2 performs admirably here, comfortably snapping onto a face or a product in my hand in mere moments. I'd say it's not quite as quick as the Obsbot Tiny series for autofocus, but still faster than most will ever need.

Second is lighting. The Kiyo V2 can make out the tones of my face in low-light environments with ease. It does hyperfocus on the face, losing some clarity on the background, but that's more or less what you'd need in a call lit by the glow of your monitor. It also handles a lot of light well, and HDR comes with both a light and dark room mode, allowing its software to account for both situations.

Another improvement over the V2 X is that the V2 comes with a detachable cable. This did mean the first time I brought it to the PC Gamer office, I couldn't use it in 4K as I was missing an appropriate cable, but technically, any USB 3.0 cable will work if you have it (and the ports ).

It's all well-built, too. It's sturdy and comes with threading at the bottom to pop onto a stand. It also comes with a built-in privacy filter, where you can simply spin a dial around the lens to close it. Because the stand is sturdy, closing the filter doesn't even make the webcam shake too much. I like this a lot. It's tidy, handy, and satisfying.

You just see a lot at one time, so much so that you might need to clean up more of your room if you are used to non-ultrawide webcams prior to now. Despite offering more of the screen, it doesn't come across distorted in the process. I could make out the texture of my hair well, and its up to 4x zoom doesn't perform too badly either.

The clamping force of the stand is very light, so you can't angle the whole thing down, but the cam does have a swivel to look down, which more or less makes up for it. With its ultrawide lens, you likely won't need to mess with the view very often, though.

As far as the microphone is concerned, I'd say it performs well. There's some filtering going on from a software perspective, which helps make the mic a little clearer, and I'd say it's perfectly good quality for a standard call.

One thing well worth mentioning here, though, is that the Emeet Pixy has seemingly seen a permanent price cut on Amazon down to $100. And, though I'd pick the Kiyo V2's sensor, I certainly wouldn't pay $50 more for it. But, when compared to usual 4K webcam prices, I'd say the Kiyo V2 fits in with my expectations. It's not climbing up to Obsbot Tiny prices, but it is more than the Obsbot Meet 2 and the aforementioned Pixy.

I mentioned in my Kiyo V2 X review that the webcam feels a little late. Two years ago, $100 for a decent enough 1440p webcam would have been fine, but in 2026, that feels like a harder sale. Though to a far lesser degree, I think this is true of the V2 as well. It doesn't do anything all that wrong, but the webcam market is vast and varied, and getting strong 4K capture at a solid price is no longer tough.

Despite being a little boring (outside of its pretty pink shell), the Razer Kiyo V2 is something I'm glad exists in the current 4K webcam market, though. That's because more webcams sitting in the middle of the pack is good for the end consumer. It gives more choice, and ultimately, more competition.

At retail, the Kiyo V2 seems reasonably priced, though nothing special, but getting more solid webcam choices will certainly make the sales better when they come. And that is where I could see the V2 mopping up. As long as its competition doesn't beat it to the punch.

The Yololiv Yolocam S3, Insta360 Link 2C (and Link 2), the Obsbot Meet 2 and Tiny 2 Lite; I'm even currently testing the Razer Kiyo V2. I've had my grubby mitts on so many 4K webcams, I've developed a good sense of what you should be paying for that resolution.

With that all in mind, Emeet's Pixy has not only received a new lower base price on Amazon, but a $10 discount on top of that. This, in my opinion, makes it the best value 4K webcam out there, at just $90 on sale at Amazon.

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I even thought its price point was solid when it fetched $160, but I was happy to see that its listing on Amazon dropped to a base price of $100. That means, although you are only getting a $10 discount on paper, it's $70 less than what you would pay for it just a short while ago. That means it even beats out the Obsbot Meet 2, which I praised for its "near unbeatable value" in early 2025.

The Sony sensor in the webcam is super solid, producing a clear and well-lit capture. As a point of comparison, I did find it brighter than the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, and I liked it less for that, but it has solid quality regardless of my personal preferences. I found it to pick up the texture of my hair better than the Tiny 2 Lite, though the Lite deals with light a bit better.

The webcam is sat on a gimbal, which means its solid AI tracking can literally follow you around the room, should you want it to. It also has a super quick autofocus, in case you find yourself in need of something that can lock onto you in a moment. This is all helped by the fact that it's easy to set up and comes with a firm stand too.

Should you not want to clip it on top of a monitor, that stand also comes with threading, so you can pop it in a tripod. For a quick meeting, it's arguably much better than what you will need, with its mic quality being surprisingly good. Some conference software packages don't support 4K, so you may be forced to use the webcam at 1080p. However, that price is so good that it beats out non-4K options for the price, too (here's looking at you, Razer Kiyo V2 X).

I did find its lack of a physical privacy filter a little annoying (you have to push the cam down or let the software do it for some privacy). I also find most of its AI features utterly pointless. It can generate rough scripts (that I found lacking in quality) and you can use hand gestures to operate it, but I'd generally recommend using the Pixy like a normal webcam and ignoring the AI functions entirely.

Still, as a standard webcam, with the option to pop it on for a live stream or even record a quick video, the Emeet Pixy punches far above its weight at this reduced price, and I can't name a single 4K webcam that offers better value right now.

There's a good argument to be made that 1440p webcams are almost as niche as 4K ones. A webcam has a specific purpose (fitting on your monitor and letting your meeting participants/gamer buddies see you), and if you end up paying enough, it almost just makes sense to go for something dedicated instead.

At least with the $150-$200 range of webcams, like the Yololiv YoloCam S3 or Obsbot Tiny 3 Lite, you could feasibly use it for a video, should you want to. However, for me, many 1440p webcams are too expensive to just use for a Zoom call, and not quite good enough quality for the higher price point.

Razer's Kiyo all-white V2 X certainly looks nice, but at $100, it is practically competing with the budget end of the 4K market (like the Obsbot Meet 2), so it needs to offer quite a lot to justify its price tag.

Given the Kiyo line has traditionally been good in low light, I thought that would be worth testing. The first Kiyo model comes with a built-in ring light, and the Kiyo Pro comes with a light sensor that really stood out when it was released in 2021. The V2 X, on the other hand, performs pretty poorly.

Low-light environments get a lot of visual noise, and the autofocus struggles here, too. I noticed it regularly having to readjust, which isn't a major problem given it does so relatively quickly, but it still lets down the experience somewhat.

To tackle some of the Kiyo V2 X's problems, you can use Razer's Synapse software. You can manually adjust brightness, though this isn't much different from a filter, and you can turn off the auto focus. Turning this off, though, does mean manually changing focus, which offers its own set of problems.

If you would like to adjust your webcam via Synapse, it does wrangle control from whatever other software the webcam is currently active in, which means you can't adjust settings on the fly whilst in a meeting.

Its aggressive autofocus is perhaps the most troubling part of using the V2 X. I noticed it pretty badly whilst holding a guitar, game controller near my chest, and whilst fidgeting in a meeting—if you are likely to move, it is likely to readjust with you.

Outside of this, I would say the camera's quality is solid. For a quick meeting, I certainly wouldn't complain, and at the top of a screen for a stream, its wide-angle lens offers a decent view of your space. For its price point, I think its quality is around the middle.

It's a very easy webcam to set up, with it not needing Razer's own software to get working. The V2 X has an integrated USB Type-A cable, which does mean having to lug the cable around, connected to the webcam, should you want to throw it in a backpack. Personally, I don't like connected cables as it introduces another point of failure to a piece of hardware. If the cable breaks for any reason (cat bites it, for example), you have to replace the entire webcam, rather than just the cable (and maybe the cat too).

One unique quirk of it being a 1440p webcam, specifically, is that it offers better 1440p capture than many 4K webcams, in regard to frames per second. You're getting 60 fps here, where you tend to get 30 fps from others (assuming they even offer 1440p capture). If you, for whatever reason, are specifically looking for 1440p, I can see the argument for the V2 X.

It's pretty tidy in a lot of ways, too. It clips onto monitors easily with its built-in stand, it looks great, and it even has a physical privacy shutter that you can activate by simply spinning the front of the webcam. The stand is strong enough for it not to shake when opening the privacy shutter, though the same can't be said for my monitor.

The V2 X is missing any HDR support, which is a shame as its low-light capture could certainly benefit from it. I also notice a little washing out in high-light environments (near a window, for example), though that's not particularly uncommon for a webcam.

It does come with a built-in microphone that sits just shy of the middle of the pack, quality-wise. It has little treatment or noise cancellation, so it can be a tad noisy in the wrong environment. It's certainly fine for a meeting, though, which is what you would want an integrated microphone for.

I think the price is ultimately my biggest hang-up here. The OBSBot Meet 2 is $30 more, though it regularly goes down to the Kiyo V2 X's price, and it offers stronger capture, a better autofocus, and a much cuter look. The Meet 2's weak stand does let it down, but threading on the bottom and no integrated USB cable make it easy to fit it into any setup.

This is before mentioning the likes of the Emeet Pixy, which is a 4K camera with a Sony sensor that sits on a gimbal, allowing it to track you around a room. I'm surprised to see that this nearly constantly sits around and below the Kiyo V2 X's price point. If I were in the market for a new webcam, I'd struggle to come up with many reasons at all to pick the Kiyo V2 X instead.

The Razer Kiyo V2 X, to me, feels like a webcam that would have launched a few years ago. It's certainly not actively bad in almost any way; it looks pretty good, it offers most of the basic essentials you would need from something to sit in a meeting or throw at the top of a stream. But $100 in the year of our lord 2026 can get you plenty of excellent webcam options, and the Kiyo V2 X is not interesting enough, not quality enough, and not cheap enough to beat them out.

In the last few years, I've found myself asking 'What are webcams for?' The obvious answer is meetings and online social gatherings, but I wonder how many use their ever-expanding feature set for anything more.

Yololiv shoves DSLR-quality 4K capture into its relatively small YoloCam S3, and I'm more torn on it than I thought I would be. It's clearly impressive, but also missing some features one might want for a casual meeting, and requires just a bit of fine-tuning out of the box. If you want to record a video and don't want a dedicated camera, I see the vision, but I don't know if I plan on swapping from my usual webcam-of-choice now that I've had some time with it.

At 185 g and a height of 74 mm, the Yololiv is not super bulky, and it's easy to set up. Its magnetic stand is super secure and clips onto the top of monitors with ease. It's such a strong magnet that I had to stand up to apply enough pressure to readjust it.

The quality of the camera is instantly clear. The 4K capture made me immediately start messing with my hair because it picked up a few too many rogue strands for my liking. To be clear, that's a good thing.

30 fps video is a tad low, but the norm for 4K webcams. One thing I did immediately note, though, is that it's setup for a relatively high contrast image out of the box.

In a medium-lit room, with some sunlight pouring in from a nearby window, shadows were highlighted a little more than I'm used to, and blacks felt deeper. It gives my face a darker tone than I see in other webcams.

This is all with the webcam's out-of-the-box settings. Yololiv's software is pretty solid, with its auto exposure mode fixing light flicker and adding some warmth to the lens. Its auto white balance is also usable, though I'd recommend adjusting it yourself. Turning off the vignette correction feels like the way to go, as this gives the room more brightness, though at the cost of some clarity.

That big lens and large sensor do a solid job of framing, though. I notice the background blurring well to capture me in the foreground, and I can see the purpose of this for recording YouTube videos or showing yourself on screen. Its bokeh effect makes it feel like a higher quality camera than its already strong sensor suggests.

It also has a solid autofocus, managing to pick up boxes and words in front of my face in a matter of moments. During use, the webcam gets a tad hot, though not to the point of overheating.

Two sides of the webcam have strong magnets, which means it can capture both vertical and horizontal video, and a thread on the stand means you can pop it onto a tripod should you want to. A thread on the webcam itself would have been nice too to avoid having to bring the stand, but thankfully, the stand is relatively unobtrusive anyway.

On the YoloCam S3 website, Yololive says the S3 features "possibly the largest sensor ever in a webcam," with that "possibly" doing some heavy lifting. We've seen the same size sensor in the Razer Kiyo Pro (1/1.28-inch), though it offers 1080p capture for the same price. I wouldn't say it's possibly the biggest sensor in a webcam, but I would say it's possibly the best quality video for its price point.

I don't know how much use you might get out of it, given how stationary webcams tend to be, but I'm also quite impressed by the YoloCam S3's zoom functionality. It goes all the way up to a 4x zoom, and it's a stable experience at the very max point. The biggest problem I have with its max zoom is that a slight wobble of my monitor while I type/game/browse shakes the image more than I would want.

One thing it does feel like it's missing, when it comes to everyday use, is a built-in microphone. I'm not usually expecting anything great on this front when it comes to webcams, but something built-in often means not having to bother with a full mic when I'm on a call with friends. It's a compromise Yololiv makes, and I understand why.

The YoloCam S3's biggest hurdle for most will be its price point. At $200, you have plenty of great 4K alternatives to choose from. The Tiny 3 Lite comes in at $200 and offers a gimbal with smart tracking and strong out-of-the-box performance in exchange for a worse sensor.

The Insta360 Link 2C comes in at $50 less with solid performance, and the (also Gimbal-equipped) Emeet Pixy is $40 less than the S3. The YoloCam S3 is not my favourite of the lot, but I do think it offers the highest quality image.

However, it's worth asking yourself, "Will I even use its max quality?" If the answer is "probably not", I'd recommend looking into easier-to-use webcams with more functionality.

The Tiny 3 Lite offers most users a similar experience, except it pairs it with a strong microphone and solid tracking. Many applications don't even support 4K in the first place, so it's already a niche market as is.

However, if you want the highest quality capture for $200, don't mind messing around with the settings a little, and want a near DLSR-quality image, the S3's value proposition is clear—it just sits in a very varied market, and goes shoulder to shoulder with plenty of giants.

I’ve had quite the journey with the Obsbot Tiny 3, a real emotional rollercoaster. First was the elation I felt unboxing it (how did they manage to make a webcam so cute?). Then, came the unease after learning the wild price difference between the Obsbot Tiny 3 ($349) and its more budget-friendly sibling, the Tiny 3 Lite ($199). Once I spent some time testing the webcam, though, it sort of started to win me over again. Like I said: an emotional rollercoaster.

At less than two inches tall and weighing a little over 2 ounces, the Tiny 3 is the smallest webcam in Obsbot’s Tiny line, and very likely one of the smallest webcams you’ll ever use. Portability really seems to be at the heart of this cam’s design. Not only is it light enough to perch comfortably on even the slimmest of laptops, it comes with a palm-sized, hard-shell carry case that neatly fits the webcam, its removable magnetic mount, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. If you’re a hybrid worker or fancy yourself something of a ‘digital nomad’ type, the Tiny 3 is an attractive proposition.

Of course, there’s no value in having a webcam that looks good if its video doesn’t. And thankfully, the Tiny 3 really knocks it out of the park. It houses a 50 MP 1/1.28-inch CMOS sensor (roughly comparable to that of the iPhone 15 Pro) and delivers impressively detailed footage in 4K at 30 fps, and 1080p at 120 fps. Freckles, pores, and peach fuzz are captured with real fidelity (whether you like it or not), and the Tiny 3’s attentive autofocus constantly makes sure you don’t get lost in the scene.

Thanks to its expansive ISO range, its image is strikingly clean and virtually devoid of noticeable noise in both low light and hard light environments. This is probably the biggest advantage it has over its Lite counterpart, which doesn’t quite have that same flexibility.

I had something of a Tiny family union and put the Tiny 3, the Tiny 3 Lite, and the Tiny 2 Lite to the test at the exact same time. The previous generation of cam is noticeably outclassed, but the differences between the flagship 3 and its Lite version are far subtler. What really tips the scales in the Tiny 3’s favor is how it performs in lower light, but that being worth almost $150 more is a hard sell. For a more detailed rundown of how the Lite sizes up, check out the full Tiny 3 Lite review.

Picture quality aside, Tiny 3’s real party trick is supposed to be its AI Tracking 2.0, which adjusts the camera’s gimbal and digital zoom to follow people or objects. Sure enough, when I set it to track me, the Tiny 3 consistently adjusts the framing in line with my movement. It’s even fairly reliable in less-than-stellar lighting conditions. Objects like coffee cups and pens passed the test too. The only hiccup in the whole process comes when your tracking speed is set too low, as the cam can’t quite keep up.

In the Obsbot Center software, you can fine-tune speed and framing, and enable some specialty modes like Desk Mode (which directs the cam downwards) and Whiteboard Mode. Whiteboard Mode locks to writing surfaces, which worked well in my testing but with the prevalence of screen sharing and digital whiteboards like Miro, it’s hard to imagine too many practical applications for this mode in 2026.

To save you messing about in Obsbot Center too often, there are a number of remote ways to control your Tiny 3. For example, you can raise your hand to have the webcam track and untrack you, or use an L-shape gesture to zoom in and out. In my experience, the Tiny 3’s gesture controls are handy to use, but not quite perfect. Notably, the webcam struggled on occasion to identify my hands when gesturing in front of white walls (though I’ll admit this could be partially my fault for not getting enough sun).

You want to go fully hands-free, the Tiny 3 also sports voice controls via commands like “Sleep, Tiny” and “Zoom in closer”. I’m Irish, but my accent is pretty faint. So, I’m equal parts confused and peeved at just how inconsistent the Tiny 3 is at responding to my requests. Across multiple sessions and even after a total factory reset/update, it’s like I’m speaking a different language half the time. Irish, perhaps?

I think my best results are using voice controls with the exaggerated annunciation of an 1980s American games show host. But even when I put on this really annoying affectation, the webcam is like a boisterous puppy: picking up on commands most of the time but occasionally just doing its own thing.

It’s not like its omnidirectional mics can’t pick me up, they really are very solid. While webcams aren’t known for having tremendous integrated audio, the Tiny 3 is a pretty pleasant surprise. It isn’t pro production level (you’ll probably want an external mic for that anyway) but it’s definitely head and shoulders above what you’d expect. It has five audio modes, tuned to varying recording environments.

However, while recording or streaming at 1080p or higher, the only audio mode available is Smart Omni mode (recommended for multi-person meetings). Even in modes which are supposed to have dedicated AI noise reduction, I found that the mic picked up a little more background sound than I’d like. This is almost sweet when you’re interrupted by the tweeting of birds in the garden, but maybe not so pleasant if the noise outside your window is traffic.

Listen to the microphone test below:

Alongside its suite of actually useful features, the Obsbot Tiny 3 sports some pretty rogue ones too. For example, there are a whole menu of settings in the Beauty tab meant to ‘enhance’ your face and body. Out of journalistic duty, I committed to shifting sliders and choosing digital makeup until I found myself transformed into the pallid, uncanny Douyin babe of my dreams and/or nightmares.

While the Tiny 3’s ‘Beauty’ edits are a decent bit more convincing than the average TikTok filter, the whole experience gets very The Substance. So, these aren’t tools I’d recommend earnestly making use of—both for your own well-being and the well-being of those who have to look at you.

The Obsbot Tiny 3 is seriously overkill for most folks shopping for a webcam.

I think it’s worth thinking about which of its selling points justifies the price tag for you and your needs. If you’re looking to pick up a webcam solely for work and social calls, I’d pass on the Tiny 3. 4K webcams are a market that have grown considerably in the last few years but still, most video conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom don’t support 4K, and will downscale your video output to conserve bandwidth. Unless you’re a Nitro subscriber, you’re limited to 1080p on Discord too. Plus, any swanky AI tracking is more likely to be an unwelcome distraction than a game-changing asset to your work meetings.

That said, if you’re a content creator or streamer, you might find this pocket-sized cam to be a real powerful player in your low-footprint setup. Be ready to pay a pretty penny for it though, Oh, and maybe don’t get your hopes up on those voice controls.

The Tiny 3 straddles the boundary between the worlds of corporate video conferencing and streaming/content creation. Yet I’m not convinced it fully serves either.How useful are swish AI webcam tricks beyond just distracting your manager at your next meeting? Meanwhile, if you’re dropping $300+ for a webcam with the intent of using it for content creation, it starts to make sense to instead consider a mid to entry-level action cam, or even save up for a DSLR. Or—and hear me out—you could opt for the Tiny 3 Lite instead.

Don’t get me wrong: a $199 webcam still isn’t a low cost pick, but it feels like the Tiny 3 Lite delivers the most essential elements of the original Tiny 3 at a fraction of the cost.

Side by side, the Tiny 3 Lite looks very similar to its pricier sibling, though you’ll notice it’s just a tad chunkier and doesn’t have a removable mount. Though, once mounted, the original Tiny 3 is actually ever so slightly taller and heavier than the Lite. It’s not a difference in size worth making a fuss about, but it is a difference nonetheless.

You also don’t get a carry case with the Lite like you do with the original. But at around 2.28-inches tall and 2.57 oz/73 grams, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty packing the Tiny 3 Lite if you plan to travel with it. It’s just that foregoing the premium Tiny 3 means you have to source your own case.

The Tiny 3 Lite is capable of filming or streaming 4K (30 fps) and 1080p (120 fps), and its 1/2-inch CMOS sensor doesn’t seem massively dissimilar to the 1/1.28-inch sensor of the Tiny 3, but there is a discernible difference in how each webcam processes light.

The picture on the Tiny 3 Lite still looks great, and is a definite upgrade from the previous generation of Tiny webcams, but it appears softer than that of the Tiny 3, and fine details are liable to be ever so slightly smudged. Fair warning, too: things start to fall off the deep end when filming in low-light. Because of Lite’s smaller sensor, you are going to be plagued by a good bit more noise in darker environments than you would be with the Tiny 3.

Of course, if your usual streaming/recording/conferencing set-up is dark and moody, this could be a major sticking point. However, if you avoid using screens in the dark (your eyesight will thank you), you could find the Tiny 3 Lite that perfectly trims the fat of the Tiny 3 without sacrificing too much of the core performance.

It’s entirely a personal preference, but I found the unprocessed picture of the Tiny 3 Lite to generally be more pleasing to the eye than the Tiny 3. The latter leans quite cold and crisp, and tends to lose the energy of a space (as woo-woo as that might sound).

The audio from the Tiny 3’s omnidirectional mics is miles away from the hollow, tinny sound you might expect from a webcam’s integrated microphone. However, I’d still recommend investing in an external microphone if you want something that sounds especially professional.

Listen to the microphone test below:

Unfortunately, its five audio modes don’t differ too massively from each other, and so you’re not offered too many truly unique ways to deal with background noise or multiple audio sources. Despite that, the Tiny 3 Lite should have you fully covered for standard video calls.

The Tiny 3 Lite’s gimbal and AI Tracking 2.0 remain headline features. From tracking people to objects, the Lite was just as reliable and snappy as the flagship model. It features almost all the same tracking options too, including close-up, upper body, lower body, and headless (less ominous than it sounds, I promise).

It’s worth noting that if you choose the Lite over the OG Tiny 3, you will have to go without Desk and Whiteboard mode, but in my testing I found that you could kind of approximate the framing of both of these with just a little extra effort. You can even set these positions as presets and activate them with the webcam’s voice controls.

Well… you can in theory.

I’m not sure why, but the voice controls for every Obsbot Tiny model I’ve tried are really not my friend. Like with the Tiny 3, the Tiny 3 Lite proved to be really temperamental when responding to my commands. For the most part, I just adjusted the Obsbot via the app or with gesture controls, because the frustration of being stonewalled by a dinky webcam became a little too much to bear. If you were envisioning voice controls being a regular part of your futuristic workflow, it’s best to temper your expectations.

If you’re a hobbyist streamer or someone who very frequently video conferences for work, you’ll likely be more than satisfied with what the Tiny 3 Lite has to offer. There’s somewhat of a jump down in performance from the Tiny 3, but I can’t say that’d keep me up at night if I opted for the Lite—especially with an extra $150 in my pocket.

4K webcams are getting more and more reasonably priced. Where you used to have to spend hundreds to get one, they are now just inches away from 1080p pricing territory, and they're becoming supported by more software at the same time. That means, should you want the upgrade, there's plenty of choice out there.

For my money, I'd be picking up the Insta360 Link 2C now that it's $100 at Amazon. That's a saving of $50. When I reviewed this webcam last month, I said never to buy it full price, because it's regularly on sale, and at $100, it's the best among its 4K capable peers. Obsbot's Meet 2 is the same price on sale (well, give or take a dollar), but the Meet 2's weak stand puts it behind for me.

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Not only have I used the Insta360 Link 2C since it arrived for meetings and Discord calls, but it is also what captured my face when playing one of the best games of the year, Goodnight Universe. In it, you play a baby with psychic powers, unable to speak, so you communicate and mess with the world with nothing but your eyes and the mouse.

Sometimes, blinking can flick things off or closing your eyes gives you better hearing. It's a neat game that I thought would be a gimmick, and instead made me cry. The Insta360 Link 2C never failed to capture my face, even in dim lighting, and the only problem I had with the blink functionality was when light would clash off the surface of my glasses. That feels like more of a me problem.

The camera itself is super easy to set up and has a strong magnetic stand that doesn't come free even with a light shake of the monitor (please don't do this like I have). The quality of video is great, and though I found it to be a tad less detailed than the likes of the Emeet Pixy, I found it much nicer looking in meetings, thanks to how it handles light.

One downside is Insta360's software. It's finicky, crashed on me the first time I used it, and comes with makeup and filter presets that look uncanny and artificial. It's not awful to quickly adjust the zoom or get the latest drivers, but it's mostly not worth dealing with after setup.

The same is true of the Link 2C's AI features. You can do gestures to zoom and adjust the camera, but I found them to be awkward and wouldn't work if I accidentally zoomed in too much. It's better as much more of a point-and-shoot style webcam that sits on your monitor and looks pretty. For this purpose, it does its job very well.

The last consideration you have to make when picking out a 4K webcam is whether you will even use such a high-quality recording resolution. Some software doesn't support it, and others (looking at you, Discord) require you to be part of a premium plan to do it. However, if you think you'd like to record or stream 4K and are on the market for something quick and easy to use, the Link 2C is a great choice, and has been my go-to for over a month now.

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They should've never given me a webcam. Though I try to make meaningful contributions to each of my daily video meetings, it isn't long before my gaze drifts towards the grainy feed of my own face, like a baby fascinated with their own reflection. As such, there was a time I couldn't help but feel perhaps my eyeliner wings could be just a little bit crisper when they take to the stage of my oh-so-small Google Meet box.

If you too want to gaze at your own face at a stunningly high resolution, why not go with the best of the best, Elgato Facecam MK.2? As the best webcam overall, it offers a number of swish features you may expect to come at a premium. Well, I've just spotted it going for its lowest-ever price, at only $105 from Amazon.

To be clear, this deal doesn't apply to the 4K capable version; this webcam offers up to 1080p resolution alongside 60 frames per second instead. Now, as often as I find myself going "Oh Google Meet, Meet-y Meet, now who here looks a real treat?" seeing my own eyeliner wings at 4K resolution would be overkill.

For one thing, many video call services like Google Meet don't support 4K video—and if they do, variable internet speeds may hamper their ability to fully deliver on that feature. For most intents and purposes, a 1080p webcam feed is more than enough.

The Elgato Facecam MK.2 webcam delivers an uncompressed 1080p feed, thanks to its Sony STARVIS CMOS sensor, which our Dave was really impressed with in his review last year. He also wrote that he really dug this webcam's HDR mode, writing, "In my home office space, with a couple bright windows facing the side of my screen, it's ace not having those utterly blowing out the image every time I jump on a call in the daytime."

One drawback Dave notes is that you unfortunately don't get this HDR support for some lower resolution stream options, such as 720p 120 FPS mode. Furthermore, you'll be missing out on this webcam's shiniest bells and whistles if you don't have an Nvidia GPU, as these options in the Elgato software are locked to integration with Nvidia's Broadcast software.

The webcam's privacy shield can also be a wee bit fiddly too, as it's submerged into the camera body so that it only covers the lens when in use. But that flap aside, you're getting some impressive uncompressed stream options, not to mention a sustained field of focus from this cam. Rejoice! You can actually move around the frame without an overzealous autofocus deciding your floordrobe is, in fact, another person on the call.

I'd never recommend you buy the Insta360 Link 2C at full price. That's not because it's not worth the $150 asking fee, but that, in the months I've been watching its stock, it has sold for $100 / $110 almost as much as it has $150. Though it's not on sale right now, I've seen it discounted at both Amazon and Best Buy multiple times over the last few months. At this price point, I can't recommend a single 4K webcam on the market over this one, assuming you'll actually get the use out of 4K.

4K is still a bit of a niche even now. Some software doesn't support it, and others (like Discord) require you to have access to a subscription for 4K webcam streaming. Even if your software supports 4K resolution, a small cam on top of a stream on Twitch or YouTube generally won't justify such a high resolution.

When some 4K webcams cost upwards of $200, that extra cash never feels worth it for my use cases. However, down to $100, it makes a lot more sense, and isn't too far from the prices of standard 1080p webcams.

With its look and price point, the Insta360 Link 2C is a natural competitor to the Obsbot Meet 2, which is still the cutest webcam I've ever used, almost a year after first using it. And in the looks department, the Link 2C appears a tad plain. My model is just a small black rectangle with the lens on the left-hand side and a groove on the right. In the centre is a small hole for an LED that shows when it's turned on, reacting to AI gestures (we'll get to that later) or off entirely.

One of the bigger departures from the Meet 2 is a physical privacy filter that can be switched off on the left-hand side. Given that the AI gestures are intended to pick up on what you are doing at any moment (again, we'll get to that later), it's a webcam that's intended to keep an eye on you most of the time. A physical privacy filter that is not software-operated just offers an extra level of assurance.

Where the Link 2C knocks the Meet 2 out of the park is in its stand. The stand itself is a sturdy clip that locks onto the top of the monitor, and then the webcam itself has a magnetic bottom that connects strongly to the stand. Even with a pretty thorough shake of my monitor, it doesn't dislodge or move at all.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have a screw at the bottom of the webcam itself to slot into a stand or tripod, but the stand does, and I've never had any fears of it dropping off that stand. In fact, the stand is so sturdy that you can place the entire thing on a desk and have no fear of the chunky USB wire knocking it off.

As far as image quality is concerned, the half-inch Sony Starlight sensor performs admirably. It handles the admittedly pretty frizzy texture of my curly hair well, catching individual strands in the light. Compared to the Emeet Pixy, the backgrounds are a tad more fuzzy in the Link 2C, but the foreground is better lit in natural lighting, and generally more lifelike, with both cameras in default modes with the latest firmware. It's a matter of preference, but I would pick the 2C.

Though colours can get a tad washed out under the natural lighting of a window, I can still clearly make out text on boxes through the lens of the Link 2C. For a quick meeting, or even streaming, the Link 2C didn't struggle to handle pretty much anything I could throw in front of it. When placing items in front of my face, the autofocus catches on almost instantaneously, but it can take a second or so to register when I hold up text next to my face. This is certainly not bad (how often do you really show off items to a camera holding them next to your face?), but Obsbot and Emeet's recent offerings both outclass the 2C in the autofocus department.

I've had both the Link 2C and Link 2 beside each other in the office for the last few weeks, and they are almost identical. They have the exact same sensor, and the actual webcam itself is the same size. The central difference is that the Link 2 has a gimbal under the webcam that attaches to the stand, where the Link 2C does not. This means the Link 2 can literally follow you around the room and offers a better range of motion on top of your monitor.

For the difference of a gimbal, you will pay an extra $50. It is worth noting, though, that the Link 2 loses the privacy filter in the process, so, in a sense, there's a small trade-off going for the more expensive device. In my experience, webcams with a gimbal are a tad niche, and in this case, my money would be going on the cheaper device. This is especially true when we consider its price point is arguably one of the best parts about the Link 2C.

Listen to the microphone test here:

For a quick meeting, I noticed the Link 2C's built-in microphone is perfectly fine, with the AI-noise cancelling filtering out just enough background noise to be legible. It's not impeccable quality, but impeccable quality isn't what I'd expect from a webcam at this price point.

Speaking of AI features, the Link 2C is one of many recent webcams to offer a whole suite of AI hand gestures. The first is a zoom mode you can activate by holding your hand in an L shape. To actually zoom in or out, you activate the zoom mode, then move your hand up to zoom in and down to zoom out.

Unfortunately, I regularly found myself unable to comfortably zoom out, as zooming in too much cuts your hand out of frame, rendering the software unable to actually process your request to zoom out. You need a little bit of runway in the shot for the camera to pick your hand up, and that was often significantly more space than I anticipated.

The second AI gesture function is a whiteboard mode you can activate by doing a peace sign with your fingers. This focuses on a whiteboard and cuts off corners not in the board for presentations. It's a neat function, but also one that the majority of users will never actually have a use for.

Finally, you can activate an autoframe by holding your hand up and spreading your fingers. This zooms into your face or body and follows you. With the Link 2, this autofocus mode makes a bit more sense as it can follow you as you move.

Whilst seated, I find the autofocus will just zoom quite substantially into my face and doing the autofocus gesture won't reset it back to normal. This means both the zoom mode and autofocus mode require going into the software and manually fixing most of the time, which defeats the purpose of smart AI gesture features.

The software to use the Link 2C is also a bit of a let down. The first time I booted it up, a pop-up appeared on screen (clearly some sort of tutorial), and it simply wouldn't leave. Turning the software on and off again didn't solve the problem, and I had to reinstall the software just to get it to work.

From here, the Link software is mostly used to set a couple of makeup and filter presets (all of which I hated), as well as changing the exposure/temperature. The most useful parts of the Link software are the ability to update the firmware and the function to turn off the AI gestures entirely.

Once through the gauntlet that is operating the software, the Insta360 Link 2C provides a quality experience, backed up by a solid stand, strong build quality, and a decent microphone. Down to $100, I can't think of a single webcam I'd pick instead. Up at full price, though, the competition is much more fierce.

The week coming up to Prime Day, I had my eye on a handful of heavy-hitter value webcams: the type that regularly see sales, and I was half expecting some of them to see brand new lows. The Obsbot Meet 2 and Tiny 2 Lite, plus the Emeet Pixy, to name just a few. However, I'm a little disappointed to find them at or even above previous sales prices.

Luckily, the Dell UltraSharp WB7022 has come to the rescue, dropping all the way down to $145 at Amazon right now. This works out to a $55 reduction (or just under 30%)

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As we note in our review, you can use Windows Hello on this webcam, which means you can use your face to unlock your PC. That's a pretty neat alternative to a simple password, and it will save you a little bit of time each morning. However, Windows Hello support is just one part of an all-around solid package.

The large 4K Starvis CMOS sensor is fantastic, providing great quality video and pictures. It is worth noting, some apps don't support 4K, and for others, this webcam may be a bit overkill. However, if you're the type to hop in a meeting and maybe stream on the weekends too, you get a really smart and technically strong webcam with the UltraSharp.

In the software (which is easy to use), you can turn HDR on and off, change FOV settings, and adjust how the AI auto frames your face in each shot. Its cylindrical design looks neat and makes it feel a bit sturdy. It also has a magnetic privacy cap, should you not want your webcam to constantly stare at you.

We did, however, note in our time with it that UltraSharp's stand just isn't great. It works perfectly fine to hold the webcam up, but it only tilts up and down. If you think you will want to sit off-centre from the naturally parallel angle of your monitor, you may want a different stand or a different webcam entirely.

As well as this, it's worth pointing out that the UltraSharp does not have a built-in microphone. I don't know how often I've longed to use the included microphone on a webcam (I'd guess maybe once in the last year), but going entirely without does mean you are forced to pop on a pair of headphones or whip out a mic for even the briefest calls. To be honest, the lack of mic sounds like a bonus to me, as I never use it anyways, but your call.

With these caveats out of the way, it is an excellent webcam that performs well and is even more attractive with over $50 off.

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Do you need a 4K webcam? Previously, due to the significant price bump the tech required, I would say no. However, over the last year or so, we've managed to achieve close to equilibrium for both 4K and 1080p choices. You will still find budget 1080p webcams for very cheap, but if you're going to spend decent money for either, my money would probably go on the 4K option.

Now, for $136, you can pick up the Emeet Pixy at Amazon, $24 off its usual price. Importantly, this isn't just a good webcam for its cost, it's a good webcam full stop.

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The Emeet Pixy 4K webcam comes attached to a gimbal, and this allows it to enable smart tracking. By holding your hand up, it will display a blue light, and this means it has picked up on your body. You can then simply walk around the room or move your head, and it will follow you. It's a neat handshake of intuitive software and good hardware.

Speaking of good hardware, this 4K webcam has a Sony sensor in it, and can autofocus on items in less than a second. I'd know, as I tested it against the also rather brilliant Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite and got very similar results. When these two webcams are put head-to-head, I've found the Pixy has a certain clarity in the texture of hair that makes it a tad stronger, but the picture is also a bit more washed out, which I like less.

They're both good in their own right, and for the same price, I'd probably stick with the Tiny 2 Lite. However, at its current price, it's an even better value than the Obsbot Meet 2, which is a slightly more budget-friendly 4K option.

One thing I didn't love about the Pixy is that the gimbal is a tad big and can't be removed. The bottom stand can be unscrewed, which means you can place the Pixy on a tripod should you choose to, but the gimbal is a little big for smaller screens and laptops. It's not an overwhelming size, but certainly noticeable should you want to attach it to a screen less than 20 inches.

One thing I did find to be surprisingly solid with the Pixy is its microphone. Given the quality of sound and camera, I'd comfortably use it for a quick meeting, any audio interference notwithstanding.

When you consider that the likes of the Elgato Facecam MK.2 1080p webcam is just under $120 on sale, 4K webcam prices are starting to get dangerously close to 1080p prices now. Just make sure you'd actually get the use out of it if you want to spend that little bit extra.

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The world of 4K webcams feels like it's come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so. Despite this, 4K is still a mostly superfluous resolution for webcams to support right now. With some apps not even supporting 4K and other apps (looking at you, Discord) requiring you to pay more just for the privilege, many of those with 4K webcams will resort to 1080p anyway. Even if you want to buy one to make videos, you'd likely be better off with something more dedicated, as a 4K webcam is certainly a bit of a niche choice.

However, we are slowly starting to achieve price equilibrium, and some 4K webcams are perfectly decent just in 1080p mode. The first time I got hit with this feeling was when I was testing the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, and now with the Emeet Pixy, I feel it again.

For $160/£146, you not only get 4K resolution support with a Sony sensor, but you get AI tracking, plus a whole load of neat features. The Pixy is not just a barebones 4K webcam; it offers plenty of other reasons to grab one, and some of those are genuinely compelling.

The Emeet Pixy comes with dual cameras: One 4K imaging camera and one AI-assisted camera for better targeting and focus. This sounds neat in concept, but whether or not this design will stick around is going to depend on performance, and I can say autofocus and targeting felt about as accurate as the Tiny 2 Lite.

In fact, the two webcams have comparable cameras across the board. They both have AI-based hand gesture control, they're both placed on a gimbal to allow them to spin around, and they both offer 4K in a relatively budget package.

In regard to picture quality, I prefer the Tiny 2 Lite. Placed side by side, with both pictures unedited, I find the Emeet to be a tad more saturated and more washed out. Lines feel sharper, reds feel darker, and lights are overexposed. This is definitely just a preference here, but I like a more neutral look, which I can then edit after the fact. If I want a bit of sharpness, I'd usually opt to enhance that in an editor, rather than having that in the raw file.

The Pixy does, however, have elements that feel a tad more pronounced. Hairs in my admittedly unkempt beard look more distinct and less blurry than the Tiny 2 Lite, and there's a sense of depth with the two cameras that is noticeable in recordings. Both webcams record at a solid and stable quality, though I prefer the Lite 2.

I found colour correction a bit harder to do with the raw file from the Emeet than the Tiny 2 Lite, and even attempting to customise them in their respective software couldn't achieve parity between the two images.

The Pixy is very easy to set up. It comes with a firm, weighty stand that clips onto the top of your monitor, and you can thread the webcam on top via its bottom. This means you can technically pop it onto a tripod should you want, making it a viable choice as a webcam for the Nintendo Switch 2.

I do think it's a tad bulky, though. The Pixy sits above the stand (as you can unthread it should you choose to), which leaves it hanging awkwardly over the top. On the absolutely huge Asus ROG PG48UQ I use at work, it doesn't look too large. However, sitting on a 16-inch gaming laptop, it makes the screen wobble.

In meetings, the microphone quality in the Pixy is surprisingly solid. You could use it in a quick meeting and most wouldn't notice, which is about what you can reasonably hope for in a webcam mic.

Emeet Studio is a decent if fairly basic bit of software that allows you to customise where the Pixy looks, plus add effects, change the location of the gimbal, and swap between resolutions. The most confusing part about the software is figuring out which one is for the Pixy, as Emeet has a big selection of software available for all its webcams.

By holding your hand up, the Emeet Pixy changes from a static mode to a tracking one. This tracking mode is as responsive as it should be, though a tad niche. Thanks to being on a gimbal, you can effectively give a presentation with it pointing at you, and it will follow you as you walk around.

The software can also enable a whiteboard mode for showing off graphs, stats, drawings, etc, on screen. I found this to reliably track a whiteboard in practice, though I don't personally have a use for it. Still, someone might, and it's a nice extra for those looking for a more productivity-focused cam.

The marketing materials for the Emeet Pixy put an emphasis on AI script generation integration, and this comes in the form of chatbot access. In the Emeet app itself, you can click a little script generation tab that can query Gemini, Claude, Chat GPT, and Grok. Effectively, you give it prompts, and it will generate a script which you then read while presumably recording with the webcam.

It comes with six pre-generated prompts for scripts(but you can write your own) and spits out cam position information, shot scale, and narration. This information can only be fully gleaned by exporting it. This means, from start to finish, you need to click the generation box, generate your script, etc, export your data, then open up the Excel spreadsheet and read from it.

This is effectively just injecting a chatbot into the program, and is somehow less intuitive than just using Google to open up ChatGPT or a similar competitor. Even at that, I'd recommend just writing your own scripts.

Given that the scripts I got back from it weren't of the highest quality, it's not exactly intuitive, and the appeal of YouTube and similar video platforms is their authenticity, I couldn't honestly recommend this. The AI used in the tracking is good; the other AI part is not. Like the Tiny 2 Lite, it does occasionally grab the face of someone else in the PC Gamer office and follow them, but centring it back on me isn't really a problem.

One thing that did give me pause was the lack of any privacy filter. If you want the camera to look elsewhere while it's turned on, you physically have to flick it down. It may attempt to line itself back up again, assuming it fell accidentally, but holding it in place soon solves that problem. It also has blue light when on, so I soon learned to tune it out. You can also make the webcam automatically enter privacy mode after a certain time via the software if you're a tad paranoid.

For twenty dollars less than the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, the Emeet Pixy puts up a fight as the best high-end webcam out there. Ultimately, if it were my money on the line, though, I'd take the smaller frame and smoother image quality of the Tiny 2 for a bit more. I could just as easily hold out for a small sale, too.

When it comes to streaming and conferencing gear, Elgato is a company I've come to really appreciate. They make some of my favourite streaming gear like great keylights, and are also behind some of the best webcams around. The brand's Facecam line has impressed us since its inception back in 2021 with Elgato's first ever webcam and continues today with the Facecam MK.2 sitting atop our list of beloved cameras. Now, we are treated to the latest in that lineup as Elgato releases the Facecam 4k, and I'm only going off specs here, but it sounds like a really great webcam.

Right out the gate the Elgato Facecam 4k presents some impressive details to drool over. We see the same Elgato Prime lens which impressed us on the MK.2 paired with an improved 1/1.8" Sony Starvis 2 CMOS sensor. These guarantee that the image the camera is able to capture with its own optics is going to be very solid, and makes for a great foundation for the rest of the performance for this webcam.

These aren't the only interesting pieces of hardware featured, as Elgato has gone surprisingly analogue here. The Facecam 4k sports manual shutter-speed and ISO settings so you can dial in the light intake and speed to help make the best of your image. If you've not got the best lighting this should be a huge help in getting the best balance without things getting too grainy.

There's also physical lens filters. You know, those bits of coloured plastic you put infront of a lens to get different effects? Some of the younger crew may not be familiar with these, as usually filters are digital here in 2025, but they definitely exist. And now they can exist on your camera, which I think more creative streamers and content creators will have a lot of fun playing with. It will fit any 49-mm filter you can find, and Elgato are currently throwing some in for those who order from the webstore.

The 4k in this Facecams name isn't just for show. These can record HDR video up to 4k at 30 fps. You can also grab uncompressed video up to 4k 30 as well, as long as you've got the bandwidth in your USB. You can also drop the resolution down to 1080 if you're after higher framerates and generally dial this in to whatever suits your setup the best.

Through Elgato's Camera Hub software you can further dial a bunch of this stuff in and play with other effects. This includes full pan and tilt controls, digital presets, and if you're packing an Nvidia RTX card you can potentially access extra features like background blur.

If Elgato's Facecam 4k turns out to be as it says on the tin, I think we could have a contender for a new top webcam on our hands. It's launching at $200 USD, which also doesn't feel unreasonable for what actually looks like a really decent upgrade from the 1080p60 Facecam which still retails for $140. $60 for better sensors, upgraded lens, 4k capabilities, and all those sweet weird lens features sounds very worthwhile and I think this will become a staple for many streamers in the near future.

Okay, this deal is on the Logitech C920x and not the Logitech C920 that is currently sitting at the best budget webcam spot in our guide. That's because both webcams are identical in their hardware, with the former coming with three months of XSplit alongside it. Worst case scenario, you pick the x model for cheaper, never use that trial and save yourself over $20.

If you want the best budget 1080p webcam out there right now, you can pick up the Logitech C920x for just $50 this Prime Day. It is a deal exclusively for Prime members, but luckily, you can get a 30-day trial right now for free.

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This little budget bad boy records at 1080p in 30 fps. This isn't impeccable, and likely won't be enough should you want to record full-sized YouTube videos out of it, but it's more than enough for a facecam or a simple meeting.

The quality of images and video it gets is outstanding for the price, and it's also super easy to set up. Just plug in a USB and clip it to the top of your monitor.

With dual microphones and a 78-degree FOV, you shouldn't need to work around it too much: it will pick you up and do so well. One downside we spotted is that this model doesn't come with a privacy shield. If you are a tad anxious, you may want to unplug it or spin it around when not in use.

As we say in our guide, "Unless you're looking for specific features in a webcam then there are few better than the Logitech C920. It's both the best budget webcam and the one that makes the most sense for the average PC user." Though the Logitech C920 is regularly reduced, I haven't seen it this low since at least April.

If, however, you are looking to get 60 fps 1080p footage, or 4K 30 fps, the Obsbot Meet 2, the tiniest and cutest little webcam I've ever used, is now available for $100. These are two webcam deals I'd keep an eye on now that we're in the last official day of Prime Day.

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Once upon a time when I was but a wee sprout, I desperately wanted to be what we now call a streamer. I've since come to accept the fact I have a face for radio, but as a young warthog I was desperate to share my abysmal RPG opinions with a larger audience beyond just whoever was in earshot. Anyway, since you're here, let me regale you with my Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fanfic theory…

Just kidding—I'm saving that one for my AO3 account, obviously. But more seriously I've been without a webcam for months now, beaming into my work team meetings like a faceless woman-in-the-chair. As much as I enjoy the mystique, it's probably time for my eyeliner wings to grace the Google meet once more. Thankfully the Elgato Facecam MK.2, which is currently rocking the best webcam crown in our guide, is now only $110 at Amazon.

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A worthy successor to the Facecam MK.1, the MK.2 corners the streamer market by offering an uncompressed 1080p image at 60 FPS that is perfect for whacking in the corner of your picture-in-picture stream. As I said up top, I've left the streamer dream behind, so I'll just have to settle for the MK.2 accurately rendering the sharpness of my wings for all to marvel at.

Our Dave also really dug it in his Elgato Facecam MK.2 webcam review, particularly appreciating the HDR support. He writes, "In my home office space, with a couple bright windows facing the side of my screen, it's ace not having those utterly blowing out the image every time I jump on a call in the daytime."

Ah yes, tech's one true nemesis—bright sunshine, apparently. Though the 1080p mode can deftly sidestep a blown out image thanks to HDR, the 720p 120 FPS mode does not enjoy this support. According to Elgato, this isn't due to technical limitations but more user experience concerns.

Dave explains in his review, "With 720p120 capture disabling HDR... some of the more fine grain controls available from within the Camera Hub software don't work as they should. Elgato calls those instances "a conceptual issue" rather than a technical one, as creating discrete sliders for each exposure level in the HDR capture mode would end up as a pretty rough user experience."

Speaking of keeping its sights set on the user experience, the MK.2 also features NO auto-focus. To explain why this is actually not a bad thing, just think back to all the times you fought with the auto-focus on your phone camera or other devices; during a stream or video call, your webcam deciding to focus on something its pretty sure is a face on your back wall rather than you, the person sat right in front of it, is distracting to say the least. Instead, this Elgato webcam employs a fixed focus system, maintaining focus between 30cm to 110cm and ensuring it never loses sight of the real star of the show…or low-stakes Discord video call, as the case may be.

👉Shop all the Amazon webcam deals right here👈

There was a time not too long ago where buying a 4K webcam would cost you if not an arm and a leg, then at least the arm and a big toe. The Obsbot Meet 2, among a few others, proves that you no longer need to lose a limb or break open the piggy bank to get high-quality recordings and photos from your PC.

Right now, you can pick up the Obsbot Meet 2 for its lowest-ever price at $99 in the early Amazon Prime Day sales. I reviewed the Obsbot Meet 2 earlier this year, and even then, I was astounded by its very reasonable cost. At $30 off, it truly manages to dip down to 1080p webcam pricing, and looks adorable while doing so.

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You simply hook it up to your PC with an included USB-C cable, pop it on a stand, and you're ready to go. One thing worth noting though is that the included stand is simply not very good at all.

My single biggest criticism of the Meet 2 is that a thick cable or wobbly setup will send that webcam hurtling down to the ground. It does have threading at the bottom, so it can hook up to most stands, but I'd recommend picking a dedicated stand or tripod to go alongside it.

All three colors are available at the same price and, after seeing them all in person, I'd personally pick the Aurora Green. It's a striking color and the most unique of the lot.

Not only is the Meet 2 super light, cheap, and easy to set up, but Obsbot's software is also super intuitive to use. It comes with quick options to change some settings and allows a level of fine-tuning, plus a few filters for streamers, and that's it. It's fairly simple and has never failed me once. I can't say the same about most other software for hardware right now.

The Meet 2 comes with a built-in mic, and I'd say it's just okay. It's clear enough to get through a quick meeting, but it's not fit should you want to stream or record videos. As well as this, it's worth considering if a 4K webcam even fits your needs. Many software programs out there can't even support 4K webcams. For most, 4K is a little bit too much, but at under $100, the Meet 2 is even a solid choice should you want it mostly for 1080p recording.

Thanks to its look, quality, and price point, the Obsbot Meet 2 is our current choice for the best 4K webcam, and that's for good reason. At full price, it still somehow feels like a bit of a bargain, so this tidy discount only makes it better.

👉 All of Amazon's webcam deals are right here👈

If you're in the market for a 4K webcam(and I'll admit that's a big if), my absolute favourite, the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, is now even cheaper than its already pretty reasonable MSRP.

For $143 at Amazon right now (a reduction of $36), the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite is the best webcam you will get in its price range and likely the best all the way up to $200, too.

I had the opportunity to test out a few Obsbot webcams at the same time, and despite my prejudgment that the Meet 2, the cheaper of the lot, would be the best, I found myself enamored by the little Tiny 2 Lite. It's an excellent midway between the usual prices of 1080p webcams and 4K choices, making it a surprisingly viable pick even if you just choose to use it at 1080p.

Not only is the 1/2-inch CMOS sensor super solid, but the camera's autofocus is impeccable, picking up on items in less than a second, and it performs well with different types of lighting, too.

Perhaps the most unique part of this webcam is its gimbal, which combines with AI auto-tracking to mean that the webcam can capture where you move around an entire room, as long as something doesn't block it. If you like to get a bit active in calls or presentations, it can handle that no bother.

👆Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite autofocus testing👆

The Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite comes with AI hand command implementation, where you can tell the webcam to zoom in or focus on certain areas, but these commands aren't as consistent as the rest of the webcam, and I noticed it would occasionally fail to pick up my hand when placed in front of a pink jacket or shirt.

Giving it a score of 89% in my review earlier this year, the only real detractions from the webcam are the fact that 4K is likely overkill for most users looking for a standard cam (which means you pay a little extra for something superfluous) and that those AI hand controls aren't great. Otherwise, this is an excellent choice for anyone looking to capture more in Discord calls or even YouTube videos.

This is our best high-end choice in our picks for the best webcam for a reason, and at this price point, it's only $14 more than the budget-oriented Meet 2. I use it multiple times a week for meetings, and it's never let me down.

When I had the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite and Obsbot Meet 2 webcams sat on my desk, I had a feeling I would think the latter was a better choice. Both are 4K quality, which in a webcam is superfluous for most, but the Meet 2 is the cheaper and cuter of the two. However, after some time with both, the Tiny 2 Lite is actually my favourite, and it's not because of its whacky AI enhancements.

At under $200, this feels like a smart camera that just happens to support 4K video support at up to 30 fps. Google Meet, Zoom, and most other conferencing support can only go up to 1080p max and even Discord only supports 4K with a Discord Nitro subscription.

This is assuming you even have the connection to stream that sort of resolution to whoever is on the other side of the call and the recipient has the connection to receive it.

However, I can see a genuine use case if you're a YouTube creator of any kind, and want to use your webcam to take up a decent chunk of the screen rather than just a small corner at the top. If you do cutaway jokes to your face or it takes up a sizable amount of your screen, a 4K webcam can signal quality to a viewer.

The Tiny 2 Lite just so happens to have a whole host of little features that will make it even more enticing. Even if you only plan on using the Tiny 2 Lite in its 1080p, at this price, there are still a few solid reasons to make that upgrade.

Where this came ahead of the pretty great Obsbot Meet 2 for me is its stand. Where the Meet 2 struggles to hold on to the top of a monitor, especially when it's connecting with a thicker USB-C cable, this stand clips on firmly and is strong enough to withstand the gimbal spinning almost all the way around.

Even a shake of the monitor (which I'd generally advise against) won't free it from the firm clasp the Tiny 2 Lite has on it. The stand also has threading on the bottom, just in case you want to pop the whole thing on a tripod.

When turned off, the camera swings down, which is a bit of a showy way of giving you some privacy. It's a useful feature for anyone who is just a little cautious of camera lenses in their devices. Plug the webcam in and join a meeting to see the entire thing spring into life. This is helped by a truly tremendous automatic focus, that can pick up a box directly in front of the lens almost immediately.

This works well for small or large items you put into frame, so you don't even need to place your hand behind your item, like you may be accustomed to from Mukbangs and makeup tutorials.

Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite autofocus testing.

Recording at 4K, you can get up to 30 fps but that goes up to 60 fps in 1080p. With apps like OBS supporting a 4K video feed, this is one of the best ways to actually get the most out of this webcam. Luckily, either way, that half-inch CMOS sensor is a wonder for its size, providing accurate colour and vibrancy in video.

The microphone is also adequate, not giving the clarity of something dedicated but enough to be heard in meetings.

The camera can struggle a little with the light around windows from a distance but handles that light with ease when up close. I did, however, spot a strange AI problem when it comes to lighting and colours. You can put your hand up to get the camera to autofocus onto your face, or turn off that feature.

I decided to show up to the PC Gamer office with a pink overcoat and, against that backdrop, it struggled to pick up the pasty pink shade of my fingers. I had to hold it just above my shoulder to get it to work. I guess the Tiny 2 Lite just doesn't appreciate fashion when it sees it.

However, that feature, apart from making you look like you're putting your hand up to ask your teacher a question, tends to work rather quickly. You can tell when it's on because the usual green light beside the lens goes blue. When it focuses on your face, you can effectively walk around the entire room and the little camera, with its attached gimbal, will follow you. Though perhaps a tad niche, the movement of the camera is smooth enough to not disorient on a call.

Some of the other AI features are more superfluous. By holding up your hand in an L shape, you can get the camera to zoom in on your face. This could work for a gag in a stream or video but the two or so seconds it takes to register the signal would choreograph the joke. You could also do it for specific tutorials around your face like makeup but, once again, this is a bit niche and slow to get regular use from me.

You can also hold up an L shape in each hand and bring your hands closer together or further away to change the zoom. Unfortunately, this too is rather slow which means you are better off using the app if you want a very specific zoom and it can be a bit finicky if your hand passes by a colour too close to your skin colour. In a pinch, it works fine though.

The Obsbot software, which can be used to get updates for your webcam, is super solid. Split up into 'console', 'image', and 'more', all functions are in those three central categories. In console, you can adjust how AI tracking works, from following you as a person, to focusing on a group or your hands.

The first set of tracking targets automatically follows your face but can be set to adjust for your upper body, a close-up of your face, a headless shot, or perhaps the strangest, a video tracking your lower body. I don't know what that would really be used for and, at this point, I'm too afraid to ask.

Also in 'console', you can change the lens (in a software sense) from wide, to medium to narrow, and manually adjust the gimbal. If it has lost tracking or you want to swing the whole thing around, you can do so from here. Luckily, accounting for how far it can turn both left and right, you can effectively get a 360-degree view with this camera, though it can't swing all the way around from a single side.

'Image' can adjust HDR, which, unfortunately, has very little effect. The view is a little lighter on my HDR screen but, without being told, I think I would just assume individual images are products of small lighting changes and not a full-on new function. However, this section can also change exposure, focus, and adjust some image settings.

It's nice to have easy access to customisation but I actually found the webcam to be well-adjusted for most environments straight out of the box—another great feature for streamers.

With the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, you are paying for that 4K video quality, and it will go mostly unnoticed in the majority of streaming or video conferencing setups but you aren't paying all that much more for it, when even the best webcam right now (the Elgato Facecam MK.2) is only tens of dollars cheaper.

If you want a webcam capable of high quality and consistent 1080p recording, with the option for higher quality video should the mood strike you, the Tiny 2 Lite strikes an excellent balance between budget and performance. Its gimbal stand makes it perfect for a conference (or if you just have a lot of energy in your 9 AM meetings) and its built-in software is intuitive and customizable.

Some functions in this webcam may get lost on the average webcam user but getting started really is just as easy as plugging it in and pointing it in the right direction. Hey, it's so functional you practically don't even have to do that.

I'm going to be honest here, I don't think I've ever quite understood why the average person would be interested in a 4K webcam for 4K prices.

I think there's a real purpose if you're a streamer and want the absolute best clarity but, with the likes of Google Meet limiting video calls to just 1080p, why I would want to pay a couple hundred extra bucks for niche use cases is beyond me.

Fortunately, the Obsbot Meet 2 with its solid specs, cute size, and very reasonable price aims to fix that problem. And give you an excellent everyday webcam in the process.

Starting off with the most noticeable thing, this webcam is absolutely adorable. At just under an inch tall and under two inches wide, it's one of the smallest webcams I've used. It's only about 70% of the size of the Logitech Brio 100 I'd previously used on my setup and not quite as cumbersome either. With grey, white, and green options available, they all look great but the almost seafoam shade of green is my favourite.

The lens of this webcam takes up the majority of the space of the device. Apart from a small Obsbot logo up the top left, it lacks any distinct branding. To set this thing up, you simply have to plug a USB-C cable into the receiver on the back and connect the included stand to your monitor.

The stand is the weakest part of the package. Instead of screwing in via a thread, the stand has a small magnetic pull that keeps the webcam in place.

This feels like a bit of an oversight and a slightly thick USB-C has enough power to constantly knock the webcam off the stand. It clips initially fine but lacks the strength to hold onto a surface well. As the stand itself is fairly small, when the webcam's weight is adjusted, this will often knock the entire thing off.

One night, the stand and webcam came off entirely and the Meet 2 took a nasty dent as a result. It's only small but noticeable. If you plan on using this webcam, you will need to have a small USB-C, preferably with tidy wire management so it doesn't dangle and get caught anywhere, or need a stand to screw this into. Luckily, it has threading at the bottom so works well once you do.

If you are worried about privacy, it comes with a handy magnetic cover. The webcam is so tiny that my, admittedly rather large, fingers occasionally move the entire webcam instead of removing the cover. But it's a smart feature that becomes very natural after only a few days with the cam.

Having a physical cover is one of those little peace-of-mind accessories that adds a lot, despite being a very small touch. It does mean there's a chance you can lose it as you can take it off entirely but, if you're careful with your tech, holding onto the cover shouldn't be a problem. Once set up on the desk, this tiny little webcam is an absolute joy for the price.

The half-inch CMOS sensor is the same you can find in Obsbot's more expensive Tiny 2 Lite webcam, and an inch smaller than the CMOS sensor in the Obsbot Tiny 2. The 48 MP sensor has an aperture of 1.8 with an FOV of 79.4°, which makes it very similar to the much larger and more expensive Tiny 2, and the image quality is pretty great as a result. In video, it can capture up to 4K at 30 fps and down to 1080p and below at 60 fps.

Though it supports HDR, I find the results to be a little inconsistent. In low or medium lighting, illuminated by the brightness of a monitor or mood lighting, the HDR mode felt crisper and dealt with the contrast of colours better. But it tended to feel a little more washed out in good lighting. Luckily, you can access easy HDR controls from the OBSBot Centre app, which also serves to get your webcam the latest firmware updates. This software is great, being not only intuitive but without any software hiccups or stalls.

In the software, the Console tab can be used to adjust framing as well as give a software approximation of a few lens types (wide, medium and narrow). You can also turn on auto framing, which is one of the many AI-powered functions, and it works fine to keep the body in the frame and focused. Though its limited size and FOV means it won't keep tracking for very long if you move to the left or right. From using the two, this section of the software hub is far more impressive in the Lite 2 than in the Meet 2, though the former is a more expensive webcam choice.

Focusing in particular is great on this webcam, adjusting to items in frame and in the distance in a matter of moments. In the image tab, you can further change how focus works, turn HDR on and off, as well as customise the image with contrast, sharpness, saturation, etc. These all work together to further hone a webcam that, from the very start, puts out high-quality video that is dynamic and adjustable. Naturally, in quite dark areas, the webcam does become a tad grainy and it won't work wonders with almost no light but, if you like to play games in a Discord call, it can illuminate your smiling face as you taunt your enemies friends.

The Meet 2 has a few extra AI features, like the ability to change auto framing by holding your hand up and zooming in and out by holding your hand in the shape of an L. It feels a tad gimmicky, especially when you have to explain what you're doing in a call while the software catches up with you, but it mostly works fine. The same is true of built-in beauty filters, that lightly pull in the chin or brighten the skin. They feel too obviously like a filter for me to get any genuine use out of them but they're not necessarily distracting.

If you do plan on using this webcam for games, you will want to use your own mic because this one sounds a bit muffled and far away. Part of the problem with a webcam of this size and price point is it has to make cuts in other areas and this mic's quality is fine for a quick chat but unsustainable for long-term use, without annoying enemies colleagues.

Other than this, video quality is great and clear in both 4K and 1080p, picking up the overhead light well while piecing individual strands of hair and movement together. The screen doesn't feel too cluttered with movement even at 30 fps, with very little visual artifacting or blur to its output. The software only ever feels like a boon to it, which is surprising from something that boasts "AI features".

From my time with the Obsbot Meet 2, I still don't fully get the need for a 4K webcam. But this is priced well enough that it can outpace many 1080p choices in the right places and still give you the option to bring up that quality if you plan on creating high-quality streams or video. That adorable aesthetic also serves a practical use case for anyone with a particularly small setup, and it can even work with a laptop. You may need a mic and a better stand for the best experience but, once that's sorted, it's hard to beat this kind of quality and aesthetic at its price point.

Not too long ago, a great darkness enshrouded my humble flat. It swept through like a wave; one by one, each lightbulb in my home office would begin to flicker before being totally extinguished. As the light fixtures were recessed into the ceiling, there wasn't anything I could do myself beyond sending a polite email and waiting—the joys of rented accommodation.

For a time, I brought a bit of a XCOM shadow council vibe to work videocalls, making sure to throw out the occasional "Do not disappoint us," for effect (What can I say? I'm a team player). The inbuilt laptop webcam I was using at the time simply didn't have a clue what to do with such low-light conditions, beyond offering, "Hey, do you want some image with all of that grain?" My home office lighting situation has long since been remedied, but my top deal today would've perhaps ensured my shadow council bit never got the chance to outstay its welcome. Besides that, it's not hard to see why the Razer Kiyo Pro USB webcam deserves this spotlight—especially since you can get it for less than $100 at Amazon.

👉 We're curating the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here 👈

Just for a start, the webcam's high-performance, Sony Starvis adaptive light-sensor makes the most of whatever amount of illumination you're working with, as Jorge highlighted in his review a while back. It's just as well because unlike the similar model, base Kiyo webcam, the Kiyo Pro does not come with an inbuilt ringlight.

The Pro instead prioritises a crisp image, boasting an output of FHD 1080p video at 60 fps. If you make a lot of videocalls (looking at you long distance tabletop nerds), or you're thinking about getting into streaming, this would be a fantastic shout.

If you'd rather obfuscate the massive pile of clothes steadily building up behind you while on work calls, you'll need to mess around with the Razer Kiyo Pro's adjustable FOV which offers options for a 103°, 90°, or 80° field of view. Otherwise, streamer hopefuls with an already carefully curated, very aesthetic backdrop are going to love this webcam's wide angle lens.

Add to that the Razer Kiyo Pro's HDR capabilities, and your subtle, tasteful shrine to Miku Hatsune will really pop. However, be advised that this webcam can only capture HDR video at 30 fps, so it may be best to avoid any highspeed Hatsune action.

The only thing I don't necessarily love right off the bat is the webcam's fold-out base mount. Ideally, this means you can perch it on top of your monitor and you're off to the races. However, in practice I always find these bendy-wendy mounts a bit fiddly for placing at eye-level. In my experience, a USB cable trailing out the back of a webcam can throw off the device's centre of gravity too, and require frequent readjustment—though hopefully your cable management and general desk situation is slightly less chaotic than mine. After all, I've got to put my Miku shrine somewhere.

👉Check out all the Amazon Black Friday PC gaming deals right here👈

Streaming, podcasting, and using your PC as a production studio can be really, really complicated. Or very, very easy. That all depends on what equipment you buy, and it's easy to get bogged down in a minefield of choices this Black Friday.

Have no fear! Like the world's nerdiest superhero, I'm sweeping in with my cape of 20 years of audio and production engineering experience to tell you exactly what equipment you should be buying to make your streaming dreams come true.

👉 We're curating the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here 👈

With the Black Friday sales well underway, now's the perfect time to equip your PC with everything it needs to capture your lovely visage, dulcet tones, and sweet gameplay chops with aplomb.

Let's have a look at my top picks for Black Friday streaming equipment deals, shall we?

Quick links

• Budget microphone: Razer Seiren V3 Mini | $50 @ Amazon
• Mid-range microphone: HyperX Quadcast S | $119 @ Amazon
• High-end microphone: Shure MV7+ | $249 @ Amazon

• Budget webcam: Logitech C920x | $45 @ Newegg
• Mid-range webcam: Razer Kiyo Pro | $95 @ Amazon
• High-end webcam: Elgato Facecam MK.2 | $120 @ Amazon

• Key light set: Neewer key light 2-pack | $91 @ Amazon
• Wall lights: Govee Gaming Wall Light | $80 @ Amazon

• Microphone & stream mixer kit: SteelSeries Alias Pro | $250 @ Amazon

1. A great microphone

First up, you're going to want a great microphone to capture some sound. Even if your streaming adventures amount to nothing more than an OBS recording of your gameplay with a voiceover (and plenty of streamers and content creators do very well with nothing but that), you're going to want to make sure your audio game is on point.

I've put together three stunning microphone options here, from budget all the way through to studio-level, to ensure your audio is as good as it can possibly be.

Black Friday budget microphone deal

If you're on a tight budget, there's no better recommendation I can think of than the Razer Seiren V3 Mini. Don't let its small size and discount price put you off—this desktop mic captures excellent audio quality, looks great, and takes up very little room on your desk, leaving plenty of space for the most important thing in shot. That's you, that is.

Black Friday mid-range microphone deal

I reckon this QuadCast S is a truly excellent choice for any streamer. It's a crispy-yet-warm audio capturing machine, with an integrated pop-filter that removes any worries about plosives (blown out "puh" and "buh" noises that can really ruin your vibes, man). It also lights up with a dazzling display of RGB that looks great on cam.

Black Friday high-end microphone deal

This is simply my favorite vocal capture microphone right now, and our top pick for the best microphone for podcasting. That means it's perfect for streaming too, although you will have to buy a boom arm (I'm a big fan of Tonor arms, for reference) in order to get it close enough to your face to use it as its best.

It's a mean, audio capturing machine and ultra-simple to use. Install the Shure Motive Mix software, plug it in, and off it goes capturing the best sound this side of a professional studio setup.

2. A webcam with image quality to spare

Should you wish to show your beautiful visage on camera, you'll be wanting something that can capture your roguish good-looks with the minimum of fuss.

Great webcams can be expensive, but it's still possible to pick up budget models that'll do just fine, particularly if you plan on shrinking yourself down to a small fraction of the video while you show gameplay footage.

If you're planning on plenty of shots of just you, or perhaps something like unboxing content, then you'll need something a bit more igh-end. Luckily, I've found three great deals on three great webcams, perfectly suited to each price range.

Black Friday budget webcam deal

If you're just starting out, and especially if you plan on only using your webcam for a picture-in-picture spot on a gameplay stream, then any variation of the Logitech C920 will do you just fine. We recommend the Streamplify Cam as our best budget pick for streamers but it's currently hard to find in the US, so this Logitech wins out for its sheer price/performance combo.

It's never going to blow you away with its image quality, but it's an ultra-reliable stalwart sitting atop many a monitor across the world, and this version even comes with a flip-down privacy shield. After all, it's easy to forget that you're still live, so a real-world backup is a nice thing to have, ey?

Black Friday mid-range webcam deal

You may have noticed that many streamers sit in dark rooms, with lots of neon lights to make everything look all glow-y and gamer-chic. That's a good move aesthetically (and we have some lights down below that would suit), but it means you'll need a camera that's better at low light capture than most.

Enter, the Razer Kiyo Pro. In our review we found it was easily the best webcam for dealing with low-light conditions we've ever tested, and it's under half its MSRP right now at Amazon. The auto-focus is a bit fiddly, but it's a streamer-friendly cam that deals with challenging lighting far better than the rest.

Black Friday high-end webcam deal

Our best webcam recommendation is the Elgato Facecam MK.2, so I'll leave it there and just tell you to buy it while it's on discount. Nah, just kidding, you need more, don't you? Well, it records uncompressed video at 1080p 60 fps, which means you get image quality that surpasses any other cam at this price point.

In our review we discovered that it's also got an excellent HDR mode, which is something of a boon. Plus, it's relatively small and discreet while still outperforming much larger models, and the software is truly outstanding, which makes setting it up so much easier than many of its competitors. And at this price? A pretty easy decision, if you ask me.

3. Lights, camera, action

So you've got the audio sorted, your new cam is winging its way to you—now you just need to work on your lighting.

Yep, it's important. If you simply rely on the blazing light of your screen or the odd desk lamp in the background, chances are you're still going to look a bit amateurish, and that's not the goal here. We want you and your recording space to look its very best, so here's a couple of recommendations that should light you up in the way you deserve.

Black Friday key light deal

Key lights are simply the best way of making sure you look great on camera, and there are plenty of different ways you can use them to show you at your prettiest. What you really want here then are options, and this double-bubble kit gives you everything you need to get started.

With lights, stands, power plugs and a carry bag all included, what you've got here is a complete package that isn't just for your streaming setup—you can use it for product reviews, location shoots, and anything else you can think of in the wide world of video production. Think of them as an investment you'll use for years, and you won't go far wrong.

Black Friday wall light deal

Ah, so you want that streamer glow then, ey? I don't blame you. It's become the de facto look for streamers to bathe their respective shooting spaces in purples, blues and greens, and that's exactly what this wall light set provides.

We were so impressed with it, we placed it as our top wall light recommendation in our best desk lighting guide. That's high praise indeed, and with $40 off you can save a tidy sum to put towards some of the streaming gear above while still surrounding yourself in a comforting neon glow.

4. A wildcard audio and stream control setup

Controlling all your inputs and outputs on the fly can be a bit of a nightmare, so I'd be remiss if I didn't point out this SteelSeries Alias Pro kit that makes streaming audio about as easy as it gets.

Not only do you get an excellent microphone that can compete with some of the better models we've tested, but a Stream Mixer that allows you to assign custom controls while acting as a powerful preamp.

SteelSeries' Sonar software (all the ess sounds, all at once) is remarkably good at simplifying down complicated audio controls into single sliders, and its drag and drop functionality makes juggling all your various configs much simpler than they otherwise would be.

Plus, its built-in Sonar AI-noise cancelling plugin is genuinely good at removing background noise. Of course, you'll still need a webcam and some lights, and its still very pricey even with this discount.

But if all the fiddly bits of audio streaming are making you pull your hair out with frustration, this setup does its darndest to keep things serene—allowing you to focus on the subtle art of performance rather than losing yourself in the settings menus.

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The maker of our current pick for the best webcam, the Elgato Facecam MK2, has recently released a brand new Facecam. The Facecam Neo is aimed a little lower in the market than the MK2 and retails for $50 less at $99 USD. This can get cheaper if you bundle it, positioning the Facecam Neo as a hefty budget friendly contender.

As with the rest of the Neo range, the Facecam is packaged in a basic white recycled box. It comes with a matching monitor stand complete with transparent front lip for screens, and has a braided USB cable hardwired in. Pulling the pill shaped camera out of the box, the first two things I noticed were how light it feels, almost like empty plastic, and the mechanical notch for the privacy shutter. 

Sadly, the shutter doesn't feel satisfying to move. It is very easy to use and feels noticeably different when it's in and out of place, so at least is unlikely to be in the wrong position accidentally. Plus, the cover slides in front of the lens, but behind the main housing, which should keep it safer during travel. 

This camera is also completely devoid of a mic, which I think is excellent. Webcam mics are never good and are usually too far away to begin with. By not having a mic, Elgato has saved me a tonne of frustration, be it from my programs choosing it as the default mic, or having just another device listening in. No mic plus a privacy shutter means you can leave this cam plugged in and don't have to worry about yet another digital spy or accidental embarrassment. Plus the LED is large and remains on whenever the camera is active.

All in all, It's a huge step up from a tab of electrical tape over the lens. 

The Elgato Facecam Neo pumps out 1080p at up to 60 fps making it more than enough for most streams and meetings. It's not the best choice for video with those specs but still does well. 

For a light little webcam that can fit easily into most settings it's very capable. It does a great job of colours and skin tones but tends to lean just a little towards oversaturation, which ramps up when it tries to compensate for low light. I've plugged it into a few PCs with different software and it's been seamless every time. However, you might want to grab Elgato's free camera hub software to get access to all the features. 

The hub has controls for many things, like zoom and brightness, which can be saved to the camera to then be used in other apps. Most of these I was able to leave on auto quite happily, but this was also the only way I could see to enable the much sought after HDR setting.

Enabling HDR will restrict you from 60 fps to just 30, but will make a huge difference if you've got bright lights like windows messing up your shot. I can have a bright window behind me and still be nice and clear as opposed to creepy shadow creature. I just wouldn't recommend using it in all scenarios.

As well as losing out on those 30 frames, I found at my well lit desk, turning HDR on didn't look any different and would really mess with the autofocus. The focus became very sluggish and sometimes would be stuck at a blur, unable to focus at all. The autofocus isn't particularly snappy, generally speaking, which has bothered me occasionally, but it at least usually gets there within a few seconds max, and then holds it well until drastic changes.

Thankfully, with HDR on and a big window behind me, more like what it's designed for, I didn't have this issue. So in that sense it's not really a problem but does raise some questions about the autofocus. There are also options to turn the focus from auto to fixed in the software, which might be a workaround if you need it. Unfortunately, all of this means you might actually need the Elgato camera hub to make changes. Being able to save settings to the camera is a huge help here, but it makes me wish it had profiles, or even just a button for toggling HDR. The good news is the app is free and easy to use, so this shouldn't be a huge barrier.

While wonderfully versatile, if you're wanting a dedicated webcam to hangout at your already well lit station, the Facecam Neo may not be the best choice. You could swap out some of that versatility and go for something with a fixed focus made for desks, and a better sensor that might deliver a higher quality image, like the Elgato Facecam MK2. Or even go for something fancier and 4K if you wanted to make videos as well. This isn't necessarily the webcam I'd recommend first for a single, already well lit, desk setup.

Instead, this is a camera that will work fairly well even if you are plagued with horrible light. It only takes a few tweaks to have it working well at a purposely lit streamer's desk as it does to have it in an awkward office. It's lightweight, small, works immediately with all the software I've tried it on (including FaceTime on my iPad), and without also trying to be a mic. Plus, 1080p at 30 - 60 fps is still more than enough for streaming and video calls. 

Those are some pretty big wins, especially for under $100 USD. It all comes together to make the Facecam Neo a smart choice, especially if you've got harsh light or use this cam on different setups easily.

From fancy 4K webcams, all the way down to the simple, budget cams just for work form home meetings, there are some pretty wild deals on the best webcams for Prime Day this year.

Not only are we looking at deals on our absolute favorite webcam overall, the Elgato Facecam MK.2 down to $120 at Amazon, I've also spotted great deal on the better-for-low-light Razer Kiyo Pro. Usually closer to $200, the Kiyo is just $83.59 at Amazon right now. That's a whopping 58% discount, and it's just scratching the surface.

• We're curating the best Prime Day PC gaming deals right here.

The already budget friendly Logitech C920 is down to $44.90 in the sales, if you just need something for meetings. And for the pro streamers out there looking to have their face blown up in super-high res, the smart, AI-powered OBSBOT Tiny 2 is just $283.10 with a $48 discount. Plus it comes with a tripod, too.

There should be something for every kind of gamer, streamer, or online meeting-haver in the list below. And we'll keep this list updated, should we find any more too.

Quick links

• Elgato Facecam MK.2 | $120 @ Amazon (save $30)
• Razer Kiyo Pro | $84 @ Amazon (save $116)
• Logitech C920 | $50 @ Amazon (save $50)
• OBSBOT Tiny 2 | $283 @ Amazon (save $48)

Best Prime Day webcam deals

While I had several Game Boy handhelds as a child—mostly acquired second-hand—my pocket money could never quite stretch to the magnificence that was the Game Boy Camera. Like an ever-staring eye of Sauron mounted to the top of the device, the 180° swivelling camera allowed users to capture selfies and print them out on thermal paper with an additional Game Boy Printer. 

Now, thanks to an emulator dock, the Game Boy Camera has been reborn as a functional PC webcam, providing 16,000 pixels of glorious black and white resolution.

The Epilogue GB Operator dock allows users to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy advance cartridges on Windows, macOS and Linux devices using a built in emulator (via Tom's Hardware). The dock itself has been available since 2021, but the team behind it has spent the past three years tweaking the device to deliver a live-feed from the Game Boy Camera.

All that hard work appears to have paid off, as the team have posted a video showing some incredibly low-res footage of two of its members beaming with joy at their progress. Epilogue says that while the live-feed is finally working, it still needs to "fine-tune some things and allow for configuration options."

While the GB Operator dock is compatible with PCs, the test window shown in the video is running on macOS. So it's unclear if any more tweaking will be needed to get a Windows device to use it as a terrible, no-good, yet charming alternative to a regular webcam. Still, Epilogue says it can't wait to see everyone having fun with the device, suggesting a release may be coming soon.

YouTube channel Retro Game Couch has also previously managed to get a Game Boy Camera working as a webcam, although in this case it took a combination of a Super Nintendo, Super Game Boy adapter cartridge, an HDMI upscaler and an HDMI capture device. 

The GB Operator dock is a much neater, smaller solution, so it looks a much more workable method to enable the world's worst camera to work with modern devices.

As to why you'd want to? Well, plenty of relatively modern laptops have pretty awful webcams. Who among us hasn't attended a meeting where a key speaker appears to be lost in a snow drift, or stutters like a malfunctioning animatronic? At least here, you'll have that sheen of retro cool to fall back on.

"You use a Logitech? How terribly boring. It's all about the Game Boy Camera for me."

4K resolution, forget about it. The real hip kids are going Game Boy, I reckon.

I wasn't expecting much from the new Elgato Facecam MK.2. It's apparently not really a sequel, and will just go on to replace the existing Facecam we loved so well. It's also a bit cheaper than the original cam launched at: The new one is starting at $150 while the MK.1 came out at $200.

But it's great. Really great. Pretty much a better webcam than the first in every aspect, and I am massively digging the new HDR mode the Facecam MK.2 employs. In my home office space, with a couple bright windows facing the side of my screen, it's ace not having those utterly blowing out the image every time I jump on a call in the daytime.

It's not messing around trying to be some 4K monster of a cam, but what the Facecam has always offered is a fantastic uncompressed 1080p stream. And it does it with aplomb. That was true with the MK.1 and is absolutely so in this updated Facecam MK.2.

Given the target audience for Elgato gear is the streaming market, that choice is a smart one. Why pick a higher, but compressed resolution that folk aren't going to embed in their stream anyway? What you really want is a lower resolution, but artefact-free video stream. To that end, the MK.2 is again offering 1080p60 uncompressed, with 720p120 included in a host of other resolutions and frame rates lower down the scale.

The new Facecam is still using the same Sony STARVIS CMOS sensor, and still delivers a great picture, despite the MK.2 having a noticeably smaller 'eye' compared with the first model. But that works for me, because one of the first things you'll otherwise notice is that it's far smaller as a whole.

The original is quite a chonky thing. A boxy beast of plain black plastic with just the concentric rings around the lens to mark out any detail. Now, I'm not going to pretend the new design is some stunning reimagining of what a webcam can be—it's still essentially a black plastic box—but the shrinking down of the main body is very welcome. As is the redesign of the stand/monitor hook.

To be clear, it's more the change in how the Facecam connects to the stand that has been improved. The original still just screwed on, but in a way that meant it always had to be a little too loose to be able to face forward or be moved around to face you. The new version is still pretty basic, but the simple screw mechanism now allows you to shift the camera around more freely and also stops it standing too proud atop your monitor. This, according to Elgato, delivers a more eye-level stream.

Elgato has also integrated the privacy shield into the device now, so no more casting about trying to find where you put the lens cap when you want to be sure the beady eye of the Facecam isn't spying on you. It's another low-tech solution, with just a sliding screen that you can pull across. Once you've pried it over with a fingernail. This is my only real concern with the redesign, the fact that it has such a small tab means it can be quite awkward to shift the screen across.

But the Facecam has always been more about the image that it captures than what the hardware looks like, and that's better than ever. Not only is the MK.2 capable of delivering the same level of image quality as the original cam, but it's also got that new HDR mode.

Elgato is very up front about the fact that the HDR mode does not automatically make everything look better, and that it will depend on your setup. But for me, I definitely prefer the stream I come out with. To achieve HDR capture it rapidly takes different exposures and then combines the low and high exposure shots to produce an image that should contain more detail at both ends of the spectrum.

HDR does also lock out certain elements, with 720p120 capture disabling HDR, and it means that some of the more fine grain controls available from within the Camera Hub software don't work as they should. Elgato calls those instances "a conceptual issue" rather than a technical one, as creating discrete sliders for each exposure level in the HDR capture mode would end up as a pretty rough user experience.

None of that takes away from the fact the Elgato software is some of the best around, and links in happily with Nvidia's Broadcast software, too. There are a host of different controls available to the user, which enable you to tailor the image to your personal tastes. And, while I'm not some video savant, I'm able to tweak the settings on the fly to get a great image no matter where I am, or when I'm using it.

And even if, conceptually, the fine grain tweaks for managing the image in HDR mode aren't available, tweaking the brightness does cut out some of the initially moody, overly cinematic quality of the HDR image.

There are other additions to the MK.2 surfaced by the Camera Hub software, too, with the zoom, pan, and tilt options allowing you to bring the image in tighter around you if the 82° FoV is a bit too wide for your tastes. 

But something which has stayed the same is the lack of auto focus. The Facecam's fixed focus system might sound like a negative initially, but the fact that it's designed to maintain focus from 30cm to 110cm means that you're not going to get that annoying experience of a webcam constantly battling to figure out what it should be focusing on. I've got the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra which I use in the PCG office, and that is always re-focusing during use.

One other thing I've noticed using the MK.2 in place of the Razer in the office, however, is that it really doesn't like the strip lighting above. At home, it's grand, but in PCG Towers there is a noticeable flicker to the image no matter whether you're running in 50 Hz or 60 Hz modes. Switching to 50 Hz did help in Google Meet, but not when recording natively on my machine.

Nor could I enable any of the funky background blurs or eye contact effects. I'm running an Intel Arc A770 in my office PC, and Elgato requires an Nvidia RTX 2060 or greater to give you access to those, which also means AMD GPU owners will be left out in the cold.

But it's now my go-to cam for home use, because it's clearly delivering an image beyond what the original Facecam MK.1 can, even in darker environments. And it's doing it all in a more effective, less awkward package, too. Son while Elgato might hold that this is not a true sequel to the Facecam, it's nevertheless an improvement on all fronts.

Can't wait to see what it does have planned for a proper Facecam 2...

Logitech webcams have become something of a staple over the years for anyone looking for an affordable camera from a trusted brand. Given my tendency towards observing (and judging) any piece of PC hardware I can find on my travels, I'm often surprised at the variety of choices people make when it comes to monitors, speakers, headsets, and more. 

Glance up at the top of the display though, and yep, that's another Logitech webcam nestling on top, more often than you might expect.

Well, here comes something a bit more premium than your average Logitech offering to take your fancy: The Logitech MX Brio. And premium comes right to the forefront the second you clock the price. At $200/£220 this puts it firmly at the upper end of the market for an all-in-one cam, and price-wise it's right next to the best overall pick in our best webcam guide, the Elgato Facecam.

Better be good then, hadn't it?

The initial signs are promising. This is the first Logitech webcam to receive its "MX" branding, and Logitech says it's the most advanced camera it's made to date. On paper the specs look good, including 4K 30 fps capture capabilities (or 60 fps at 1080p) with an 8.5MP Sony STARVIS image sensor, twin beamforming microphones and supposedly twice the finer image detail versus the regular Brio 4K.

Included in the packaging is the camera unit itself, a detachable mount, and a 1.5m USB-C to USB-C Cable. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting otherwise, but it feels a little bit of a non-event for such a high-priced product, although perhaps those are some eco-credentials on display. 

Not only is the paper packaging sourced from controlled sources, but Logitech says that the plastic parts used include up to 82% recycled material. And the aluminium camera housing is apparently manufactured using renewable energy, too.

The camera itself is surprisingly weighty, and quite substantial in its proportions. Attached to the aluminium housing is a circular glass-fronted lens, circled by a ring that activates an integrated privacy shield. Rotate the outer edge of the ring (stop giggling at the back) and a privacy shutter closes over the lens, as if gently falling asleep.

It's a pleasant feeling mechanism, and the curious 10-year old boy in me spent some time spinning it back and forth. Mmm, smooth.

The mounting clip is also of the large-and-in-charge variety, and the camera unit attaches to it with a powerful magnetic snap. No worries here about the camera falling off its clamp or the top of your screen then, as every care seems to have been taken to make things as robust as possible.

Should you prefer to use the MX Brio on a tripod, a hidden thread is found underneath the magnetic mount.

Software-wise, the MX Brio integrates with Logitech G-hub and Logi Options +, and after a quick firmware update I went delving into the settings. Crop, zoom, and FOV settings are front and centre, followed by exposure compensation, auto-exposure options, low-light compensation and HDR. In the image tab you'll find lots of brightness, temperature, and saturation controls, before finally arriving at the focus control.

The auto-focus here is definitely a highlight. Anyone who's had a play with a budget camera has had those brief moments of focus blur when moving quickly or holding an object up to the lens, but try as I might I couldn't quite catch the MX Brio out. It's very quick to react, despite playing peekaboo with it and various objects on my desk, or shifting around in shot like someone desperate to end a meeting to use the bathroom facilities.

Settings groups come with a variety of presets, although most of the useful features like low-light reduction and HDR come enabled by default. However, the one I ended up adjusting as a matter of priority was the colour temperature, which to my eyes looked far better on the warmer setting. 

Years of sitting in darkened rooms has not done wonders for my complexion, but I did feel that the default settings made me look a little more vampiric than I have done on other cameras. Flattering it wasn't, although the warm setting did at least make me look more like a Vitamin D sufficient creature of a sociable inclination.

Overall the video capture was good, and the software tweaking options allow plenty of flexibility. While it didn't blow me away with incredible detail or a super vivid capture, it's certainly a fair bit better than most, although for this kind of cash I was expecting perhaps a little more from the camera itself and less reliance on the settings to really show my stunning visage off at its very best.

The HDR on/off option is...interesting. With HDR enabled, shadows look suitably contrasted, but with the setting off blacks became so dark as to become indistinguishable. Given that it's on by default this isn't much of an issue, but I can't imagine many using the webcam with it off as the blacks lack so much range it's distracting. 

Take a close look at the bookcase next to me in the shot below, with HDR disabled. For reference, I use a non-HDR 1080p webcam on a regular basis in the same lighting conditions, and the bookcase doesn't look nearly as dark.

Tucked into the options is something of an MX Brio party-trick: Show mode. When mounted to the top of your screen, the camera can be tilted downwards independent of the rest of the mount to show your desk, simultaneously rotating the image so it's the correct way round. Meaning that if you were sketching some notes or drawings in a meeting, you could use the feature to show your colleagues what you're working on right in front of you without fiddling with the settings.

This works well in practice, although as for its overall usefulness, I can't see myself using it too often. Still, a bonus, and a thoughtful feature for creative types or streamers looking to show off their keyboard skills.

Here's something you don't hear very often: The microphones on this webcam are really quite good. I, like everyone else, have become accustomed to rubbish, thin audio from a webcam mic, but while the sound quality here is unlikely to blow you away—and I'd always recommend a good desktop mic for streaming or podcast purposes—the units here give a good account of themselves, and pick up your vocals clearly for meeting audio or similar.

It's a good all-round package, the MX Brio, but when you stack it up to similarly priced competition, things start to look a little less rosy. The Elgato Facecam might not be a 4K unit, but its ability to shoot great-looking video in uncompressed 1080p at 60 fps is likely to be the biggest selling point for someone looking for a high-quality webcam for streaming, with a nice vivid picture to boot.

Ultimately the question you need to ask yourself is whether you really need 4K capture, and my answer would be, probably not. However, if you did you could also check out the Dell Ultrasharp WB7022, which initially retailed for similar money but now can often be found for less. 

It's also got a large Sony STARVIS sensor that to my eyes captures an image that looks a lot more vivid and natural by default than the MX Brio, and while the design is perhaps a little more obtrusive, if it's 4K image quality you're prioritising it's definitely the better shout.

You could also take a look at the OBSBot Tiny 2. While it's considerably more expensive than the MX Brio, it also has lightning fast auto-focus, 4K capture capability, and you get a truly superb 1.5 CMOS sensor and a motorised 2-axis gimbal mount that tracks your movements and responds to voice commands, and that to me is a feature worth paying for.

The Logitech MX Brio is undoubtedly a solid 4K performer, but for this sort of cash it's priced itself into high-end and dangerous waters. A good all-rounder, but you can't help shake the feeling that you should get slightly more for your money than you end up receiving.

Webcams are often, at best, entirely functional objects. Few of us have lain awake at night wondering what our next webcam purchase will be, such is the utilitarian nature of a device that for most is simply a PC-connected camera that lets the people you work with see your grinning visage. Still, the need to buy a separate camera for your PC may soon have passed, as Microsoft is testing out an upcoming feature that lets you use a phone instead.

Microsoft first discussed the upcoming feature as part of its March 2024 moment update, but a recent blog post by the Windows Insider team says that it's going to be gradually rolling out to all Insider channels, meaning that it should eventually appear in the Release Preview as well (via PC World). If this is the case, then we might not be far away from seeing the feature released on all Windows 11 machines.

And before you imagine some routing of cables and awkward placements, the Windows Insider team says that it will allow you to wirelessly stream live video from your phone directly to your PC, including the ability to switch between the front and back cameras and make use of video effects built into your phone already.

That flexibility should provide some useful options for phone camera placement on a traditional desktop setup, while also enabling you to take your phone with you while still streaming video from your PC to your remote meeting.

There are some caveats, of course. The blog post details that currently you'll need an Android mobile device running Android 9.0+, and that your Link to Windows phone application is updated to 1.24012 or greater. After that, those running an enabled Insider build will simply need to allow their PCs access to their phone by enabling it in the Bluetooth & devices settings menu within Windows, and to receive a Cross Device Experience Host update from the Microsoft Store.

If this feature does become standard across release builds of Windows, there are still plenty of reasons why you still might want a standalone webcam. Phone cameras can often struggle with low-light conditions thanks to those tiny lenses, and someone looking to deliver an extremely high-quality feed for something like a Twitch stream or professional presentation may still want a good webcam to deliver the best image quality possible.

Regardless, this strikes as a nice repurposing of pre-existing tech, cutting down on another device you'd likely need to add to a new setup. Phones and PCs seem to be starting to become firm friends, after many years of fiddly cables and third-party solutions to create a full and complete connection between the two.

Come on you two, shake hands. We're all just one happy family here, and we all work better when we get along together now, don't we?

Virtually all laptops come with a webcam these days, nestled either in the bottom or top of the screen's bezel. They're generally not very good as the available space constrains how big the camera can be. Well, Lenovo's latest ThinkBook 13X and 16P laptops sport a new 4K webcam that's (a) absolutely massive and (b) fully modular. Yes, that's right: If high-res images of your face, warts 'n' all, aren't needed, then you'll be able to replace the webcam with a host of other devices. How does an aromatherapy scent emitter sound?

Lenovo calls the device the Magic Bay, and it attaches to the top of the aforementioned laptops through a combination of magnets and spring-loaded connectors (aka pogo pins). Unveiled at CES 2024 (via PCWorld), only the webcam is available for now though the company is currently exploring a range of different modules for the market.

Going by the name Magic Bay Studio, it's a beast of a webcam: 4K HDR output, 90 degree field of view, 4x optical zoom, two 2W speakers. That kind of camera is normally connected by a fast USB cable but Lenovo's system eschews that entirely, utilizing the pins on the laptop for power and signalling.

Admittedly, it looks a tad ridiculous perched on top of the laptop's screen but at least you can remove it. Not just for the sake of portability but also to replace it with another Magic Bay accessory, should you want to. 

At CES, Lenovo demonstrated a range of other devices it's currently exploring: an omnidirectional microphone, an SD card reader, a small LCD screen, a personal cooling fan, and even something that can spray scents into the air.

Not all of these will come to market, at least not directly from Lenovo. I should imagine that it may consider licensing the technology to permit others to develop third-party accessories, which could open up a whole world of bizarre Magic Bay devices.

Personally, I'm quite sold on the idea. Not for the daft accessories but just being able to easily remove and reattach a decent webcam to a laptop. I also think a small projector could be worth developing, making it far easier to set up a presentation whilst travelling. Just the simple fact that the need for cables has been swept away makes it a great idea.

At this point, you're probably thinking that this is going to be massively expensive. Well, yes, but also no. The Magic Bay Studio will retail at $199 and while that's a lot for a webcam, it's no more than Levono's Brio 4K Ultra (that uses a USB cable to attach to a PC).

You can, of course, get similarly capable devices for less than this and our office favourite, the Dell UltraSharp webcam, is often on sale for under $170. And although the Magic Bay system isn't overtly pricey, you will need to buy a ThinkBook 13X or 16P laptop to use it.

They start at $1,399 and $1,699 respectively, with the former powered by Meteor-Lake Core Ultra processors and the latter by 14th Gen Core CPUs and an RTX 4050 or 4060 GPU.

But forget about all of that. Just think: If Lenovo had just gone with a removable webcam, it'd barely be newsworthy but hot-swappable emoji screens and perfume pumps? Utter genius. Well played, Lenovo, well played.

_____________________________________
PC Gamer's CES 2024 coverage is being published in association with Asus Republic of Gamers.

You can't swing a stick without someone bringing up AI these days. Generative AI is the hottest tech trend in 2023, but as awesome as it is to see Leonardo DaVinci's Madonna busting out TikTok moves, it doesn't exactly revolutionize my life. What really catches my interest is AI integrated into the tech I use daily, and the OBSBot Tiny 2 is a prime example of this tech marvel.

I'm in a bit of a quandary—is the Tiny 2 a webcam on a gimbal or a tiny robot with camera eyes? Regardless of how you see it, this $329 gadget is the most impressive webcam I've ever laid eyes on, and it feels almost disrespectful to label it merely as a webcam.

With a motorized 2-axis gimbal allowing the camera to pan 150° and tilt a full 90°, the Tiny 2 boasts a 1/1.5-inch CMOS sensor, delivering 4K video at 30 fps in HDR. Thanks to AI smarts, it features lightning-fast autofocus, full-motion tracking, and even recognizes limited voice and gesture commands.

Considering it's about half the size of my Razer Basilisk V3 Pro mouse, the Tiny 2 lives up to its name, measuring just 6cm tall and weighing 95g. It comes with a separate metal clamp, magnetically attaching to it, granting you the freedom to mount the camera in tricky spots without fearing it will plummet. The clamp also sports a 1/4-inch thread mount, perfect for content creators who want to use it with standard tripods.

The Tiny 2 connects via USB 3.0 and 2.0, but if you're eyeing that 4K recording, 3.0 is the only way to go. While there's no privacy cover, the camera dutifully turns its gaze downwards when not in use. Plus, it has a dynamic LED on the front, giving you a heads-up when the camera is on or responding to your commands. Trust me, saying "Hey Tiny" never gets old, as my 8-year-old daughter will attest—it's the best way to wake up the little guy.

Delving into the glass hardware, the Tiny 2 boasts a 50MP, 1/1.5-inch CMOS sensor with an f1.9 aperture and a 26mm focal length. This allows it to achieve that creamy bokeh, separating the foreground from the background for a real professional look. The glass can handle up to 4X zoom and offers both autofocus and manual focus.

Supported resolutions include 4K, 1080p60, 960p, and 720p, with all but 4K supporting framerates of 60, 30, 25, 24, 20, and 15 frames per second. Output options include MJPEG, YUV, and H264 formats, catering to the preferences of video creators. Additionally, the Tiny 2 seamlessly collaborates with OBS Studio, Nvidia Broadcast, Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet.

When it comes to image quality, the Tiny 2 excels. It captures details, contrast, and colors excellently. As a brown fella, I didn't observe the camera struggling to accurately capture my skin tone or some blemishes. In low light, it performs acceptably, though like many webcams with small sensors, there's noticeable noise in darker areas. A key light can work wonders, dramatically enhancing picture quality.

The Tiny 2 also features built-in dual omni-directional mics with noise reduction. While not my go-to for streaming, they do a commendable job during work calls, especially if you're in a noisy place like a café.

To unlock the Tiny 2's full potential, the OBSBot Webcam app is a must. It houses the main console for tweaking tracking modes, setting presets, and even includes a virtual joystick for gimbal and zoom control. An AI section offers specialized options for Desk Mode, Whiteboard, Hand tracking, and Group video.

Tabs for Image and Beauty provide controls for specific picture settings, effects, exposure, color grading, and filters. Retouch settings let you do quirky things like altering body parts. We can't escape that side of AI, can we? The software is feature-rich; it would take a whole other article to cover it all in full depth.

Some features require activating the OBSBot VirtualCamera feature, acting as a proxy for applying effects in applications that don't inherently support them, like Zoom or MS Teams.

In conclusion, I stand by the claim that the OBSBot Tiny 2 is the most impressive camera I've ever come across, whether you're an office worker, a big-shot streamer, or a TikTok dancer. Its ability to capture stunning high-resolution video, track movements, and respond to commands is a game-changer for the solo creator. While the price might be steep, considering what you get, I'd say it's well worth the investment.

Elgato's dug its heels into the streaming market nicely—mics, capture cards, you name it. It also made one of our favorite webcams, snagging 88% in our Elgato Facecam webcam review. 

This camera also comes with some excellent software, the Camera Hub, that lets you tweak all your settings to your heart's content. FOV/Zoom, exposure, white balancing, you got it. There's no auto-focus, but as you might've experienced, auto-focus cameras can create more problems than they solve if you start moving around. During an intense gaming session? That's probably gonna happen.

• We're curating all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here.

The only downside is that this thing's a little over-exposed, but—as our reviewer Jorge Jimenez points out—that's kind of ideal for streaming. Here's what he had to say:

"The Elgato FaceCam is a good first attempt at a webcam, and a fine addition to the Elgato catalog of streaming gear. It's specially targeted for streamers providing clean, low latency video footage for their broadcasts, so long as they are willing to pay a premium for it. But it sure delivers."

Basically our only complaint, the "Elgato tax," has been temporarily solved. Right now, the Elgato Facecam webcam (try saying that ten times really fast) is 20% off at Amazon, which is the cheapest it's ever been. You can snag this thing for around $120—and it was around $200 when it first came out. Well, no more!

The only downside is that this thing doesn't have a microphone, but it's made for streaming. Streamers have mics already. You probably have a mic of some description lying around if you're doing any kind of gaming or digital entertaining. If you're happy to use a webcam microphone for some reason, good for you, but it shows Elgato knows its audience that there isn't one.

If you're looking for clean, crisp footage, then the Elgato Facecam webcam provides that with no frills and a—for now—less-than-premium price point. Pick it for a pretty picture on-demand.

Well, this is awkward. Just as we hear EPOS is in the process of 'winding down' its gaming business, we get hold of a surprisingly great webcam from the soon-to-be-defunct company. The EPOS S6 will still be available in retail for a while, as the company will still support its products into 2024, so is still worth a look. Though long-term concerns over support and after-sales care are certainly valid in light of this news.

Still, in the wake of the pandemic-induced lockdowns, a remarkable surge in streaming and content creation has reshaped our way of life. Almost everyone, it seems, has dabbled in creating some form of content or spent more time than ever on video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Teams.

However, this also means that many of us are sharing this creative space with individuals armed with expensive Sony mirrorless cameras capable of capturing Hollywood-level unboxings and culinary demonstrations. This is where the new EPOS S6 4K USB webcam steps in.

Priced at $200, (£200/ AU$350) the EPOS S6 aims to bridge the gap, making us look as slick as those big-time streamers. EPOS markets the S6 as a content creator's dream, boasting crystal-clear 4K video at 30fps and impressive 1080p at 60fps. Plus, it packs built-in noise-cancelling microphones, ensuring your voice matches the top-notch visuals.

For those who guard their privacy, the S6 has got you covered with a manual privacy shutter. No more accidental peeping. Oh, and they even toss in a rugged carry case, a nod to those who travel with their gear.

The S6's design strikes a chord with my appreciation for Bauhaus principles. Unlike other bulky 4K webcams on the market, it boasts a notably compact form. With dimensions of just 40 x 58 x 29mm, the S6 presents itself as a small cuboid with rounded edges. Crafted from aluminium, it's both lightweight and robust, tipping the scales at a mere 80g. This ensures it won't strain your slim laptop screen or burden your elegant messenger bag.

Front and centre is a petite glass lens, encircled by grilles housing dual noise-cancelling microphones on either side. Positioned atop the S6 is a tactile dial to manipulate the privacy shutter, providing peace of mind against prying eyes. The sole USB Type-C port is situated at the rear, and the box includes both USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A cables, so no worries about compatibility. Plus, the S6 plays nice with Windows PCs and Macs, and each OS gets its own version of the EPOS Connect software.

Flip it over, and you’ve got a retractable mount that not only provides solid support but also offers a bit of tilt. It’s not the most flexible out there, but it’s stable—no annoying wobbles while you’re typing. And guess what? The mount even fits tripods with a 1/4 thread, so content creators, rejoice! There's just one bummer: Unlike Logitech’s StreamCam, the S6's mount won't let you do vertical videos—a bit of a miss for TikTok and Reels enthusiasts.

On a brighter note, the S6 is accompanied by a high-quality hard carry case, making transportation a breeze. The snug foam mould inside keeps the S6 safe, and there's a pocket in the lid for your cables. If you're the road warrior type, this case is gives additional peace of mind when on the go.

Let's talk about how the S6 performs. It rocks a 4K glass lens with a wide angle, low distortion, capable of recording up to 2160p at 30 fps, 1080p at 30/60 fps, and 720p at 30/60 fps. You can pick from three field-of-view options: 90°, 78°, and 65°. Oh, and there's an 8x digital zoom too. It's all set for Microsoft Teams and Zoom, but it also plays nice with OBS and Nvidia Studio. Tweak zoom, white balance, contrast, and saturation using the EPOS Connect software. The software interface is user-friendly, and devoid of unnecessary complexities.

Under favourable lighting conditions, the picture quality is exceptional, featuring sharp details, accurate colours, and a broad field of view. The 4K resolution at 30 fps is particularly well-suited for YouTube content creation, while the 1080p at 60 fps excels for streaming purposes. However, like many webcams, the S6's sensor remains susceptible to fluctuations in lighting. 

In low-light scenarios, the S6 performs respectably, maintaining colour fidelity and clarity, especially at 4K resolution. Though some noise is evident in darker areas, it's not overly distracting—particularly in 4K, though more noticeable in 1080p. I did observe some ghosting in OBS recordings under low-light conditions at 4K 30 fps, which did diminish when I scaled down to 1080p 60 fps.

One thing to watch out for is the broad field of view. It's honestly a bit too much for my taste—too wide, revealing too much of the environment behind me. Now, if you're using the S6 on a laptop up close, that isn't as much of an issue but on a desktop setup, it's a lot. The digital zoom doesn't help, and there's no cropping feature either. So, if you're gunning for privacy on Zoom, you'll need to play around with positioning.

And those dual noise-cancelling microphones flanking the lens? They're good, picking up sound in a 180° arc in front of the camera. They capture my voice without needing me to speak unnaturally loudly—unlike with the Logitech StreamCam. However, the noise-cancellation can struggle to keep up with any sound coming from behind you so noisy spots like a bustling café come through. This will also lead to a bit of compression fuzz when the mics try to cancel it out. They’re a step up from laptop mics, but there’s still room for improvement.

The EPOS S6 checks a lot of boxes for me—I love its minimalist style, plug-and-play simplicity, and superb picture quality stand out. Setup and usage are a breeze, and even novices can achieve an appealing OBS stream without hassle. The S6's versatile design caters to both desktop and mobile scenarios, and the inclusion of a sturdy carry case is a thoughtful touch for mobile users. While I may not be a streamer, the S6 certainly holds potential for enhancing my personal YouTube content creation endeavours.

The dual microphones, while not perfect, are capable within appropriate conditions. Low-light performance remains a challenge, but it's far from a dealbreaker. But all in all, the S6 takes the crown as my favorite 4K webcam for now. It strikes the perfect balance between style and performance. If you're venturing into streaming or content creation, the EPOS S6 is a no-brainer. Just remember, future support could well be an issue, and you'll need to invest in some decent lighting if you're burning the midnight oil.

Are you ready to embark on your streaming journey? Now is the perfect time to grab some top-notch streaming equipment at discounted prices during Amazon Prime Day. I've carefully curated a selection of my favorite webcams, microphones, and other essential gear to ensure your new ventures go on without a hitch. 

For a webcam, you want one that delivers 1080p output, offers seamless connectivity to your PC, and requires minimal setup. If you have a DSLR camera you'd like to use as a webcam on your PC I recommend getting an external capture card with an HDMI input. 

A high-quality streaming microphone is essential whether you prefer USB connectivity or XLR through an audio interface. Don't worry—I've found affordable options for newbies and seasoned content creators.

In addition, I've included other streaming goodies such as lights, acoustic paneling, and macro pads. These are ideal for those who already have the basic hardware but want to find inexpensive yet meaningful upgrades to enhance their setup and impress their audience.

Here are the prime (pun very intended) streaming gear deals you don't want to miss out on during Prime Day.

• Check out the best Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals

4K webcams have surely come a long way in the last few years, especially for content creators. Considering their ease of use, some streamers will opt for a premium webcam instead of going the 4K HDMI camera-through-a-capture-card route as a quick and easy production upgrade. And the Dell UltraSharp WB 7022 is a great option to look your best on a stream or a work call. 

The Ultrasharp WB7022 has a 4K version of a Sony Starvis CMOS sensor similar to the Razer Kiyo Pro (though that webcam only does 1080p). This sensor is what made the Kiyo Pro one of the best low-light webcams around. The only problem is it's roughly the same price as the Ultrasharp, which does the same thing... and then some. 

The UltraSharp WB7022 has Windows Hello compatibility, AI auto-framing, three different FOV settings, easy-to-use software to customise your shot, and HDR support. It retails for $200, but it has been out a while, so I've seen it pop up for as low as $160 at various retailers, so keep that in mind. 

I like the cylindrical design of the webcam, which gives a different, more modern look than your typical wide-bodied webcam we've seen a million times before. The Ultrasharp has a magnetic privacy cap that sticks to the camera's back and front, which is incredibly convenient. It has a premium feel, which is what you want if you're spending almost $200 on a webcam. 

Obviously, what makes the UltraSharp stand out from your regular webcam is its 4K resolution. This gives your recording a higher level of detail than a standard 1080p webcam and gives something like the Logitech Brio a run for its money. Even if you don't plan on producing 4K/30fps content, images converted from 4K to 1080p have higher quality than just shooting in full HD at the start. Though as a 1080p/60fps, it's no slouch, either. There's still value in using a 4K webcam in non-4K situations like a work or Discord call. 

Below you'll see some shots of my mug in 4K and 1080p so you can see how it looks compared to Razer Kiyo Pro. There's less visual noise on-screen on the UltraSharp than on the Kiyo Pro in 1080p. This becomes more evident as lighting conditions change. I'm in my home office, and my lighting can often be less than flattering, to say the least. I turned on a key light so you could get a better sense of how it would look if I were streaming or recording some video for work.

One thing that stands out to me is its autofocus. We've seen autofocus betray other webcams that can often focus on the wrong thing. The result is a shot consistently going from blurry to clear in frustrating intervals. 

On the other hand, the Dell does a great job keeping me focused regardless of how often I bobbed around on camera as I told a silly anecdote about anime or how much sleep I'm not getting each night. The AI framing also does a decent job of maintaining a nice tight shot regardless of my erratic movements. 

All of the webcam's settings are managed through the Dell Peripheral Manager. You can adjust almost everything on the webcam, from various FOV settings to HDR. The default settings on the camera are fine, but to truly get the most out of the camera, you need to dive in and turn some knobs. 

I liked almost every aspect of UltraSharp's design except for one thing that keeps it from gaining a higher grade: its stand. The way it's designed, the camera only tilts up or down slightly but does not turn in the slightest. If you need to adjust a shot, you'll need to move your monitor, which is cumbersome at best, and definitely not ideal during a live stream. It does come with a tripod mount, but most people will use the monitor mount. It's still strange that Dell opted to go with two different mounts instead of combining them as many other webcams do. 

As much as I love the UltraSharp, the $200 price point will deter many people, especially if you've no desire to record video in native 4K. Despite that, it's a feature-rich webcam that always feels like a gateway drug to using a DSLR camera for streaming.

There's no microphone which, honestly, I don't mind since I've yet to come across a webcam with an integrated microphone that doesn't sound like a tinny, cavernous audio nightmare. Another strange thing I've noticed is that the camera gets physically hot after long usage. I was on a 30-minute call with a colleague, and when I went to put the privacy cap back on, the UltraSharp had become unusually warm, which is something I haven't experienced on other webcams.

Still, the Dell UltraSharp WB 7022 is a hell of a webcam that easily ups your production value if you're willing to spend a little cash. Strange monitor mount aside, it's a well-designed webcam that shoots in 4K with highly customizable software to ensure you get the perfect shot no matter the setting. 

The idea of getting a good webcam seems to have become more paramount as time has passed, especially if you’re into the old streaming thing on Twitch, YouTube, or other platforms. This Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam is the latest contender to jump into the world of mid-range webcams, offering all the fun of decent resolution/fps output in a sweet-lookin’ chassis, and with convenient connectivity, too.

It makes sense to get right into details of the Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam when it comes to how its output looks. Well, it provides the opportunity for you to record at either 1080p/60fps, like a lot of other webcams at this price, or even up to 1440p at 30fps. It’s kind of the best of both worlds on offer, and in testing, the video I recorded one Saturday afternoon looks pretty good, as you’ll see from the sample footage below. 

With that being said, there may not be as much noticeable detail increases in the sample video, but 1440p provided a little more definition to proceedings when recording, it must be said.

The fact there’s also the option to record at 1080/60fps gives you the benefit of more frames to play with, and therefore smoother motion in videos at the cost of a lower resolution. In addition, recording at 1080p is likely to be more stable than at 1440p, and to be truthful, it was a more consistent performance at the lower resolution, and there isn’t too much of a sacrifice in terms of overall image quality. Personally, I’d keep things at 1080p/60fps for that more consistent performance, although the addition of QHD-res output is a welcome addition for the sake of choice.

Intriguingly, there’s no mention of this Toucan webcam featuring any auto low-light correction, unlike other webcams at this price range, but generally speaking, it deals with lower light environments pretty well. Recording in OBS revealed some additional warmth added to the tone of the webcam’s video, which seems to have corrected for the otherwise beige wall I was recording against to offer a little more vibrancy.

The omni-directional mic present, as you’ll hear, offered up some clear pickup of my voice with some decent body to it, although there are some clipping and juddering noises, which isn’t the best thing in the world for video calls and meetings.

1440p @ 30fps test video

1080p @ 60fps test video

As for design, this Toucan webcam is a little different to others I’ve used and tested in the past, offering some handy swivel adjustment to get it up and facing you. That’s pretty reassuring for privacy, as when it’s not in use, you can simply pop the webcam down, and there’s no way that people could peer in if the webcam’s lens is pointing downwards. The swivel negates the need for any form of privacy shutter, although that may have been nice to have as a secondary barrier.

The actual camera module comes mounted on its own little stand, which means you can use it without screwing anything into the ¼ inch thread mount on the bottom, and get up and running pretty much instantly. Toucan provides a standard-issue monitor mount for this webcam though, which I used to fasten it to the top of my MacBook for testing. The connection when it’s there is secure, and there’s no need to worry about the camera potentially falling off, especially given the underside of that attachment is rubberised and seemingly non-slip, too.

Low light test video

It’s comprised of some pretty solid feeling plastics, and unlike other more affordable webcams, these ones don’t feel cheap or scratchy. There’s a nice heft to this Toucan webcam that’s reassuring, and despite its larger stature by comparison to more traditional looking webcams, this particular option doesn’t feel bulky in any way. You could certainly chuck it in a bag if you wanted to take a dedicated webcam on your travels. The notion of this also being more of a portable webcam is also reflected in the simple fact the USB Type-C cable it uses is detachable, which just provides a little more peace of mind. Other webcams feature a fixed cable, which means if it goes wrong, you’re a little bit stuffed to say the least.

Much like the Streamplify Cam I looked at earlier this year, this is a simple plug and play webcam, with no additional software required, which keeps things especially easy. With that plug and play nature in mind, it’s perhaps unsurprising that this Toucan webcam shows up pretty much immediately within settings for capture programs such as OBS. If you’re a budding streamer and you want a webcam with simple means of setup, this is a solid choice.

So, to sum up then. The Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam is a pretty good all-round webcam for both conferencing and streaming, offering pretty good video output in both good and low light situations, as well as a sturdy chassis and as easy as pie connectivity. The addition of convenient USB Type-C connectivity is excellent, and the omnidirectional microphone offers decent pickup, too. Even without any additional software, the fact is, if you’re a streamer who just wants an easy to use and capable webcam, this should be a handy choice.

If you're not ready to shell out for a DSLR camera to look your best while streaming—or sitting in your fifth meeting of the day, I won't judge—then you should check out our favorite webcam, the Elgato Facecam. It comes with own own Jorge's seal of approval—he gave it a cool 88 out of 100 in his review—he uses it every day and let me tell you, he looks great.

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

The Elgato Facecam is on sale right now on Amazon for $139.99, saving you a rad $30. While it's not the biggest discount you might find on your hunt for the best webcam, the Elgato Facecam more than makes up for it with what it offers. While there is a little over-exposure, it offers uncompressed 1080p 60fps video, fixed focus, and comes with its solid Camera Hub software that'll help you adjust camera settings to your liking.

Without getting bogged down in techno-babble, the short version is that with all these cool features, you'll have a final video output with less artifacting and won't need to lose resolution or frame rates due to using extra software like OBS. It's a petite thing, too, so you won't have a massive, daft-looking camera pointing at your face all day. There's no built in microphone, either, which means all the power is going to your face. 

If you're tossing up whether to go with Razer's Kiyo Pro or the Facecam, I say go with the latter. The Facecam uses a Sony STARVIS sensor, which is a slice of silicon traditionally used in security cameras optimized for low-light environments. Against the Kiyo Pro, the Facecam definitely wins, which is ideal if you have a bad lighting setup going on. It's definitely worth the investment if you're looking to upgrade your streaming setup without wanting to break the bank, so what are you waiting for? 

Amazon has a criminally cheap Cyber Monday microphone deal on the Razer Seiren Mini for only $37.99, down from its usual price of $50. If you only buy one thing for your PC gaming or office setup today, a decent-sounding microphone that doesn't take up much space is a great idea. 

The Seiren Mini is Razer's tiny pill-shaped budget microphone for streaming and podcasting. It started the tiny mic trend in 2020 when it showed us that we don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a microphone when one for less than $50 can do the trick. 

As I noted in my Seiren Mini review, it's a solid microphone for anyone starting out in content creation on a tight budget. It's small enough to be very travel-friendly, and it works on PC and Mac, so if you need something cheap for work calls, the Seiren Mini is a good pick. 

I always get asked about this mic: "What's the catch?" And that's a fair question. Microphone makers end up stripping away features that usually come standard in mics that are double the price. This means no mute, volume control, or even a headphone jack. If you want to monitor or tweak your levels, you'll have to use third-party apps like OBS or Xsplit. It's the only way a mic that sounds this good can be so cheap. 

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

While shopping around, you'll notice that the HyperX Solocast in black, another quality mini mic, sells even cheaper at $30. While that is a pretty good mic (and it has a mute button), I still prefer the Seiren Mini because it sounds just as good but also has a better, sleeker look than the Solocast.

Below I've added some sample audio of both mics so you can hear the difference and decide for yourself. 

Streamers with lousy lighting, rejoice! Amazon has a Cyber Monday deal on a Razer Kiyo Pro webcam for $87.99. The price recently dropped to $100 in previous months, which was already a pretty good deal, but hey, who am I to say no to an extra $12 markdown?

Awful lighting is the bane of streamers. Not every office or bedroom has the space for mounting a set of lights, and dinky desk lamps just don't cut it. The Kiyo Pro has a neat built-in light sensor to handle even the gloomiest lighting. 

In my review last year, I was generally pretty impressed when I saw it in action. It's a step up from the previous interaction of the Kiyo, which had a built-in ring light that was flat-out awful and arguably made your shot worse. Its ability to produce a bright clear picture in a room with a minimal light source is a game changer, and it's why the Kiyo Pro is one of the best webcams you can buy right now. 

The only problem with this feature is that the colors tend to get washed out when the brightness gets boosted. And speaking of colors, the out-of-the-box settings for the Kiyo Pro aren't doing it any favors. You'll have to spend a decent amount of time tweaking the settings (leave the auto-focus off!) in Razer Synapse, software I wouldn't force my enemies to use. 

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

The Kiyo Pro's other features include HDR, 1080p resolution at 60fps and a wide-angle lens with a FOV of 103 degrees. It's great for streamers, but I've found it just as useful for folks who need a solid webcam to work from home and who also suffer from poor lighting. 

The redesigned Kiyo Pro is a good 1080p webcam but was hard to recommend at a $200 price tag at launch. For less than $100, though, it's the best low-light webcam you'll find on Cyber Monday as long as you don't mind spending some time to get the settings just right. 

The best webcam should make you look your best, no matter if you're in a dimly lit bedroom or home office. We've tested all the options out there to find the best ones to grab, including options best suited to video calls at work and those intended for streaming to your adoring fans.

If you're looking for the best webcam overall, that would be the Elgato Facecam MK. 2. It's incredibly versatile and boasts superb picture quality, as well as some quality-of-life features content creators will appreciate. Importantly, it's a major improvement on the original Facecam, but notably cheaper too. If you're simply looking for the best picture quality at a reasonable price, the Logitech C920 is a solid 1080p webcam choice, even after all these years.

Many of these webcams support 1080p, some at 60 fps, and a few at 4K, which adds to the price tag. If you're perfecting your streaming set-up, you might want that higher frame rate capability, but you really want a webcam that deals well with the lighting conditions wherever you're streaming from. An extra light will also go a long way to improving picture quality.

The quick list

The best webcam

The best webcam money can buy is the Elgato Facecam MK.2. Improving on a few key features over its predecessor (and our previous pick for the best webcam), the Facecam MK.2 delivers fantastic picture quality for video calls, streaming and recording.

The Facecam MK.2 offers uncompressed 1080p video capture. This makes for an artefact-free video stream. It's not 4K-capable, but that works just fine for anyone looking to use this camera for streaming, rather than recording, be that on Twitch, Google Meet, or Zoom.

Built using the same Sony STARVIS sensor as the original Elgato Facecam, the MK.2 does differ in its smaller 'eye' and generally shrunken form factor. It's less domineering over your monitor for its size reduction, and altogether retains the same, if not better, quality. The way in which the webcam clips onto a monitor has also been greatly improved with the MK.2, and it features a privacy shield. These are all very useful quality-of-life upgrades.

What's more, despite its improvements, the MK.2 released at a lower price than its predecessor.

One of the more impressive features of the Facecam MK.2 is the inclusion of an HDR mode. This mode's effectiveness will depend on your exact lighting setup, but we generally prefer the capture quality and appearance with HDR mode enabled.

The Facecam MK.2 will do well in low-light situations, but its HDR mode also helps a great deal with high light levels, such as a bright window directly behind the user. HDR mode will lock you out of some of the fine-tuning options within the Camera Hub software, but it's not much of a concern to the average user. It is better with an Nvidia graphics card, but still good in an all Team Red build.

Overall, the Facecam MK.2 is simply an all-around excellent 1080p webcam and one that will suit pretty much any gamer, streamer, content creator or corporate drone.

The best budget webcam

Most readers can stop here. Unless you're looking for specific features in a webcam then there are few better than the Logitech C920. It's both the best budget webcam and the one that makes the most sense for the average PC user.

The Logitech C920 has been around for years and has been floating around in our best webcam guide for about as long, too. Occasionally we've opted for the minorly different C922, but whichever is cheapest at the time is best.

Almost everyone in the team has used one at some point, and many still do to this day. Myself included—I have owned a C920 for probably over ten years now and it still works the same as the day I bought it. You can't argue with that, really.

It just ticks pretty much every box from a webcam do-want list. Its sharp 1080p images, paired with a wide field of view and great autofocus, make it a fantastic video conferencing choice. For a working world filled with Google Meets and Zoom calls, it works a treat for not a whole lot of money.

It is limited to 30 fps in full 1080p mode, but if you want a slicker picture you can switch to 720p and snag a smoother 60 fps level for your video. If you just need a cam for work, or to catch up with your buddies online, that's all you need.

If you're looking for a webcam that will deliver beautiful, slick, high-resolution content, then of course you are going to have to look elsewhere on this list, like the Obsbot Meet 2 or Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite. And spend more, too. In fact, you don't need to spend that much more to get a better webcam in the form of the Streamplify Cam, but the C920 is still a decidedly more budget option.

For streamers who don't need a full-screen high-res picture, the C920 is a great webcam to get started since you can track one down for far less than $100 at most retailers. There's also the C930e and C922, for the titans of industry among us, but we prefer this cheaper option.

We should also mention that if you're on an even tighter budget, you might prefer setting up your phone (or another cheap phone) as a faux webcam with the help of software such as Droidcam. You can check out our FAQ at the bottom for more info on this.

The best budget webcam for streamers

The best budget webcam for streamers is the Streamplify Cam. You might not be familiar with the brand as it's quite new, but we've nevertheless been impressed with the range of features its cheap and cheerful webcam offers.

The 1080p capture might not be individually convincing versus the often a little cheaper C920, though you would be missing out on the 60 fps that the Streamplify Cam offers. That extra frame rate, which is pretty rare in this price range, comes in handy if you want to stream or capture a generally smoother feed for sharing elsewhere, such as social media platforms.

The Streamplify Cam comes with a built-in privacy shield, which consists of the entire body conveniently sliding back and forth across the camera lens.

The wide 90-degree FOV comes in handy for setting up shots, and you can fully swivel the Streamplify Cam around a full 360 degrees for further adjustments. There's also a screw-in tripod included in the box, should you wish to ditch the top-down on-the-monitor angle we're usually stuck with. Handy if you're a budding streamer looking to make life a bit easier, or perhaps you might want to set up a secondary webcam for a different angle to zhush up your feed.

With solid performance in a range of lighting conditions, though admittedly slightly flat colours, we remain pretty impressed with the Streamplify Cam considering its price tag. You won't find any software included to tweak much on the camera, but you can get a good deal done in third-party software, even OBS.

The best 4K webcam

The Yololive Yolocam S3 is the best 4K webcam right now, and that's for one main reason: its quality. Yololiv says you get DLSR-like capture from it, and from my time testing it, I'd say that's pretty much as close as I've gotten from a webcam.

It can handle varied textures, plays well with different lighting conditions and generally looks excellent in motion. It also comes with a built-in bokeh effect that adds something truly cinematic to its capture. I've tried a bunch of webcams, and not one of them has got so close to something you'd expect to see from a more professional camera. I do think it emphasises blacks and shadows in ways that are a little less natural than some webcams, but still look great in their own right

One thing I do think it misses is a plug-and-play style setup. I'd personally opt to customise the white balance and turn off the vignette correction for a more natural look before actually using it. It's certainly fine otherwise, but a little tweaking will really make it pop.

It has a huge lens, and that lens captures all the little strands of hair, or a particularly scraggy beard, very well. I know, as I have lots of both. It also has a decent autofocus, should you want to pick something up or show off words to the camera.

It's also super sturdy, thanks not only to tough material on the webcam itself but also to super-strong magnets that clip it to the stand. Even with a push of my monitor, I couldn't get it to fall off.

If you, however, want something quick for a meeting, there are better choices. Not only is it quite expensive at an MSRP of around $200, but it doesn't come with a built-in microphone. That means having to grab a mic or headset should you want to do a quick call. That's not a major problem for me, but it does make it ever so slightly less plug-and-play than some other choices.

Still, what the Yolocam S3 offers is pure quality, and it's arguably the highest quality and price I'd ever want to go, before just opting for a dedicated camera instead.

The best tracking webcam

The Emeet Pixy is our best tracking webcam choice. For a long time, it wasn't, as it was around the Tiny 2 Lite and even Tiny 3 Lite price point, but I liked its quality less. However, it has received a seemingly permanent price cut on Amazon, making it absurdly good value for a 4K webcam with a gimbal.

Capable of recording 4K footage at 30 fps and 1080p up to 60 fps, this is a great camera in most environments, and still worth considering if you aren't even going to get the most out of 4K.

That's partially because of the gimbal that makes up its sturdy stand and partially because of the AI features that boost it even further. It can literally follow you around the room, but it can also focus on specific places, items, or people, and its autofocus is one of the sharpest out there right now.

The stand itself is super firm and easy to use, and though the webcam itself is a tad bulky, the stand never struggles to hold it up. It also comes with a surprisingly solid mic, making it a strong choice for a meeting or presentation.

One thing I didn't like much about it is that I found the sensor a tad overexposed. It just adds a certain brightness and loses some quality when placed near a window. I still wouldn't call it bad, but it could benefit from some tweaking if you are in a high-light environment.

It is the price that makes the Emeet Pixy work so well. At its original MSRP (around $160), I found it does okay against its competition, but if you need something with smart tracking capable of 4K capture, I can't think of a single choice at its price point I'd pick instead.

The best low light webcam

It might not be the best all-rounder, but if you're using your cam in a darkly lit environment and can't set up some external lighting, give this one a look because we reckon the Razer Kiyo Pro is the best low light webcam.

The original Kiyo attempted to tackle the low light problem by including a built-in ring light. But this solution, while novel, wasn't as effective as we might have hoped. To make everything light enough it often over-exposes the foreground (ie, your face) but doesn't brighten the scene enough.

The Kiyo Pro also tackles the low light problem, but it does so far more successfully by abandoning the ring light and opting instead for just a fantastic light sensor which can adjust to different lighting on the fly. This works out much better, making for a webcam that dynamically adjusts to lighting quicker and with better results than competitors such as the Logitech StreamCam.

So, if you need to keep the lights low, or you can't sort out good external lighting for your setup, the Kiyo Pro helps out a ton. It also comes with other upgrades over the original Kiyo which make it better for streaming. Chief among them is its ability to stream at 60 fps at 1080p through its wide-angle lens.

The icing on top is that this cam is now old enough that it goes on sale pretty frequently, so is often better value than similar but more recent webcams.

There are downsides, though, which is why we only recommend the Kiyo Pro to those of you who really struggle with lighting. The main issue is its autofocus, which didn't seem to work well during his testing, causing our reviewer to switch to manual focus. Default picture settings aren't ideal, either, so expect to do a little tinkering in the Razer Synapse software to make the most out of the Kiyo Pro.

Still, its light handling is exemplary, and that makes it the perfect pick for those struggling with their lumens.

Webcam FAQ

So, you're finally going to start streaming, huh? With all the Amazon Prime Day deals, now is the time to scoop up some streaming gear without paying full price. Spending a few hundred bucks can complete or upgrade your current livestreaming setup, or at least give you the foundation to finally go live.  

From webcams to green screens, Amazon has loads of decent streaming and podcasting gear on sale for Prime Day. Figuring out where to start can be overwhelming considering the sheer number of products to sift through, so I plucked out some of my favorite webcams, mics, and other gear you'll need for a successful stream.

For simplicity, I stuck with the best USB webcams that output at 1080p and are dead easy to connect to your PC. Another thing you'll need is a quality streaming mic. I found some entry-level and prosumer options with stellar sound quality. These are USB devices, too, so you don't have to deal with audio interfaces. 

I also tracked down other on-sale products like capture cards and green screens, which aren't crucial for your stream but are what I consider 'nice to haves' for your stream. 

Below are some of the best streaming gear deals for Prime Day.

Gone are the days of settling for grainy integrated laptop webcams, or fiddly USB cameras that balance precariously on top of our razor-thin monitors. Today, entire companies can be run via Slack, friendships are maintained via across-the-world Zoom calls, and careers can be kickstarted by streaming the latest online shooter or gruelling survival game on Twitch or YouTube. To stand out in an ever-increasingly digital world, you need a webcam with the flexibility and clarity to capture you exactly the way you want to be captured.

That's where the OBSBOT Tiny 4K comes in–a diminutive AI-powered webcam whose compact size deceives the wealth of high-tech features contained within. The camera will get a big discount starting on Amazon Prime Day (July 12) so if you like what you're about to hear about it then the good news is that you'll be able to get it for cheaper than ever!

But let's dig under the hood of this little guy. First up: what do we mean by 'AI-powered?' Well, the camera has a built-in tracking system that is not only able to identify people on the screen, but with the help of a 2-axis gimbal can actually follow you as you move around the room, keeping you in the centre of the image at all times. Whether you're walking around your room like an old-school news presenter, or recording a sparring session where you and your partner would constantly be jumping in and out of shot on a regular webcam, the Tiny 4K won't miss a beat.

Another rather mindblowing smart feature is gesture control, whereby the camera tracks your hand movements, and lets you do air gestures to control it. Don't worry, this feature won't require you to learn some arcane sign language; you simply open and close your hand to start and cancel tracking, and use your index finger and thumb to zoom the camera in and out. Simple, yet kind of amazing.

As the name suggests, the camera is capable of 4K capture, as well as HDR, ensuring an image that's as crisp as you could possibly need. The image quality is further enhanced by the 1/2.8" Sony Sensor, so even if you zoom right in on your face (remember the gesture?), then you'll maintain a high level of fidelity.

The technical prowess of the Tiny 4K is matched by its sleek design. It's a lovely, curvy bit of kit, which can stand freely on your desk or be attached to the top of your screen with the accompanying clip. Once you've finished with your YouTube stream, meeting or whatever else you'll be using your camera for, you can simply tilt the lens part so it's facing back onto its own body, giving you the privacy you need–no more need for flappy camera covers or bandaids!

This is a small but serious piece of hardware, which is reflected in its price tag. But that price has never been better than now. Between July 12 and July 17, you can grab the OBSBOT Tiny 4K webcam (and the rest of the OBSBOT product line) at 26% off on Amazon, while other OBSBOT products will go for up to 35% off. In today's age where your presentation on-screen matters more than ever, the Tiny 4K has got your back (as well as your front). Buy the OBSBOT Tiny 4K on Amazon now.

Having a good webcam is key to any PC setup, especially if you're looking to get into any form of content creation. The Streamplify Cam aims to provide that, and at an affordable price. 

With an MSRP of $70/£60, it sits directly against the likes of the legendary Logitech C922, otherwise known as one of the best webcams for most people, given how long it's been around. This new entry from Streamplify, however, may just be out to steal Logitech's big stately crown.

As affordable webcams go it feels pretty good, it being comprised of some textured plastics that don't feel cheap to the touch. It's got a bit of heft to it too, which is reflective of the fact this feels like quite a durable webcam. You also get plenty of options for adjustment here, with a full 360 degrees of swivel and some handy tilt, which is useful for getting your shot set up just right. 

Also bundled in the box alongside the Streamplify Cam is a little screw on tripod that, by comparison to the Cam, does feel a little bit like a cheap afterthought. Whilst it's a nice inclusion if you don't want to stack the cam on top of your monitor and want to place it elsewhere, it isn't the sturdiest stand by any means, given its composition of thin metal and some slightly rattly plastics. The ¼ inch thread on the webcam itself is compatible with any other ¼ inch headed tripods anyways, if you did want to pick something up that's a little more premium to go with the webcam.

What's particularly nice is that there's a built in privacy slider, so when you're not using the Cam, you can simply slide that over for extra piece of mind. No soul can peer in, not like they were probably looking anyways, but hey. When you have it open though, you'll find there's a glass lens, which should offer up a clearer picture than most webcams at this price, as others tend to use a piece of plastic, as opposed to glass.

On the point of handy features, this webcam does feature dual microphones that offer some decent pickup. Of course, they aren't as good as any of these budget microphones, but for internal ones, I don't have any complaints. They're sure to suffice for a day's work and any calls you happen to be on, put it that way, and are a decent stopgap until you pick up a dedicated microphone, be it XLR or USB.

For the actual video output, the Streamplify Cam outputs at 1080p/60fps, which sits well against webcams a little higher in price. Most others at this price bracket tend to stick with 30fps, and doubling that frame rate gives you smoother output, which is why 60fps webcams are such a big draw for content creators.

It translates to decent all round output, in most lighting environments, as you'll see from the sample video below. Colours are perhaps a little flatter than some of the more premium webcams out there, but its 2MP sensor does offer some pretty clear images, if you do want to take some stills. In some lighting environments though, those still images can look a tad grainy. 

Its auto light adjustment feature does a good job to compensate for any darkness, as you'll see from the gallery of images (even if I do look like a halfwit in the process), although sometimes images can look a little underexposed and pale. There's also a wide angle 90 degree lens that gives you the opportunity to show off what you've got in the background, as much as yourself, which is good if there's something specific you desperately want to get into frame. 

You won't find any additional software here, as the Streamplify Cam is a simple plug and play solution. With that being said though, it plays nicely with any big streaming software such as OBS and shows up in your devices list as soon as it's plugged in. On the point of plugging things in, the cable here sits at 2 metres in length, making it rather long, and means you can use the Cam wherever you please. Do note, it is fixed, so if you do accidentally end up breaking your cable it will be game over, unfortunately.

The Streamplify Cam is a pretty good webcam for the price, offering you a durable build, 1080p/60fps output with good colours, some handy dual stereo microphones, and extra creature comforts. Whilst you may not find any additional software with it, as plug and play solutions go to get you up and running in no time at all, this looks like a great choice for budding content creators.

Walmart is currently running a hell of a deal on one of the best webcams out there: right now you can pick up the Razer Kiyo Pro for only $95, half its usual pricey $200. 

Good lighting is one of those things that can really make or break the quality of a stream. Even if you're not a streamer, most offices, bedrooms, and kitchens don't provide the best lighting conditions for a video call. The Razer Kiyo Pro can help alleviate the grainy picture that comes with those low light conditions.

The Razer Kiyo Pro is great if you want to bring more light into your video without investing in a full-on lighting setup. The 1080p 60fps webcam uses a special adaptive light sensor that helps boost what little light is there already and brightens up your shot, so it doesn't like look you're recording from the bottom of a well. 

In my review, I noted that the Kiyo Pro is one of the more expensive non-4K webcams out there. That price is a shame, because the picture quality is excellent once you go into Razer Synapse 3.0 and tweak the settings to get it just right. 

You should note that colors tend to get washed out in lower light environments, which is the trade-off for streaming in a dark room. The Razer Kiyo Pro otherwise produces deep colors under normal lighting, and its white balance is on point too. 

One of the issues I'm hoping was addressed via firmware in the year since my review was the sometimes wildly unreliable autofocus. Despite that, the redesigned Kiyo Pro is still a good webcam, and for $95, it's an easier and cheaper upgrade route than a professional lighting setup.

Amazon has just restocked Logitech webcams like the C920x, currently on sale for only $60, which means your rise to streaming stardom starts now. More importantly, you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to look halfway decent. 

More than two years into the pandemic, sitting in front of a webcam has become a daily part of most of our lives. If you haven't made the jump to a dedicated camera at this point, this is a good opportunity. 

The C920x usually sells for around $75-$80, depending on where you look. Amazon is even throwing in a three-month license for premium streaming software, XSplit, free of charge.

If you have terrible lighting, you can spring for the bundle that includes the webcam and an LED streaming light for $120 which should help give you a more flattering appearance. 

The webcam itself shoots in 1080p at 30 fps and has a FOV of 78 degrees which means you can fit a lot of room into the frame. It's one of the main reasons many workplaces use the C920 webcams in conference rooms.

The picture quality alone is worth picking the C920x and how well it works in low/poor lighting conditions. More seasoned streamers might be turned off by its 30 fps cap and the notoriously bad built-in microphone. Though, you really should be using one of these recommended microphones for your streams anyway. 

While the C920X isn't on our best webcam list, we do love its cousin, the C922. The only significant difference is that C922 has an ever wider FOV of 90 degrees, making it a bit more expensive. 

Lighting affects webcam videography in a similar way that lighting affects photography. Things like exposure time and shutter speed need to be taken into account, but unlike photography, or even traditional videography, we don't often have the same manual control over those settings like we do with a professional camera. That's what makes lighting so important when filming something with our webcams, even if we prefer to keep our rooms dimly lit from the glow of our PC (assuming you are all about that RGB).

Basic lighting from a room lamp or kitchen may be sufficient enough for a video conference or a virtual tabletop RPG gathering, but if we want to add our faces to our Skyrim or Apex Legends streams, something like the Razer Kiyo or Elgato's Key Light would help eliminate any framerate drop due to bad lighting. (And we all want to see your gorgeous face, too!)

To understand how and why lighting can affect fps on a webcam, let's look at some basic concepts of still photography.

Anatomy of a camera

Two words that get thrown around a lot when talking about photography are aperture and shutter speed. Aperture refers to how wide or narrow the lens diaphragm (the 'eye') is open. If it's open wide, it lets more light in, and if it's narrow it lets less light in. In low-light situations, the aperture should be as wide as possible to let the most light in at ones, since there is less of it. This decreases the amount of time you need to leave the shutter open to properly expose the shot.

And that's where we get into shutter speed, or the amount of time the lens is open to properly expose the photograph. If you have a wide aperture, the shutter doesn't need to be open as long, but if you have a narrow aperture, the shutter will need to be open longer to let the same amount of light in.

ISO (or International Organization of Standardization, the governing body that sets the sensitivity ratings for camera sensors) also comes into play with photography, as it measures the light sensitivity of your camera. A higher ISO means it's more sensitive to light, which means you shutter is can be open for a shorter period of time, and your aperture can be narrower. If you've ever seen something like ISO 400 on a 35mm roll of film back in the day, that just means how fast the film will take to the light. Same concept for DSLR cameras.

Of course, webcams don't have these specific granular settings, as they're designed to be as hands-off as possible. But it helps to contextualize why lighting can affect fps on your webcam.

Shutter speed versus framerate

In still photography, you're limited to a single shutter speed per photograph, but you can shoot at any speed you'd like. If you're shooting a moving object, for instance, a slower speed will blur it, but a faster speed will capture it as-is.

With video, the shutter is still involved, but it remains open while an electrical shutter simulates the function of the mechanical shutter while you’re filming. And while you're filming, you're limited to a single shutter speed, and that shutter speed depends on the framerate. 

According to the 180-degree shutter angle rule, your shutter speed should be double your frame rate. So if your fps is 60, your shutter speed shouldn't go over 8000ms, or 1/125 of a second. Anything too slow or too fast can make the movement on-screen look unnatural. Other than a drop in bandwidth, this is also why we sometimes see someone make jerky movements over their webcam.

But we can't manually control the shutter speed on our webcams, which makes having good lighting that much more important.

More light, higher fps

There's also a direct relationship between a camera’s framerate and exposure time. Most webcams are going to shoot at 30 or 60 fps. The darker your setting, however, you'll need a longer exposure time and a wider aperture properly illuminate your shot. 

For all you math-inclined folks, the maximum framerate can't surpass one divided by the exposure time. So for example, if the max fps of your webcam is 60, but your exposure time is 200ms (milliseconds) to get a well-lighted image, your webcam is not going to run at full fps because it's working hard to make what's on the screen as well-lit as possible. In other words, the framerate drops in low light to properly expose the video frames.

Again, this isn't something we have control over with webcams, but some of webcams do come with software that allows you to adjust exposure, or choose priority between exposure and framerate for this reason (Logitech's StreamCam does). You might notice that if you prioritize exposure, your video might appear a little choppy if your lighting is too low.

Thankfully, you don't need a professional lighting set-up to use the upper limit of your webcam's fps, but it doesn't hurt to use something other than a desk lamp from Ikea. Your webcam has its limitations, and will do its best to automatically adjust for different lighting situations, but it's not going to perform perfectly in every single one.

The sudden rise in working from home has led to a renewed push for webcams that aren't total garbage. Razer's answer was the Kiyo Pro, released earlier this year with high-end features for $200. Pricey! The Kiyo Pro has now dropped to $150 at multiple retailers, which appears to be its lowest price yet.

The Kiyo Pro is a 1080p webcam with 60FPS recording, three FOV options (103, 90, and 80 degrees), a 2.1MP sensor, HDR support, and an omni-directional microphone. It also stands apart from most other webcams with a built-in ring light, just like the original Kiyo webcam, which ultimately helps with poor lightning conditions more than any amount of software magic could.

We tried out the Kiyo Pro earlier this year, and the webcam earned a 75/100 for its excellent light performance and design. However, we noted that the autofocus sometimes has issues and the HDR doesn't seem to do much. The high price was also a problem, but that's less of an issue with this 25% discount.

If you aren't quite ready to spend the equivalent of every Just Cause game and all their DLC, check out our roundup of the best webcams for more options.

Despite looking the spitting image of Logitech's StreamCam, the Papalook PA930 isn't competing with your high-end Logitech or Elgato webcams. Instead, it's a more affordable cam that tries to deliver some key features to separate it from the flood of cams now available on the market. Some of which it delivers on, and others it can't quite nail down.

It has a natural advantage over your run-of-the-mill bargain bin webcam, at least. Capable of capturing an image up to 1440p, the Papalook does offer something that many sub-$70 webcams don't. It's technically capable of running up to 2592 x 1944, according to OBS, yet the resulting 4:3 image might not be ideal except for a few edge use cases.

Once plugged in, I've been impressed with the initial image quality of the PA930. The colour strikes a decent balance and it's bright enough out of the box that you needn't fit it alongside a ring light. I will say the image is partially blown out in light areas, which isn't ideal if you're using some particularly bright spot lights, but generally the colour and white balance is admirable without further finessing.

That said, if you want to tweak the Papalook PA930 in any way, you'll need to do so within your chosen software. If you're planning to use OBS, you're in luck. That software offers heaps of webcam customisation options natively. But if you're plugging it in exclusively for Google Meets, you'll have fewer options to mess around with.

That's because the included software, Amcap, offers a rather paltry offering of features and settings. It's a far cry from the customisation available on the best webcams today. The app is more or less a simplified capture software, offering a way to capture photos or video without another third-party app, but little else.

In fact, Papalook only really recommends you use Amcap on older Windows versions. On Windows 10, it recommends you ditch it altogether for the native Camera app.

What you can do without any sort of customisation software is hit the shortcut button located on the top of the cam. This is supposed to switch between 1080p 30fps mode, and 1080p 60fps mode, (it even says so on the box) yet that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead, it zooms in and out of the frame.

While in 1440p mode, this allows you to swiftly zoom in and out of the webcam's feed, potentially offering a better way to frame your face. This is a fixed focus webcam, after all, which means there's no auto or manual focus, and so sitting an appropriate distance from the webcam is quite important for clarity. Ideally, that'd be exactly 90cm from the webcam. That said, the f 2.0 lens doesn't deliver much depth of field and it looks just fine if you sit closer or further away than that. 

Yet the toggle shortcut button doesn't quite act as advertised. I had thought this to be down to the camera operating at 1440p perhaps, but even after manually changing the camera to output at 1080p, the button still only served to zoom into my bewildered face.

Perhaps the zoom is a by product of the 60fps mode then? Well, no, that doesn't appear to be the case either. The camera looks awful similar whether set to 30fps or 60fps, and I even ran footage of myself past the wider team to see if they could note a difference between 30fps and 60fps modes. For the most part, we could see no discernible difference between the two, and we've played enough games at low frame rate to know that there should be a big difference.

The camera's firmware clearly does believe it can report at 60fps at 1080p, as once set to 1440p the max frame rate is limited to 30fps. However, I cannot confirm that it looks any better for the faster frame rate. With that in mind, I don't recommend you buy this webcam for its touted frame rate alone.

Similarly, I don't recommend you buy this webcam for the microphone, either. I've never had a great experience with onboard mics on a webcam, but the Papalook's mics do struggle to relay what I'm saying in a clear tone.

All said and done, I've settled on the Papalook PA930 as a webcam that works best as a simple plug and play device. Pull it out the box, run it at the highest resolution you can in your application of choice, and leave it at that. It's not a device with any real level of user customisation, and if you don't go in expecting that then I think it does its job just fine.

At $70 (£66), it's not the most affordable webcam available right now, but it isn't too much to ask for a 1440p capable device. It's certainly plenty cheaper than the Elgato Facecam at $200. But then again, these two devices are not in any way comparable in specification or functionality, so perhaps you get what you pay for.

What that is, is a 1440p workhorse that will deliver just about all you require of it. It even comes with a small tripod, decent monitor stand, privacy cover, and cleaning cloth in the box. I would suggest the Logitech C920/C922 over the Papalook for most, despite its 1080p max resolution, but the Papalook PA930 could act a suitable substitute in a pinch.

It's finally here, Elgato's first dedicated webcam, the aptly named Elgato Facecam. For a good long while we've asked ourselves: when will Elgato give the people what they want and make a darn webcam already? Last year saw the release of the streaming hardware company's first mic, the Wave, which led to speculation that a shot at the best webcam title would surely be next on the agenda.

And so, enter the Elgato Facecam, which, as its name conveniently states, is a webcam for your face. 

The Facecam marks the final piece missing from Elgato's massive streaming ecosystem; an ecosystem which already includes capture cards, green screens, ring lights, streamdecks, microphones, and even acoustic paneling.

Elgato's new webcam positions itself as a premium camera for streamers who aren't quite ready to invest in more expensive options, sucah as a DSLR camera, but are still looking for the best picture they can get.

Out of the box, the picture quality of the Facecam is great, though we noticed it seeming a little over-exposed on first impressions. This does feel like a deliberate choice by Elgato, however. It makes the image come off brighter and lighter than your typical webcam, which you could argue is something most streamers want for their main shot. 

Thankfully, one of the best parts of the Facecam package is its Camera Hub software. It's a simple control app that lets you adjust your camera settings in case that's not the ultra-bright look you want. 

As you can see below, I tweaked my exposure enough so that you can actually see out of my window instead of it looking like my neighbor threw a flashbang into the yard. From inside the bundled software you have access to easy-to-use slider settings, such as FOV/zoom, exposure, picture, and white balancing which will all help you get the shot you want. 

I like my picture to have a cooler color temperature, with higher contrast, and my ring light adding extra light. And the Facecam software is more than happy to oblige.

What you won't see in the Camera Hub are any auto-focus options, since the Facecam is a fixed focus camera. Somewhat surprisingly, it did a great job of keeping focus regardless of how often I moved around, or however many times I tried to screw around with it. 

While I appreciate the reason some cameras, such as the Razer Kiyo Pro, have an auto-focus feature, they often end up turning your shots into a frustratingly blurry mess as soon as you lean back in your chair. 

At $200, the Elgato Facecam finds itself at the same price as Razer's premium webcam, the Kiyo Pro, and the soon-to-be-released Dell UltraSharp 4K. Interestingly enough, these three webcams are all aimed at different types of user and environments. 

I will admit I was surprised to find that Elgato has gone with a rather safe design for the look of the Facecam, making it seem like a more traditional webcam. Thankfully, it's what the camera actually does that will help set it apart. 

The Facecam offers uncompressed video at 1080p/60fps, which is a pretty huge deal and might be the biggest reason streamers will want to pick this thing up. Without getting into a deeper conversation about encoding and compression, the short version is you'll have a final video output with less artifacting with the Facecam than you would when using most other webcams. And all without needing to bump down your resolution or frame rate in programs such as OBS.

Elgato even solves the problem of terrible sounding microphones on webcams. By simply not having one. 

It's a bold move, but then again, Elgato knows its intended audience will rarely use a webcam's built-in mic when streaming. The microphone's distance to the speaker is often too great and will pick up every sound in the room. I, for one, will not be mourning the loss of a crappy microphone, and neither should you if you're going to spend $200 on a new cam.

After all, there are a host of great budget microphones if you're looking to save a buck or two. 

The omission of a built-in microphone also proves that Elgato is hyper-targeting the Facecam to the streamer. Why bother adding a feature that almost universally never gets used, especially when you probably already own a pretty good microphone? 

The camera itself uses a Sony STARVIS sensor, a slice of silicon traditionally used in security cameras optimized for low-light environments. I tested the Facecam in a lower light setting to see how it hangs against the Razer Kiyo Pro, itself a webcam that specializes in making places with terrible lighting look better. 

The Facecam gets the slight edge when shooting in my dimly lit living room/office when directly comparing the two. The Elgato Facecam also wins out by just looking better overall compared to Kiyo Pro's odd fisheye effect at higher FOVs. If you're still torn on the two, let me just say for the record, the Facecam beats out Razer's offering, hands down. Though I look forward to seeing how Dell's 4K camera stacks up. 

So, after the long wait, is the Elgato Facecam the best webcam out there? 

I still think that honor belongs to the Logitech StreamCam because it offers more versatility for content creators and also only costs $150. But the Facecam does offer the cleanest picture quality I've seen in a good long, which alone merits its top marks. 

Though, $200 still feels a little too expensive for something without a mic and with such a conservative external design. I'd suggest only semi-serious streamers looking for a nice half-step before picking a DLSR camera should consider picking up a Facecam. 

But the Elgato FaceCam is a good first attempt at a webcam, and a fine addition to the Elgato catalog of streaming gear. It's specially targeted for streamers providing clean, low latency video footage for their broadcasts, so long as they are willing to pay a premium for it. But it sure delivers.

Of course it was always going to be a webcam. Yes, arguably the biggest name in streaming tech has finally unveiled the Elgato Facecam. It's the company's first ever webcam, despite it actually being all over the streaming cam market with its purchase of the phone-based EpocCam app, and its super-serious Cam Link 4K and Cam Link Pro goodies.

You could maybe argue it's missed the boat a little given that peak webcam was around this time last year, but the Facecam isn't a knee-jerk reaction to the global situation. "We didn't start development in response to Covid," representatives of Elgato told us during a pre-briefing about its new camera.

And this isn't just a standard webcam for the masses to jam atop their monitors so they can hate themselves for doing yet another dry Zoom quiz. The Elgato Facecam is more than just a cam for your face, it's the perfect half-step for serious streamers between a $50 camera off Amazon and plumbing a DLSR into your rig.

The uncompressed 1080p/60 video is likely to be the biggest draw for budding streamers, smoothing out the sorts of artifacting you're liable to get from most other webcams you might have. It's also a fixed focus camera, meaning no wobbly auto-focus shenanigans mid-stream, ably demonstrated by our Jorge in his review.

It's also got some outstanding software accompanying the Facecam too. The Camera Hub application allows for a huge amount of control over the webcam via simple sliders and switches.

The heart of the Facecam itself is the Elgato Optical Module, a combination of the custom Elgato Prime Lens and the Sony STARVIS CMOS sensor. The lens is an all-glass affair, which apparently comes with studio-quality optics, that's attached to a Sony sensor which is already optimised for low-light conditions, and is traditionally used in security cameras.

Elgato has told us that it's the baseline for future camera developments from the company, so don't expect the Facecam to be the final word in Elgato's own webcam range.

The Elgato Facecam is available now, for the princely sum of $199.99 (£189.99). So yeah, she ain't cheap, but she's a beaut.

Putting together a complete streaming or podcasting setup isn't cheap, but we've spotted a bunch of Prime Day streaming gear deals that'll make life a little easier for the budding Twitch streamer.

You also don't have to be a big-time streamer to appreciate some of this stuff. Many of us are working from home and find ourselves in front of a webcam more often than we'd like.  So, your poorly lit bedroom or echoey dining room doesn't help with the whole 'professional' look you're trying to go for during your morning video calls for work?  If you fall into that category, a new webcam or microphone might be exactly what you're looking for. 

Below, we've put together a list of the best Amazon Prime Day deals on everything you need to start streaming to your dozens or thousands of adoring viewers. If you're looking to build or upgrade the rest of your PC gaming setup, head over to our list of the best Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals, where we've curated all the best current deals on prebuilt PCs, monitors, and other PC gaming hardware. 

The theme for this list is plug-and-play. The items listed here don't require much technical knowledge. Just plug them into your PC, and you're ready to start your podcast, makeup tutorials, or Dark Souls lore videos. 

A good microphone such as the Blue Yeti Nano or Razer Seiren Mini is a strong place to start because getting a stream to sound good is the most annoying thing to work out, even for veteran streamers. Next, consider some of the 1080p webcam options we've found. Finally, if you're looking to up the quality of your broadcast, add lights, use a green screen, and grab a capture card if you want to stream gameplay from your PS5 or Xbox Series X. You don't have to spend a fortune to put on a good show.