Video chat is big right now. Everyone is teleconferencing, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had many companies completely rethink their stances on working from home. You still want to look your best in a video meeting, and that goes beyond showering and getting dressed. What you really need is a decent webcam.
If you have a laptop, you already have a webcam. It probably isn’t a very good one, though. Small lenses, skewed colors, awkward exposure, and grainy indoor video are just some of the problems with might experience with cheap, built-in webcams. A good dedicated webcam will solve those problems, and give you the flexibility to aim it wherever you want without wrestling with your laptop. It’s a worthwhile investment if you’re planning to spend a lot of time on calls, recording vlogs, or doing anything else with video.
Here’s what you need to know when shopping for a webcam, along with some models worth considering.
Webcam Resolution and Frame Rate
This is pretty obvious. A webcam can only get as sharp as its sensor can resolve pixels. 1080p is a fairly standard resolution for a decent webcam, but if you really want to up your picture quality (or be able to crop your frame and keep it sharp), you want a 4K webcam.
Frame rate also affects how smooth your video looks. A 60fps webcam will give you a much more realistic and natural video feed than a 30fps webcam will, so be sure to pay close attention to the specs before buying.
Webcam Lenses and Exposure
The lens on a webcam is just as important as the sensor, and generally bigger is better. The lens determines how much light reaches the camera sensor, which affects how you’ll look if you don’t have good lighting. This is known as the aperture size, and is measured as f/(number), with the lower the number the wider the aperture and the more light that gets in. Webcam lenses generally range from f/2.0 to f/2.8, and some don’t list their aperture at all (in which case you can assume the aperture is small).
The lens also determines the camera’s field of view, and that’s important when considering framing. If you want to capture only your face and cut out your messy bedroom, you want a narrow field of view (or a high-enough resolution that you can crop the frame). If you want to record an entire conference room, you want a wide field of view. A webcam’s field of view will typically range between 65 and 90 degrees, with 78 degrees as a common middle ground.
Webcam Autofocus
Inexpensive webcams are fixed-focus. This means their lenses don’t move to adjust the picture, and are simply set to capture you within a wide enough range of distance that you’ll show up clearly. They work fine if you’re just sitting directly in front of the camera a few feet away, but it’s easy to get out of that sweet spot of focus and become blurry (especially if you want to show something up close).
More expensive webcams typically have autofocus, which means their lenses will adjust to make sure you’re clear at any distance from the camera. This is obviously preferable, since you don’t have to worry about being just the right distance away.
Webcam Microphones
You want a good microphone with your webcam. Better webcams feature built-in stereo microphones to better pick up the room and make your voice sound more natural. You can typically identify stereo microphones on webcams as a pair of small speaker-looking grilles or extensions on either side of the lens. This isn’t always the case, though; the Logitech StreamCam has stereo mics that are hidden behind the fabric front panel of the webcam. Check the product information for any webcam you’re interested in to see if it makes a mention of sound.
Alternately, you can get the best sound quality by using a separate microphone. A dedicated USB mic will almost always make you sound clearer and more natural than a webcam mic, or you can use a good gaming headset for a boom mic you can position near your mouth.
What Webcams Are In Stock?
With that in mind, here are some of the top webcams you can buy now. There’s been a recent shortage of webcams due to a surge in demand, so you may find the one you want is out of stock. Thankfully this issue seems to be clearing up a bit, and at the time of publication, most of the webcams mentioned here can be ordered immediately.
