The Razer Kiyo attemps to solve a long-running problem with webcams: getting good low-light video with a built-in ring light. A good attempt, but with Razer’s second shot at a webcam, it’s become clear that an on-camera light isn’t the answer. The $199.99 Razer Kiyo Pro is twice as expensive as the Kiyo and doesn’t have a built-in light at all, but it ends up being a far better webcam for it. A better low-light sensor combined with strong auto exposure and quality noise reduction mean the camera can capture your face clearly even when it’s only lit up by your monitor, and its microphones are significantly improved over the Kiyo’s muffled mics. It’s pricey for a webcam, but earns its keep, and our Editors’ Choice badge for its excellent all-around performance.
Round, But No Ring Light
The Kiyo Pro looks like a wide-angle digital camera lens, a fat black cylinder with a ridged segment that seems like it would control zoom or focus (it doesn’t; it’s just a design choice). The ring light on the front of the original Kiyo is gone now, replaced by more ridged plastic until the clear cover that protects the comparatively small lens. Front-facing microphone holes sit on either side of the plastic cover, with an indicator LED above it. The back of the camera has a USB-C port for connecting the included five-foot, fabric-wrapped USB A-to-C cable.
The camera is attached to a versatile monitor clip with a long, just-stiff-enough hinged jaw to brace securely against the back of any monitor or laptop. A smaller hinge with a pivot joint, under where the camera itself connects to the clip, lets you freely tilt it up and down and rotate it left and right once it’s stable over your screen. A thumb-screw under the hinge can be tightened to lock the camera’s horizontal angle. Folded up, the bottom of the clip has a tripod screw-mount.
A black plastic lens cap-like privacy cover is included with the Kiyo Pro, and fits securely over the front of the camera when it’s not in use. It’s easier to lose than the Dell UltraSharp Webcam’s clever magnetic privacy cover, but it’s still nice to have.
Synapse Could Be Better Streamlined
You can adjust settings for the Kiyo Pro through Razer’s somewhat bloated Synapse software, which provides tweaks and firmware updates for nearly all of the company’s products. Synapse lets you toggle autofocus and HDR, switch between four color balance and exposure presets, and directly customize color balance and exposure with sliders. The software also has an adjustable Field of View setting with Narrow, Medium, and Wide options.
Sharp Video, Even in Low Light
The Razer Kiyo Pro can record 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second, or in HDR (the camera kind, not the TV kind) at 30 frames per second. It can also record in 720p at 60fps, and 480p and 360p at 30fps. It has a field of view of 103 degrees, with digitally cropped angles of 90 and 80 degrees available.
The Kiyo Pro’s microphone is a massive improvement over the original Kiyo’s. We found that Razer’s original webcam mic sounded extremely muffled. That isn’t the case with the Kiyo Pro, which captured my voice full and clear in test recordings. It catches a bit of room echo and could be cleaner in the higher frequencies, but it still sounds very good, comparable with the Poly Studio P5’s microphone.
The camera records a sharp, well-exposed picture in full light. Motion is smooth and even background text can be clearly seen in the 1080p image, though a bit of noise softens finer details like my beard and hair. The Dell UltraSharp Webcam captures these details much more cleanly, but it’s also the difference of a 4K picture versus a 1080p picture.
The Kiyo Pro really impresses in low-light environments. The above shot is captured from a test recording in a dark room only illuminated by my monitor. Not only does the camera properly expose my face in the low light, it actually balances the color to provide natural skin tones that aren’t pale and washed-out. It’s an even better low-light picture than the original Kiyo could provide with its built-in ring light, which was often harsh and could easily cause overexposure.
A Capable Do-It-All Webcam
The Razer Kiyo Pro is a significant leap ahead of the solid-but-flawed Razer Kiyo. It removes the ring light, but, thanks to a sensitive-but-sharp sensor and wide aperture lens combination, it really doesn’t need it. The low light footage is some of the best we’ve seen in any webcam, a factor that justifies the Kiyo Pro’s asking price.
The Dell UltraSharp Webcam offers an even sharper picture in good lighting, but it’s much more finicky in other lighting environments, and it lacks a microphone. If you don’t want to spend $200 on a webcam, the Poly Studio P5 offers strong performance for just over half the price.
With that in mind, the Razer Kiyo Pro is our latest Editors’ Choice pick for best webcams. Of course, if you want to really get serious with recording or streaming, you can always connect your digital camera to your computer and cut out the webcam entirely.
