Elgato Facecam review

Within the on-line world of streaming gaming content material, we face a variety of competitors to be seen and heard. One method to stand out from the streaming crowd is to current your self extra clearly with a higher-quality video feed.

Most PCs have a built-in internet digicam that tends to have a small lens, resulting in fuzzy-looking pictures with flat tones and washed-out colours. In low mild, your video feed will also be plagued with artifacts reminiscent of picture noise and compression. I used a 2017-era iMac to check the Elgato Facecam for this overview – it’s suitable with Home windows 10 and macOS 11.0 onwards.

The iMac’s built-in FaceTime HD webcam is one thing I’ve taken without any consideration for years, however in comparison with the outcomes produced by the Elgato Facecam the iMac’s FaceTime footage seems to be mushy and boring. The iMac’s webcam solely streams on the smaller HD setting of 1280 x 720 whereas the decision of the Facecam is a full HD measurement of 1920 x 1080. The Facecam is superior in different methods too, however is it top-of-the-line webcams?

Elgato Facecam specs

Elgato Facecam specs:

Elgato Facecam options

A digicam is just nearly as good as its lens and the Elgato Facecam’s lens is one thing particular. Not like some plastic webcam lenses, the Facecam’s lens is constructed from glass. There are 8 glass components within the lens to make sure a professional-looking picture that’s good and sharp and has a variety of tones and correct colours.

The lens’s aspherical floor maximizes picture perimeter sharpness – which suggests it doesn’t blur the picture across the edges like lower-quality lenses can. The low dispersion floor of the glass reduces the presence of chromatic aberration (coloration fringing) that you simply get with inferior lenses. It additionally ensures that there’s no tint or coloration distortion.

Within the unlikely occasion of infrared mild being aimed on the digicam, the Elgato Facecam’s IR Minimize Filter will block infrared mild from disrupting the sensor. The Lens additionally has anti-reflective coatings that protect picture element and stop the looks of image-obscuring lens flare if a lightweight supply shines into the digicam throughout a stream.

The USB 3.0 interface transfers uncompressed video with very low latency (delay), so your stream’s viewers will have the ability to work together with you with none video lag. At 60 frames per second, your streaming footage will likely be life-like and clean, serving to your viewers to expertise your presence extra clearly. Oh, and the Facecam additionally sports activities a detachable ‘privateness cap’(that’s a lens cap in previous cash), so you may obscure the net’s view of your room once you’re not streaming.

Design

The Elgato Facecam’s compact black plastic physique blended completely with the black rim of my iMac’s display once I perched it on prime by way of the digicam’s built-in adjustable clamp. The clamp has rubber padding which helps it get a agency grip in your monitor with out scratching it. This rubber clamp means the digicam gained’t slide about throughout a stream. An adjustable hinge means you can angle the digicam to seize the perfect view of your face.

The graceful rounded curves of the Facecam complemented the curved edges of my 2017-era iMac, making it appear to be a pure extension of my machine. The Facecam is compact sufficient to suit into the palm of your hand so it doesn’t stand out an excessive amount of when clamped on prime of your PC’s monitor. A generously lengthy USB cable means you may connect the Facecam to an adjunct such because the Elgato growth arm, which might offer you extra selection in the place to place it. On the draw back, we discovered that with the Facecam mounted on prime of our laptop’s show, we needed to intentionally look as much as make ‘eye contact’ with our followers and subscribers.

Efficiency

To check the Elgato Facecam we did a check stream alongside a few different webcam streaming options. As we talked about within the introduction, our iMac’s built-in FaceTime digicam produced a far inferior picture to that streamed by the Facecam with coloration, tone, and all-around readability. The iMac’s fuzzy footage had the minimal HD high quality of 1280 x 720, whereas the decision of the Facecam is a full HD measurement of 1920 x 1080. The Facecam streamed at a far smoother 60 fps than the built-in iMac’s 30 fps. So all in all of the Elgato Facecam kicked sand within the face of the iMac’s FaceTime digicam.

Nevertheless, in the event you personal an iPhone such because the iPhone 14 Professional Max you may stream that instantly into your Mac as a substitute for the built-in FaceTime digicam, enabling you to reap the benefits of the iPhone’s superior lens. You too can use the iPhone’s Portrait mode to blur the background. This hides muddle and lets individuals focus in your face. The iPhone footage is even sharper and cleaner than that produced by the Elgato Facecam, however to be honest the iPhone is much dearer.

You possibly can modify numerous properties of the Elgato Facecam utilizing the free Digital camera Hub app. The lets you management the Facecam such as you would a DSLR digicam via its menu. You possibly can tweak issues reminiscent of sharpness, saturation, and distinction. You too can make it kind of delicate to your location’s lighting by adjusting ISO pace and shutter pace too. In our display seize we’ve manually warmed up the White stability’s coloration temperature for a hotter extra pleasant look. You probably have a sluggish internet connection you may at all times drop the framerate of the Facecam from 60 to 30. When you’ve used the app to personalize the look being streamed it can save you the settings on to the Facecam’s flash reminiscence drive.

You possibly can then pop the Facecam on one other streaming system and your personalised look will stream with consistency. The Digital camera Hub even lets you cut back the flickering of sure mild sources utilizing 50 Hz or 60 Hz buttons. There’s additionally an intriguingly named Results button, however this merely offers you the choice to flip the display vertically or horizontally. On the draw back, we couldn’t get our changes to avoid wasting to the digicam, however we had been more than pleased with its default settings anyway.

Must you purchase the Elgato Facecam?

• Sure: The Elgato Facecam lets you stream increased high quality video than most PC built-in webcams
• Sure: You possibly can alter the digicam angle to maintain you within the image
• No: If you happen to’re a Mac consumer and have an iPhone then you may stream higher footage from that system.

Verdict

If you wish to elevate the visible manufacturing values of your on-line presence then the Elgato Facecam will definitely do the trick. It produces high-quality full HD that boasts correct coloration rendering and a 60 fps clean movement. The 24mm lens produces a wider (82º) area of view than our check iMac’s built-in FaceTime digicam might.

The supporting Digital camera Hub app lets you tweak coloration, tone, and composition to fine-tune your stream’s look. All in all, the Facecam supplies knowledgeable improve to built-in webcams because of its superior {hardware} and software program options.

If the Elgato Facecam isn’t for you

To finish your streaming setup, take a look at our checklist of the perfect gaming microphones.