2023-06-05 08:01:52
With COVID-19, we’ve seen a significant increase in the percentage of individuals in the labor market who just want to work from home more, which seamlessly aligns with the increase in streamers on Twitch, often just creative souls looking to connect with their audience.
All of this is driving huge growth in the webcam market, and if you’re serious about your work, hobby, or something in between, Elgato offers what may be the craziest, most expensive webcam yet. It’s called the Facecam Pro, and it costs $299, the same price as Razer’s expensive Kiyo Pro Ultra, which costs just a little more at $299.
At this price, Elgato just needs to be able to deliver the whole package, so does it? Probably the first thing to realize here is that Facecam Pro is huge. If you imagine the head of BD-1, you know, the droid from the Star Wars Jedi series, you have a pretty good idea of what that looks like. Despite its tasteful design, it’s not particularly subtle. However, the installation itself is seamless via the simple USB-C cable, and even though it weighs 240 grams, it doesn’t matter once it sits on top of the monitor or via the classic 1/4″ thread.
So why is it so big? Well, first of all, it’s because the lens itself is huge. It’s a 21mm full-frame equivalent f/2.0 aperture lens that shoots at 90 degrees. The sensor itself is a Sony Starvis CMOS, so performance in challenging lighting conditions is also guaranteed, and it’s the only webcam that can easily shoot at 4K/60fps (obviously).
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Looks good, let’s start with that. However, you’ll need to be willing to fiddle with the settings with Elgato’s Camera Hub. Facecam Pro shoots at 90 degrees, but requires you to digitally zoom in closer to your face to make sure you’re always in focus. You need to do this because there’s no tracking here – if you move, Facecam Pro can’t find your face and keeps focusing on itself, so the tighter FOV is almost a necessity. You’ll also have to look at white balance and color calibration yourself, as automatic tools don’t really do the trick.
Another problem is that there is no microphone. Now, it’s fair to say that most people considering investing in a Facecam Pro can add studio mics themselves or just use headphones, which is fair enough, but the cheaper equivalents have built-in mics, and the device itself is so bulky, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be at this price point provide this.
However, it must be said that Elgato has built a rock solid ecosystem of products that work brilliantly together. The wider FOV does mean you sacrifice a bit of quality, but few competing products offer this kind of panning – there’s more freedom to play with your subject, especially if you’re willing to tinker.
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The Elgato Facecam Pro isn’t a failure, but it’s also not immediately better than its cheaper competitors to justify its high price tag. You’re certainly not getting a bad webcam, quite the opposite, but at the end of the day, you deserve more.
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