The past year 2022 brought these classic peripherals to the fore with remote work and online classes. We are talking about webcams, an element that comes standard with a laptop or Smartphone, but may not have the required quality. There is no doubt when it comes to desktops: you\’ll need one. Now: Which webcam to buy?
In this webcam buying guide, we review the criteria to consider making the right choice and recommend different models depending on their application: for occasional or frequent video calls, streaming, or even the most ambitious and creative.
How to choose a webcam
The market is broadly divided into two categories: business webcams and live streaming. Second, with resolutions up to 4K, professional microphones and wide viewing angles, the simple video calling proposal is particularly simple, while navigating the most ambitious and expensive side of the coin.
What we need it for and how often we will use it is a decisive factor when choosing a webcam and will determine the budget for optimizing our investment.
Resolution and frame rate
You\’ll find 720p webcams and built-in cameras (especially on older devices) that offer the basics for video calling, but 1080p is the standard definition of a good Omegle. Of course, if you are looking for image quality and sharpness, there are models that go all the way down to 2K and 4K.
In any case, consider that factors such as bandwidth or compression of some videoconferencing services will prevent you from fully realizing the potential of these resolutions. Better to be able to tune to a lower resolution which runs smoother.
The frame rate also affects the smoothness of the video. Although 60fps webcams provide a more realistic and natural video image than 30fps, this obviously also means more data transfer.
Lenses and exposure
In some models, we also find data on the lens, an element that influences, among others on the amount of light reaching the camera\’s sensor and the field of view.
The aperture shows how much light is reaching the sensor, which is directly related to how good it looks when ambient lighting is not good. It is measured in f / (number), as we usually see in mobile optics and the lower this number, the wider the aperture and the more light it enters. The ranges from f / 2.0 to f / 2.8 are common in webcams. This information doesn\’t always appear in webcam specs: if it isn\’t visible, it usually means the aperture is small.
The lens also marks the webcam\’s field of view: if you just want to register your face and something else to avoid a clutter in the room, a model with a narrow field of view (or a high-definition webcam) would be better. Crop). When it comes to seeing the conference room, the wide view model is better. Usually webcams move between 65 and 90 degrees.
Auto focus
The most affordable webcams are fixed focus or the same, their lenses don\’t move to adapt to the scene being shot and they just pick up what\’s available depending on the distance in their field of view.
And if you intend to sit directly in front of and close to it (for example, when you put it on the monitor frame), this is probably enough. However, it\’s easy to have moments where your footage is blurry: when you are moving, when you want to get closer to the camera.
The most complete models feature autofocus that minimizes these blurry moments, allowing the lens to self-adjust, so it can accurately focus depending on what they\’re recording.
Integrated microphone quality
In videoconferencing, sound is even more important than Ome tv Chat Rooms. That is why there are several webcams with a built-in microphone and some even have a stereo microphone. Stereo microphones typically have two small “ears” (in the form of a grille or mini-speaker) on either side of the lens, allowing them to better capture sound and capture a more natural sound.
However, there is nothing to write about the quality of this microphone, and it also picks up noise from the surroundings, taking into account its location. In this sense, if you intend to make frequent video calls, have ambient sound, and / or need sound quality, it is better to rely on a separate microphone or headset.
