Having developed lights, capture cards, green screens, microphones, sound-absorbing panels and everything that surrounds the world of streaming, Elgato has finally added a webcam to his collection, called Facecam: it is a product designed for those who want good image quality without having to buy a camera.
The first thing to note in the Facecam is that Elgato, especially thinking about chi fa streaming su Twitch, did not insert a built-in microphone, considering it useless. A choice that makes a lot of sense, given the target audience, which is always equipped with very sensitive microphones or headphones that have one, but which is good to know. if you want to use the Facecam also in work situationsaway from your streaming environment.
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How the Facecam is made
The webcam is obviously equipped with monitor stand, a cap for privacy protection and, if desired, it can be mounted on a tripod with standard attachment; the USB 3.0 cable is about one and a half meters long. The dimensions are generous, but nonetheless the Facecam is less bulky and heavy than the Razer Kyio Pro, which undoubtedly stands as a direct competitor together with the Dell 4K Ultrasharp. Unfortunately, the price is over there too: it costs about 200 euros, but it is currently not easy to find, as often happens in the beginning with Elgato products.
The maximum resolution of the Facecam is 1080/60 Fps, in line with the Kyo, and also in this case we have the Starvis technology that improves the image when there is little light, but the Hdr function is missing. The biggest difference compared to the whole segment is still the locked focus: instead of leaving the user the possibility to have a manual or automatic focus, the Facecam frames more or less clearly everything that is at a distance between one and 10 meters.
On the one hand, this means that in cases of unboxing or travel, you never risk seeing the lens adjust itself when something gets too close. The counterpart of this choice is that everything that is too close, perhaps because you want to show a detail, will never be perfectly in focus. Overall, the choice makes sense given the target audience, since it will rarely happen to get so close to the webcam. With regard to the field of view, the maximum one is 83.2 °, without any kind of curvature image on the edges, which can be narrowed down to 24.4 °, but with a noticeable loss of detail, since it is a digital zoom.
The most interesting feature of the Facecam, a bit like the Wave 3 microphone (also by Elgato) is the software that accompanies it and that allows a series of quick adjustments that allow you to greatly improve the image quality, even without HDR. Given that it is always good to have a well-lit room without a window behind it, the Facecam performs very well in various light conditions. Though, below a certain brightness threshold, we will be forced to choose: either we increase the details and graininess of the image or we activate the noise reduction, which makes everything much smoother and more mixed.
Very good chance of decide the ISOs in a totally manual way, shutter speed and color temperature, as well as contrast, saturation and sharpness. The final detail is the possibility to choose whether to compensate the exposure in the center or in an average way, to contrast sources of rear or side lights.
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Buy it or not?
In the end, more or less the same assessments made for the Razer Kyio apply to the Facecam: it’s a great product, but not perfect. A webcam designed for a very specific audience looking for good image quality (even if 4K is missing) without wanting to pay for a camera, which, however, remains an obligatory step for those who want the best and without any compromise, if not that of size. The 200 euros required are not few, and perhaps in this price range you will find a used camera or you can settle for an inferior product and invest what is left over in the lights.
But if you are looking for this kind of products, then maybe the Facecam is the right one, thanks above all to a very comfortable software and an excellent visual rendering in many situations that will allow you to show all the colors of the studio or what you are showing in streaming.
What we liked
- The flexibility: thanks to the control panel it is possible to adapt it to almost all environmental conditions
- L’target: the choice of having the fixed focus allows you to avoid annoying blur if you move or gesticulate
- L’breadth of view, which allows you to show the environment around or two people talking without problems
- The fluidity of 60 Fps
What is there to improve
- The price, which despite being in line with the competition could be reduced, given the absence of the microphone
- The rendered in low light, which asks you to choose between a grainy or very “mixed” image
- The availability, because it is not easy to find at the moment
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