Facecam Pro, analysis. To say that it is the best webcam is an understatement

Webcams are part of our day to day, and the improvements they have received in recent years are enormous. We use them for virtual work meetings, to stream and even to record videos. In our case, it is clear that a webcam is essential for streaming events and the FreeGameTips Tavern, to record videos or do live gameplay. For this reason, after several weeks working with the Elgato Facecam Pro We can say that it is the best webcam we have come across. But we have to add that to leave it alone in that is to fall short, because it has a quality that seeks to go one step further.

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We’ve had other cameras for streaming and gameplay that work really well and get the job done, but we wouldn’t consider recording video with, and that totally changes with this device. With maximum resolution of 4K and 60 frames per secondThe least of it ends up being this, since it has different technical specifications that bring it closer to professional cameras, but with the compact design of a webcam. Are these:

Professional work

Here are two options. That you have never worked with a camera and some of the elements of the specifications may sound strange to you or, on the contrary, that the film may sound strange to you. In both cases, the work that Facecam Pro does is amazing. In the first, because it has a system that automates many of the basic parameters, so it’s easy to have the light you want and the right focus just by plugging it in.

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On the other hand, the device gives us some possibilities that are appreciated to adjust to what we want (or adapt to places with little light). The opening allows control the amount of light that enters the camera’s sensor, as it signifies the aperture size of the lens’s diaphragm. Considering that it has a value of f/2, the result is very useful because it allows considerable light to enter and has a shallow depth of field, being able to give a more pronounced background blur effect than in other cases.

Another prominent element is the 21mm focal length, which allows you to have a very wide viewing angle (as you can see in the screenshots we have taken) and that allows you to play with the frame much more precisely. This distance also allows you to create a sense of depth in the image with minimal distortion (better indoors than outdoors). If we add to this the field of vision of 90º, that allows us to capture a large number of elements in our room and play with the fisheye effect if we are interested.

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Here it is important to emphasize that you may not want to broadcast at 4K because it is totally unnecessary and you will stream at maximum 1080p, but image quality is going to benefit nonetheless, because resolutions below 4K are downscaled from that resolution. We lose detail, of course, but it will look better than others that are at a lower native resolution. To all this, we have not commented but 60 frames per second is amazing They allow you to see a smooth moving image and the autofocus works quite well. Sometimes we have had to adjust it but as a rule, it is blur our image passes far fewer times than compared to other devices we’ve worked with so far.

Highlight that we can connect it with Stream Deck, something that allows us to change the area we are focusing on by pressing a simple key, activate effects that we have previously selected or change the frame to look for detail elsewhere. All this, of course, being able to save settings and characteristics so that it remembers them when we activate it again in future sessions.

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Adjust it to our liking

As we said, the interesting thing about all this is that on the one hand, the system automatically captures the amount of light, the focus and the FOV with which we want to work, but we can also tinker with the characteristics ourselves. open more or less diaphragm for situations that do not have as much light as we would like, capture a specific part of the scene (thanks to the detail and maximum resolution, without losing much detail) or even change the tone from colder to warmer according to our needs.

Everything works easily with the downloadable app for the camera, with the addition that we see the changes in real time on the screen, so even if we are not experts, we can determine if we are burning the scene too much or excessively darkening it. Test, adjust and start using. The system is linked to the new platform of NVIDIA Broadcast App that allows you to blur the background or add any other with a more than optimal result.

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Considerations: a demanding machine

The Facecam Pro It comes in a simple package with the camera, a threaded mount and a USB-C cable. At this point, we regret that it does not have a lid-type protection for the lens, as it does for example with the 1080p Facecam, which we believe would not hurt and would give us some security considering that we are talking about a premium product, not suitable for all pockets. Beyond this, there are some considerations that we must take into account.

The first is that for it to work optimally we need to be connected to at least one 3.0 port, if not directly the computer may not detect it or the image may freeze. as the connector is USB-C on both sides, you may not have a connection available. The same thing happened to us with the PC, so we have to buy an adapter that, yes, cannot be just any adapter. Note that the USB-C to USB be 3.0, support 5GBps and sufficient watts of power (more than 10). If not, it won’t detect it. If your input to the laptop or desktop PC is USB-C, you should not worry about this.

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In addition to all this, it is important to note that the device itself has a considerable size compared to other webcams, something that can be a minor annoyance because with the grip it fits perfectly on the monitor (and if not, it can be stuck on any tripod you have) and it does not have a built-in microphone, a minor detail in our opinion considering note that the quality would suffer and that for professional use, it is better to have a microphone dedicated. Although it is true that for chats in quick meetings it would not have been a bad addition.

Conclusion

Facecam Pro It may not be a device designed for an occasional audience, but as a webcam for professionals focused on content creation and live broadcasts, it is very powerful. The quality, smoothness and sharpness of the image plays another league, and the features and adjustments that it has they bring it closer to a professional camera than to a simple webcam. Of course, we miss some details such as a lens cover and it is true that its price is not suitable for all pockets. All in all, its ability to capture light in dimly lit areas, the 60fps or the way it treats the color of the image, as well as other elements such as the proper functioning of the autofocus make it a top-level device and it represents a immediate qualitative leap, from the first moment.