Webcams are currently one of the most frustrating aspects of technology, and I simply cannot comprehend why. We all possess smartphones with 12MP, and some even boast 50MP, cameras that are far more capable than the subpar ones found on $6000 gaming laptops. Surprisingly, there aren’t even gaming monitors available with built-in webcams.
This woeful state affairs is the catalyst for products like the Logitech StreamCam, a FullHD webcam designed to sit on top of your monitor or laptop display. It behoves me that you have to splurge an extra $230 dollars to buy a webcam after you’ve blown ten times that much on a gaming laptop but such is the state of things.
The Logitech StreamCam does make up for its diminutive size with an crisp, 1080p video at up to 60fps and great autofocus and auto framing function that will make sure you’re always in the frame on stream. And even better if streaming isn’t as much your concern as just looking good on that Zoom call for work.
However, the StreamCam doesn’t come with built-in lighting nor does it have a privacy cover to ensure no one is snooping on you in high resolution.
Logitech StreamCam Review
First off, I must commend Logitech for not only the beautiful design of the StreamCam, but its also rather small in size. That makes it great for sitting on top of a laptop display without damaging it or simply looking absolutely ridiculous.
It’s a cuboid shape with a flared out front that exposes the f 2.0 lens which is surrounded by a cloth finish; under which is a dual omnidirectional microphone with noise reduction filter and an LED to let you know when the camera is active.
The unit sits on a clamp for mounting on monitors of different depths and I found it really sturdy. The camera can swivel almost 160-degrees so you don’t have to always position it dead centre of your display. The clamp also allows you to tilt the camera +/- 60° angle which is great when you have large desk monitor like the LG 48-inch OLED.
It also comes with a Tripod mount if you would like to use the StreamCam for content creation outside of your desktop use. The stand also lets you rotate the StreamCam into a portrait orientation which is essential for content creators shooting for TikTok or Instagram. And at just 222g, the StreamCam won’t strain most laptop displays either, let alone a Tripod.
Inside this tiny package is the aforementioned main lens with an f 2.0 aperture and a focal length of 3.7mm. The sensor has an resolution of 2304 x 1536 that allows it record video at 1080p up to 60 fps. With 78° field of view, the StreamCam captures a nice wide picture in standard 16:9 aspect ratio. One caveat is that it’s only capable of achieving the said 60fps over a USB 3.0 otherwise you’ll be capped at 30 fps.
Speaking of, the camera is powered by a single USB Type-C to C connection which works great for Windows and Mac laptops. Desktop users will probably need a Type-C to Type-A converter given the general lack of Type-C ports on desktops.
The StreamCam is plug-n-play meaning you don’t need to really worry about additional software to use it straight away. Windows immediately recognizes it as a webcam and it’s certified for Zoom. It’s also optimised for Streamlabs OBS software.
However, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t instal the Logitech Capture or Logitech G Hub software. This will unlock a wealth of features that include extensive image adjustment, resolution & frame rate adjustment, background & text effects and most importantly, auto framing.
Auto Framing works exactly as it sounds with the StreamCam automatically adjusting to keep your face in the frame at all times. It does so by pinching and cropping the video in real-time so that even when you move closer or further away, you’re face is captured at all times.
It’s actually kinda trippy because it almost looks like a fancy dolly zoom from movies where it appears the background is zooming in or out but you are fixed. I love the feature and I’m impressed that the camera can do that without physically moving. That’s thanks to the sensor that is actually a couple of pixels larger than 1080p, giving it wiggle room to do this.
The camera also automatically adjusts exposure and ISO speed to make sure the video is clean and skin colour tones aren’t messed up. As a person of colour, I wasn’t too impressed with the handling of my skin tone in auto mode — the camera over saturated my brown skin. However, you can also go with more manual settings for all these things and tweak to your liking.
Overall, the picture quality is pretty good in the right lighting conditions. It’s obviously a Full HD and I felt like it really should have been 4K. Still, the frame rates are buttery smooth which is likely more important to streaming than bulky, 4K footage.
Sadly, in low light the StreamCam quality drops significantly. The image is terribly noisy with poor white balance. Thankfully, it does a good job at ironing out flickering but you will absolutely need a good light source to illuminate yourself if you plan on streaming late a night or in a dark room.
Another thing you’ll need is an external microphone. The StreamCam has a dual omnidirectional mic built-in but its got pretty low gain meaning you will really, really need to raise your voice for it to pick up well. In my setup with the camera about an arms length away from me, my voice came through faint when speaking normally as I would into a desk or headset microphone. It will get you through a pinch but its not the best.
Now speaking of the software, I liked the Logitech Capture app which seems specifically designed for their webcams. The interface is clean, bright and airy with everything clearly labelled and easy to navigate.
Sadly, Logitech is no longer supporting the software which leaves us using the universal Logitech G Hub instead. It’s not bad but it loses a heap of the controls offered in the Logitech Capture app. I understand why Logitech wants a unified software hub for all their devices but it needs to match the feature set.
Verdict
At the end of the day, the Logitech StreamCam is a huge step up from your standard 720p laptop webcam. I love the small form factor that sits as easily on a laptop display as a desktop monitor. The simple stand allows for stable placement and a lot of adjustment. The image quality is very good but only in good lighting. Even then, there’s some tweaking needed to get the colours and exposure just right.
The microphone is nice to have but isn’t something I’d use ordinarily given how faint it is. At $230, the Logitech StreamCam is rather expensive. There are plenty of 1080p webcams for under $150 like the Razer Kiyo Pro, Asus ROG Eye S and even Logitech’s own C922 HD Pro. Sure, they aren’t all capable of 60fps video but is that really worth the extra $50-80 premium that the StreamCam asks? I don’t think so.
While I am not a streamer, I don’t think I would buy the StreamCam for streaming. It’s a great camera for work calls and even making some YouTube/ Tiktok content though and a viable alternative for any one looking for a secondary video camera.
