Elgato is best known for its stream decks and capture cards, but after releasing its Wave series of microphones last year, the Elgato Facecam isa a step further into the streaming hardware market. This webcam wants to be the best webcam for livestreaming, as the name suggests.
It can record in 1080p at 60 fps and has a fixed 24mm lens and an app that tells you what your ISO levels are while you stream. But because the audience is so specific, there aren’t as many features like HDR or 4K, which streamers usually don’t use because platforms like Twitch don’t support them.
Specifications
- Connection type: USB-A 3.0, type C
- Focus Type: Fixed
- Focal length: 30cm – 120cm
- Video Resolution: 1080p at 60 fps max
- Microphone: No
- Image Quality Settings Customization: Yes
- Diagonal Field of View (FOV): 82° (diagonal)
- Mounting Options: L-shape joint, tripod
Where to get Elgato Facecam Webcam?
The Elgato Facecam is a webcam that will make you look good in the corner of your live streams or right in the middle. To reach this goal and stand out in a market that’s getting more and more crowded, it’s packed with features that make images clearer and give it a more professional feel than any other webcam on the market. The software is a big part of what makes it special, but it’s not the only thing. As with any camera, the lens and sensor are the most important parts of a good picture.
Up to 1080p at 60 FPS can be recorded with the Facecam. On recordings, it gives a clear, detailed picture with smooth, natural motion. It has an 82-degree field of view, which is in the middle of its two biggest competitors, the Logitech StreamCam (78 degrees) and the Razer Kiyo Pro (103-degrees max, but digitally adjustable to 80 or 90 in Synapse). It’s the same as a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera, and it’s just wide enough to keep you in the middle of the scene without giving you a fisheye effect. It also has an aperture of f2.4, which is a bit slower than the Kiyo Pro or the StreamCam but doesn’t make a big difference in performance.
The Facecam takes great pictures right out of the box, though at first we thought they seemed a little too bright. This does feel like a choice that Elgato made, though. It makes the image brighter and lighter than a typical webcam, which you could argue is what most streamers want for their main shot.