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I can't say the same about my experience with (other people's) webcams. From all the video calls I had this year, people either used * their notebook's built-

I can't say the same about my experience with (other people's) webcams. From all the video calls I had this year, people either used * their notebook's built-in webcam that's complete garbage * any other webcam, and their image is clear as day, or at least video quality is limited by lighting or bandwidth.

mvdwoord 6y ago
Seconded, to a degree. It seems most people's workspaces are just very dimly lit. Of course, modern hypersensitive sensors from DSLRs are immune to this. I use a relatively simple and old Logitech (C720 I believe) as webcam, and when I am in calls, I point my desk light straight at my face from just atop the webcam. This alone increases the image quality by an order of magnitude. If I would do more videoconferencing (currently only an hour or so per day, mostly with my own team) I would probably invest in a better light setup and a microphone, before I would think about upgrading my camera. Most small cheapish sensors do absolutely fine, given enough photons to work with.
- ThePadawan 6y ago
  Oh lightning is definitely the largest real-life factor. I definitely cut my colleagues some slack here since many literally had to set up a home office out of nowhere. Some had to go to the basement (and CFL lights + webcams = blergh), others just had to cram themselves into whatever corner of the house (thus also badly lit).
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Yeah, and I certainly don't want to hassle anyone who hasn't set up a perfect video studio for calls in their house. On the other hand, after 9 months I do sometimes feel a bit of frustration for the folks who are still perfectly backlit from a window rather than hanging some fabric over it.
mkl 6y ago
I've had compliments about how good my (work) Surface Book 2's camera is. Surface Pro 4 seems pretty good too.
- gxqoz 6y ago
  Yeah a co-worker with a Surface Book (not sure the exact model) has by-far the best video quality I've seen on work calls. In general, I actually find built-in laptop cams to look much better than the typical external webcam. They're still not great, but entry-level external webcams are just atrocious.

mvdwoord 6y ago

Seconded, to a degree. It seems most people's workspaces are just very dimly lit. Of course, modern hypersensitive sensors from DSLRs are immune to this. I use a relatively simple and old Logitech (C720 I believe) as webcam, and when I am in calls, I point my desk light straight at my face from just atop the webcam. This alone increases the image quality by an order of magnitude. If I would do more videoconferencing (currently only an hour or so per day, mostly with my own team) I would probably invest in a better light setup and a microphone, before I would think about upgrading my camera. Most small cheapish sensors do absolutely fine, given enough photons to work with.

ThePadawan 6y ago
Oh lightning is definitely the largest real-life factor. I definitely cut my colleagues some slack here since many literally had to set up a home office out of nowhere. Some had to go to the basement (and CFL lights + webcams = blergh), others just had to cram themselves into whatever corner of the house (thus also badly lit).
- ghaff 6y ago
  Yeah, and I certainly don't want to hassle anyone who hasn't set up a perfect video studio for calls in their house. On the other hand, after 9 months I do sometimes feel a bit of frustration for the folks who are still perfectly backlit from a window rather than hanging some fabric over it.

mkl 6y ago

I've had compliments about how good my (work) Surface Book 2's camera is. Surface Pro 4 seems pretty good too.

gxqoz 6y ago
Yeah a co-worker with a Surface Book (not sure the exact model) has by-far the best video quality I've seen on work calls. In general, I actually find built-in laptop cams to look much better than the typical external webcam. They're still not great, but entry-level external webcams are just atrocious.