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Well the website is down, but from the cache, the primary selling point is… ”An ƒ1.8, six-element, glass lens brings in 2.4x more light than any other webcam…W

Well the website is down, but from the cache, the primary selling point is… ”An ƒ1.8, six-element, glass lens brings in 2.4x more light than any other webcam…With a 7.8mm, 4K Sony sensor” …which granted, is better than other webcams. Except for the one in my pocket, on my iPhone. Which also has advanced noise-filtering technology. I guess there’s a market for a fancy standalone webcam, but it cannot be huge. Most people don’t care, people who moderately care can use their smartphones with a bevy of tethering software, and if you really care you are probably a streamer or YouTube producer who has a real camera, like perhaps this Sony: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-zv-e10-review https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-zv-e10-review

asimpletune 5y ago
> I guess there’s a market for a fancy standalone webcam, but it cannot be huge. Most people don’t care, people who moderately care can use their smartphones ... I think I've seen a number of times on HN people complaining that there isn't a better camera solution, given how much remote work we've been doing since covid. This is usually followed by people saying that what's really important is sound, along with their personal setups. Based on that alone I think this company has a reasonable chance at success, especially since stuff like this is often expensed. I'd say one risk to the company is when Apple simply makes better cameras in their MacBooks, but even then it'll be a while before company's replenish their supply of new MacBooks.
modeless 5y ago
Ooh, the ZV-E10 looks nice! I already have some E-mount lenses for my NEX-5, but it's too old to work with the webcam software Sony released last year, so I was thinking about upgrading.
- raesene9 5y ago
  yeah I've got a ZV-1 and been looking at the ZV-E10 reviews, it looks nice. the only thing putting me off is that it looks like they move the USB/HDMI ports to the other side from the ZV-1 so, if you flip out the screen, the cables will obscure the screen.
com2kid 5y ago
> I guess there’s a market for a fancy standalone webcam, but it cannot be huge. Most people don’t care, people who moderately care can use their smartphones with a bevy of tethering software, Hacky and annoying. Also it ties up a phone, and I'd have a phone mounted to the top of my monitor, which looks kind of stupid. Finally, what's the latency like? virtual meetings already have terrible latency, I don't want to get near anything that'll add more. Heck tons of models of BT headsets can add hundreds of ms of latency (!!), with moderately good ones adding only around 100 (ick). If the Opal can deliver low latency video and audio of a higher quality than other cheap webcams or laptop built-in cameras, and offer a good software experience, then it has a chance in the market. Of course people on this site can hack something better together, that new Raspberry Pi HQ camera module is nice, but it isn't going to dominate the consumer market.

asimpletune 5y ago

> I guess there’s a market for a fancy standalone webcam, but it cannot be huge. Most people don’t care, people who moderately care can use their smartphones ... I think I've seen a number of times on HN people complaining that there isn't a better camera solution, given how much remote work we've been doing since covid. This is usually followed by people saying that what's really important is sound, along with their personal setups. Based on that alone I think this company has a reasonable chance at success, especially since stuff like this is often expensed. I'd say one risk to the company is when Apple simply makes better cameras in their MacBooks, but even then it'll be a while before company's replenish their supply of new MacBooks.

modeless 5y ago

Ooh, the ZV-E10 looks nice! I already have some E-mount lenses for my NEX-5, but it's too old to work with the webcam software Sony released last year, so I was thinking about upgrading.

raesene9 5y ago
yeah I've got a ZV-1 and been looking at the ZV-E10 reviews, it looks nice. the only thing putting me off is that it looks like they move the USB/HDMI ports to the other side from the ZV-1 so, if you flip out the screen, the cables will obscure the screen.

com2kid 5y ago

> I guess there’s a market for a fancy standalone webcam, but it cannot be huge. Most people don’t care, people who moderately care can use their smartphones with a bevy of tethering software, Hacky and annoying. Also it ties up a phone, and I'd have a phone mounted to the top of my monitor, which looks kind of stupid. Finally, what's the latency like? virtual meetings already have terrible latency, I don't want to get near anything that'll add more. Heck tons of models of BT headsets can add hundreds of ms of latency (!!), with moderately good ones adding only around 100 (ick). If the Opal can deliver low latency video and audio of a higher quality than other cheap webcams or laptop built-in cameras, and offer a good software experience, then it has a chance in the market. Of course people on this site can hack something better together, that new Raspberry Pi HQ camera module is nice, but it isn't going to dominate the consumer market.