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I wonder if it's that kind of consolidation of business that causes, well... all of consumer webcams to suck. In particular, it's super hard to find a quality l

I wonder if it's that kind of consolidation of business that causes, well... all of consumer webcams to suck. In particular, it's super hard to find a quality lens with narrow field of view. I don't need everybody on the meeting to see all my walls and hallways; I need a "50-70mm equivalent" lens to show my portrait, that's it! I have no idea why wide-angle lenses are the norm that they are. Digital zoom of course just compounds the already low resolution and crappy quality of pixels. And let's not even talk about noise and dynamic range :-/ A $30 webcam is a miracle of manufacturing efficiency and one shouldn't expect much out of it. But I'm in the "Shut up and take my money" segment to get a quality webcam (since I use it at least 4hrs a day, every day), but it just doesn't seem to exist (I did run a proper camera with a f/1.8 85mm lens for the first year of Covid, but as great as the results were, that was just a logistical pain and overkill).

martin_a 4y ago
> I did run a proper camera with a f/1.8 85mm lens for the first year of Covid, but as great as the results were, that was just a logistical pain and overkill I always wondered if this was something for a Raspberry Pi and one of those Pro cameras they got. Is that something that can be done easily? edit: Quick googling revealed that it is not that easy. The RPi can provide a video stream but that needs (more) software on the computer than just a USB webcam.
- zbrozek 4y ago
  Yes! I use pi zero and a 3D printed case with the HQ camera and a decent lens. The field of view is exactly right for video calls. https://github.com/showmewebcam/showmewebcam/releases https://github.com/showmewebcam/showmewebcam/releases
  - martin_a 4y ago
    Any recommendations for the lens? Sounds like I have to build one now, got a Pi Zero laying around somewhere... :-D
    - zbrozek 4y ago
      I'm using this one, though I don't remember where I actually got it from: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4563 https://www.adafruit.com/product/4563
- dekhn 4y ago
  it's not terrible, you can make the pi just always boot to showing the video on HDMI and then use an HDMI USB capture tool into OBS which makes a virtual camera (you still need to handle the audio separately, though)
kuschku 4y ago
Have you considered getting a ZV-E10 for this? That’s one of the smaller sony mirrorless cameras which behaves like any other webcam via USB, so it'd be just as simple to use as any other webcam.
- codetrotter 4y ago
  That camera costs €750.00 Bit much for a casual meeting cam, no? Plus he’ll probably have to shell out another €100 for additional accessories And in the end it all takes up a lot of space as well
  - kuschku 4y ago
    Considering webcams are now reaching prices of 400$ (e.g., https://www.elgato.com/en/facecam-pro https://www.elgato.com/en/facecam-pro ), the quality improvement of a proper mirrorless camera can't be dismissed.
renewiltord 4y ago
An Opal C1 might be what you want. It is expensive, however. You may also be happy with a DSLR hooked up to an appropriate lens. My problem with the Opal C1 is that I don't have a wide field of view. I use it in a meeting room and I have to place it far back to get everyone in.
- pc86 4y ago
  I bought an Opal and can't recommend strongly enough to buy literally any other camera. The software is hot garbage. Using it on my M1 mac for Slack, Teams, and Zoom is an exercise in frustration and futility - constant crashes, Opal software deciding to randomly open up and take over the video, killing the video feed in the soft clients, etc. I could go on but this thing isn't worth $50 let alone $300. The only reason I still use it is because the picture is decent (not great) and I don't want to just trash a $300 camera.
duffyjp 4y ago
If you're in the Apple ecosystem, their continuity camera feature is really slick. It appears to use the 2x lens by default on my iPhone 12 Pro which is a 52mm equivalent (newer iPhones have narrower telephoto). The quality is excellent and it's completely hands off. It just activates itself if enabled on the phone.
croutonwagon 4y ago
In some cases the software compression offsets the camera quality anyway. Zoom for example does only 720p. You CAN get 1080p if you pay for a special license to flip a switch but even that works….only sometimes.

martin_a 4y ago

> I did run a proper camera with a f/1.8 85mm lens for the first year of Covid, but as great as the results were, that was just a logistical pain and overkill I always wondered if this was something for a Raspberry Pi and one of those Pro cameras they got. Is that something that can be done easily? edit: Quick googling revealed that it is not that easy. The RPi can provide a video stream but that needs (more) software on the computer than just a USB webcam.

zbrozek 4y ago
Yes! I use pi zero and a 3D printed case with the HQ camera and a decent lens. The field of view is exactly right for video calls. https://github.com/showmewebcam/showmewebcam/releases https://github.com/showmewebcam/showmewebcam/releases
- martin_a 4y ago
  Any recommendations for the lens? Sounds like I have to build one now, got a Pi Zero laying around somewhere... :-D
  - zbrozek 4y ago
    I'm using this one, though I don't remember where I actually got it from: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4563 https://www.adafruit.com/product/4563
dekhn 4y ago
it's not terrible, you can make the pi just always boot to showing the video on HDMI and then use an HDMI USB capture tool into OBS which makes a virtual camera (you still need to handle the audio separately, though)

kuschku 4y ago

Have you considered getting a ZV-E10 for this? That’s one of the smaller sony mirrorless cameras which behaves like any other webcam via USB, so it'd be just as simple to use as any other webcam.

codetrotter 4y ago
That camera costs €750.00 Bit much for a casual meeting cam, no? Plus he’ll probably have to shell out another €100 for additional accessories And in the end it all takes up a lot of space as well
- kuschku 4y ago
  Considering webcams are now reaching prices of 400$ (e.g., https://www.elgato.com/en/facecam-pro https://www.elgato.com/en/facecam-pro ), the quality improvement of a proper mirrorless camera can't be dismissed.

renewiltord 4y ago

An Opal C1 might be what you want. It is expensive, however. You may also be happy with a DSLR hooked up to an appropriate lens. My problem with the Opal C1 is that I don't have a wide field of view. I use it in a meeting room and I have to place it far back to get everyone in.

pc86 4y ago
I bought an Opal and can't recommend strongly enough to buy literally any other camera. The software is hot garbage. Using it on my M1 mac for Slack, Teams, and Zoom is an exercise in frustration and futility - constant crashes, Opal software deciding to randomly open up and take over the video, killing the video feed in the soft clients, etc. I could go on but this thing isn't worth $50 let alone $300. The only reason I still use it is because the picture is decent (not great) and I don't want to just trash a $300 camera.

duffyjp 4y ago

If you're in the Apple ecosystem, their continuity camera feature is really slick. It appears to use the 2x lens by default on my iPhone 12 Pro which is a 52mm equivalent (newer iPhones have narrower telephoto). The quality is excellent and it's completely hands off. It just activates itself if enabled on the phone.

croutonwagon 4y ago

In some cases the software compression offsets the camera quality anyway. Zoom for example does only 720p. You CAN get 1080p if you pay for a special license to flip a switch but even that works….only sometimes.