Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p
Better video calling made easy
$49.99 From Creative, creative.com Features 1080p video at 30fps, 77° field of view, dual microphones, privacy cover, tripod mount
Macs are fantastic machines, but there’s one area where they fall short: webcams. We’re closing out 2020, yet here we are, potentially paying over $2,000 for computers that come with puny 720p webcams. If there’s one thing coronavirus has taught us about working from home, it’s that low–resolution video calling is a chore.
Enter Creative with its Live! Cam Sync 1080p webcam. As the name implies, it offers 1080p video resolution at 30fps, a big step up over the default webcam many Macs come with. Creative’s cam offers a more detailed, less fuzzy picture, with a wider field of view. That alone feels like an instant step up, and it particularly shines in well–lit conditions.
Audio’s less clear cut. Creative’s dual mics give more depth to your voice than the Mac’s mics, which leave you sounding flat and tinny, but also add a little too much bass. This is just one area where finer controls over your output would help.
Setup is quick and easy. There’s no software to install, you simply secure the camera in place and plug it in. The built–in mounting clip has soft rubber bumpers to protect against scratches, and there’s a tripod mount too. You can adjust the camera’s tilt up and down and side to side, and rotate it a full 360°. When it’s not in use, you can cover the lens with the included cap to protect it. We were also impressed with the price. The Live! Cam Sync 1080p offers a nearly identical feature set to Logitech’s C920 HD Pro — the same resolution, the same dualmicrophone array, the same tripod mount — for $30 less. You may struggle to find a camera that marries quality and features in this way at this price.
It disappoints, though, when it comes to low–light performance, something made worse by the limited options you have to correct it. Your Mac’s webcam automatically adjusts the picture to account for lighting, something that Creative’s cam struggles to do. In dark conditions, Apple’s offering actually fares better, at least in terms of correctly exposing for the conditions. This is compounded by the plug–and–play nature of Creative’s webcam. While it’s helpful to be able to get started with minimal fuss, we’d like to have more control over image and audio output. An app to adjust brightness, focus point, audio levels, and more would be welcome to improve performance in low light and the accuracy of your voice recordings.
Still, this is a minor complaint in an otherwise impressive webcam. We can’t fault the range of features available, nor the price.
THE BOTTOM LINE. An inexpensive camera that’s a vast improvement over your Mac’s webcam.