Anker PowerConf C300
Solid image quality, excellent audio and plenty of features – the Anker C300 is a topnotch 1080p webcam
SCORE
PRICE £67 (80 inc VAT) from pcpro.link/324anker
As with most webcams, you don’t get an awful lot with the Anker PowerConf C300. Included in the small box is the camera itself, which is attached to a 1.5m USB-C to USB-C cable and a monitor clip, a couple of stick-on privacy shutters and a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
The clip allows you to quickly and securely mount the camera to the top of a monitor or laptop display and it also has a decent range of pivot and tilt, which make setting the right angle very easy. Rubber pads prevent the camera from slipping out of place and there’s a 3/4in thread set into the stand’s base for mounting it on a either a stand or tripod.
The camera is capable of capturing 1080p footage at up to 60fps and you can set it to 720p or 360p via the accompanying Anker Work app (available for macOS and Windows 10) if bandwidth is tight. The camera’s maximum viewing angle is an impressively wide 115°, which is great if you need to get more than one person into the frame.
This can be adjusted manually via the software if you want a closer crop on your face, or you can have it track your face automatically. This keeps one person’s face (or even a group of people) in the frame as they move around and it works smoothly, although you inevitably lose sharpness when the software digitally zooms in.
As for video quality, the colour balance leans towards the warm side, even slightly yellowish, but the image is generally noise-free and any shortfalls in overall image quality are compensated for by the flexibility of the software. You can change the resolution, toggle the HDR setting on and off, flip the image horizontally, and adjust the brightness, sharpness, saturation and contrast.
The webcam’s dual microphones are located on either side of the unit and these are supplemented by noise reduction to filter out background sounds. Buy a USB microphone if you want the best audio, but the Anker PowerConf C300 beats the microphones in cheaper webcams hands down.
I would have liked to see an integrated privacy shutter rather than a stick-on cover, and it would be nice to have the option to disable the AI noise suppression. At £80, it isn’t the cheapest 1080p webcam around either. Still, aside from the streamerfocused AVerMedia PW315 ( see issue 321, p72), the Anker PowerConf C300 is certainly one of the most featurepacked. It’s a strong all-rounder.
SPECIFICATIONS
1,920 x 1,080 streaming at 60fps 115° field of view 99 x 30 x 30mm (WDH) 130g
1yr limited warranty