Logitech StreamCam
The simple webcam solution?
MORE AND MORE features are being added to webcams these days. On the one hand, this is great to see, yet it throws these machines' simplicity straight out of the window. Sometimes, all you need is a small, easy-to-use webcam that delivers a high-quality image you can take with you on your travels. The StreamCam by Logitech claims to be a premium webcam for Full HD streaming and content creation. So does it meet these expectations and should you be adding this peripheral to your setup?
Logitech's contender takes the crown for the smallest of the bunch of our recent cam reviews, although it's a little on the chunky side. With its lightweight form, it's ideal for either a more minimal setup or one where portability is key. This may give the illusion that the StreamCam is potentially cheap, but that's far from the truth. At first glance, it's a quirky little thing that feels well put together. The graphite model we have for review is a little more subtle than the white variant and the grey mesh fabric surrounding the lens at the front suits it better. And yes, you did read that correctly—grey fabric on a webcam. It's a bit random, but we love it. Hidden in the mesh are a white live indicator and the camera’s microphone.
It comes with a tripod mount, always handy, and a monitor mount which is also just as durable made out of the same thick plastic that coats the camera. With plenty of angle adjustment and a soft rubber grip, it's easy to get it hooked up to your monitor. The webcam also has an unusual quirk in that you can rotate the camera to a portrait position. It sounds interesting at first but is probably quite a pointless feature. If you are generally going to film in a portrait format, you’d just use your phone. Annoyingly, the ‘Logi’ logo is designed to suit the camera better in this orientation and is to the right of the lens when using the webcam in the more normal landscape mode.
So, with the form of the camera living up to the premium characteristics, what about the rest of it? Setup, like most webcams, is quick and easy. Instead of a type-A cable, it has a type-C, which is great for newer devices, but not so good for older ones. It isn't detachable, which could also be an issue if it gets damaged.
The camera can be controlled using the companion app, called Logitech Capture, which can adjust the image. After downloading the app, we get a first look at what the StreamCam's quality is like—and it's pretty clear. The room in which we tested the camera isn’t the brightest and yet the image quality looks pretty good out of the box. With this promising start, it's time to play around with some of the settings. The app is fairly well laid out with the preview window in the center and the settings on the left-hand side panel. A good point here is that the settings are saved onto the camera and will be carried over to other uses, such as a Google Meet call.
We change the resolution to Full HD, as it can shoot in 1080p, and also upped the frame rate to 60fps to test out the StreamCam's full potential. As we were in a fairly dim environment, we made use of the backlight correction feature, which works well to give some detail to the background. The brightness, sharpness, highlights, and saturation can also be adjusted, but the out-of-the-box look was just about what we were hoping for.
It has a 78° field of view, which gets your room in the shot but often means you may have to zoom in. Although it does have an auto framing feature, it would be nice to see an optical zoom on this webcam as its target audience is supposedly streamers (the clue is in the name). Also, most streamers won’t be using the built-in microphone and that's kind of for the best. On playback, it sounds a little tinny and flat, so your best bet is to use one on a headset or a standalone mic.
It's a good camera, and you can use it for streaming as the quality and frame rates should certainly satisfy. However, calling it the ‘StreamCam’ is a little misleading as there is nothing specifically aimed toward streamers. If it contained a backlight or had optical zoom, these features would appeal more to the streaming community than the built-in microphone or portrait mode will do. If you are looking for a well-designed and easy-to-use daily camera, then this is a good bet, albeit not the cheapest option out there.