Cheap Amazon Webcams vs Logitech - LFC#234

Disclaimer - I'm not a photographer/cinematographer. I've just had a lot of hours trying to get a half-decent picture out of a webcam because real cameras are expensive.
Anyway, here's the state of cheap webcams from amazon these days!

UK Amazon links (Associate links)

US/Global Amazon links (Associate links)

Also, while this video isn't really about microphones, my main microphone in the shop is a Samson CO1U. The one I have at home is a Behringer C-1U, which is a good poor man's option, but has low gain and needs to be in your face to be effective.

UK Amazon links (Associate links)

US/Global Amazon links (Associate links)

[pekitivey]

No one gonna talk about 18:49 .... Hahahahaha

[martin_green]

Fantastic video. Thank you for a real insight into the world of webcams. I agree, I have had a 920 for years and it is great combined with a Blue Yeti mic. The prices are shocking at the moment and it's almost criminal they are getting away with it. I was very impressed by the aukey and would certainly recommend this to people at the moment. I hope you can do more videos like this from your new shop. Keep them coming! Have a great Christmas my dude.

[LM_]

ha! exactly a year ago I had the opportunity to buy a lot of C930 for like $20 each, and i was like "who the hell gonna need this webcams?" man how thing turn out xD

[elizabethtorres]

Aukey looks smooth and like the sharpness of the background motherboards on the wall, not bad for the price.
Love the way you decorated the wall, are your MB's and components usable or are they there for a display? Love the visual and the audio on that Logitech C920!
🤣 Lip gloss.. Still a nice shade.
BRIO is definitely not too shabby, and your lips look more natural.
I found it quite useful thank you.

[ChrisSPCs]

17:44 I personally switch the C920 to 50hz anti flicker to eliminate the light flicker with the exposure setting I want, in the UK anyway. I mean, of course you need to use 50hz in the UK, that's what the electricity runs on and the lights flicker at.

[josephking]

10:05 EEK!! I just checked and the price in Austruckinfalia for the Logitech C922 was AUD$154 (£87). They varied from AUD$140 to AUD$169 (£84 - £96). Quite a substantial price difference between the two locations.

[Friend_of_the_One-Eyed_Ladies]

"Of course it gives you a better picture. It's a real camera." I lol'd.

[oldbatwit]

A quick search found the c920 for £85 and the 922 for £97. There were also refurbished 920s for £60 and used from £45. These were all stated as inc. postage, in stock, ready to ship.
One odd thing.... the footage here was very slightly blurred or fuzzy for the Brio but normally sharp for the 920.

[sallycakes]

Love this stuff, keep it up, merry Xmas

[Menjari]

I just picked up a cheapie webcam from HomeSense here in Canada and it's marketed by Merkury Innovations. But it wasn't a bad price. $34.99 gets you a "720P" webcam with mic and an extra gooseneck desk mic.

At first the audio was terrible, hollow, echo, and like it was underwater. I opened up the camera and found out the mic was floating around in the case. The small cavity where it was supposed to be was too small and they used like the tiniest dabs of hot glue to keep it in place. I widened the holder for the mic and put alot more glue in. Now it actually sounds decent.

I imagine that's probably why those mics sound bad, cheap assembly. Do you still have them? Might be worth to do a teardown. Those with the ability to fix the bad construction might be able to get a decent deal if but for a little extra work.

[my-yt-inputs]

Great review. I purchased a C920 back in Feb of 2017 through Amazon. $63.00 (US) back then. Currently they're showing cheaper on the Logitech website than Amazon. Like $20 cheaper

[blue_jm]

Yeah, I bought my c920 for about 60 euros on sale, normal price was about 90 euros from a domestic retailer here in Finland. I just checked the price and it's still 89, 90 euros but it's marked as delivery time unknown which with that retailer means you can get one eventually after a long wait or not at all.

[sparrowbek]

That's a good article. Audio always seems to be a problem and then you realise why there is always a guy clinging on to a big furry mic on the end of a boom for TV production. I'm always amazed at the volume[hah] of 1M+ subscribed youtubers that still haven't cracked this problem. I have a "Campark Full HD 1080P Auto Focus Webcam Built-in Microphone" (the one with the slidey privacy bit) which was £25 six months ago... now it's £50. I'm very happy with it.

[liaminwales]

phone or tablet webcams are worth a shout out too, once you get close to the cost of an ipad for a web cam i have mixed feelings.
if your lucky some camera brands have dropped web cam software.
canon had a fairly good list of supported cameras & most the other brands are doing it to. (some of the older canon cameras can be picked up used for a ok price but you may want a mains adapter)
used it on my canon 6D and works well.
o and call out to my Sony MDR-ZX22BT £20 headphones with good mic and BT, assume whatever the new version is will be as good.

[lilchris]

Thanks for this video, I have been using a cheap web cam for ages but wanted something a little better. I managed to buy the Logitech C920 for a good price, it was £114 here in the Uk a little dear but I had a offer of £50 off if I spent £100 + but use biplane, so it was a no brainier.

[JuiceBanger]

Good to see the comparisons and was interesting. I've no need at present and have 2 laptop cameras, so I ain't paying over the odds, just to equip my home office just yet.

[ilya_mzp]

There are some cheap 1080p webcams out of laptops with autofocus and great quality you can buy below 10$. Thinkpad Helix 2 webcam for example, it even has pinout written on it. But you do have to solder a wire to it and add 3.3v voltage regulator.

[mkingkral]

If you don't use a webcam often then the best option is to use android phone with droidcam. Better quality than cheap webcam.

[davehemke]

I'll just second some of the other comments. Using your old phone as a webcam is the right move. I have Logitech cams c930 c615 which are a definite step up from the built in Macbook pro cams but both pale in comparison to using just about any decent last gen phone as a webcam (I use IVCam).

The picture and microphone quality will be much better AND, best yet, you probably have one or more sitting unused.

[Graham_Langley]

Got C920 here that I picked up boxed unused in a charity shop for £1.99 in Feb '18...