Webcam Innovation Actually Worth Using - Elgato Facecam Mk.2 Review & Comparison (HDR, 120FPS)
The Elgato Facecam just got a facelift! The Facecam Mk.2 is a refresh of Elgato's original Facecam that gives it a cleaner image, better colors, HDR double exposure, and 720p 120FPS video options! While it's still a 1080p60 webcam (and looks like one) the improvements are quite impressive, and in some ways it beats their more expensive Facecam Pro model, too!
PRODUCT LINK (Elgato Affiliate): elgato.sjv.io/k0KDyN
Original Facecam review: • Webcams don't have to ...
Facecam Pro Review: • Unlocking the True Pot...
TIMECODES:
00:00 Elgato is Listening, unlike others
00:25 It's still a 1080p webcam
00:45 The Flicker Issue...
02:35 Refresh and Upgrade
04:38 Lens & Fixed Focus Range
06:20 HDR from a webcam?!
07:28 720p 120FPS
07:50 Resolution & Sensor Size versus 4K webcams
08:52 Full manual control in Camera Hub
11:00 Exposure & HDR Comparisons/Demo
16:15 Noise Reduction
17:20 My Settings & HDR Issues
19:15 Resolve Grading Example & Conclusion
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my favourite part about your current video / color aesthetic is it always feels like someone from the past is reviewing new tech
That's EXACTLY what I'm aiming for!!!
@@EposVox VHS copies of episodes would be one hell of a patreon perk.
I’d do it.
I really like how much you actually test the gear in your reviews.
Your retro effects look great in this video. I like what you're doing
Great video man You're really good at this
Hell yeah, finally some progress in the webcam market. Not sure how useful things like 120 fps are for me on a personal level, but the cleaner image along with less ghosting between frames is most definitely a huge improvement.
Thanks for another great video. The software looks kinda decent. Now I wish they would also add an even higher tier 4k cam with a sensor size same as to the Razer Kyo Pro.
Great review!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
Cool looking camera! Nice review! I was a little confused when it went to "color graded in post", because it also appeared there was a bunch of film grain in there that was also added in post?!?
Correct. Even acknowledged that when discussing the camera noise a couple minutes earlier lol
I have both of the Elgato web cams and the new pro nice but the Nexigo 4k that I recently picked up is a cam worth looking at.
I almost bought the other facecam yesterday. Had it in my cart and was pulled away from my computer for awhile and forgot about it. first video of the day that popped up was this one. nice one.
The universe saved you
Would love to see comparisons to multi-camera iPhones via EpocCam.
Nice "room" /. :) Have a good one!!!
I've been enjoying my little MOKOSE 12MP camera... el cheapo. Got it (them) for the HDMI out. My main webcam is a Zoom Q2n 4K. I have mulitple cameras for relieving boredom in my KZhead recordings... keep changing camera you are seeing. Not tried Elgato yet.
If the new 1080p webcam looks like this I want to see what an update of the FaceCam Pro would look like
Oh yeah you BETTER BELIEVE they're gonna update it too or make a mk. 2 model. xD Should probably wait JUSTTTTT in case. xD
I had to order the MK.2 today. I would use my iPhone which blows all the webcams out of the water but it’s my main communication device so, ya know…I haven’t had to use a webcam since the days of the golden age, I’m learning the effects do not work with Radeon gpus correct? Not a biggie for me I guess I have a dual setup so I guess I’ll add it to the stream PC.
Have you tried the Tint setting update on the Pro one?
Oh interesting. I had no idea Elgato was releasing a new facecam. Looking forward to seeing a possible facecam pro mk.2 now.
The noise on the old Facecam drove me nuts personally, I felt it was worse than my c920 😅 For most streamers this camera is fine, the price is certainly attractive. Anyone that needs a full screen video of their face tho, I'd just tell them to save up for a mirrorless
I really appreciate the comparison to the OG Facecam (which I have). The high level of noise in any but the best lighting has driven me nuts from day 1. It looks like the Mk.2 is significantly better. Noise reduction is always going to soften an image, but the OG Facecam was brutally noisy. :( I may try the Mk2
Most streams and most videos are 1080p, twitch a lot of streams are under 1080, and most gameplay videos even if it's a 4k video the facecam will never be more than 25% of the screen while the creator is playing, so 1080p is perfect for every situation. Online calls and meetings too because most of those are 1080p capped or less
Wow, the Mk.2 is so much softer, with so much less contrast. It almost looks like an old analog camera, compared to the Mk.1 or the Kiyo. Especially noticeable around the eyes.
I’m confused at how people are happy with this, it looks grey and washed out
how is low light performance?
@eposvox have you seen the Logitech one with interchangeable lenses? although they priced it extremely high at $999 and are apparently locking you to their software.
I have not but that combination of things sounds awful considering the caliber of mirrorless cams you can get for that. You could get a used cinema camera for 1 grand
@@EposVox yep, my first thought was "I could get a ZV-E10 for less than that, why would I go logitech"
@@EposVoxIt's called Logitech Mevo Core and is a small micro 4/3 camera that takes m4/3 lenses. The have a website up for it. Not sure of the value proposition compared to something like a zve10 (or other sony apsc) and an e mount lens though. They also have the Mevo Start which is more of a beefed up webcam and sell them in a bundle of 3, so i think their whole approach is a more accessible multi cam streaming setup system, with the Mevo Core competing more with something like a Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2.
Even just for M43, you can get a Panasonic G7 and a cheap capture card for far cheaper
120 FPS would be sick for any type of handcam stuff, like if you have one instead of a virtual controller display for verifying speedruns, or for stuff like playing music or rhythm games. I recently used a Leap Motion - a fucking hand tracker - as a 120fps IR camera and this would be a boon for Guitar Hero stuff lmao
I'm surprised that you actually had the noise suppression on for so long. I mean, aren't you the guy that adds tons of film grain to the videos anyway? I think the sharpness improvement is definetly worth it overall. Edit: Alright I commented to soon, haha. You called it out @17:00 :D
The HDR looks very disappointing. It is insane how much clearer and sharper the floor is when you switched to SDR. Of course the hightlights are blown out, but you would hope that de HDR function could keep the details of the shadows. Also with the strange flickering it indeed in my eyes seems to be better to just use SDR. Also i'm curious if using SDR with lower ISO and adding some curves/luts/playing with contrast and gamma will give better results than the HDR function. Also I also hate focus pulsing but the max distance of 110 makes it no option for certain use cases. It would be great if they had at least a physical adjustment so you could at least do a bit closer or father away. I wonder how feasible it would be for a company to make a webcam with a C mount on it. So people can put cheap lenses on it, and also change focus length if they desire.
to be honest, you can't SHOW hdr in this video properly as the video is not HDR that's why it looks blown out. It's probably simulated. Won't know though unless test it yourself with a HDR screen and, tbh, not everyone has a HDR screen so... it's more socially normal to use SDR for most content still as even if you had great HDR effect, most people won't see it apart from you.
@@nickdee24 Not applicable here. It is HDR as in capturing high dynamic range, not outputting that. Just like a phone does, and returns a SDR JPEG file as result. Or like Log formats work on camera's for video. He even explains how the HDR works in this case. The fact that you answer this while he explains the how the HDR works on this webcam does make me wonder if you even watched the video and looked at the floor when he changed from HDR to SDR. I doubt it.
Does it have regular tripod mount on the bottom?
Good they fixed the white balance issue... your hair looks blue in the 2021 shots 😉
I own the old facecam that I got at a good price and a Logitech c922. I really wanted to love the facecam but it never stood up to the hype in my opinion. I also bought elgato EpocCam long ago but I usually had connectivity issues. And as I was thinking about an upgrade I decided to try Camo again (not really impressed in the past). To sum up…. my I phone XR did wonders compared to the facecam and also worked much better than Epocam (continuously focus hunting). I bought the pro version but the free 720p was just fine. Even my IPhone 6s Plus looked fine with sufficient light. I stopped looking for a new webcam for a while….
Is the HDR supported in Teams?
I am by a window so have to adjust the camera everytime of the day before I use it. When I open the camera hub sometimes it shows the toggles. Rn it is stuck in home screen. The commands are weird. When I click maximize/minimize/quit camera hub nothing happens. It sounds pretty minimal but if it takes me 10 mins average to set up my cam everyday it's a lot of friction. ntm that some days its 20 mins. Idk. So right now I can't adjust anything and I am like a white blob with eyes and...uh... yeah.
I actually love my Facecam Pro so not sure I would upgrade.
Facecam Pro Mk2 incoming?
jepp, ordered one 2
What is the teleprompter you are using with the Mk.2?
The Elgato prompter
Haven’t seen any webcam that looks better than my Logitech Brio for my current setup. 🤷🏻♂️
I'm new to photography/videography so when I saw that color/black and white card thingy you're using I thought, "Oh, that looks useful for color grading. Let me see if I can find that..." I looked around and quickly found that exact (I think) color checker on B&H. What's that? ONE HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS?! Okay, I ain't that special and I ain't spending that much money. I'm just gunna take a screen shot of yours. Don't worry, I isn't stupid. I took the screenshot on my Dell 3011 whats got like 99.9% ARGB colors or whatnot.
Ok but like The screenshot doesn’t help for color grading your camera in your lighting conditions haha You can get a standard grey card much cheaper
@@EposVox Damn, I think I just got my comedian card revoked. I thought it was pretty obvious I was kidding.
@@RealStuntPanda I've gotten plenty of comments in this vein about many things, which weren't jokes. can never tell unless disclosed lol
@@EposVox LoL, got it, next time I'll ring a bell when I tell a joke.
I kept waiting for it to look better… it did not. Haha.
I'm still not a big fan of the image, it doesn't look to be a great improvement IMO. I was really disappointed with the original one too.
I would never have the confidence on top of my average look to go out in public with a blue dyed hair.
That’s odd. Would you have the confidence to wear a blue shirt?
Huh, i did it with full purple for cancer support and silver for why not.
sad no real drivers for linux :(
It’s UVC. No webcam really has Linux specific drivers
@@EposVox that's probably true. here is me writing bash scripts for webcam settings. i might have confused drivers with features controllable through vendor control panels on linux
Why bother with this when the Insta360 Link exists? I don’t get it…
Well it’s significantly more expensive, into another price category entirely for one
@@EposVox fake news.
Ok kid
why does it all look so out of focus.. for a webcam it looks like it from a laptop in 2014..
He mentioned it's a fixed focus camera and he's at the limit of far range. Nonetheless, it doesn't look great to me either.
People who stream 720p30 = cool O_O
Sounds like I'm not going to toss out my a5100.
Webcam would never replace it
eh ill stick to my logitech brio
1080p in 2024? Really?
Yes? Still the most commonly viewed format and streamed format. Video conferencing is usually 720p or lower. So for a webcam, yes. Resolution isn't everything. You can barely tell the 4K webcams are higher resolution
@@EposVox Supporting 1080p and below is obviously important. No one doubts that. Making "new" hardware incapable of scaling into the future is what I find ridiculous.
“Scaling into the future” It’s a webcam. High resolution from a webcam doesn’t magically look better. Movies made for 4k BluRays and projected on 1000 inch movie theater screens are still mastered in 1080p. Resolution isn’t everything
@@EposVox Mastering is your argument? lol. If resolution doesn’t matter, switch all your capture devices to 1080p ones for your channel and see what your audience says. You can start every video with “Resolution isn’t everything”. 😂
@@Sethmscott I have now uploaded multiple videos where my camera footage has been graded and exported to 2K (2048x1080) before editing in a 4K timeline, and I've only had people compliment how great it looks. Resolution is not everything. 1080p on a *webcam* is 100% fine. It's a webcam.
Garbage
What I like about HDR is that you are able to set your own contrast better. Even with the cheaper implementation that you'll see in Logitech products where they just lift the shadow like 1.5 stops. You get more room to play with the brightness and contrast and ultimately can give you a more pleasant picture without the noise complaint many people will fault the HDR function for usually.