I have a Logitech C920 and am looking to upgrade. Something suitable for streaming.

Some annoyances with the Logitech: sometimes autofocus fails and poor reproduction of blacks. Ex: Lack of detail when a black cat is on screen.

I already have a nice mic-- the webcam doesn’t need one.

  • You999@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    You will get leagues better picture quality using a camlink/capture card and a camera with clean HDMI out. A gopro is a good budget option but a used DLSR or mirrorless camera is going to be the best. Some DSLR and mirrorless cameras support video out over usb so you don’t even need a capture card. Here’s a guide on getting it to work on Linux with a camera capability list inside the guide. If you do want to go the capture card route I hear elgato’s camlink works in Linux.

  • Goun@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Wow, I’ve used a C920 and now a C930 and never had any issue, although I just do meetings.

    I’m interested on seeing opinions too.

    • markstos@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      C920 is good enough for meetings. I solved the focus problem using the traditional Linux method of writing of udev rule which launches a timer when it’s plugged in, which periodically launches a systemd service, which runs a bash script to make sure it self-corrects at least every 5 minutes.

      cat /etc/udev/rules.d/90-video4linux-webcam-config.rules
      KERNEL=="video[0-9]*", SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0892", TAG+="systemd", RUN{program}="/bin/systemctl start video4linux-webcam-config@$env{MINOR}.timer" ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}="video4linux-webcam-config@$env{MINOR}.timer"
      
      ❯ cat /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
      # This file is managed by ansible-video4linux-webcam-config
      [Unit]
      Description=Periodically restart webcam config service
      
      [Timer]
      # Unit= defaults to service matching .timer name
      OnActiveSec=30
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=timers.target
      
      ❯ cat /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
      [Unit]
      Description=Set webcam configs
      
      [Service]
      Type=oneshot
      ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/usr/local/bin/video4linux-webcam-config.sh %I"
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=multi-user.target
      
      ❯ cat /usr/local/bin/video4linux-webcam-config.sh
      #!/bin/bash
      
      if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then
        echo "Expected minor device number as sole argument" 1>&2
        exit 1
      fi
      
         v4l2-ctl -d $1 --set-ctrl focus_automatic_continuous=0
        v4l2-ctl -d $1 --set-ctrl focus_absolute=0
      
      • TCB13@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m using a C920 on Debian and I don’t have focus issues. I remember that once it was permanently stuck out of focus but unplugging and plugging again fixed the issue. Never had any other issues in years.

  • Tacostrange@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I recently purchased the Anker PowerConf C200 2K webcam and it has been great on Linux. Crisp image and no issues with focusing. It’s currently on sale at Amazon

    • WMTYRO@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I recently found out about Anker and I bought a wired ergonomic vertical mouse as I had been experiencing wrist pain recently. High quality for a very low price point, and from the looks of it most of their products are like that. Also helped with the wrist pain!

  • punkcoder@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    i’ve had a lot of luck with the logitech brio which is a 4K WebCam, the only issue that I’ve run into is the fact that you have to make sure that it is plugged in to a USB 3.0 and not 3.1 port.