Logitech StreamCam Review: A Great Starter Webcam That Made Me Self-Conscious About My Hairline

Logitech StreamCam Review: A Great Starter Webcam That Made Me Self-Conscious About My Hairline
At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

If you’re a content creator, you’re probably on the lookout for the best-looking and best-value webcam to level up your stream’s quality. If you’re like me, you might have started on a cheap office webcam with an inconsistent focus and permanent grainy texture. A camera like this is fine at the start, but as your views start to grow, you might decide you want to take content creation more seriously and invest in something more crisp and clean.

It can be tough to find a budget-friendly webcam that can offer great video quality without needing to tinker with headache-inducing software. Thankfully, the Logitech StreamCam is just that device. I’ve been using the Logitech StreamCam for my Livestream for a few months now with nearly no issues with the camera, and have great things to say about it.

Design and Specs

The Logitech StreamCam can stream at 1080p with a stable 60 frames per second (enabled in Logitech software). The camera also has integrated AI software which helps it track focus and exposure and can adjust its placement to centre you more in the frame. It also comes with a functioning mic, which isn’t the greatest, but if you’re on the move and need to take a quick business call, or you’re an early streamer and just need some kind of microphone, it can be a nice thing to have.

The camera comes with a USB-C cable, which might catch some people by surprise. In fairness to Logitech, the camera is called a Logitech StreamCam: Full HD Camera with USB-C for Live Streaming and Content Creation. It’s on the box and everything, it’s hard to miss. However, the cable is wired into the back of the StreamCam, so if you were planning on using a separate USB adapter to connect to your device, you won’t be able to.

So if you’ve been slow to pick yourself up some USB-C adapters, this might be your sign to grab one if you haven’t already. If you use a laptop, you probably won’t have any issues with this, although, if you’re a Mac user, you may experience other issues.

Mounting

The Logitech StreamCam comes with two kinds of mounts. The first is your standard clip-on mount, which can sit comfortably on your monitor. The second is with a quarter-inch screw if you’d prefer to mount it on a tripod.

The mounts can hold the StreamCam in either landscape or portrait mode. It’s a bit of a niche feature, but if you were to stream on TikTok, this could be a nice quality-of-life feature to have for sure.

Camera Quality

The camera quality has been consistent, and I haven’t spotted anything wrong with the auto-focus in the hours of streaming I’ve done with it. I haven’t had any issues with the camera taking up resources from my computer either.

I have noticed exposure and white balance can be a bit tricky to manage. I thought this was a “me issue” given my house has unfortunate lighting, and I’m as pasty as one of the War Boys from Mad Max: Fury Road. But having looked at other reviews, it’s a bit of a mix between column A and (unfortunately for me) column B. The camera works best with a ton of light in your face to get better quality. In darker rooms, the camera struggles to focus on you and the video quality can suffer a bit.

Thankfully for those with a bit of patience and a keen eye, you can tweak these through Logitech’s G-Hub software and your dedicated streaming software. There’s also a second dedicated Logitech software you can tweak the StreamCam with.

Logitech G-Hub or Logitech Capture?

If you haven’t used any Logitech products, you might be a bit unfamiliar with the Logitech G-Hub software. It’s something I neglected when it came to my mouse, but for a camera or microphone, it’s essential. The software itself is easy to use, however, it did take me a minute to figure out how camera modes work. To get started tweaking the settings to your liking, you’ll have to make a new camera mode and from there you can tweak the zoom, focus and exposure.

But if you really want to take your camera to the next level, you will need to download Logitech Capture. Didn’t know about Logitech Capture? Don’t worry, me neither! It isn’t advertised on the box and when setting up the camera, Logitech G-Hub was the recommended software for me. Most likely because I already had it downloaded. It is mentioned on the products-specific store page, however, but it is easy to miss.

Logitech Capture is almost compulsory for getting the best out of the StreamCam, as without it, the amount of customisation you have with the camera is limited, and in my experience, you’ll be stuck at 30fps. I had to manually set the camera to 60fps in Logitech Capture after downloading it.

Logitech G-Hub Interface

Logitech Capture gives you a far wider range of tools that aren’t in G-hub like Chroma Keys, mic settings, resolution, FPS, backlight correction, text overlays, scene effects and transitions.

These are all neat inclusions, but having control over FPS and choosing the resolution is huge in getting the best quality out of the camera. If you’re live streaming, you can tweak a lot of these settings in OBS or Streamlabs, but it is good that Logitech has it available on their end to tweak this stuff if you’re using it for video calls or vlogging. I’m not too crazy about downloading another separate software though.

Logitech Capture Overlay

Summary

The Logitech StreamCam is a solid mid-priced webcam for those looking to up the quality of their livestreams. I found the camera was consistent, and I didn’t have many issues with the camera losing quality during a stream or sucking up too many resources to run.

There are tons of ways to customise your experience with the camera, whether that’s through software and tweaking settings to match your environment or how you want the camera to be mounted.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of needing to download different software specifically for this camera, however.

I’d recommend this camera if you’re a content creator looking to improve your stream. It’s easy to set-up, and you have a ton of flexibility with it depending on if you want to stream on Twitch, YouTube or Kick and TikTok. While there are a bunch of features you can tweak that can improve your video calls, it’s hard to sell this camera just on that premise alone. If you plan on picking up a StreamCam, it should be because it’s a camera you expect to use a lot, and for extended periods of time.

You can buy the StreamCam from:

EB Games for $279.95 AUD | JB Hi-Fi for $229 AUD | Amazon for $229.95 AUD | Officeworks for $188 AUD | Logitech Shop for $279 AUD


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *