Elgato Facecam vs Logitech Brio vs Streamcam vs Dell UltraSharp Webcam
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Specifications
Build Quality
Image Quality
Verdict
Specifications
Elgato Facecam
Maximum resolution and frame rate: 1080p, 60 FPS.
Video Format: UYVY.
Field of View: 82 degrees.
Focus: Fixed.
Connection Type: USB 3.0 Type-C (webcam side) to Type-A (computer side).
No internal microphone.
I bought my Elgato Facecam for its launch price of $200. The link to Elgato’s site shows its current pricing.
Logitech Brio
Maximum resolution and frame rate: 4K 30 FPS or 1080p, 60 FPS.
Video Format: MJPEG. YUY2 and NV12 Available at 1080p 30 FPS or less.
Field of View: 90 degrees.
Focus: Automatic or manual.
Connection Type: USB 3.0 Type-C (webcam side) to Type-A (computer side).
Internal microphone included.
I bought my Logitech Brio for $150. The Amazon link shows its current pricing.
Logitech Streamcam
Maximum resolution and frame rate: 1080p, 60 FPS.
Video Format: MJPEG. YUY2 and NV12 Available at 1080p 30 FPS or less.
Field of View: 78 degrees.
Focus: Automatic or manual.
Connection Type: USB 3.0 Type-C (non-detachable).
Internal microphone included.
I bought my Logitech Streamcam for its launch price of $170. The Amazon link shows its current pricing.
Dell UltraSharp Webcam (WB7022)
Maximum resolution and frame rate: 4K 30 FPS or 1080p, 60 FPS.
Video Format: MJPEG. YUY2 and NV12 Available at 1080p 30 FPS or less.
Field of View: 90 degrees.
Focus: Automatic or manual.
Connection Type: USB 3.0 Type-C (webcam side) to Type-A (computer side).
No internal microphone.
I bought my Dell UltraSharp Webcam for its launch price of $200. The Amazon link shows its current pricing.
Comparison Table
| Webcam | Max Resolution and Frame Rate | Video Format | Field of View | Focus | USB 3.0 Connection Type | Internal Mic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elgato Facecam | 1080p 60 FPS | UYVY | 82 Degrees | Fixed | Type-C to Type A | No |
| Logitech Brio | 4K 30 FPS or 1080p 60 FPS | MJPEG (YUY2 or NV12 at 1080/30 or lower) | 90 Degrees | Auto or manual | Type-C to Type A | Yes |
| Logitech Streamcam | 1080p 60 FPS | MJPEG (YUY2 or NV12 at 1080/30 or lower) | 78 Degrees | Auto or manual | Type-C | Yes |
| Dell UltraSharp Webcam | 4K 30 FPS or 1080p 60 FPS | MJPEG (YUY2 or NV12 at 1080/30 or lower) | 90 Degrees | Auto or manual | Type-C to Type A | No |
Build Quality
Privacy covers on. Left to right: Elgato Facecam, Logitech Brio, Logitech Streamcam, Dell UltraSharp Webcam.
Each device comes with a monitor clip and tripod threading. The Dell, Brio, and Facecam come with privacy covers. (I actually bought two Brios though and the first one didn’t have a privacy cover).
The best build easily goes to the Elgato Facecam. It and the Streamcam are made of plastic, while the Brio and Dell are made mostly of metal. But this is about functionality rather than materials.
The Facecam has a wire about 82 inches long. The device has excellent range of motion swiveling horizontally and tilting up and down. It’s the most convenient webcam for angling perfectly that I’ve ever used.
The Brio and Streamcam are pretty much stuck in place and the Dell only tilts up and down. The Dell does have the same wire length as the Facecam (82 inches) which helps it out. The Brio's wire is about 85 inches long, which I approve of.
The Streamcam has the worst build. Its wire is 60 inches, USB type-C and non-detachable. The others are detachable USB type C to type A. These are all USB 3.0 by the way. The only real edge the Streamcam has is it can record vertical video by turning it 90 degrees.
Image Quality
This section will be broken down into out the box performance, sharpness, color accuracy, exposure and dynamic range, and focus.
Out the box performance
Starting with how each of these look out the box with automatic settings and no studio lights. I won't dwell on automatic settings too long since I highly recommend manual settings and at least some real light.
Daylight only, fully automatic settings.
The Streamcam is the worst out the box. It's way too dark in these shots. The rest of the webcams have their own vices though. The Brio has the best lighting, but it drops the shutter speed down so much the motion blur gets out of control.
The Elgato Facecam is able to keep the smoothness up, but it has to crank up the ISO which makes it very grainy. Make sure the noise reduction filter is turned off in Elgato’s Camera Hub software; otherwise the image will be incredibly soft.
The Dell is somewhere in between the Brio and Facecam when it comes to graininess and motion blur. So it's hard to call a clear winner out the box with bad lighting. But it only takes 30 seconds to optimize the settings so let's take a look at that.
With optimized lighting and settings in OBS, here were my results.
Sharpness
I went really deep in the settings of these tweaking the sharpness sliders to get them looking their best. At anything higher than the default value, the Facecam starts to add some fake outlines to everything. For the Brio, I settled at about 170 in OBS. Higher made it look a bit too cartoony. I maxxed out the Dell’s, and the Streamcam I set to 211 (out of 255).
The Logitech Brio is the sharpest device. I've been shy about using the sharpness slider before, but this thing looks amazing in 4K. You can see my freckles, my pores, the individual hairs in my 5 o’clock shadow. The main weakness with the Brio's image is there is a considerable amount of noise in the shot.
Image resolution is capped on this website, but take a look at my video version of this review to truly experience the 4K.
Next in sharpness is the Dell UltraSharp Webcam. This thing has a strange lens. It has a deeper depth of field than the Brio - it even has my weights in focus and the boxes way in the background. But the sharpness where it matters, my face, is just okay for 4K.
The Facecam and Streamcam are about even in sharpness, but I think the Streamcam's image is just a lot cleaner.
The Facecam just looks rough. There's detail, but my skin looks jagged and pixelated. It's super smooth on the Brio, good on the Dell and passable on the Streamcam. The Elgato Facecam is like playing a game on high detail with the anti-aliasing turned off.
When the Brio and Dell are set to 1080p 60 FPS, the devices are a lot closer. The Brio still has the smoothest (but not soft) image - about tied with the Dell. The Streamcam is probably the sharpest at 1080p, and the Elgato looks the worst in terms of detail just because of how rough the edges are.
Color Accuracy
Color accuracy is all over the place with these devices.
When you tweak the manual settings of the Streamcam - specifically giving it a slight saturation boost and using auto-white balance, I think this thing has the best colors. Though even on lower saturation there's still too much red than in real life. I'll talk more about this in the exposure section, but the contrast is super strong so the darks are a deep black and any sort of light reflection becomes a blinding white.
Manual white balance is basically useless on the Dell UltraSharp Webcam.
The white balance on automatic makes the Streamcam volatile to changes in sunlight but it's much better than what you can get with manual. The Elgato Facecam and Dell UltraSharp webcam have the same white balance issues. Manual white balance is kind of unusable on these, because they lean too blue or amber with nothing in the middle. But auto white balance tinges the entire shot in extra yellow.
The Logitech Brio can get the closest to auto white balance with its manual settings. The colors are still too red, but they don't actually show too much in these comparisons. The bar isn’t set too high.
Facecam, Streamcam, and Dell are on auto white balance, while the Brio is on manual.
When set to YUY2 at 1080p 30 FPS, the Brio and Streamcam’s colors improve, but the Dell’s don’t really change too much.
If you want to see a webcam with legit colors, check out the Razer Kiyo Pro. I think bright reds are the only thing that device struggles with.
Exposure and Dynamic Range
The Logitech Brio has the best exposure and dynamic range in various lighting scenarios. You can see exactly how faded this old shirt is, and bright lights don't cause my face to be overexposed as easily as the Streamcam.
I like the Elgato's dynamic range as well, though light reflected off my face shows up unevenly unless the shot is dimmed down quite a bit. It’s not comparable to the Streamcam though.
The Streamcam definitely has the worst exposure, the whole shot is dark because making it any brighter blows out the whites like crazy. The Dell UltraSharp does a good job, with daylight only but isn’t as great with studio lights. The contrast is super strong, and deep blacks can even become blue - especially on manual white balance.
Focus
The Elgato Facecam is fixed focus, so nothing you hold up to the screen will ever be sharp. As someone who often displays products and text up close, that’s a negative for me.
The speed and consistency of the rest of the devices in order are the Brio, Dell UltraSharp, then the Streamcam which has very inconsistent focus. I prefer manual focus whenever possible.
Verdict
Left to right: Elgato Facecam, Logitech Brio, Logitech Streamcam, Dell UltraSharp Webcam.
I recommend the Logitech Brio. It's razor sharp, excellent in lots of different lighting, has decent colors, and a wide field of view. The only compelling alternative I've used is the Razer Kiyo Pro because of its colors.
I don't actually dislike the Dell UltraSharp webcam - it's just the Brio does everything it does but better. The Streamcam was a huge misfire for Logitech, and I think the Elgato Facecam is okay for a 1080p 60 FPS webcam, but it gets left in the dust by 4K webcams in sharpness. Its colors aren’t as good as the Brio or Streamcam either.
Product Listings
Elgato Facecam: https:https://amzn.to/2Vss8Ta
Logitech Brio: https://amzn.to/330gYo0
Logitech Streamcam: https://amzn.to/2vNMCJi
Dell UltraSharp Webcam (WB7022): https://amzn.to/3AlXCJv
