External webcams are fantastic to use in place of your laptop’s built-in camera. Obviously, if you are using a pc with a monitor they are essential and you should think about getting the Razer Kiyo Pro, the Elgato Facecam, or the Logitech C920.

Razer Kiyo Pro – USB Streaming Camera

The Razer Kiyo Pro is a USB streaming camera with a high-performance light sensor and comes with a stand. The camera is quite chunky and  is driven by a larger Type 1/2.8 ultra-sensitive CMOS sensor with STARVIS* technology that adapts to any lighting condition, ensuring picture-perfect clarity for any setup.

With full HD 1080p 60FPS video, your steams will be smooth with lifelike quality. You can also activate HDR at 30FPS, which ramps up your video’s dynamic range while correcting over and underexposed areas.

The Razer Kiyo Pro comes with a large aperture, wide-angle lens that allows for three field-of-view options selectable via Razer Synapse. Finally, it does come with a clip to hang on the monitor but can also be mounted to a tripod. 

Since writing this I have been lucky enough to get this camera for Christmas! This seriously is a great camera but works better with a pc rather than a mac. The software that you can download is not mac compatible which is a huge bummer. You can still use this with OBS or facetime but with less controls and settings. 

I do have a windows laptop so I can still make use of it when I hook it up to that. 

The camera is sturdy and the cable that comes with it is quality. I’m pretty happy with the camera cover too as it’s great for protection if traveling. This will be the main camera I use going forward in all my videos whilst sitting at the laptop. 

Elgato Facecam

Coming from a well-known brand, this Elgato webcam has a pro-grade lens with a cutting-edge image sensor. With uncompressed video resolution at 1080p60 Full HD, your streams, conference calls or social media posts will look incredible.

It has High-Speed Circuitry with USB 3.0 interface that transfers image data with the lowest latency.

The Elgato Facecam also comes with STARVIS* CMOS sensor that enables Facecam to capture extraordinary detail with minimal noise. Finally, the mount can clip to a monitor or a tripod on the industry standard 1/4″ thread.

Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam

I would expect that this is the most common webcam in people’s homes and offices. 

This streaming webcam operates in full-HD 1080p video at 30-fps, whether you’re on Skype or streaming yourself gaming in a strong HD 720p.

It has a Full-HD Glass Lens with a wide 78-degree field of view. The five-element glass lens with premium auto-focus capability shoots and records video that is crystal-clear

Equipped with automatic HD autofocus and light correction, this streaming webcam fine-tunes to your lighting conditions to produce bright, well-contrasted images – even if you’re in poor lighting.

It has a two-microphone system, one on each side of the lens to capture natural stereo audio while filtering out background noise.