Elgato - Facecam Pro

Just received mine today. It refuses to output 4K. It just reverts back to 1080p60. It also uses up a lot of USB bandwidth apparently(???), more than the Facecam Pro I guess. I had a Facecam Pro and a Stream Deck + in my set up, working fine together, but when I swapped the Pro for the 4K, it knocked my Stream Deck + out of commission to where it wouldn’t display any icons. At one point, my entire computer crashed too. I had to swap around some USB cables in my PC to get things back to normal but not sitting too well so far due to these issues and inconveniences right out of the box. EDIT: got the 4K to work - seems like it wouldn’t do 4K rez because I had a blur filter on (totally forgot). Once I turned it off, I managed to get 4K. Although there is like a second delay on the Camera Hub preview.. not sure if this is expected behavior. Still concerned about the USB hub bandwidth though. Everything is ok so far but when I first plugged in the Facecam 4K, things just started to act weird.

I’ve got the facecam pro. Had it about a year and it’s great! And I use Nvidia broadcast for background blur. With good lighting, works well.

I have both the Elgato Facecam Pro and the Insta360 Link 2. I just got the Insta360 as a potential upgrade. My experience is that the Facecam Pro may be capable of a technically sharper image, but I could never get it to look as good. The auto balancing for exposure and color correction was terrible in my experience. After spending hours with it, I was able to get it to look good in one lighting setting. If that lighting changed, it would get horribly washed out and I'd have to do new manual settings. It's reviewed as a great camera, I just had a poor experience with it in practice. The Insta360 is just very slightly not as sharp (and is not capable of 4k60fps if that's important to you). But it's been a much friendlier camera for me. I still played with some settings and have some stuff on manual, but it's a lot more plug and play. The tracking is cool for keeping me centered in frame, and the ability to easily tilt it down is awesome. For instance, if I wanted to have a view of me playing guitar or keyboard, it's really easy to adjust to capture that. Also, unexpected bonus, the Insta360 is smaller and lighter than the Facecam Pro. I am a TERRIBLE leg bouncer. The Facecam had so much mass that it would subtly bounce with my leg, and nobody said anything about it until I moved to the new camera and the bouncing stopped lol. Also worth noting the Insta360 is a good bit cheaper than the Facecam Pro. I personally got good value and quality out of both cameras. Happy to DM you a YouTube link to one of my VODs before and after I made the camera change if it helps

I have the Insta360 Link 2 and it looks great, even better than my old Elgato Facecam Pro that I ended up selling.

I concur. I got FCP couple of days back and had intention of returning it. Then I started playing with lighting in my room and I think I like it. Proper lighting is very key. I have Amaran Verge Max on order to lit me up

You certainly did the math! Thanks. I have the FCP at the moment. It is definitely night and day better than the Anker C300 that I had. Since this post, I have adjusted the ring light - throwing it back on the monitor wall and letting the room be a giant soft box, instead of it shining hard on me. I turned off the ceiling Hue lights and placed a govee floor lamp as practical light. The results have been pleasing compared to what I had before. I have also bitten the bullet on getting the Amaran Verge Max with a grid. Once it arrives, I will see how FCP fares. I do like the convenience of FCP at the moment, and since I have dialed in the exposure settings and white balance, the results have been pleasing. I guess my interest shifted from blurring the background to making the subject pop and the background dark with a few practicals.

I got my FCP yesterday. Initially, I had the intention of returning it based on the numerous discussions here. However, I decided to experiment with my lighting and give it a try. I discovered that I could reduce the background elements (color led) from overshooting by by placing my ring light 180 degrees opposite its usual position. This way, I could illuminate the wall behind it, which then reflected the light back at me, creating a softer effect. Additionally, I manually adjusted the exposure in Camera Hub by reducing the ISO value. I also turned off the Hue bulbs from ceiling and instead used a floor lamp with hue bulb in it to add background element. After these adjustments, I compared my existing Anker C300 ring light with FCP, and it was significantly better. This experience has made me determined to replace my ring light with the recently released Amaran Verge Max. lighting and give it a try. Good luck with your FC4K try out, but I think if you adjust your lighting by making it focused on you than filling the room, either of the cameras will work for you. Based on what I checked online, Key Light should be able to achieve this by putting it at 45degree from the subject as well as tilting it down by 30-45degree.

I bought the FCP about 6 months ago and love it. Yes, it produces a somewhat grainy image in low light, but what camera doesn't? I am new to streaming/video producing, but not to photography. The image quality in normal lighting is very good, and I think the features through the Camera Hub software are great. For a second POV, I use an inexpensive Emeet 4K webcam. Changing filter might be nice, but so far unnecessary. The Facecam 4K might do the trick at a lower cost, but I don't have a side-by-side comparison. I have no regrets with the FCP.

I have a FaceCam Pro and currently have a FaceCam 4K on order (should be here Friday!) Next week, depending on how the 4K performs, I’ll either have a Pro for sale or will be returning the 4K 😁 Like you, I have a “set” with colored LED mood lighting behind me. There are two issues I’m experiencing (I’m sorry if I get the terminology wrong, I’m no photographer or videographer 🫩) Firstly, darker parts of the picture are extremely grainy (looks like it’s fizzing). I’m told to light it better, but it’s supposed to be dark! If I increase the main light brightness, then the colored lights just get washed out. Secondly, depending on my background color, it often looks awful-I’m told it’s a dynamic range issue. The 4K has a HDR option, which I am keen to try. If it fixes the problems, then it stays 😉 I’ll keep you posted.

I have a FaceCam Pro and currently have a FaceCam 4K on order (should be here Friday!) Next week, depending on how the 4K performs, I’ll either have a Pro for sale or will be returning the 4K 😁 Like you, I have a “set” with colored LED mood lighting behind me. There are two issues I’m experiencing (I’m sorry if I get the terminology wrong, I’m no photographer or videographer 🫩) Firstly, darker parts of the picture are extremely grainy (looks like it’s fizzing). I’m told to light it better, but it’s supposed to be dark! If I increase the main light brightness, then the colored lights just get washed out. Secondly, depending on my background color, it often looks awful-I’m told it’s a dynamic range issue. The 4K has a HDR option, which I am keen to try. If it fixes the problems, then it stays 😉 I’ll keep you posted.

I think it would perform poorly in the lighting shown in your photo. I guess it will depend on what look you’re going for and always give it a try with and without extra light. But if you’re expecting that crispy 4K look, you’ll have to get your subject brighter. I do think having two sources of white light setup correctly makes the Facecam Pro shine.

Facecam 4K recently dropped from Elgato. Can attach 49mm filters and their software is easy to use.

Bro that Elgato Facecam 4K is kinda sick.

I have several on primary, secondary and office workstations. The two cameras I really enjoy are the Logitech Brio and the Elgato FaceCam Pro. The Brio has served me well since the pandemic lockdown, every day for at least two hours a day in Teams meetings. The FaceCam Pro is a quit recent purchase, I replaced a clunky setup with a Sony mirrorless with it. It has great quality and a nice bokeh for a webcam, and together with a key- or ring-light it makes for good recordings, not just meetings. I find this is a tremendous upgrade from just joining from my mac or surface laptop. I pair with a good microphone, and I almost have a studio with just three usb-c connections (mic, cam, neo keylight). Just haven't figured out how to handle my clicky-click mechanic keyboards when I do demo video recordings...

I did a lot of video meetings and recordings for a while and ended up with a Sony A6600 connected to a ATEM video switcher. Really great setup for both recording and streaming, and on every Zoom or Teams call I stand out with exceptional video quality. That is a big investment though, but most professional photographers have a body they could use for this. Buy a Manfrotto arm to have it attached to your desk and positioned just right. For my "other" office I wanted something easier, but still high quality, and ended up with the Elgato Facecam 4K. Just USB connection, works like a charm, and pretty decent quality.

I use the Elgato pro webcam through a cooperation and it is simply incomparably good

I just picked up the Elagato Facecam 4K