@heartny if I hadn’t recently purchased the Foscam I would be buying this because it has a light AND the write up. Much better then my MBPr webcam, something that Apple seems to have a problem doing well . If only I could figure out the echo problem in webex only.
@GLaDOS@heartny yes that is what I do since selecting just one audio input at both system and webex doesn’t do it. Thank goodness teams doesn’t do it because we don’t have the call in option on our account for some crazy reason.
@heartny@Joedetroit, by is also spelled bi, bye & buy, but I think you likely meant ‘buy’ & No, I’m not the Word Police. I am just trying to help out a fellow meh member [or cult follower],…okay, I was also kinda bored, so…
What is the angle of view? My present one has too wide an angle and shows too much of my (messy) room. I use, but don’t like, the artificial backgrounds.
@andyw I’m wondering about this in the description: “Adjustable privacy cover that also adjusts the lens aperture”. Does that mean it can make the view narrower?
@andyw, we’ve had this issue, also… nearly all webcams have a HUGE field of view. I guess whoever spies on you wants to see what else you have in your room / office?
We got a Logitech C270 webcam that has a 78° FOV, that’s the narrowest i’ve found. Price was about the cost of today’s offer.
We also have a Logitech 920s that has the privacy shutter, but it’s pretty spendyband has a wide FOV (not nearly as wide as a typical laptop camera, though).
The C270 works well for us, although green-screen backgrounds aren’t quite as crisp as with the 920s if that makes a difference for you.
As for privacy, i keep a post-it over it for short-term, and a band-aid for long-term.
@InFrom The “aperture” means the amount of light the lens lets in, usually adjusted by a diaphragm inside the lens. They may be using the term to mean the field of view, but that is not the usual meaning. Looking at the pictures, it just looks like a cover that is either cvering the lens or not with noo obvious adjustments of anything. It is possible that it rotates and closes an internal diaphragm. but that does not change the field of view. Thanks, I had missed that statement in the description, but it would not have made me think it changes the field of view.
@mrdancer I generally do the covering thing too. Oddly, by laptop has a better (smaller) field of view than my desktop camera, and Aukey that is otherwise fine. I’ve made some shutters (“barn doors”) to cut down the periphery of the view, but they don’t hold position well. And it still means that I look small because it is so wide-angled unless I get it closer to my face, which is difficult on my desk.
Sending one to the kiddo off at college. His laptop screen cracked and we don’t know how long it will hold up. So this he can hook up to his desktop.
/giphy contagious-knitted-glass
@compunaut@Hanky Huh?
The webcam in his laptop is part of the screen. So if the laptop dies, he’ll need a webcam for his desktop. He has online classes and tests proctored by webcams.
I realize that this is meant to spell cam you see me, but I thought I’d point out that C4M is an advocacy group campaigning against same-sex marriage and U-533 was a Nazi submarine. (“M3” can refer to numerous things, including multiple military weapons and vehicles.)
@jayrandom That’s precisely the sort response I’d expect from someone whose username is an anagram of “Andy Major” — vice president of operations and guest experience for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
We all live (platonically) in a Nazi submarine
Nazi submarine, Nazi submarine
We all live (platonically) in a Nazi submarine
Nazi submarine, Nazi submarine
Eh ive been doing lots of (really cool and not super nerdy) card tourneys online and my current cams are terrible at capturing my table. Thought this was worth a shot.
/giphy wholesome-malicious-riddle
Here’s a video about it… It shows everything except, well, video it makes. If only they were able to record a video and upload it to share online, oh, wait…
I found one product listing which says it has a 100-degree field of view. I can’t find anything about whether it supports 60fps or is limited to 30fps, so I presume the latter.
Specs don’t say anything about only supporting Windows and Mac OS, so I bought it assuming it will work out of the box on Linux.
(Looks like the 3 power level light is controlled by a manual button on the front, so that provides hope that it doesn’t require any windows specific driver software…)
@summetj no drivers need. Uses the built in windows drivers and shows up as “HD Web Camera” by Microsoft. And “USB Video Device” under the driver details.
@summetj manual says it supports win xp, 7, 8, 10, android 5.0 or above, mac 10.6 or above, linix 2.6.24 or above, chrome v29.01547 or above, Ubuntu V version 10.04 or above.
When the pandemic hit I was struggling to find a decent webcam, tried a ton of cheapies with mixed, but generally poor results. Most of the video was “OK” but usually the sound was garbage, like I was zooming in from the inside of an aluminum trash can.
I was finally able to get a Logitech c922 which definitely has great AV quality. So while I love the idea of the integrated light, I’d still be worried about the base performance of this cam, just based on price alone.
@ACraigL I’d had a decent webcam - and had used it very little - for quite a while before the plague started. It got borrowed in short order once that hit, because someone else in the family needed one pronto, and then I had to do without for a couple of months because there basically weren’t any to be had. And now there are loads of them, and the majority of them seem to have at least one significant shortcoming out of a list of several common ones.
@TimeVans
Given that Letscom doesn’t list it on their website at all, I have to wonder if this was a product they tried to rush to market because of the early demand during the plague, and then got stuck with, when the supply caught up. It might even have been a batch that they contracted to obtain, and then declined to market because it didn’t meet their expectations. But since they don’t list any webcams at all, I’m betting that they just decided webcams weren’t a thing they wanted to be known for.
@ACraigL@TimeVans
Possible, but I think it’s less likely since that usually happens with things like GMC’s Denali brand and logo getting pasted on a (not very good) road bike. Letting someone license your name for a product that’s too closely adjacent to your core is a pretty bad idea.
@ACraigL@narfcake@TimeVans
We used to call those BSOs. Bicycle-Shaped Objects. The mass-market division of Mongoose may still make one that’s nearly identical, and yes, it’s crrrrrap.
@narfcake
Yeah, I saw that video. Oddly enough, the near-twin BSO from Mongoose is sitting on my patio. The front fork is a bad joke, but the bike in general is at least half a step up from that threaded-steerer mess of a Kent.
It occurs to me that the thing about the privacy flap also adjusting the aperture may be an artifact of translation; since they give no figures for the spec on the aperture, I have a funny feeling that the non-English-thinking makers have a poor grasp of what “adjusts the lens aperture” means in the language they don’t understand. That statement, if it’s on the outside of the packaging, could account for why Letscom disinherited these.
@werehatrack the “flap” is a removable lens cover. Turning the lens doesn’t adjust the focus (fixed focus) but the camera settings does allow adjusting the brightness and contrast.
@GLaDOS That’s just a graphic to explain that it’s a touch-activated light. Confusing, I know! I first thought it was some sort of fingerprint-security type of thing
@GLaDOS the green spot is where you remove the protective plastic over the product. The portion under the lens is where you touch it to turn on the led.
I have this camera) bought from the sister sight) and the g1080 version also sold here. The LED ring light isn’t that powerful but helps in low light. WARNING the ring light does make a high pitch noise when it is turned on to the high setting. The “privacy guard” is a removable cap held on by a ring. It does block some of the ring light, but you can also remove it if you’re intrested in catch lights. The power light stays red as long as your USB port has power. A different green light comes on when the camera is enabled. I use a headset so I can’t speak about the microphone. There is a tripod mount and mine came with a mini tripod if you didn’t want to attach it to the monitor. The g1080 camera only let you adjust brightness. This one allows me to set the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, sharpness white balance and backlight comp.
@ACraigL@TheFLP it is a wide lens and any photographer would know that a wide lens will produce distortion when the image is 6" away from the subject. And a telephoto lens will produce compression. That’s why many portrait photographers prefer shooting portraits with an 85mm lens. It gives enough compression to shrink facial features like ears and foreheads to look more pleasant. On the other hand, a landscape photographer may prefer a wide lens, like a 35mm because it will have more distortion, like fitting an entire mountain range in a single frame. I would assume that most people using a web cam wouldn’t have the camera 6" from the subject. And that with any wide lens, the subject would be positioned in the center of the frame, as the edges will have the greatest amount of distortion. But more importantly, the propose of this images was to show the drop off of detail in the shadows (notice the camera modle numbers Z6ii on the lower section of the body), and the loss of focus inside the center due to the large aperture. (I.e. the product box isn’t straight and keyboard text is out of focus). The focal plane would be right at the numbers on the lens mount. But then again, it’s a $20 web camera and not a $3000 MDSLR.
@ACraigL@braveit1@TheFLP
Canon and Nikon have spent lots of time and money softwaring the distortion down in their digitals when using their wide angle lenses. The result is that us old farts who grew up with a Pentax screw mount film camera are still amazed at the base capabilities of pocket digitals, and can hardly assimilate the range of possibility available with something like a D7500. And the kids take this stuff for granted.
A professional photographer in the '70s would have willingly committed mass murder to get the capabilities of a cheap modern cell phone camera. This webcam would have been pure fantasyland stuff. The CIA laid out tens of millions for hardware one tenth as capable.
@ACraigL@braveit1@werehatrack
I look at the ultrawide camera on my iPhone and a little voice inside is screaming, “But the straight lines are so straight … OMG it’s witchcraft! We’re all gonna diiiiiiiiie!”
I have an 8mm fisheye lens for my DSLR (which hasn’t been used since 2019) with the same effective focal length, but it’s like a funhouse mirror. Obviously a fisheye isn’t intended to be anything else, but still. Witchcraft.
(I use the phone’s main camera as my webcam, so there ain’t nothing funny going on in the corners.)
Bought one of these from sidedeal a week or so ago; In Linux it throws a ton of USB protocol errors and doesn’t play nice with the default UVC driver that’s used for all other webcams
@werehatrack wouldnt be much of a challenge. The way the privacy filter works is just a ring over the lens. Just replace that with a 3d printed threated ring that fits the same way. (Or just cut off the flap and glue the lens to the remaining ring).
Mine arrived. I’d purchased it mostly to test it out (and possibly replace one of the 640x480 USB cameras I have in a box with something slightly newer).
Unfortunately, it’s only worth $19. It “works” with Linux, but appears to be transferring the data using YUV instead of compressed MJPEG, as the frame rate at 1920x1080 is about 2-3FPS (not usable except for photos).
The image quality is bad. No better than my 10 year old USB camera I was thinking about replacing, and much worse than my laptop’s built in camera.
The light makes an annoying whine/hum noise when turned on.
So, I can’t recommend it at all on Linux. And the image quality isn’t terribly great (but better than not having a camera I guess…)
It may do MJPEG transfer with windows, so I’ll keep it around in case my son needs a webcam I won’t mind him losing.
@summetj noticing on Mac OS that default frame rate is also very bad. Image is very crisp and detailed but poor utility for video conference at 2-3 FPS.
I’ve been using it for a while — it is good as an inexpensive webcam. I value it as an always-on Microphone for my computer that does not have a built-in Mic.
Specs
Product: Letscom 1080p Webcam with 3 Levels of Light and Privacy Cover
Model: T3601
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Mar 28 - Friday, Apr 1
I’d buy this just based on today’s front page story
I have to agree. Somebody put some work into that …
@heartny @revmem
Yes, I came to praise it too!
@heartny It’s a modern day classic.
@heartny Laughed out loud. I just might by one just because of that. Good to have a spare anyhow.
@heartny Hard same. That write-up was brilliant.
@heartny if I hadn’t recently purchased the Foscam I would be buying this because it has a light AND the write up. Much better then my MBPr webcam, something that Apple seems to have a problem doing well
. If only I could figure out the echo problem in webex only.
@heartny @oldmantick
I do support for WebExs every week.
If you haven’t already, try having WebEx call you or you call into the WebEx on a phone as a workaround. Or try a using headset.
@GLaDOS @heartny yes that is what I do since selecting just one audio input at both system and webex doesn’t do it. Thank goodness teams doesn’t do it because we don’t have the call in option on our account for some crazy reason.
@heartny @Joedetroit, by is also spelled bi, bye & buy, but I think you likely meant ‘buy’ & No, I’m not the Word Police. I am just trying to help out a fellow meh member [or cult follower],…okay, I was also kinda bored, so…
@heartny @Kyeh @revmem Me too hahaha
kinda miss the old low-def cams.
there are very few people I want to see in HD these days.
Webcams - we have just spent two entire years living through webcams… how about a frisbee or a lawnmower
@jmhsrv Yup, all those meetings that should have been short emails, & “virtual classrooms” for the school agers.
@jmhsrv I don’t think I have ever seen Meh sell a lawnmower. I smell an opportunity.
@jmhsrv @PooltoyWolf Especially an electric or battery operated one. I would jump at that!
@jmhsrv @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf Confirmed via mehstalker – no lawnmower.
https://mehstalker.com/search.php?search=Lawnmower
@jmhsrv @Kyeh I’m a gas engine man, myself.
/giphy thoughtless-moral-bigfoot
What is the angle of view? My present one has too wide an angle and shows too much of my (messy) room. I use, but don’t like, the artificial backgrounds.
@andyw Oh, never mind. The camera is not listed on their website, so I take that as a bad omen and will pass.
@andyw I’m wondering about this in the description: “Adjustable privacy cover that also adjusts the lens aperture”. Does that mean it can make the view narrower?
@andyw, we’ve had this issue, also… nearly all webcams have a HUGE field of view. I guess whoever spies on you wants to see what else you have in your room / office?
We got a Logitech C270 webcam that has a 78° FOV, that’s the narrowest i’ve found. Price was about the cost of today’s offer.
We also have a Logitech 920s that has the privacy shutter, but it’s pretty spendyband has a wide FOV (not nearly as wide as a typical laptop camera, though).
The C270 works well for us, although green-screen backgrounds aren’t quite as crisp as with the 920s if that makes a difference for you.
As for privacy, i keep a post-it over it for short-term, and a band-aid for long-term.
@InFrom The “aperture” means the amount of light the lens lets in, usually adjusted by a diaphragm inside the lens. They may be using the term to mean the field of view, but that is not the usual meaning. Looking at the pictures, it just looks like a cover that is either cvering the lens or not with noo obvious adjustments of anything. It is possible that it rotates and closes an internal diaphragm. but that does not change the field of view. Thanks, I had missed that statement in the description, but it would not have made me think it changes the field of view.
@mrdancer I generally do the covering thing too. Oddly, by laptop has a better (smaller) field of view than my desktop camera, and Aukey that is otherwise fine. I’ve made some shutters (“barn doors”) to cut down the periphery of the view, but they don’t hold position well. And it still means that I look small because it is so wide-angled unless I get it closer to my face, which is difficult on my desk.
I wish they said what the angle of view was, but I need one with a ring light anyway, so…
/buy
@werehatrack It worked! Your order number is: egregious-unoccupied-view
/image egregious unoccupied view
@werehatrack 107 degrees
@troy
Eh, not what I prefer, but better than the 120 that some cover.
Sending one to the kiddo off at college. His laptop screen cracked and we don’t know how long it will hold up. So this he can hook up to his desktop.
/giphy contagious-knitted-glass
@mike808 Just curious: Where does he go to school?
@compunaut @mike808 That’s kinda creepy.
@compunaut @Hanky Huh?
The webcam in his laptop is part of the screen. So if the laptop dies, he’ll need a webcam for his desktop. He has online classes and tests proctored by webcams.
/image archer phrasing
@compunaut @mike808 I meant the “where does he go to school” was a bit Lifetime Network.
@compunaut @Hanky No offense taken by that. I whispered my response to @compunaut.
I thought you were noting the phrasing of “so he can hook up to his computer” was creepy. Hence, the Archer reference.
@mike808 That is a very cool bottle.
@compunaut @Hanky @PoolToyWolf
The bottle is a piece by the artist Jack Storms. It’s made from cutting optical glass and laminating then repeating.
https://youtube.com/c/JackStormsTheGlassSculptor
@compunaut @Hanky @PooltoyWolf
Here’s a video about how he makes his art.
They’re not cheap. Those cubes run $20K+.
@compunaut @Hanky @mike808 @PooltoyWolf
Sigh. I figured it was out of my price range.
/giphy cheap-accoustic-cottonmouth
I love it.
/giphy very-grisly-oatmeal
/giphy auspicious-near-elbow
Is it possible the lighted webcam will sale-out tonight? Meh…
I realize that this is meant to spell cam you see me, but I thought I’d point out that C4M is an advocacy group campaigning against same-sex marriage and U-533 was a Nazi submarine. (“M3” can refer to numerous things, including multiple military weapons and vehicles.)
@Rowsdower I’m sure you could find questionable meanings for literally and collection of 2, 3, or 4 letters and numbers. C4M also refers to a program to help train youth in Louisiana, U533 is a ticketmaster error code, and M3 is globular cluster.
@jayrandom That’s precisely the sort response I’d expect from someone whose username is an anagram of “Andy Major” — vice president of operations and guest experience for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
@jayrandom @Rowsdower
Were you belligerent in another life?
“Rowsdower” is an anagram of “Wore Sword”
@phendrick That’s easy for you so say — from the safety of your kind perch.
We all live (platonically) in a Nazi submarine
Nazi submarine, Nazi submarine
We all live (platonically) in a Nazi submarine
Nazi submarine, Nazi submarine
Eh ive been doing lots of (really cool and not super nerdy) card tourneys online and my current cams are terrible at capturing my table. Thought this was worth a shot.
/giphy wholesome-malicious-riddle
@caalsio Laughed at the GIF. XD
My OnlyFans will love this!
Here’s a video about it… It shows everything except, well, video it makes. If only they were able to record a video and upload it to share online, oh, wait…
I found one product listing which says it has a 100-degree field of view. I can’t find anything about whether it supports 60fps or is limited to 30fps, so I presume the latter.
@Ceej 60 fps.
@Ceej 1080@30 fps or 25fps. I have the camera.
Ah, the perfect compliment to the new Apple Studio Display.
https://www.theverge.com/22981744/apple-studio-display-5k-monitor-webcam-speakers-review
So I bought the previous webcam but this one looks better. So of course I will!
/buy
@Vertabrae It worked! Your order number is: formal-jealous-suit
/image formal jealous suit
Gotta love that YouTuber above. “It’s got this thing, and this other thing, and here’s where you put this thing.”
Specs don’t say anything about only supporting Windows and Mac OS, so I bought it assuming it will work out of the box on Linux.
(Looks like the 3 power level light is controlled by a manual button on the front, so that provides hope that it doesn’t require any windows specific driver software…)
@summetj Lists Android and Linux.
@summetj no drivers need. Uses the built in windows drivers and shows up as “HD Web Camera” by Microsoft. And “USB Video Device” under the driver details.
@summetj manual says it supports win xp, 7, 8, 10, android 5.0 or above, mac 10.6 or above, linix 2.6.24 or above, chrome v29.01547 or above, Ubuntu V version 10.04 or above.
@summetj The one I received runs terrible in Linux / OBS; tons of cryptic USB bus errors in the UVC driver
@caffeineguy Well, I guess I’ll have to see how it does on my Ubuntu install…but at least it CLAIMS to be supported…
When the pandemic hit I was struggling to find a decent webcam, tried a ton of cheapies with mixed, but generally poor results. Most of the video was “OK” but usually the sound was garbage, like I was zooming in from the inside of an aluminum trash can.
I was finally able to get a Logitech c922 which definitely has great AV quality. So while I love the idea of the integrated light, I’d still be worried about the base performance of this cam, just based on price alone.
@ACraigL I’d had a decent webcam - and had used it very little - for quite a while before the plague started. It got borrowed in short order once that hit, because someone else in the family needed one pronto, and then I had to do without for a couple of months because there basically weren’t any to be had. And now there are loads of them, and the majority of them seem to have at least one significant shortcoming out of a list of several common ones.
The ad was great but the price was MEH. You can buy this on ebay for $15 bucks with free shipping. What’s the point?
@TimeVans
Given that Letscom doesn’t list it on their website at all, I have to wonder if this was a product they tried to rush to market because of the early demand during the plague, and then got stuck with, when the supply caught up. It might even have been a batch that they contracted to obtain, and then declined to market because it didn’t meet their expectations. But since they don’t list any webcams at all, I’m betting that they just decided webcams weren’t a thing they wanted to be known for.
@TimeVans @werehatrack Or someone else licensed the brand (like everyone does for Kodak today)?
@ACraigL @TimeVans
Possible, but I think it’s less likely since that usually happens with things like GMC’s Denali brand and logo getting pasted on a (not very good) road bike. Letting someone license your name for a product that’s too closely adjacent to your core is a pretty bad idea.
@ACraigL @TimeVans @werehatrack I’ll raise with the AMD
mountain bikedeath trap.@ACraigL @narfcake @TimeVans
We used to call those BSOs. Bicycle-Shaped Objects. The mass-market division of Mongoose may still make one that’s nearly identical, and yes, it’s crrrrrap.
@werehatrack For a big box bike, Pacific Cycle offerings have moved up to being usable and upgradable. The AMD “bike”, OTOH …
@narfcake
Yeah, I saw that video. Oddly enough, the near-twin BSO from Mongoose is sitting on my patio. The front fork is a bad joke, but the bike in general is at least half a step up from that threaded-steerer mess of a Kent.
It occurs to me that the thing about the privacy flap also adjusting the aperture may be an artifact of translation; since they give no figures for the spec on the aperture, I have a funny feeling that the non-English-thinking makers have a poor grasp of what “adjusts the lens aperture” means in the language they don’t understand. That statement, if it’s on the outside of the packaging, could account for why Letscom disinherited these.
@werehatrack the YouTube guy says it adjusts focus. And I’m sure you could turn the lens without the flap.
@werehatrack the “flap” is a removable lens cover. Turning the lens doesn’t adjust the focus (fixed focus) but the camera settings does allow adjusting the brightness and contrast.
@werehatrack after further review with my fat fingers, turning the lens does adjust the focus.
Finally a great set of front page stories based on images!
I keep buying cheap webcams hoping one of them will actually be decent.
/giphy freaky-guilty-swashbuckler
What is that finger print on the front? Is it a sticker that is supposed to be removed when unpacking the product?
@GLaDOS That’s just a graphic to explain that it’s a touch-activated light. Confusing, I know! I first thought it was some sort of fingerprint-security type of thing
@GLaDOS the green spot is where you remove the protective plastic over the product. The portion under the lens is where you touch it to turn on the led.
I have this camera) bought from the sister sight) and the g1080 version also sold here. The LED ring light isn’t that powerful but helps in low light. WARNING the ring light does make a high pitch noise when it is turned on to the high setting. The “privacy guard” is a removable cap held on by a ring. It does block some of the ring light, but you can also remove it if you’re intrested in catch lights. The power light stays red as long as your USB port has power. A different green light comes on when the camera is enabled. I use a headset so I can’t speak about the microphone. There is a tripod mount and mine came with a mini tripod if you didn’t want to attach it to the monitor. The g1080 camera only let you adjust brightness. This one allows me to set the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, sharpness white balance and backlight comp.
@braveit1 Can you post a pic of the video quality?
@ACraigL
@ACraigL @braveit1 That looks adequate, and yes, the angle is wider than would be optimal.
@ACraigL @braveit1 Oof. That’s a lot of distortion, even for a web cam.
@ACraigL @TheFLP it is a wide lens and any photographer would know that a wide lens will produce distortion when the image is 6" away from the subject. And a telephoto lens will produce compression. That’s why many portrait photographers prefer shooting portraits with an 85mm lens. It gives enough compression to shrink facial features like ears and foreheads to look more pleasant. On the other hand, a landscape photographer may prefer a wide lens, like a 35mm because it will have more distortion, like fitting an entire mountain range in a single frame. I would assume that most people using a web cam wouldn’t have the camera 6" from the subject. And that with any wide lens, the subject would be positioned in the center of the frame, as the edges will have the greatest amount of distortion. But more importantly, the propose of this images was to show the drop off of detail in the shadows (notice the camera modle numbers Z6ii on the lower section of the body), and the loss of focus inside the center due to the large aperture. (I.e. the product box isn’t straight and keyboard text is out of focus). The focal plane would be right at the numbers on the lens mount. But then again, it’s a $20 web camera and not a $3000 MDSLR.
@ACraigL @braveit1 Maybe I just haven’t been pointing webcams at random angles. But it’s the barrel distortion in the corners that throws me.
Also, it looks like your keyboard needs dusting.
@ACraigL @braveit1 @TheFLP
Canon and Nikon have spent lots of time and money softwaring the distortion down in their digitals when using their wide angle lenses. The result is that us old farts who grew up with a Pentax screw mount film camera are still amazed at the base capabilities of pocket digitals, and can hardly assimilate the range of possibility available with something like a D7500. And the kids take this stuff for granted.
A professional photographer in the '70s would have willingly committed mass murder to get the capabilities of a cheap modern cell phone camera. This webcam would have been pure fantasyland stuff. The CIA laid out tens of millions for hardware one tenth as capable.
@ACraigL @braveit1 @werehatrack
I look at the ultrawide camera on my iPhone and a little voice inside is screaming, “But the straight lines are so straight … OMG it’s witchcraft! We’re all gonna diiiiiiiiie!”
I have an 8mm fisheye lens for my DSLR (which hasn’t been used since 2019) with the same effective focal length, but it’s like a funhouse mirror. Obviously a fisheye isn’t intended to be anything else, but still. Witchcraft.
(I use the phone’s main camera as my webcam, so there ain’t nothing funny going on in the corners.)
Bought one of these from sidedeal a week or so ago; In Linux it throws a ton of USB protocol errors and doesn’t play nice with the default UVC driver that’s used for all other webcams
I wonder if one of those cell phone camera telephoto adapters might give this a more usefully narrow field of view…
The challenge will be mounting it.
@werehatrack wouldnt be much of a challenge. The way the privacy filter works is just a ring over the lens. Just replace that with a 3d printed threated ring that fits the same way. (Or just cut off the flap and glue the lens to the remaining ring).
Tempting, but I have quite a few already …
/giphy polite-unattractive-police
And they sold out.
Mine arrived. I’d purchased it mostly to test it out (and possibly replace one of the 640x480 USB cameras I have in a box with something slightly newer).
Unfortunately, it’s only worth $19. It “works” with Linux, but appears to be transferring the data using YUV instead of compressed MJPEG, as the frame rate at 1920x1080 is about 2-3FPS (not usable except for photos).
The image quality is bad. No better than my 10 year old USB camera I was thinking about replacing, and much worse than my laptop’s built in camera.
The light makes an annoying whine/hum noise when turned on.
So, I can’t recommend it at all on Linux. And the image quality isn’t terribly great (but better than not having a camera I guess…)
It may do MJPEG transfer with windows, so I’ll keep it around in case my son needs a webcam I won’t mind him losing.
@summetj noticing on Mac OS that default frame rate is also very bad. Image is very crisp and detailed but poor utility for video conference at 2-3 FPS.
Mine’s blurry.
@archradish I found the lens is threaded and basically operates as a focal point adjustment – unscrew it or screw it in until you get less blurry.
I’ve been using it for a while — it is good as an inexpensive webcam. I value it as an always-on Microphone for my computer that does not have a built-in Mic.