If you want to look your best on video calls, your laptop’s built-in camera often won’t cut it. Pick up one of the top webcams we’ve tested for a major upgrade.
What Webcam Frame Rate and Resolution Do You Need?
A webcam can only achieve as sharp an image as its sensor can resolve pixels. Full HD (1080p) resolution is a good starting point for a decent webcam, but if you want to enhance your picture quality (or be able to crop your frame without losing sharpness), a 4K webcam is what we recommend. Quad HD 2K (2,560 by 1,440) is a rare yet flexible middle ground between the two. If possible, avoid 720p models, as they typically offer the softest image quality and are likely no better than your laptop’s built-in webcam.
The frame rate affects the smoothness of your video. A 60fps webcam presents you in a much more realistic and natural way than a 30fps webcam. Still, the trade-off for most 4K webcams is that 4K resolution is limited to 30fps, so you’ll have to choose between a sharper picture and smoother motion, and the former is usually the better choice.What Kind of Lens Does Your Webcam Need?
The lens on a webcam is just as important as the sensor, and generally, bigger is better. It determines how much light reaches the camera sensor, which affects how you look in less-than-ideal lighting scenarios. This is known as the aperture size, and most cameras express this value as f/(number). The lower the number, the wider the aperture and the more light that comes through. Webcams don’t often advertise their aperture sizes, but they generally range from f/2.0 to f/2.
