Webcams became incredibly important when work-from-home orders were issued by companies as a result of lockdowns. We’ve never quite understood why streaming video became so important overnight in South Africa especially with the amount of bandwidth it requires, but who are we to question the madness of C-suite execs.
Our disdain for video conferencing aside, a decent webcam has become the golden goose of the pandemic but now we have to ask ourselves: how much are we willing to pay to look a bit clearer in Zoom meetings?
R1 000?
R2 000?
How about nearly R3 000?
If you answered yes to R3 000 then you’re in luck because Razer has just released the Razer Kiyo Pro webcam which carries a retail price of $199.99 in the US.
So what does that fee get you?
The webcam sports an ultra sensitive 2.1MP 1/2.8 CMOS sensor with Sony’s STARVIS technology. Mainly found in surveillance cameras, STARVIS uses back-illuminated pixels to capture images in any sort of light.
Razer has paired this tech with an Adaptive Light Sensor so that you look good no matter what the lighting conditions are at your PC.
“For both video conferencing and streaming, smooth and crystal-clear video quality under any lighting conditions is a vital part of the experience,” senior vice president of Razer’s peripheral business unit, Alvin Cheung, said in a statement.
“The Kiyo Pro, with its fantastic low-light performance, is ideal for those working from home who want to impress their customers and colleagues, and for streamers wanting to entertain their audience with a bright, vibrant image,” Cheung added.
The Kiyo Pro can capture uncompressed 1080p video at 60fps. While the camera can also capture HDR footage, the frame rate drops to 30fps.
The webcam also sports an omni-directional microphone and a privacy cover.
While you could use this webcam for work, it really seems targeted at content creators and streamers.
With that having been said, streamers usually opt for a full-fat DSLR or mirrorless camera when they want to improve the fidelity and frame rates of their streams.
Further to that, The Verge has already published a review of this camera here.
In that review the shortcomings of this camera are highlighted and the biggest mark against the Kiyo Pro for us is that it doesn’t support Windows Hello. Other failings include a very average microphone and lack of 4K image capture.
All in all, the Razer Kiyo Pro looks like an expensive unitasker and we recommend turning your phone into a webcam before considering this one.
