Dell impressed us with its modern, horny 4K Dell Ultrasharp webcam — however $199 is lots to pay for a webcam, particularly when a lot of the in style video conferencing platforms solely assist a most decision of 720p or 1080p.
Properly, should you’re a pandemic-displaced distant employee with a decent house workplace allowance, the Ultrasharp now has a less expensive, lower-res, extra pedestrian sibling: The Dell Professional webcam. The Dell Professional webcam is a 2K QHD (1440p)/30 fps (1080p/60 fps) webcam with a 78-degree subject of view, HDR, and 4x digital zoom. It has a built-in monitor clip with a tripod attachment level, a built-in microphone (the 4K mannequin has no mic), and options akin to AI auto-framing, which might observe your face as you progress to maintain you focused in body.
It might sound troublesome for the common webcam to compete towards expensive 4K choices in relation to pure efficiency and picture high quality, however there’s a motive our checklist of greatest webcams isn’t only a checklist of 4K webcams. Not solely do most individuals not want a 4K webcam, most individuals couldn’t use a 4K webcam to its fullest potential even when they wished to. With its 2K QHD decision, the $135 Dell Professional webcam provides one thing greater than 1080p with out breaking the financial institution.
Specs
| Decision FPS | 2K QHD/30fps; Full HD/30fps; HD/60fps |
| Diagonal Discipline of View | 78 levels |
| Zoom | 4x digital |
| Autofocus | Sure |
| HDR | Sure |
| Microphone | Constructed-in noise discount mic |
| Connection | USB-A (non-detachable) |
| Mount | Constructed-in monitor clip with tripod mounting level |
| Dimensions (L x W) | 3.6 x 1.73 inches (92 x 44 mm) |
| Weight | 0.34lbs / 155g |
| Software program | Dell Peripheral Supervisor |
| Particular Options | AI Auto Framing |
Design of the Dell Professional Webcam
The Dell Professional Webcam appears much like its 4K sibling: It additionally has a gunmetal grey cylinder-shaped physique, a big, spherical, glass-covered lens, and a detachable magnetic lens cap. Together with the lens cap, the Dell Professional webcam measures 3.6 inches (92 mm) lengthy by 1.73 inches (44 mm) in diameter — only a tad shorter and wider than the Dell Ultrasharp webcam.
The similarities largely finish there, nonetheless. Whereas the Dell Ultrasharp has an all-aluminum physique and premium options akin to a removable USB 3.0 cable, the Dell Professional is fabricated from plastic and has a non-detachable USB 2.0 cable. The Dell Professional additionally has a built-in monitor clip with a threaded tripod mounting level. The monitor clip is rubberized to stop slipping and has a movable “foot” that means that you can regulate the webcam’s tilt angle and helps hold it mounted securely to your desktop or laptop computer display screen. That is truly an enchancment over the Ultrasharp’s interchangeable magnetic mounts — which, whereas visually sleeker, are much less safe and simpler to misplace.
The Dell Professional webcam connects to your pc by way of a permanently-attached, five-foot lengthy USB-A cable. The cable is perpendicular to the webcam’s physique, so it doesn’t jut out awkwardly or take up extra space than obligatory.
Properly-lit Efficiency on Dell Professional Webcam
My house workplace has virtually no pure gentle and a ton of synthetic gentle: 4 displays (three 27-inch, one 24-inch), three direct lighting sources (Elgato Ring Mild, Elgato Key Mild Air, Logitech Litra Glow), an overhead lamp for background lighting, and a desk lamp for fill. When all of my lighting is turned up, most webcams (understandably) learn this as extraordinarily overexposed.
The Dell Professional Webcam, nonetheless, did a great job of reining in publicity ranges — possibly too good a job, as a result of the ensuing picture appears a little bit too darkish. The webcam’s auto-white stability was respectable however not good; I’m not overly orange or blindingly blue, however my pores and skin appears a little bit sallow. It’s not practically nearly as good because the Insta360 Hyperlink’s auto-white stability, but it surely’s higher than what you’ll discover on most webcams. Additionally, this may not hassle others but it surely did hassle me: The Dell Professional Webcam’s sensor takes … some time to regulate its auto-exposure/white stability/focus/and so on. It’s not too lengthy however it’s a noticeable second or two, and I’m very impatient.
Low-Mild Efficiency on Dell Professional Webcam
To check the Dell Professional Webcam’s low-light efficiency, I turned off all synthetic lighting sources aside from my major 27-inch monitor. The Dell Professional Webcam impressed me with its means to gentle the scene evenly; not solely are you able to see the small print of my face fairly clearly, most of my background is seen and comparatively crisp. Different webcams, such because the Logitech C920s, don’t even try and gentle the background.
To check the Dell Professional Webcam’s low-light efficiency, I turned off all synthetic lighting sources aside from my major 27-inch monitor. The Dell Professional Webcam impressed me with its means to gentle the scene evenly; not solely are you able to see the small print of my face fairly clearly, most of my background is seen and comparatively crisp. Different webcams, such because the Logitech C920s, don’t even try and gentle the background.
The Dell Professional Webcam options Digital Overlap HDR, which is meant to supply a greater picture, with extra correct colours/white stability, in excessive lighting conditions. Turning on HDR in my low-light setting did appear to web a extra evenly-lit image with barely extra correct colours, however on the expense of readability — this image is considerably grainier than the primary.
Overexposed Efficiency of Dell Professional Webcam
To create an overexposed setting, I turned off all the lights and displays (aside from my major 27-inch monitor) in entrance of me, and left my background lighting on. That is truly a fairly excessive lighting state of affairs, it simply appears much less excessive as a result of the Dell Professional Webcam was capable of adequately gentle my face and physique (although the background nonetheless appears very overexposed). Whereas the picture has some anticipated graininess, it’s not overly grainy particularly on my face — in contrast to the overexposed picture taken with the Logitech C920s or the Logitech C930e.
Turning on HDR in my overexposed setting positively improved the background publicity ranges, however didn’t do a lot for me (colours are barely improved, however not far more correct).
Options and Software program of Dell Professional Webcam
Dell’s Peripheral Supervisor software program mechanically installs if you first plug the Dell Professional Webcam into your PC, and runs via a really fast, primary setup that guides you thru choosing a picture preset and turning on issues like HDR and AI Auto Framing. Dell Peripheral Supervisor isn’t probably the most strong webcam software program I’ve used, but it surely has sections for digicam management (adjusting FOV and zoom), seize settings, and coloration and picture changes.
Utilizing the software program, you may play with the webcam’s white stability, brightness, sharpness, distinction, and saturation. I performed round with these settings and located it troublesome to tweak the picture to my superb — I might positively wish to see sliders for adjusting publicity and achieve. Fortunately, there’s not a lot to regulate anyway as a result of the Dell Professional Webcam’s auto-exposure and white stability are fairly good.
Microphone on the Dell Professional Webcam
The Dell Professional Webcam does have a built-in microphone (in contrast to the Dell Ultrasharp Webcam), which is helpful should you’re ever so determined for a microphone that your solely possibility is one positioned as far out of your mouth as potential. Most webcam microphones should not nice, and the Dell Professional Webcam’s is…additionally not nice.
It had hassle choosing up my voice when it was perched on my monitor (which is sensible — my monitor is a little bit over two toes away from my face), and what it did choose up sounded tinny and hole. This isn’t in any respect surprising; most webcam microphones are horrible. However maybe Dell might have left the Professional webcam mic-free and knocked a couple of {dollars} off the value.
Backside Line
Should you’re in search of one thing that simply works, the Dell Professional Webcam is perhaps the webcam for you. Stick this webcam in your monitor, plug it in, and do nothing else besides go about your video-conferencing-twitch-streaming-selfie-taking day, and the Dell Professional Webcam will serve up high-definition, impressively balanced pictures with comparatively correct coloring in nearly any lighting state of affairs. Keep in mind, in relation to most webcams’ out-of-the-box auto-exposure and white stability settings, you often find yourself with a picture like this:
The Dell Professional Webcam is a wonderful webcam for most individuals, but it surely’s not for everybody. If, like me, you need to have the ability to manually fine-tune the picture to your actual requirements, Dell’s Peripheral Supervisor software program lacks detailed controls (and the controls it does have aren’t practically sufficiently subtle). The extraordinarily image-detail-oriented may need to skip straight to a 4K webcam such because the Insta360 Hyperlink. However for everybody else, the Dell Professional Webcam provides superb picture high quality at a really cheap worth.
