Amcrest 1080P Webcam with Microphone & Privacy Cov…

This camera works pretty well! I purchased this in August of 2020 and as of now it is ~4.5 years old with no major malfunctions. I've moved twice since then and the computer has moved countless times around the houses. I have it hooked up to a Windows 11 PC that I use for fun and work with a dedicated graphics card, so YMMV. I keep a daylight (5000K) lamp behind my PC monitor for lighting.

It's a solid 1080p camera that records at 30FPS. The cable is ~4ft long and plugs in via USB 2.0/3.0. It works well and functions as a good webcam for business and work applications, but if you want something more on the videography level (i.e., streaming, dance, makeup, etc.), this is not the camera for you.

A few things to note:
-There is a very strong fish-eye/fish-bowl effect. We're talking truly round, almost like looking at a diagram for eyeglass lenses. Everything looks fine in the center, but be prepared for slightly rounder features and faces.
-There is a very weak sidelight around the camera lens. If you attach the adhesive camera cover, it completely eliminates the effect and will work as more of an on/off indicator light. Also, the adhesive camera cover does not last forever, and fell off 1 month ago (~4.5 years). I superglued it on and it works fine.
-Regarding capture of non-white skin tones: It's not perfect. I am a light-skinned Southern Chinese man and it always picks my skin up as paler than it really is, even in the summer when my skin tans pretty rapidly. The other issue is that it has trouble resolving shadows on my face and neck. On the one hand, if I'm lazy about shaving I can get away with it. On the other, it doesn't know how to resolve the contours of my face so it can look pretty flat and round. This is made very obvious when I turn the lamp behind my monitor off and you can see all the shadows cast by the contours of my face, but then it has trouble resolving the actual facial planes.
-The microphone quality is mediocre and kind of tinny. I use a separate studio microphone instead (Yeti Snoball).

On the one hand, do I want something a little nicer now in 2025 when 60FPS cameras are widely available? Yes. Is there anything wrong with this one? No. For its price and durability, this has worked really well. Definitely a keeper.

This is a review of the 1080p Amcrest webcam. Lots of people are working from home due to the COVID pandemic, so I thought a webcam review would be review.

I currently use a 2017 MacBook Pro with TouchBar and the Amcrest camera will be compared against the MacBook Pro’s 720p FaceTime HD Camera.

Step Up:

Opening: This was deliver well packaged with not damage to the item, and unboxing it was easy. I appreciate that Amcrest includes a camera cover. The cover is attached with adhesive to the front face of the camera, and clicks open and close. Since I use a dock (CalDigit TS3 Plus, and it’s on a laptop, I found it easier just to unplug the webcam at night or when I’m not using for that extra peace of mind.

Mounting: Mounting it was very easy and if you’ve ever used a Logitech Webcam, it will be the same. If you havent, the quick set up instructions are informative and it takes 30 seconds total to finish attaching it to your monitor.

Plug and Play: I plugged in the Amcrest webcam to my dock’s USB A port. You should note, that this is a USB A product so if you have an Apple laptop after 2016 you will need a USB C to A adapter for this or to use a dock with your laptop. Nothing popped up on the screen after plugging in the webcam so I wasn’t sure if the driver installed correctly or not. Usually, Window’s computers have a notification pop up, letting you know the device was recognized.

I opened the Apple FaceTime app and was still puzzled why it used my laptop’s built in webcam instead of the Amcrest webcam. I finally figured out that you have to go to the menu bar up top, click “video” and then go down the list and select the Amcrest HD webcam.

Similarly, when using Google Meet or another online conferencing service, I had to click into the settings, and change the camera being used. Every time I joined a new conference, it would default to the built in webcam. I’m not sure if there’s a way on the OS X to change that, but it isn’t a big issue.

Quality: The 1080p image quality is a noticeable improvement from the now-outdated 720p camera that Apple supplies on all its iMacs and laptops. However, on the Amcrest, the colors seemed washed out. It appears that the camera does some sort of image softening. I would hazard a guess it’s to make wrinkles and other things less subtle on faces, but I was not a huge fan of it. Also, the image color scheme was odd… my skin color ended up being a few shades lighter and the room had a blue-ash tint to it. Parts of my face were literally glowing, which, may be nice for YouTube production videos, but I think I would find it a bit unusual on work conference calls.

Overall: I would say this is a good quality webcam. My receding hairline is much more obvious on this camera than on my laptop’s built in webcam, ha! When the image popped up my first reaction was “oh god.” I like that with a dedicated webcam, the image is higher up than a laptop’s built in webcam, so the video angle looks more natural as if you were talking to a colleague in person.

The quality of the camera itself is good — I can see the seams on my shirt or details on the wall more clearly than with the laptop’s built in 720p webcam. Unfortunately, I found the image softening and the washed out color a bit unusual. I do look “better” with fewer wrinkles, but I also would rather look natural on video conference calls. You may have a difference preference and enjoy this feature. It does not seem like there’s an option to turn it on or off.

All in all, it’s a very affordable webcam, but I had to remove 1 star because of the image softening and the odd color scheme which makes me a few shades lighter and isn’t realistic.