The current state of the world has taught us many things; some of them unexpected. For example: that the webcam on your laptop is crap and that if you want to look good or be distinguished from the back of your living room you need a dedicated webcam.
Many manufacturers have launched or relaunched webcams to make the Zoom, Teams or Meet calls that many workers make every day look better. Curiously, the best of all the ones I have tried in a long time has been launched thinking more about gamers who broadcast on Twitch than about stressed out curritos because each call lengthens their working day more.
In these times, having a good webcam seems mandatory if you are a gamer, vain or want your boss to see your best face in work meetings
This is where the Razer Kiyo Pro comes in, a name very from the south of Spain for a product that is still a video surveillance camera embedded in the body of a webcam and with a good support so that it remains well upright on the monitor that you use to play or work. It can also be adapted to a tripod, because if you plan to use it with a laptop: I have bad news: it weighs enough so that the thin screens of these computers can be bent or even damaged.
I do not think this is a negative point at all, it is a matter of physics. The truth is that the Razer Kiyo Pro has many good things, starting with the image quality. It works very well when the light is not ideal, although you will always get the most out of it if you get enough light. It will show grain yes or yes when there is a lot of light, but it is one of the webcams that gives the best image when you do not have two professional spotlights pointing at your face.
It’s not going to unseat a dedicated photo or video camera, like the one used by Ibai and other great content creators, but for someone just starting out it’s scary. Perhaps that is why its price does not quite fit in with this idea: for 200 euros, although its competition moves in the same range, it is a bit expensive.
In exchange for that money, you receive a webcam with FullHD resolution and 60fps, the ability to record in HDR, automatic focus (which I recommend deactivating because it is very aggressive) and many customization options from the proprietary software, the Razer Synapse 3. And if you are of those who worry about recording from their webcam, bring a cover for when you are not using it.
If you don’t want to complicate yourself with a camera or a mobile phone and the software, cables and other steps that must be taken to connect it and make them work together with the computer, a camera like the Kiyo Pro can be a good solution without too many difficulties despite the price you have to pay for it.