It’s been quite some time since Logitech released a webcam for non-creators. The Logitech Brio 4K was released in his 2017, and the company’s ride-or-die C920 was first launched in his 2012.
So after just over a decade, Logitech has finally released a new 1080p full HD webcam for personal and professional users. Logitech Brio 500. 1080p webcams, especially Dell’s new similarly priced webcam is 2K When especially If the 10-year-old C920s are also 1080p full HD webcams, there’s more to webcams than just resolution. (And most video conferencing apps don’t let you stream at 1080p or better.)
In addition to 1080p/30fps; the Brio 500 has a 720p/60fps resolution with a 90-degree viewing angle (configurable to 78º or 65º), dual microphones, a built-in privacy shutter, Logitech’s RightLight 4 image alignment technology and experimental It has both “RightSight” AI. Auto framing function.
The Brio 500 is available in three colors, including off-white and rose (pink), and is priced at $129. That’s not a budget price, and it’s getting closer to his 4K webcams on sale (including Logitech’s own Brio 4K), but the webcam market is still a little skewed from the pandemic.
That said, you can find plenty of 1080p/30fps webcams for under $100, and the Brio 500 doesn’t really stand out. But while its main selling point he may be the internal improvements Logitech has made, remember that before the pandemic Logitech was actually the only webcam game in town.in the company many Experience here, and while the specs may not tell you that, the Brio 500’s performance does.
Brio 500 design
The Logitech Brio 500 has a more modern design than its predecessor. Not much to say, considering the previous product he is 5-10 years old.
The Brio 500 is housed in a wide, cylindrical plastic chassis and comes in three colors: graphite, off-white, and rose (my review unit is rose). The webcam is certified carbon neutral, and the chassis is made from post-consumer recycled plastic (68% graphite, 54% off-white and rose). It’s not the sleekest or smallest webcam (it’s actually bigger than the C920s, C930e, and Brio 4K), but it’s thin and light (2.8 ounces, not including the stand), so there’s nothing to complain about.
It’s not a very revolutionary design, but (finally) it incorporates a privacy shutter that twists the right end cap and slides up to reveal the camera. , I hate having to touch it, but I’m also paranoid enough to discredit non-physical privacy shutters. The Brio 500’s Privacy His shutter strikes the right balance of being an easy-to-operate physical shutter without disturbing the camera’s position.
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The Brio 500 comes with a 5-foot non-detachable USB-C cable, so you’ll need to plug it into your USB-C port or find a USB-C to USB-A adapter (not included). The webcam also comes with a magnetic monitor mount that secures to your monitor, with adjustable “feet” lined with micro-suction tape. And it makes the mount very stable.
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The webcam attaches to the mount magnetically. The round attachment point allows the camera to be rotated while still attached to the mount. The mount also has built-in tilt adjustment. Unscrew the magnet to reveal a standard tripod mounting point.
Adjusting the webcam on the mount is very easy. The only minor issue is that the magnets are too weak to comfortably lift the tilt adjustment. I accidentally pulled the webcam away from the mount when I tried to tilt the webcam abruptly. It’s not impossible. The webcam’s “Show Mode” feature is designed to show off what’s on your desk and probably requires a lot of tilt, so it’s not entirely seamless.
Brio 500 bright performance
My home office consists of four monitors (three 27″ and one 24″), real lighting (Elgato Ring Light, Elgato Key Light Air, Logitech Litra Glow), overhead lamps and desk lamps. Most webcams would consider this overexposed, but the Brio 500 adjusted exposure and white balance just fine to produce a bright, well-balanced image right out of the box.
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I was particularly impressed with the Brio 500’s auto white balance. The Brio 500 may still need some tweaking, but in my opinion its auto white balance and auto exposure are quite impressive, especially for a webcam that isn’t $200 or $300.
The Brio 500 produces images that are flatter and less dynamic overall than other webcams we’ve tested, such as the Insta360 Link. When it comes to webcam performance, a flat, evenly lit image is almost always the best-case scenario.
One feature Logitech is touting for the Brio 500 is RightLight 4. This is Logitech’s latest evolution of his RightLight technology. It uses face tracking and other factors to ensure that the subject is evenly lit in non-ideal lighting conditions.
Unfortunately RightLight 4 tries to do this even in very ideal lighting conditions. I played around with the lighting to see if I could create a more dynamic photo, but the RightLight 4 hampered me on every occasion and lit evenly no matter how dramatic I tried to create it. . Again, this isn’t really a problem considering it’s a webcam, but it may not be the best webcam for creating dramatic YouTube shorts.
Brio 500 low light performance
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To test the Brio 500’s low-light performance, I turned off all lights and the three monitors, leaving a single 27-inch monitor as the only light source. Brio performed very well. It’s obvious that I’m sitting in a dark room, but I can see both me and the background. This, too, could be thanks to RightLight 4.
Also, the Brio 500 definitely needed more gain to compensate for the lack of light in this setting (which you can see in the lack of detail in my facial features), but the overall image The Brio 4K’s low-light images are fairly similar to the Brio 500’s, but show less detail and rougher textures.
Brio 500 overexposed performance
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To test the performance of the Brio 500 in an overexposed setting, I turned off all front lights and 3 of the 4 monitors, leaving the background light and one 27″ monitor on. Did. The Brio 500 did a great job keeping the background well lit, even though the background looks pretty overexposed. It’s not perfect — if you look closely you can see that my facial features still lose a lot of detail compared to the bright spots — but the overall image looks very good. – You can see brighter and less rough skin.
Brio 500 microphone
The Brio 500 includes dual microphones with beamforming noise reduction technology designed to pick up your voice as you move around in front of the camera. Most webcam mics suck, but the Brio 500’s mic isn’t bad. Even though I was a few feet away, my voice was easily picked up as long as I was facing the webcam.
Also, my voice sounded richer and fuller than most webcam mics (which tend to sound hollow and distant). When I was near his Brio 500 and spoke directly, the mic quality was, dare I say it, comparable to a basic headset mic.
Brio 500 features and software
The Logitech Brio 500 works with Logitech’s Logi Tune software. This is Logitech’s… non-creator his webcam software for new peripherals (Logitech has lots of different peripheral apps). Use Logi Tune to update your Brio 500’s firmware and enable features like “RightSight” (AI autoframing, still in beta) and “Show Mode” (makes what’s on your desk easier to read/see) and can be changed. field of view. Logi Tune is also designed as a productivity app, integrating with calendar and video conferencing apps to streamline your schedule.
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Logi Tune also has an image adjustment section, with sliders for autofocus, auto exposure, auto white balance, HDR toggle, brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness. Manual sliders appear when you turn off autofocus, auto exposure, and auto white balance. Logi Tune is not the most accurate and detailed webcam app. It gives you slightly more control than Logitech’s Camera Settings app, but I still miss Logitech’s old Webcam Software.
Conclusion
The Logitech Brio 500 is actually a very impressive webcam that not only does a very good job of maintaining even lighting (arguably too good a job), it also looks great can also do. -Ideal setting. It features a cute, lightweight, carbon-neutral design, an easy-to-use built-in privacy shutter, and a microphone that won’t sound like you’re talking on a walkie-talkie in an underwater tunnel. do you want? Perhaps better peripheral software and a lower price.
The Brio 500 is $129, which isn’t out of the ordinary, but the C920, with the same 1080p/30fps resolution, can often be found for less than half that. A C930e with the same resolution and the same 90-degree field of view can often be found for around $80, and even the Brio 4K often sells for around $150, which is only $20 more. The Brio 500 has more than just resolution, but if you still think $129 is too high for 1080p, the Dell Pro Webcam WB5023 is worth considering. It also has excellent auto exposure and auto white balance, which adds a little extra at 2K. 1440p/30fps and 1080p/60fps streaming.
