Dear webcam manufacturers, primarily Logitech…
I love your webcams, I really do.
I love that we have so many options, both in terms of specs and quality but also for
what they’re intended to be used for.
There’s super basic webcams for quick video calls, all the way up to more professional-oriented
webcams like the BRIO 4k pro webcam.
Higher resolution, more megapixels, higher frame rates, USB 3.0 - things are improving
with the hardware.
I couldn’t be happier about that.
But the software… the camera settings tool… hasn’t improved much since, ever.
It sucks.
It’s nice that we now have manual control over some general settings for the webcam,
but these aren’t the right settings…
These are a band aid to the actual problem at hand.
Here’s what I’d really, really want you to do: Give us an advanced settings tool to
control the actual camera’s settings.
You know, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO.
It’s a camera, so it functions on those settings.
Not “brightness” and post-processing contrast or color intensity.
That’s fine, but let me actually control how the camera feeds video.
I have to imagine that’s the only possible way I can truly lock it down and keep the
frame rate stable.
I’m sure it would be a support nightmare - webcams are a mainstream product for a generalized
audience.
But that’s the whole point of releasing “pro” models, right?
Make it an advanced tool, a secondary download, buried in a menu with no support given and
a big “reset” button for those who can’t get it right.
But please, let me manually set the settings.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s somehow not possible.
I would accept that if there was an explanation with such an answer, but until then I can’t
help but feel we’re being limited in what we can do with the webcams.
I don’t expect insane results from the hardware.
I don’t even expect new products.
I just want to be given actual “professional” control options for your “professional”
webcams.
Is that too much to ask?