---
title: 'I Love Elgato''s New Webcam — Facecam 4K'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=q0OmN9jsy2M'
video_id: 'q0OmN9jsy2M'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 547
---

# I Love Elgato's New Webcam — Facecam 4K

> Source: [I Love Elgato's New Webcam — Facecam 4K](https://youtube.com/watch?v=q0OmN9jsy2M)

## Summary

Elgato's new Facecam 4K webcam brings 4K60 video to a $200 price point, making it the second 4K60 webcam on the market. The video reviews its unique magnetic filter system, compares it to competitors like the Insta360 Link 2C and the pricier Facecam Pro, and discusses the trade-offs of removing autofocus.

### Key Points

- **High-quality webcams under $100** [00:01] — The video opens by noting that high-quality webcams are available for under $100, setting the stage for why Elgato's new Facecam 4K needs to prove its worth.
- **Elgato Facecam 4K introduction** [00:16] — The video is shot entirely on the Elgato Facecam 4K, which is the second 4K60 webcam on the market, following the original Facecam Pro released three years ago at $300.
- **Price advantage** [00:43] — The Facecam 4K is a third of the price cheaper than the Facecam Pro, potentially making 4K60 the new webcam standard.
- **Importance of 4K60** [00:58] — 4K60 streaming is becoming standard on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, especially for multi-streaming and TV viewing. 4K allows cropping and punching in without pixelation, and 60fps is smoother.
- **Vertical cropping benefit** [01:27] — Using OBS to crop into vertical for short-form content, a 4K camera maintains high definition (more than 1080p), whereas an HD camera drops to about 480p or 540p.
- **Magnetic filter mount** [01:55] — The big new feature is a magnetic mount on the front that allows attaching filters. Three filters are showcased: black mist, retro soft, and polarizer.
- **Black mist filter effect** [02:19] — The black mist filter adds a haze and softens light, creating a blur effect that is especially cool for streamers with RGB lights. It simulates depth of field on a webcam.
- **Sponsor: Own.pro** [03:02] — Own.pro is a sponsor offering stream widgets. The creator uses four widgets: chat overlay, stream beats tracker, hypometer, and rotating label widget.
- **Retro soft filter** [03:56] — The retro soft filter adjusts colors for a retro camera look. Using hardware filters gives a higher quality finish without crushing the webcam's quality.
- **Polarizer filter** [04:22] — The polarizer removes reflected light, such as glare from glasses or surfaces. It filters out polarized light, demonstrated with a pair of glasses.
- **Filters are universal** [05:23] — The filters are not Elgato branded; any 49mm diameter filter works. Elgato even includes a polarizer option at checkout instead of a lens cap.
- **Comparison with Insta360 Link 2C** [05:51] — The Facecam 4K is compared to the Insta360 Link 2C ($150, 4K30). The Facecam is wider, which the creator prefers, and colors differ slightly. The 2C has added sharpening.
- **Removing autofocus** [06:45] — Elgato removed autofocus to bring the price down. The creator supports this, noting that autofocus can cause focus hunting. The fixed focus range is 1 to 4 feet.
- **Comparison with Facecam Pro** [07:24] — The Facecam 4K has a more natural look and is easier to tune than the Facecam Pro, which requires more adjustment. The Pro has better dynamic range in dark areas.
- **Elgato Camera Hub integration** [08:21] — Combining the Facecam 4K with Elgato Camera Hub offers simple controls, LUTs, and a unique webcam experience. The creator plans to use the black mist filter heavily.

### Conclusion

The Elgato Facecam 4K offers a compelling package at $200, with 4K60 video and a unique magnetic filter system. Its fixed focus and natural image quality make it a strong choice for streamers and content creators, though it lacks autofocus and has less dynamic range than the pricier Facecam Pro.

## Transcript

Mostly because you can get a really high-quality webcam for under $100. Now, if you're going to release a new webcam in 2025, like Elgato just did with the something new. You're going to have to prove that your webcam is worth
existing. Elgato did two new things with the Facecam 4K other than just looking looking at right now that I'll be using for the whole video is shot on the Elgato Facecam 4K. And let's just jump into what this webcam is right from the
get- go so you know what you're looking at. That makes this the second 4K 60 webcam on the market, only behind Elgato's
original Face Cam Pro that released almost 3 years ago for $300. So Elgato kind of owns the 4K 60 webcam space here. And this webcam being a third of the price cheaper than the previous one could mean that 4K 60 starts to become
the webcam standard moving forward. But how important is 4K60 in a webcam? Well, matters. Number one, 4K 60 streaming is becoming more of a standard here. Twitch had it. And especially if you're multi streaming to both, a lot of people are
watching live streams on their TV now, especially on YouTube. And so if you screen, you're not going to get any kind of degradation in quality. 4K also gives you the flexibility to punch in on a meme or recrop yourself for a different
angle without having to turn yourself into a giant block of pixels. And being frames per second is really helpful. And reason number three, if you're using OBS in order to crop into vertical for short form content, that cropped shot is
still high definition. It's still more than 1080p if you're using a 4K camera versus if you're using an HD camera, you're going down to about 480p, maybe 540p. If none of that really matters to you, then it's all whatever. So, let's
talk about the big new thing here, that big mount on the front that allows you camera. I have these three filters that I want to show you. And if you're primarily a streamer, you've probably never used something like this before,
So, let's put them on here. I want to show you what they do. That way you can understand why I rarely get any footage without putting a filter on my lens. Let's start with the first one and my personal favorite. This one's called a
camera lenses. I use it in a lot of my shots and it's especially cool for any streamers that are using any kind of RGB lights behind them. The filter itself doesn't do too much to a normal object like a person or a face, but as you can
see from the lights next to me and the lights in the PC, it adds a haze. It's almost like there's smoke in the room. It softens the light. It expands the light. It gives this really cool blur and haze effect. It's a subtle effect if
has a background blur, but on a webcam, it's especially cool because you have a hard time getting that depth of field, that background blur. And this is kind pop off a background. I'm going to show you what this next filter looks like
today's video. Other than a new webcam or a filter, a great way to make your using graphics or widgets. And that's where today's sponsor, Own.pro, really shop for all your stream widget needs. They've been going hard at making a
bunch of really cool, really minimal and clean widgets for your streams. I use four of them in my live stream right now. I use a chat overlay to show chat to show what stream beats track you're listening to. I use their hypometer,
on it with them. It's like a subtrain widget, but you can use multiple events like subs and bits to trigger it or even multiple platforms like YouTube members same time. And then I also use the rotating label widget which shows you
the most recent donator, and really whatever you want because you have link in the description below, go check out own.pro, add some widgets to your bit. Let's get back to this filter here. This one is more of a stylized filter.
It's called a retro soft filter. It adjusts the colors a little bit, adjusts give it that retro camera look. A lot of people will add an effect like this in software, but if you can use a hardware
give you a little bit of a higher quality finish without crushing any of of the webcam itself. There are a lot of aesthetic filters like this out here, it's kind of fun to go down some rabbit holes and explore with your look a
the most important one. It's called a polarizer. But what a polarizer does is it removes reflected light, like light that may be bounced off of glasses, for bounces off a surface, often it polarizes the light. And so use
something like a CPL or a polarizer here, and it filters out polarized light. So you can see this effect. These are my wife's glasses. them to reflect the light here. And then I'm going to turn this polarizer
until the reflection is gone. Did you see that? Let's bring it back. see that? Let's bring it back. Reflected light.
completely gone, but it is a lot better. And if you want to go even harder, you that'll go in front of your lights that'll polarize the light even harder, a link to that light filter in the description. I'll also put a link to all
one of the coolest things here is none of these filters are Elgato branded. In just need to make sure that they're a 49 mm diameter filter. I'm going to put even going to include a polarizer with your camera. Well, when you when you buy
this camera at checkout, you can choose to either have a lens cap or a polarizer, which is pretty cool because this polarizer that's on there right now is 30 bucks. But how does this webcam compare to other webcams on the market?
side shot here that there is an Insta3 Link 2C sitting on top of it, ready for a side-by-side comparison. I'll say what I said before. Almost any webcam you buy would have never even considered shooting a whole video on a webcam. But
to complain about. This what you're looking at right now is the Insta360 Link 2C. It's $150. It's 4K 30. They both look very good, but there are some differences. The first thing you might notice is that the Elgato Face Cam 4K is
wider, which personally I prefer. I'd rather punch in than punch out. But if tight on your face, you don't want to have to digitally zoom in, maybe this You'll notice some things like the colors are going to be slightly
different between the two. I did adjust both cameras quite a bit trying to get them to both look their best. And I do think the 2C has sharpening added in the Insta3 software that I didn't take off. So that might be why you see a little
360 here. But one of the ways that Elgato was able to bring 4K 60 down from 300 to $200 is by removing autofocus, similar to what they did with their 1080p webcams. I don't hate this decision at all. In fact, I think for
even high-end webcams with good autofocus software, they will they're tracking and they'll have to do that focus hunting little wow thing that they do. And so with a camera like this where you're in focus, uh, Elgato says
anywhere between 1 ft and 4T, which I think looks pretty accurate to me, you whole time, you're not going to get any of that focus hunting and it cuts the cost of the webcam down a lot. If we compare this one to the $300 Face Cam
Pro, there are two main differences I noticed between the two other than just slight difference in color, which you'll notice jumping back and forth. But I felt like the Facecam 4K had a much more natural look. It was much more tuned
used the Face Cam Pro, I felt like I had to spend quite a bit more time getting it to look the way I want. But if I better. So, it almost feels like the Face Cam Pro is for pros. There is
from this camera. I mean, just look at the the dark area behind me on the Face the the dark area behind me on the Face Cam Pro versus the Facecam 4K. We've got almost nothing back there. Back to the Face Cam Pro. You can see the entire
for the Facecam 4K. What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on the the most looking at it? What do you think about the filters? I think this is Elgato does best. If you take this webcam and you combine it with Elgato
Camera Hub, you have simple controls. You can add things like LUTs to change camera, you're getting 4K 60 and filters. You're getting an incredibly unique webcam experience that you can't get from other ones. I'm looking forward
gravitate towards the most. I know I'm going to throw the black mist filter on mine probably pretty heavily. I've got two of them combined here for extra guys, hope you enjoyed the video. Like the video if you haven't already.
Subscribe if you're not subscribed, you want to see more, leave a comment down. your favorite emoji for engagement. And as always, happy streaming. [Music]