Do All Webcams Suck?

Generally speaking, when most people hear “webcam”, they don’t exactly equate that with “high quality image”; the main reason for this is that webcams started out as being very poorly-constructed, awful-image-resolution plastic pieces of crap. In addition, there were scores of higher-priced webcams that shoved in software features but didn’t improve picture quality at all. As such, “webcam” has a bit of a stigma attached to it.

But do webcams still suck? Are they still all crap?

Unfortunately yes, most of them are. Why? Because no matter how many megapixels the cam claims to have, it can only achieve high resolution through “software enhancement”, which for the most part is just software trickery that doesn’t improve the picture all that much.

All is not lost however, as there are a few that are genuinely good cams.

Now before continuing, yes these are all Microsoft webcams. I purposely recommend these because it does not take “software enhancement” just to get them to perform correctly.

Microsoft Lifecam Cinema
Price: $46

Hey, look ma! A webcam with an actual glass element lens! Yes, this webcam actually uses real glass, can shoot 720p and can do 30fps.

Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000
Price: $30

This one definitely wins in the “looks cool” department, and fortunately it can live up to its looks. This like the Lifecam Cinema can do true 720p and is also billed as having a design that not only works on desktop monitors but is also laptop-friendly.

Microsoft Lifecam HD-6000
Price: $44

The biggest difference between the 6000 and the 3000 isn’t necessarily the picture but rather the microphone. The 6000 is billed as a “for business” webcam, and with its in-built better-than-average noise cancelling tech, it makes for recording meetings and things of that sort a lot easier. Like the 3000, it’s very laptop-friendly.