Colours tend to be either dull or hopelessly oversaturated, and the angle your webcam shoots at is dictated by the angle of the screen, with some recent laptops placing it below the display so that it shoots right up your nose. Many still have a maximum video resolution of 720p, or struggle to maintain a decent picture in normal indoor lighting. How else will you do those bizarre close-up facial inserts and reaction videos?Įven if you use a laptop you might still want a better webcam, for the simple reason that many built-in webcams aren’t that good.

And if you plan to take up streaming, a decent webcam is every bit as essential as a microphone. What’s more, some of us are now expected to join in videoconferences and chats for work. That’s a shame because as more of us use Skype and similar services to keep in touch, a webcam is starting to feel essential.

While you will struggle to find a phone, laptop or tablet without a front-facing camera, there’s still one device that goes without one: the desktop PC.

Test my camera for zoom