I’ve tried each webcam answer you possibly can think about. Constructed-in webcam: mushy, blurry mess virtually it doesn’t matter what system you’re utilizing. Low cost webcam from Logitech: barely higher, however mainly the identical. Fancy webcam from Opal: seems nice, infuriatingly finicky. DSLR on a tripod: seems even higher, usually much more finicky. Extra just lately, I’ve settled on utilizing Apple’s Continuity Digicam, which helps you to use your iPhone as a webcam. It really works nice! As long as you might have a solution to prop up the digicam simply so and may take care of the not-so-occasional moments the place the digicam simply doesn’t seem in Google Meet’s settings.
However I’m right here to let you know there’s an answer, or at the least a salve, for all our webcam issues. It’s known as Camo, and it’s an app for Mac and Home windows that improves nearly any webcam you might have. It provides you an enormous set of instruments, filters, and settings you should utilize to dial within the good picture — or at the least lastly ditch the “I’m in a darkish, blurry cave” look as soon as and for all.
Camo has been round for some time, really. Its guardian firm, Reincubate, initially created the app within the early days of the pandemic to assist individuals use their telephones as webcams. When Continuity Digicam launched, I figured Camo was lifeless within the water. However the firm simply launched model 2.0 of the app, which now works with virtually each webcam, together with the one constructed into your pc. It has new options, works extra reliably, and is, for my cash, the most effective webcam instrument you’ll discover.
Let me get the dangerous stuff out of the way in which first whereas we’re crapping on webcams on the whole. Camo ain’t low cost. You get a few of its primary options totally free, however for virtually all the pieces good in regards to the app, you’ll need to pay $5 a month, $40 a 12 months, or $80 as soon as. That alone makes Camo a instrument largely for individuals who have causes to essentially care about video high quality. However for those who do actually care, this can be a instrument you’re going to need.
What do you get for all that cash? One phrase: choices. Camo successfully provides you guide management over your webcam. You may tweak the brightness and saturation of your shot, add filters and overlays, and even mess with the decision. You may management the flash to offer your self a bit extra gentle or zoom and pan the digicam to border issues good. Within the newest model, there’s a brand new green-screen mode, a privateness mode that blurs all the pieces behind you, and a portrait mode even for webcams that may’t do portrait mode. Camo even borrows a bunch of Snap’s AR filters, which suggests you possibly can have a jaguar face or a humongous head in any video app you utilize.
All of that is software program, so whereas it will probably make a whole lot of issues higher, it will probably’t magically flip your crummy webcam into an incredible one. And its software program has most of the blocky imperfections you’d see within the portrait or evening modes in your telephone. Nonetheless, I used to be capable of make a whole lot of helpful changes to my iPhone 14 Professional’s video with out making issues look bizarre and synthetic, however as quickly as I began tweaking my MacBook Air’s built-in webcam, it grew to become apparent I used to be faking the lighting. There’s simply solely a lot you are able to do with dangerous {hardware}. Nonetheless, you’d be stunned how a lot distinction even just a bit brightness and bokeh make, and each system I’ve examined to this point has appeared higher via Camo than by itself.
The place Camo most clearly shines is if you join your smartphone, notably an iPhone — Camo may fit with all the pieces, nevertheless it’s nonetheless greatest with Apple gear. It’s simply so significantly better than Continuity Digicam. By default, Continuity Digicam provides you virtually no management aside from a few semi-useful filters like Portrait and Middle Stage. However join by way of Camo and you’ll zoom in or out, you possibly can change your digicam’s body fee, you possibly can shoot vertically as a substitute of in panorama, and you’ll add a filter that makes all the pieces purple for some cause. And at the least to my eyes, all of it occurs with none loss in picture high quality.
Camo may fit with all the pieces, nevertheless it’s nonetheless greatest with Apple gear
When you use Camo by opening the app earlier than plugging your telephone in fairly than connecting mechanically by way of Continuity Digicam, you get much more management over your video. You may change between the lenses in your system, which, for me, is well worth the value alone. You may change to guide focus. Camo says the app is extra environment friendly operating that means, too, which must be excellent news on your battery. (I also needs to reiterate that Camo helps you to use any telephone, Android or iPhone, as your webcam, which is a terrific solution to repurpose an outdated smartphone you might have mendacity round.)
You should use Camo to endlessly futz together with your settings and even to file video straight off your system. Personally, I ultimately landed on a glance I like and haven’t touched it since. Now, each time I be part of a video name, I’ve my telephone zoomed to 125 p.c simply to get a bit of my background out of the image. I turned on the Portrait setting and blurred my background a smidge, then enabled the brand new Highlight function simply to brighten my face a bit. Every little thing else I left alone as a result of the iPhone’s digicam is a reasonably good reader of sunshine. Oh, and I turned on the Emoji Arms AR filter. It’s silly, nevertheless it makes me snigger.
