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Recommended Webcams for use with RightBooth

We are often asked which webcam performs the best with RightBooth. There is no simple answer to this question as there are many factors that affect the video recording performance.

Here we explain our findings with a number of popular webcams.
For details on how to apply the RightBooth video settings mentioned below, read this article

Please note that all our tests are conducted within a quiet, brightly lit and evenly lit environment using the latest webcam device drivers and firmware updates that can be obtained from the webcam manufacturer's website.

Logitech StreamCam - RECOMMENDED FOR USB-C Connection
​Price: around $100

This webcam offers fantastic video quality, audio quality and recoding frame rates when connected to a USB-C port. In our testing, we achieved the following recording results:
  • 25 frames per second (fps) at 1920x1080
  • 45 fps at 1280x720
  • 60 fps at 960x540 (and all lower sizes).
To achieve these recording frame rates, you must:
  • connect the camera to a USB-C port and not to a standard USB port.
  • set the Data Type to MJPG in RightBooth Settings --> Webcam video​
  • set the Recording frame rate to 60 in RightBooth Settings --> Webcam video.  
  • optionally set the Video bit rate to a high value e.g. 12000 to improve the video recording quality in RightBooth Settings --> Webcam video

​IMPORTANT.  If you connect this camera to a standard USB port you will not achieve recording frame rates greater than 30fps.
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USB-C port

Logitech C920 and C922 - RECOMMENDED 
​Price: around $75

This webcam offers great recording quality and performance within RightBooth on all operating systems and hardware we have tested it on.

Note: Logitech states that the C922 can record at 1280x720x60fps, although we have not tested this configuration in RightBooth.  The C920 has a maximum recording rate of 30fps.

The C920 has the added benefit of providing the H264 data format under Windows 7 and 8.1 for increased video compression, which also helps with recording performance whilst keeping file sizes to a minimum.

If you have Windows 7, you can easily achieve 1920x1080 at 30 fps video recording with the default AVI settings as this will automatically make use of the H264 format.  You can also configure it for H264 on Windows 8.1 if required.

Note: The C920 does not record at H264 using RightBooth in Windows 10 and 11, but it still delivers great performance and video quality.

In our tests we saw great performance on most Windows OS's, typically achieving 960x720 HD and 1280x720 HD recordings at frame rates between 15 to 25 frames per second in most situations.

C920 INTERNAL MIC - IMPORTANT
Please be aware that the C920 internal mic is very sensitive to background noise and to loud noise close up to the mic, which can cause the recorded audio to be very distorted.

There are two ways to help prevent this:
  1. In the Logitech Webcam settings, turn off 'RightSound'
  2. In the RightBooth Audio Input settings, turn on the Audio input level setting and set the audio slider to less than half way.

Then try recording a video with loud sounds near the MIC until you get the audio recording to a satisfactory level.  You can check the audio meters while altering the input level to check that the meters don't go into the red too often
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Logitech C270 - RECOMMENDED    
Price: around $22

If your budget doesn't stretch to the C920 then you can't go wrong with the cheaper C270 which offers video recording up to HD 1280x720.

This webcam is excellent value for money and provides great recording quality and performance.

You should be able to achieve great video at 1280x720, at 15 or 20 fps on most systems.
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Logitech C615 - RECOMMENDED BY USER
This is a webcam we haven't tested ourselves but has great reviews from around the Internet and also from a number of our RightBooth users.

A reasonably cheap webcam offering HD recording with fantastic focusing and audio quality.


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Creative Live Cam Sync HD - RECOMMENDED
Price: around $25
This webcam is capable of recording 1280x720 HD video at up to 30 frames per second.
The video quality is acceptable with the right lighting, but quite grainy if not.
The audio quality is both clear and accurate.
This webcam has worked well on all our test systems, including Windows 10.

Our best results were obtained with the following RightBooth video settings:

​Setup 1
1280x720 HD video recording at 20 frames per second.  Recording format: AVI, compressed.
Video compressor: MJPEG, Audio compressor: PCM. Data type: MJPEG.

Setup 2
960x720 HD video recording at 15 frames per second.  Recording format: WMV.
Video bit rate: 3000 (or 6000).  This produces smaller sized files than Setup 1.
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Logitech C250 - RECOMMENDED 
Price: around $15

Cheaper still than the C270 is the C250.

This budget webcam records great looking video at its maximum resolution of 640x480 at 30fps, which we easily achieved on all our systems.
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Microsoft Lifecam Full HD 1080P - Model 1425
RECOMMENDED BY USERS FOR PHOTO CAPTURE ONLY

Price:  Can be found from as little as $30
We have not tried this webcam ourselves but a number of our RightBooth users highly recommend it for capturing photos, saying that it far outperforms the Logitech C920 in terms of image quality.

Unfortunately, this webcam gives some lip sync problems when recording video using RightBooth so we cannot recommend it for video recording, but if all you need is a high quality photo booth without breaking the bank on a DSLR camera then give this webcam a look.

See the Lifecam 720P model (next).
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Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD - Model 1393
​RECOMMENDED

Price: around $15
​This webcam can record video at up to 720p resolution.

Our Tests

PC 1
Dell desktop. Windows 10 Home 64 bit Creators Update
We can record 1280x720 at 30 frames per second.  WMV and also AVI with MJPEG compression or uncompressed, all without any problems.

PC 2
Dell desktop. Windows 7 32 bit. Latest OS updates.
We can record 1280 x 720 at 30 frames per second.  WMV format.  Recording AVI is not smooth.

PC 3
Acer laptop. Windows 10 Home 64 bit Anniversary Edition
Both previewing and recording is jerky and is freezing for about 1/4 second every second.
The webcam is therefore unusable on this PC.

Conclusion:  For the price this webcam is worth trying, because when it works the performance is great, screen updates are smooth and the quality of the recordings are excellent.
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Logitech Brio - NOT RECOMMENDED
Logitech released the new 4K Brio in February 2017.
This product offers video recording up to 4K HD but from what we can tell this is only available from within the application that Logitech provides with the webcam. So this webcam does not work at 4K resolution in RightBooth.

At all other resolutions this webcam performs similar to its predecessor, the C920, so if you were thinking about the Brio purely for use in RightBooth then go for the C920 instead.

Logitech C930e - NOT RECOMMENDED
We have struggled to get this webcam to perform fluently on any of our test equipment especially when trying to record video at resolutions of 1280x720 or higher.
This webcam works with Variable Bit Rate throughput, but VBR can cause problems when trying to record consistent video to disk with good lip sync.

If you are considering the C930e, we would recommend you opt instead for the C920.
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  • Home
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    • User stories >
      • Mike Ridge
      • Tony Kay
      • Dave Bladen
      • Steven D Mills
      • Sue Crossland
      • Luke Dalby
      • McMaster University
      • Hangloose
      • Paul Waterhouse
      • Raf Sauvillers
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