Content creators often find themselves not just needing a static positioned camera to show their faces, but something to show on a bench or a table from an overhead viewpoint, and which can be easily repositioned. Perhaps the best example would be game streamers wanting a viewport showing their user inputs in real time; or an engineering content creator wanting to show something on their bench from top. For these applications and more, Logitech launched the new Logitech Reach, a 2-in-1 Full HD webcam and overhead camera. The star attraction here isn't the camera itself, but its armature, which has been meticulously engineered by Logitech to provide a near-spherical freedom of movement for the camera. Reposition it in real time, and it will hold its position—no need to turn any fasteners to hold it in place, but a simple locking mechanism.

The armature of the Logitech Reach allows full 360° freedom of motion for the camera along a radius. The second axis of movement is vertical, letting you raise of lower the distance between the camera and the object, so you could optically zoom. Besides horizontal and vertical movements, the camera itself is suspended along an pivot, for an added dimension. Moving the camera around is single handed, and practically effortless. The Reach allows content creators to easily and quickly change viewpoints, from themselves, to an object that they're trying to show their audience. The camera additionally features an up to 4.3x lossless zoom, autofocus, and intrinsic image stabilization from the armature.With its maximum zoom-out, the Logitech Reach can cover a desktop surface view area of 30 cm x 55 cm; and with maximum zoom in, an area of 7 cm x 13 cm. Its independent lateral adjustments are single handed, with a horizontal range of 32.3 cm; while its independent vertical adjustments using a push-button lock, allows a 31 cm of vertical travel. The camera head itself allows 360° rotation of the camera ring, 180° tilt, and 360° rotation along a ball joint.

There are two kinds of armature options, one is a weighted base, and the other is a desk clamp type. The weighted base version allows you to move the entire rig around your table single handedly. The clamp version comes in useful for additional mechanical stability—say you're trying to show machinery from a vertical viewpoint, such as mechanized carpentry or metal machining. The weighted base mount version measures 59 cm x 19 cm x 19 cm (HxLxW); while the clamp version measures 53 cm x 55 cm x 19 cm (HxLxW). The weighted base version has no mechanical requirements as such; but the clamp version can hold onto table tops as thick as 5.6 cm, and needs an under-table clearance of 5.4 cm. The armature switches between its usual desktop mode, to a space-saving compact more, where its two beams can be made to align, reducing its footprint. This mode comes in useful when you just want to use it like a webcam, with a viewport facing you.As for the camera itself, it is a variant of the Logitech Streamcam that's capable of Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) video at 60 FPS, with all-glass optics, and autofocus. The webcam streams in M.JPEG. Its glass lens features f/2.0 with focal length 3.7 mm and 78° diagonal field of view. You may probably have a premium microphone setup, but the camera integrates a set of dual omnidirectional mics of its own, with a noise reduction filter. The camera connects to your PC, phone, or tablet over USB-C (USB3, 5 Gbps); not counting the mount and its armature, you get about 90 cm of cable from the base. You may use extension cables, provided that can reliably connect the 5 Gbps data link. The camera and mount is covered in non-marring rubberized grip layer.

Hands On with the Logitech Reach

At the 2024 International CES, we got a chance to go hands on with the Logitech Reach. We weren't allowed to share our pictures or experience until now. The Reach works exactly the way we'd have wanted a device like this to work. This is the closest it gets to a camera drone hovering over a vertical viewport, but without the buzzing noise or movement. You simply move and position the camera to where you want it, and it stays there solid. If your environment doesn't have heavy mechanical whirring involved, the weighted base is perfect for most usecases. For everyone else, there's the clamp.

We were shown practical demos of the Reach with objects placed on the desktop, either laid flat, or with a horizontal viewport (eg: a globe). We can see great potential for this device in the hands not just of creators, but also online educators.

The Logitech Reach will be available from July 2024, at an MSRP of USD $350.