Closer Examination

The Elgato Facecam is larger than any webcam I've tested to date. As far as image quality goes, this is of course a good thing since it hints at a larger built-in sensor and more complex optics. The body of the camera is entirely made out of black plastic, but feels sturdy, while at the same time remaining light. The design is entirely unobtrusive; the Facecam branding is found on the right side of the camera, and there's an etched Elgato logo on the top.


The 8-element all-glass lens system is protected with a basic privacy cap. There's no elegant way to take it off or put it on, nor did Elgato come up with a solution that would keep it affixed to the body of the camera. In other words, when you take it off, you'll have to be careful not to misplace it as you won't have anything to cover the camera with if you do. A sliding door mechanism would be a better, more appropriate solution, especially since there was obviously no intention to keep the camera as compact as possible. Unfortunately, Elgato didn't go down that route.


The front of the camera is dominated by the Elgato Prime Lens, an 8-element fixed focus all-glass lens system. On the left edge is a blue status LED whose behavior can be adjusted in the Camera Hub software. You can keep it always on, always off, or on when the camera is being used, which will likely be the preferred setting for most.


On the rear is a USB-C port for power and data transfer. To tap into the uncompressed 1080p60 video capture of the Facecam, the camera has to be connected to a USB 3.0 port. Assuming your motherboard offers multiple USB controllers, Elgato suggests selecting a USB 3.0 controller that isn't dealing with another external high-bandwidth USB device. The supplied 1.9-meter USB-C cable is removable and can be replaced with a longer cable if your gaming rig is farther away from your monitor.


The supplied monitor stand is wide and stable enough to confidently hold the largeish Facecam on top of any standard desktop monitor. While its front lip struck me as fairly "tall," it didn't cover an active part of my monitor's panel even though its upper bezel is only 9 millimeters thin. Of course, the monitor stand can double as a table stand should you want to use the camera that way. The mounted camera can be angled some 30° upwards and 45° downwards, making framing a breeze.


It takes no more than a few seconds to remove the supplied monitor stand and affix the Elgato Facecam to a third-party camera mount of any kind, such as the compact, desktop-sized mount I'm using for capturing some simple webcam footage around my home office.