Camera Hub Software

The Elgato Facecam comes with the Camera Hub Windows/macOS application, which can be used to configure various camera settings, preview its live feed, update its firmware, and overwrite its default settings with preferred ones. The latter is possible thanks to the onboard flash memory. Unfortunately, there's only room for a single configuration profile which inevitably overwrites the default one, so there's no way to switch between the default and a custom-made profile. If you want to go back to the default one, you have to reset the camera to its factory settings and save them on the flash memory. Elgato has to add an option to create more configuration profiles. While we wouldn't be able to save them on the camera, we could still quickly switch between them through Camera Hub. I'm sure many of us would love to be able to create separate configuration profiles for daytime and nighttime streaming. I'm told by the company that this feature is in development and will come with full Stream Deck support.

The general idea of having a configuration profile saved on the camera is excellent. Various videoconferencing and streaming applications are known for "hijacking" and altering webcam settings. When you have your preferred settings saved on the camera, applying them is as simple as selecting the default camera settings in your videoconferencing/streaming app of choice.

Instead of going over the Camera Hub's settings one by one, I've recorded a video with an active preview, so you can see what each of them is exactly used for.


First, let me point out that the Elgato Facecam is one of only a few webcams whose settings can be used in a meaningful way and don't feel slapped on. Changing settings like contrast, saturation, sharpness, exposure, and white balance feels gradual and smooth. As a result, you should have no issues achieving the look you want to go for.

Do note that the Exposure section has a real-time ISO meter—a first for any webcam as far as I'm aware. You're welcome to adjust the ISO value (100–6,400) and shutter speed (1/10,000–1/4 s) manually. All standard rules apply: You want your room as well lit as possible before getting the ISO value as close to 100 as possible for the least amount of image noise. You can then play with the shutter speed until you reach a satisfactory brightness. Keep in mind that shutter speeds of 1/32 s and beyond no longer hit 60 FPS. If you feel you have to push shutter speed that high, work on your room lighting instead.

There are some other options I'd love to see in the Camera Hub software. For example, while you can manually adjust the white balance, Elgato only offers a temperature slider (2,800–12,500 K). There's no tint slider (green-magenta). Because of that, it is impossible to get rid of a greenish tint in the image that is present only when the manual white balance is being used. To get rid of it, simply activate automatic white balance, which completely defeats the purpose of having the option to tune it manually. I've asked Elgato about this and was told that they're "working on tools to help with manual white balance setting," but plans to add a tint slider don't appear to be in place.

I'd also like to see more control when adjusting the zoom/FOV setting. The 4x digital zoom feature zooms into the center of the frame. If you want to zoom in on your face but aren't positioned perfectly, you'll have to adjust the camera's position, which is quite annoying. This can be solved by adding an option to select the exact part of the frame we want to zoom in on. Elgato tells me this feature is also in development and will be added in a future software update. A face-tracking feature could be another way to handle this issue, but Elgato has no plans to support it—their official stance is that face tracking will be handled by the OS/apps in the future.

Don't get me wrong, Camera Hub is by far the best webcam software I have used to date. I'm only trying to say that with the aforementioned additions, it would even be better. Also, as Elgato is asking us to cough up $200 for the webcam, I think we have every right to be demanding.