Review Center Cam Review: The Trick to Faking Eye Contact is Not Faking It

[Admin]

The Center Cam is a tiny camera on a flexible gooseneck arm that sits in the middle of your screen. It’s designed to facilitate eye contact, and it does a pretty good job.

Center Cam Review: The Trick to Faking Eye Contact is Not Faking It : Read more

 

[abufrejoval]

I've been thinking punch-hole for a long time to solve this issue and in a way my move to bigger screens has both made it more of an issue and offers a solution.

My current main screen is a 42" 4k which replaced an assortment of 24" THD screens in horizontal and upright, because there is lots of content that really fits the upright much better. So I find that most of the time I partition it into two upright segments, or perhaps add a horizontal divider on one of the two when things get busy.

Obviously with that size that moves the web-cam very much off my eye focus and while it sits between the 4k and a 24" survivor on top of the 42", it's never quite where I'd look, no matter where I move the conf window.

So for a pure work monitor, having a punch hole camera smack in the middle of that virtual vertical divider, wouldn't really impact productivity, because I only really go full-screen on PDF or documents which themselves have column content. It wouldn't work so great for gaming or movie content, unless they could mature the hidden punchhole camera that is able to display pixels on top (I believe there was a smartphone prototype from China some time back).

Some of my colleages who do tons of confs simply have gone with an extra "social screen", often tablet based, that sits to the side at an angle and shows them in a semi profile, until things get truly personal and they stare right at that smaller screen (and its camera): it gives you the 'power of the stare', yet frees you a bit to multi-task, too.

With desktop real-estate much less of an issue than living real-estate, I think I wouldn't mind a special social screen with a middle punch hole camera, that either stands on the side or can be attached to the main screen. A say 10" extra USB3 connected screen with little processing power behind shouldn't cost more than perhaps €100 and even THD cameras manage to be quite small on smartphones these days.

 

[Tiptup300]

I'm hoping rightsizing didn't befall the person who normally does webcam reviewed.

I really liked the consistency there.

 

[CorpRebel]

This is very interesting.

I've been using a 'center type' cam holder called Plexicam, which is a clear plexiglass strip that you can mount most webcams on and has an adjustable piece on it that can place the cam up or down. The premise is that you can at least see the screen thru the plexiglass piece.

It still can be annoying, but there really isn't much tha can be done other than these 'hacks'. I've gotten used to it and I kinda like it. It does what I need it to do.

This 'center cam' is an interesting possible solution for some people. It takes up much less screen area than what I am using, but I prefer using my own webcam.

Thanks for this review...

 

[Carson365]

It wouldn't work so great for gaming or movie content, unless they could mature the hidden punchhole camera that is able to display pixels on top (I believe there was a smartphone prototype from China some time back).

Samsung did this on their fold series. It's definitely not a mature technology yet but I absolutely hope it becomes widely used.

 

[Findecanor]

I've seen a DIY version of this before, made from a webcam from an old laptop.

 

[cryoburner]

Why is the cord so bulky? I get that it's a flexible tube-style cord designed to hold its shape when bent, but that serves no real purpose on a camera designed to hang vertically from the top of a screen. Something like a thin mouse cord would be less intrusive. So long as the back of the camera is able to sit against the surface of the screen, it should remain facing forward, and the camera module in front could be on a pivot to allow for angle adjustments. It would also allow one to easily toss the camera behind the monitor (or in a tray connected to the back-side of the clip) when not in use, instead of having to unclip the camera and find someplace to store it.

Or even better, use a flat, unshielded usb cable, at least for the short length that will hang in front of the screen. Viewed on-edge, it would just appear as a thin line, and would not obstruct one's view to any significant degree.

 

[dankeldsen]

This is very interesting.

I've been using a 'center type' cam holder called Plexicam, which is a clear plexiglass strip that you can mount most webcams on and has an adjustable piece on it that can place the cam up or down. The premise is that you can at least see the screen thru the plexiglass piece.

It still can be annoying, but there really isn't much tha can be done other than these 'hacks'. I've gotten used to it and I kinda like it. It does what I need it to do.

Hi CorpRebel - thanks for mentioning PlexiCam, so glad to hear you're part of our growing PlexiCam army. 🚀

Having the ability to chose what webcam you mount on your PlexiCam is one of the biggest draws for our clients.

With webcam technology moving so quickly (an upside to COVID-19 forcing rapid innovation), tying both the camera and the mount together in one solution means once you decide you want a better camera, you no longer have a way to mount it.

Which webcam are you using?