News The Opal C1 is a $300 DSLR Webcam For Apple Macs

w_barath

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Aug 22, 2011
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@michelle: This is not a "DSLR Webcam". DSLR means Digital Single Lens Reflex. This product may have a single lens, but it does not have an optical viewfinder with a mirror or prism for directing the objective lens focused image from the digital film back to the optical viewfinder.

I urge you, for the sake of your reputation and that of THG, to reconsider the title of this article. Perhaps DSLR-Quality WebCam is what you are really shooting for. But even then, it would be irresponsible to make such a claim without exploring the relative performance of this product against a real DSLR - even a relatively cheap one. I think you'll find this product's low light performance is sorely lacking. Meanwhile there's a variety of 4k action cams which can perform this role at the same price point with vastly larger aperatures.
 
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deesider

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Rather then using a DSLR standard sensor, it uses a sensor size commonly found in compact digital cameras. Not many details are given but it seems identical to the 'High Quality Camera' unit for the Raspberry Pi, which uses the Sony IMX477. A good sensor no doubt, but the at least the Rpi version has an option for different lenses.

Being overpriced and aimed at Mac users, I'm sure it will be very successful.
 

Giroro

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"so why not just strap a smartphone-shaped DSLR to the top of your computer monitor"

Because the concept of a DSLR makes absolutely no mechanical sense on a camera without a viewfinder.

"mirrorless 7.8mm 4K Sony sensor"
See, so it's not a DSLR, because its mirrorless... Although every webcam is mirrorless.

Does this webcam use interchangeable lenses, or what? Because the best I can tell this webcam is just an ordinary webcam, with the same tiny webcam-sized sensor. All they've brought to the table is the hack-fraud marketing and insane overpricing that one would expect from "former Apple, Beats and Uber employees".
Seriously, their marketing is so wanky that it must be sarcastic.

Opal themselves claim "DSLR technology on a webcam for the first time", but make no real attempt to explain what that means... Unless they legitimately believe a glass lens counts as "DSLR technology". Two paragraphs later, they call it a "mirrorless miracle".
 
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Sep 11, 2021
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I actually registered to comment here because this is so annoying. As others have said DSLR actually has a real meaning, not just "good camera". The blame isn't all on the company either. The company says "DSLR technology" which could mean a few things, but the author then makes the leap to "the first DSLR webcam" which is just bad journalism. And the sensor size measurement is intentionally misleading because no one uses diagonal sensor size to measure image sensors making it difficult at best to compare to other cameras, but looking a bit deeper this is a common size for cheap cell phone and web cam sensors. Sony pretty makes the majority of sensors so that's pretty much meaningless too. This is TH pretty much advertising a product that is a step above a scam.
 

TheDane

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This isn't a DSLR webcam as there is no mirror.

The sensor diagonal size is a puny 7.8mm which mostly resembles an ordinary 1/2.3" sensor = 6.30x4.72mm, a FAR cry from a typical DSLR/mirrorless sensor size of 22.30x14.90mm (Canon APS-C) or 24x36mm (standard 35mm full frame).

This is very close to being a scam. At least it seems way overpriced to me.
 
Sep 11, 2021
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Not a DSLR. A Digital Single Lens Reflex camera has these key features:

1) Removeable/Interchangeable lenses

2) A mirror and prism system to divert the image from the sensor to an optical viewfinder, thus allowing the photographer to see directly through the lens (and not via an electronic screen)

This tiny webcam has neither of these features. It is a digital camera only.