Web Cam woes

[Mr Moofo]

I have a few training sessions coming up on Teams in the next months. I bought a web cam during lockdown - an Aukey , around 40 or so quid.
Picture quality in great , sound is fine but field of view means that it seems to show the whole room and a tiny me in the centre. It came with no drivers - and there seems to be no way of altering any settings.
It's being used on a Mac - am I missing something obvious that can adjust this, or do I need a new web cam?
If so, what?

I'm not looking at putting videos of me in a pink latex on OnlyFans - but a decent quality for Teams , where I don't look like I am the tiniest person on the call.
Illumination would also be good - and the current camera appear very dark in artificial light.

Help!

[KungFooBob]

Sit closer.

[Mr Moofo]

Sit closer.

You may find this difficult to believe - but I have tied that

But it's a PITA to have to spend a meeting 20 cm from a monitor - that you are trying to read from

[Mussels]

When I was looking for a webcam I found a fair variety in viewing angle and resolution, the wide angles seem to be for family video calls. I went for the narrowest angle I could find with a low enough resolution that people can't zoom in and see things I don't intend them to.

[MrLongbeard]

You may find this difficult to believe - but I have tied that

But it's a PITA to have to spend a meeting 20 cm from a monitor - that you are trying to read from

So move the camera, ain't no law on the books that says it has to sit on top of the monitor.
Get creative, put it on a pile of books, the fruit bowl, or get a stand

[Taff]

And you can blur your background in teams to stop people noseing around behind you

[Mr Moofo]

You may find this difficult to believe - but I have tied that

But it's a PITA to have to spend a meeting 20 cm from a monitor - that you are trying to read from

Because the image looks awful from the desk top - I guess it is because the lens is wide angle - but you get a whole lot of body and a small head!

Background already blurred

[Slenver]

You could try some cheap software that'll let you control whatever functionality the webcam offers. Something like this for a few quid.

Otherwise, it might be a case of getting what you pay for. A branded cam from someone like Logitech would provide its own software controls.

A different approach, and not what you were asking, but you can of course use an iPhone (if you have one) instead, which is now an option built in to all webcam-enabled apps. The quality way surpasses any webcam you can buy - you'll just need a way of attaching it to the top of the laptop/monitor, and these are fairly cheap.

[Mussels]

Most of the Logitech cameras are wide angle and can't be changed. I found one of the cheaper 720p Logitech cameras fitted the brief with about a 45 degree field of view, sits 2 feet away on my monitor so the picture area is about 2 feet wide where I'm sat.

[Slenver]

Most of the Logitech cameras are wide angle and can't be changed. I found one of the cheaper 720p Logitech cameras fitted the brief with about a 45 degree field of view, sits 2 feet away on my monitor so the picture area is about 2 feet wide where I'm sat.

I don't have one so I only know from browsing tbh, and I only mentioned Logitech as a good example... though their website seems pretty good in terms of having filters for 'Adjustable FOV', 'Digital zoom' and 'Logi Tune' which appears to be software that features both those options too. I assume that 'adjustable FOV' is a hardware option whereas it's software otherwise.

Looks like 8 of their 11 models have at least one of those 3 features though.

[Mussels]

I've found video chat software matters more than the webcam settings. I borrowed a posh Logitech webcam from work and carefully set to the field I wanted, jumped on Zoom/Teams and it ignored those settings and did what it wanted.
So my answer was to get a restricted webcam that nothing could zoom out.

I don't think Logitech is much different to other brands, I just went for it as it was what work had for meeting rooms. I would expect it to have good controls but they didn't cut it.

[DefTrap]

Most of the Logitech cameras are wide angle and can't be changed. I found one of the cheaper 720p Logitech cameras fitted the brief with about a 45 degree field of view, sits 2 feet away on my monitor so the picture area is about 2 feet wide where I'm sat.

Me too LogiTech c270 for about 23€ - just works.

@Moofo - might be worth chopping yours in, life's too short for endless fiddling with shitey tech.

[Slenver]

Personally, if I wasn't using a built-in cam and wanted to add something external, I'd just use the iPhone option. Buy a cheap mount to hang onto the top of the screen, choose the option in the dropdown to switch to the phone camera and job done.

[Mussels]

Does the iphone work in tandem with your PC, so you still see the meeting on your monitor?

[Slenver]

Does the iphone work in tandem with your PC, so you still see the meeting on your monitor?

Yeah, it just routes the input into whatever video/chat software. As long as the phone is in range (and presumably on the same wifi network - not sure), it pops up as a camera input option, or defaults to it if used before.

[Mr Moofo]

Does the iphone work in tandem with your PC, so you still see the meeting on your monitor?

Yeah, it just routes the input into whatever video/chat software. As long as the phone is in range (and presumably on the same wifi network - not sure), it pops up as a camera input option, or defaults to it if used before.

will try that later

[Mr Moofo]

Does the iphone work in tandem with your PC, so you still see the meeting on your monitor?

Yeah, it just routes the input into whatever video/chat software. As long as the phone is in range (and presumably on the same wifi network - not sure), it pops up as a camera input option, or defaults to it if used before.

I am not sure of it is that easy - you have to disable mics so no feedback ( not too sure why you can just use the phone mic). Plus I have no way of testing until I am on a Team Vid!

[Slenver]

I am not sure of it is that easy - you have to disable mics so no feedback ( not too sure why you can just use the phone mic). Plus I have no way of testing until I am on a Team Vid!

No, it doesn't use the phone's mic by default. It's seamless... You just choose the phone in the camera menu, or in the Mac's menu top-right and it switches camera.

You can test in anything really without a live call, but Photo Booth is simplest maybe as no calls.

[Mr Moofo]

I take that back - it does work!

Will go to Photo Booth for a bit of a play

Both colour and FOV are way more suitable than any web cam.
Quite impressed
Now I just need a stand

[Slenver]

There are a load of simple 3d printed things on eBay for 6 or 7 quid. Or flash ones for 20-30 on Amazon.