The Elgato Facecam 4K is designed to give content creators a serious upgrade without the hassle — or cost — of a full DSLR setup.
On paper, its 4K/60fps output promises sharp, smooth, and professional-looking footage right out of the box. However, what looks good on paper doesn't always translate in practice.
Fortunately, I have been sent the Facecam 4K to try out for myself to see if it's worth its $199.99 (£179.99) price tag.
Design and Build Quality
The Elgato Facecam 4K strikes a nice balance between sleek and practical. Measuring 104 x 54 x 52 mm and weighing just 112 grams, it’s compact and lightweight enough to perch neatly on top of a monitor without looking oversized or awkward.
It comes in a range of colors, though my review unit is the black version. Other options include carbon, pine, and white, so you can match it to your setup if aesthetics are important.
The body is made mostly from plastic, which might sound cheap on paper, but in practice, it feels sturdy and well put together. It doesn't seem flimsy or have that toy-like quality you sometimes get with plastic hardware.
In fact, it has a surprisingly premium look, almost like the lens end of a DSLR, just without the chunky camera body behind it. The only gripe I have is that there's no built-in privacy slider or cover, so the camera is always looking at you if you don't tuck it away after use.
Also, the Facecam 4K is made with over 60% post-consumer recycled plastic. It’s not something that directly impacts performance, but in an age where sustainability is becoming more important, it’s good to see a product like this that integrates recycled materials.
Setup and Installation
Setting up the Elgato Facecam 4K is, on the surface, amazingly straightforward. It comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable, which is a smart move for modern-day connectivity, in my opinion. Not only does it make setup simple, but it also leaves your precious USB-A ports free for other peripherals, which is something I personally value given how many devices I already have plugged in.
The camera itself is more or less plug-and-play with most major platforms. It works seamlessly with OBS for streaming and recording, integrates with the Stream Deck, and, of course, ties in with Elgato’s own Camera Hub software, which I’ll dive into later. The key point here is that you don’t have to wrestle with complicated drivers or settings just to get started — it really is ready to go from the moment you connect it.
Mounting is equally easy as the software setup. The camera attaches via a 1/4-thread screw on its base, which means you can easily pop it onto the included mount or even a tripod if you prefer.
The foldable mount is well-designed, clipping neatly onto the top of a monitor without blocking your view, which I still found to be the case with a near-frameless screen. That’s a thoughtful detail, because the last thing you want is your webcam mount covering up part of what you're trying to look at and record/stream.
I even tested it on my laptop’s thinner screen, and while it did hold, it wasn’t quite as stable as on my slightly thicker monitor screen.
For long-term use, I’d recommend attaching it to a tripod positioned behind your screen, but it’s great to know it still works for beginners who essentially need a webcam-type setup to get started.
Video Quality and Image Settings
The Elgato Facecam 4K is in a completely different league compared to the original Facecam. Though I haven't tried the original, the headline feature here is Ultra HD at 60 frames per second, which not only matches the 4K/60 recording of the Elgato 4K S capture card but also makes for a massive leap from the 1080p output of its predecessor.
Elgato claims “DSLR-like quality,” and while that’s a bold comparison, I have to admit the results are genuinely impressive for something this compact.
The difference between 4K/30fps and 4K/60fps is night and day for me. Motion looks far smoother, and for streaming, in particular, that extra fluidity should make a noticeable impact on your overall stream quality, which might just help you stand out.
If your setup or internet connection can’t handle the 4K/60, you can always scale back to 1440p, 1080p, 720p, or even 540p, which gives you plenty of flexibility. Just note that if you plan on using AI backgrounds or AR effects, your output will be capped at 1080p/60fps, so you might want to think about tidying up your real-world background if streaming in full 4K is your priority.
Under the hood, Elgato has equipped the camera with a 1/1.8” Sony Starvis 2 CMOS sensor. It’s designed specifically to handle the demands of 4K/60 capture, and it really shows. The combination of this sensor with USB 3.0’s uncompressed transmission (up to 2160p/30fps) makes streaming and recording at higher resolutions and frame rates feel effortless. The result is a picture that’s sharp, balanced, and flattering, without much tinkering required.
That said, you do have plenty of manual control if you want it. Out of the box, the defaults for sharpness, saturation, and skin tones look very good, but I found nudging the sharpness and saturation up slightly gave the image a slightly better look.
You also get fine-tuned controls for white balance, exposure, shutter speed, compensation, and temperature. Personally, I’d recommend leaving auto-adjustments for exposure and white balance on if you’re streaming or recording for long periods — say, across changing daylight — so you don’t have to keep manually fiddling with settings mid-session, but you can tailor these to what works best for you if you wish.
One tweak I’d definitely recommend is enabling at least low noise reduction in the processing tab. With it off, the picture looked a little rougher, but with it set to low, the overall output felt cleaner without sacrificing detail.
One last note: the Facecam 4K doesn’t come with a built-in mic, so you’ll need an external audio source for your voice. Honestly, that’s probably for the best, as you’ll almost always get far better sound quality with a dedicated microphone anyway.
Field of View and Framing
One of the standout features of the Elgato Facecam 4K is its Prime Lens, which is designed to keep footage sharp and clear from up to 1.2 meters away.
Out of the box, it delivers a full 90-degree field of view with an f/4.0 aperture, which means it captures a pretty generous amount of your space. At its widest, you’ll easily fit multiple people or a detailed background into frame, which can be great if you want a beautifully crafted setup to be part of the shot.
If you prefer a tighter focus, you can zoom in up to 400%, and while zooming on webcams usually destroys image quality, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the drop in sharpness here was minimal, even at maximum zoom. You’re essentially just cropping the 4K image when you zoom, but thanks to the higher resolution, it still looks impressively crisp.
What’s also handy is how Elgato handles framing control. In the Camera Hub software, a blue “capture box” shows what’s being recorded, and you can manually adjust it when zoomed in to make sure everything lines up perfectly. Or, if you’d rather not micromanage, you can simply toggle on face tracking, which automatically shifts the capture box to follow you around.
In my experience, face tracking works better the less zoomed in you are, as it is a little bit jittery when it follows you around. I would recommend you manually frame your shot and try to keep yourself within said frame rather than using this feature, because the jitteriness is a little off-putting.
The focus range varies slightly depending on resolution: at 4K, you’re looking at a 30–120 cm, which is ideal for desktop setups, while at 1080p, it extends further, from 25 cm all the way to infinity. Because of this, you can either sit close to a monitor or position yourself a little farther back, and the Facecam 4K will still be able to frame you correctly.
Software and Customization (Camera Hub)
I’ve already mentioned some of the Camera Hub's big hitters like adjusting ISO, shutter speed, exposure, and even panning, tilting, or zooming (PTZ control) right from the app. However, you also get support for HDR up to 4K/30fps, which helps balance tricky lighting situations, and the ability to apply LUTs to tweak the mood of your feed.
Out of the box, you’ll find presets for warmer, colder, or black-and-white tones, but you can also import and save your own LUTs, which is a great touch for anyone who wants their stream or video recordings to stand out with a consistent, customized look.
Where things get a bit more experimental is with the effects. There’s Background Blur, which relies on NVIDIA’s Video Effects SDK. It works fairly well, though results depend a lot on your background and what you’re wearing.
ersonally, I found it looked best with lower blur strength; push it too far and it starts to look artificial. Just keep in mind that with blur (or any AI background) active, you’re capped at 1080p/60fps.
Alongside blur, you can swap in AI-esque office-style environments, slap on a giant NVIDIA Broadcast logo (if that’s your thing), or upload your own custom background. That said, nothing beats tidying up your real background, because masking technology still isn’t perfect.
There’s also support for AR effects, though at the moment the only one here is the AI “eye contact” overlay. This basically pastes a pair of digital eyes that always look straight into the camera, no matter where you’re actually looking.
It works, but honestly, it’s more creepy than useful. I've seen it in videos before, and have now experienced it first hand, and my overall takeaway is I would never turn this on knowingly in its current state...
On the hardware side, Elgato boasts that the Facecam 4K is the first webcam to support 49mm lens filters. Because of this, you can add a polarizer (CPL) to cut glare from glasses or shiny surfaces, a Black Mist filter to soften skin tones and create a cinematic glow, or a Starburst filter for dramatic light effects. This pushes the Facecam 4K into more creative territory than most webcams and gives content creators more room to experiment.
Price and Value
At $199.99 (£179.99), I think the Facecam 4K is pretty solid value for what you’re getting.
This thing genuinely delivers DSLR-level quality without the DSLR-level price tag, which is a huge win if you’re trying to elevate your content without spending four figures on a full camera setup.
In practice, your stream or YouTube videos aren’t going to look second-rate next to the top creators out there, and that’s a big deal in such a competitive space.
That said, I’m not blind to the fact that this is still a decent chunk of change for a webcam. If you’re a beginner streamer or content creator, I’d honestly recommend putting your money toward a stronger PC, a solid game capture card, or even decent editing software before you worry about upgrading your facecam. Those things will make a bigger difference in the early stages.
But if you’re at the point where you can justify it, or you just want your setup to instantly be “professional”, then the Facecam 4K absolutely justifies its asking price.
It’s not cheap, but it gives you near-DSLR clarity and smoothness in a plug-and-play package, which makes it good value overall, if you ask me.
Pros and Cons
To make things easier, here's a quick summary:
Pros
- Excellent 4K/60fps video quality with smooth motion
- Wide 90° FOV with flexible zoom and framing options
- Easy setup and plug-and-play with OBS, Stream Deck, and Camera Hub
- Good customization via Camera Hub (LUTs, HDR, filters)
Cons
- No built-in microphone (requires an external audio solution)
- No privacy cover or slider on the lens
- Background blur/AI Effects are hit-or-miss and caps output to 1080p/60fps
- Face tracking can feel a bit jittery when zoomed in
Final Verdict
The Elgato Facecam 4K is easily one of the best dedicated webcams you can buy right now, especially if you’re serious about streaming or creating content.
With sharp 4K/60fps video, a quality Sony sensor, and excellent customization via the Camera Hub, it delivers near-DSLR clarity in a compact, plug-and-play package.
That said, there are some downsides. The lack of a built-in mic, no privacy cover, and slightly iffy AI features stop it from being perfect, and its near $200 price tag won’t be easy for beginners to swallow. But if you can justify the spend, this is a top-tier webcam that will instantly elevate your setup.
