Logitech Webcam C930e Review

If you work hard to look professional at your job, you don't want your webcam to make you look grainy and dark while you teleconference. Enter the Logitech Webcam C930e, a $98 enterprise-focused camera with a wide field of view and excellent noise cancellation. However, the C930e's colors aren't always accurate and it doesn't come with photo- or video-capture software, which makes the less-expensive C920 a better choice for some.

Design

The C930e is one chunky webcam. It measures 3.7 inches from end to end, encompassing speakers, LED lights and the camera lens. It's almost identical to Logitech's consumer model of this device, the HD Webcam C920, in that they share a body and design. The two major differences are that the C930e is both black and silver, while the C920 is all black, and that the business version includes a privacy cover. The plastic shield features a door that pulls up and down to hide you from prying eyes and can protect the lens from scratches.

The camera uses an arm to snugly fit on top of your laptop's display or external monitor. A hinge adjusts the length and a rubber foot holds the camera securely in its place. If you prefer to keep your webcam on your desk, the C930e has a tripod hinge on its underside that will let you screw it onto any normal camera stand.

The USB cord that attaches to the back of the camera is 6 feet long, which is lengthy enough to reach even the farthest USB ports in your setup.

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Picture and Sound Quality

The C930e takes sharp, detailed photos and videos with a wide field of view but has some problems with color accuracy. When I took photos and videos of myself with the webcam in a well-lit space in our lab, my light red shirt appeared a bright cherry red. The image was so oversaturated that I found it distracting, though a few of my colleagues preferred the vividness. My skin also appeared paler than usual, and believe me, that's hard to do. The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 was far more precise when it came to color reproduction.

The C930e performed well in low light, too. I took a picture in a dark, windowless room with only the light of a laptop display, and the enterprise webcam caught slightly more detail than its consumer-oriented sibling: I could see the hair on my head and the wall behind me.

Ambient noise in my videos was almost completely blocked. A colleague was watching video next to me while I filmed, but you can barely even hear it. I didn't sound terribly crisp, but my voice was loud and clear enough to hear.

The camera has a 90-degree field of view. If you sit back, there's plenty of room to fit another person in the frame comfortably or show off the background behind you. The C920 offers a lesser 78-degree field of view, but that's still plenty of room for a second person.

Software

The C930e isn't compatible with the software that Logitech offers on its consumer-oriented models because it uses different video codecs and drivers. That means you can't use any of the fun filters and chat avatars or the motion detector. The main software component, an on-screen remote to tilt and zoom, can be downloaded separately or as part of a plug-in for Skype for Business.

This leaves the C930e without its own free-standing app for photo and video recording (if you try Logitech's own, it doesn't use the full 1080p resolution). If you want to take a quick snapshot or record to your hard drive, you may need to search for software if you don't have a camera program as part of your operating system (Windows 10 comes with camera software).

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Bottom Line

The Logitech Webcam C930e is a business camera that takes sharp and detailed photos and videos and has an expansive 90-degree field of view, but it plays fast and loose with color. Additionally, it loses compatibility with some of Logitech's own software because of different drivers and codecs. In exchange, it gets plug-ins for teleconferencing apps.

You can get a better deal with the $60 consumer version, Logitech's HD Pro Webcam C920, which offers more accurate colors, support for Logitech's software and a 78-degree viewing angle that's still wide enough to fit two people in the frame. You will, however, be giving up the C930e's superior noise cancellation.

However, if you work in a loud, busy office, don't need Logitech's recording software or require the widest possible field of view, the C930e is your best choice.

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