Skip to main content

I Tested Over 15 Webcams At The Same Time To Find The Best.

After testing over 15 webcams simultaneously, WIRED's Luke Larsen came away with just a few options that stood above the rest.

Released on 05/22/2026

Transcript

So, I spent all week testing webcams.

In total, I've tested over 15 of these,

ranging from the cheapest stuff

all the way to the very highest-end options.

And I've been testing these side by side

to see how they handle situations like this one,

a really poorly-lit office

that I just happen to work out of.

And throughout all my testing,

my favorite one has to be this, the Insta360 Link 2C Pro.

This is the picture quality coming straight out of the box.

I haven't tweaked it at all, and I think you can see

not only is this a really sharp image,

but it handles light better than any camera I tested.

You can see this window here,

which in every other scenario

it was completely blown out by the camera.

And here you can see actually details

even in the trees outside the window,

which is really incredible.

And even still, you can see the darkness of my coat.

And one of the cool things

about having a sensor this large on your camera

is you do get a natural depth of field in the image.

You can see the objects in the back

sort of fading into a blur naturally,

which I think is a really nice effect

that most cameras can't do.

But I also love the mount that it comes with.

It's an aluminum mount.

It's really sturdy-feeling, and the camera itself

magnetically attaches to the top of it,

but it's really strong.

I never felt like it was in danger of toppling over,

even on a laptop,

even with the USB-C cable coming out the back.

Of course at $200, it is not cheap,

but in my view, it's totally worth it

if you really want the best quality.

But this Logitech Brio 300 I think hits the sweet spot

for a solid 1080p webcam that is really affordable,

but gets you an image that will get the job done.

And I think if you're in a room or setting

with a little better lighting,

you'll get some decent image

out of the Logitech Brio 300 for the price.

I do wish it had a detachable USB-C cable

coming out the back though.

Lastly, I have to mention my favorite PTZ webcam

of the ones I tested, and that stands for pan-tilt-zoom.

It's a whole category of webcam

that basically sits on a gimbal

and can be moved around whether automatically or manually.

And my favorite of these has to be the OBSBOT Tiny 3.

Now, it is the most expensive camera that I tested,

but it's a really fun one to play with,

and it produces great image quality.

Obviously, it can't handle those low light situations

as well as the Insta360 camera does,

but the color accuracy is really, really strong.

And if I were in a better-lit situation,

I think that would really come across.

Now, this is the most expensive camera

that I tested, unfortunately,

but it's a ton of fun to play with

using all the different AI features it has.

Tracking you around a room, not only tracking your face,

but also tracking something like your hand or an object,

or even using AI-based voice commands

to switch to different presets or zoom in.

And really, this is not a camera for the average person.

It's for somebody who is a content creator

or someone who is teaching courses online

or is a streamer, right?

An amazingly powerful camera

for how small this little thing is.