You need one for meetings and personal video calls: This is a pro-level tool whose prowess and features will only be maximized by pro users. If you’re just a casual user, this is overkill. He enjoys DIY projects, especially if they involve technology. He regularly repairs and repurposes old computers and hardware for whatever new project is at hand. He has designed crossovers for homemade speakers all the way from the basic design to the PCB. You need crisp footage with a wide dynamic range: Its dynamic range isn’t very wide so you’ll lose a lot of detail in shadows and highlights.

We found its picture quality to be great out of the box. And, when cost, quality, and performance are all calculated, the C920 is still one of the best everyday webcams you can buy, despite being almost a decade old. You need a wide field of view: The Logitech C920 is set to a 78-degree FOV, so you can't get any wide room shots

Shine a Light

You want something for content creation: There are fairly affordable webcams out there that offer better quality videos for content creation and streaming.

During testing, we found this webcam to not only handle dark shadows and bright highlights impressively well, preserving detail in those areas better than all the other pro-level webcams we've tested, but also deliver impressive noise reduction without unnatural smoothing. What's more, its autofocusing is snappy in well-lit situations and its autoexposure is always spot on – although you can take the helm and make creative exposures yourself, thanks to the improved Camera Hub software that gives you plenty of autonomy over the webcam's settings. You have several cameras and you want to compare them to find out which one is better (the better the camera, the higher the “Quality Rating”).Invalid aspect ratio (at least the image is too wide). Perhaps this is a technical defect or a software error.

Finally are displayed the testing results, hints and additional controls (i.e, take snapshots, enable fullscreen, stop webcam, update data). The image is too bright. If you are in the operating room, it’s all right. Otherwise, try to adjust the light in the room.You’re really strapped for cash: If you don’t have to have the best and are on a tight budget, give this one a skip. You want to travel light: This is bigger than most consumer webcams, so it isn’t the most travel-friendly companion… even if it is lighter than it looks.

Chris was a PCWorld columnist for two years. He founded PCWorld's "World Beyond Windows" column, which covered the latest developments in open-source operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS. Beyond the column, he wrote about everything from Windows to tech travel tips. Now it’s time to determine the maximum resolution of the web camera (among other things, it will allow to calculate the number of megapixels and detect supported video standard).Its quality proved to be decent during testing, above average for a webcam. But, it's the mic customizations that really impressed us, allowing you to alter the recording volume, or switch between different optimization modes such as 'Wind’ and 'Music’, as well as a manual Audio Gain Control. For some people, the Logitech Mevo Start will be overkill, offering features that just aren't needed. But for people live streaming events, for example, the Logitech Mevo Start is a brilliant investment.