Key Takeaways
- PTZ webcams offer smooth tracking and improved virtual background use.
- Many models support gesture, voice, and remote controls for convenience.
- Affordable options like the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite make PTZ webcams more accessible.
There are a lot of great webcams on the market, and a lot of options for all different kinds of budgets and needs. But in reviewing a few different webcams over the past few years, it’s become very apparent to me that if you’re buying a webcam to get the best quality out of your meetings, that webcam should be a PTZ camera. In other words, it should be a camera with the ability to move to follow you as you move around.
That may sound a little creepy at first, but the usefulness of these cameras is so invaluable to me that I have to recommend them to everyone. Here’s why you should consider getting a PTZ webcam yourself.
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4 Always stay in frame
With much smoother movements, too
The primary selling point of a PTZ webcam is that it can follow you around as you move, so naturally, that’s the first big reason to get one. But it’s important to note why this is such a big deal. In recent years, we’ve seen many webcams, even laptop ones, offer some kind of face tracking feature, so you may think you don’t need a special webcam for it. BUt the thing is, face tracking on those webcam just crops into the frame, and it takes some time to detect where you are, so it responds slowly to your movement.
A PTZ webcam like the ones I’ve reviewed is so much better in terms of its tracking. It responds almost instantly to your movements, and because it can physically rotate and tilt, you can have it follow you around the entire room with no issues. It’s so much easier to give a presentation or show off something next to you when the camera follows you around so effortlessly. Just look at this clip from my Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite review:
And if you use a virtual background in apps like Teams or Zoom, using tracking along with it can almost make it seem like you’re not moving at all, so you always look focused and it doesn’t become distracting to other people.
Oh, and if you think this is all a big privacy concern or something, these cameras actually make privacy really easy. The cameras physically face down when they’re not in use, so you can be 100% sure they’re not looking at you without you knowing.
3 Remote controls
Gestures, voice, and even controllers
Another really cool thing about a lot of these PTZ webcams, though this is something that varies with each model, is the ability to control the camera without having to touch it, and sometimes, without even using an app. The webcams I reviewed from Obsbot or Insta360 all support gesture controls, so you can easily turn face tracking on or off, zoom in or out, or even enable specific features (more on that later).
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Some models also have voice controls, though right now, this is a more premium feature. You can do all those things by speaking to your webcam, which I’ve found very helpful with my Obsbot Tiny 2. And most models also have the option to buy a proper remote controller, so if you’re doing a professional presentation and you can’t be doing gestures in front of the camera, you can use the controller to do everything in a more discreet way without ahving to touch your PC. It’s very useful.
It’s not just for following your face
While these webcams are often advertised for their ability to track your face and body, some of them are actually capable of a lot more. You do have to spend extra on a premium model for some of these, but options like the Insta360 Link or Obsbot Tiny 2 have a feature called Desk mode, where they can point down at your desk and crop into a document you may be sharing so others can see it more clearly. Or, for example, a whiteboard mode, which would be very useful for teachers showing off something like an equation.
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Then there are other things like hand tracking, and features built into the software for these webcams. For example, Obsbot includes a virtual camera feature, which makes it easier to use the webcam feed on different apps at the same time, which you can’t do with a physical webcam normally. These will vary depending on the model you’re getting, so you should look into the model you’re considering before making a decision based on that.
1 They’ve finally gotten cheaper
You don’t have to blow $300 anymore
A big part of what prompted this article was actually my review of the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite a few days ago. See, when I reviewed my first PTZ webcam from Obsbot, that was the Obsbot Tiny 4K, and it cost $269, which made it one of the most expensive consumer webcams on the market, even compared to other premium options. And prices just kept getting higher with each model I reviewed. Both the Insta360 Link and Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite were basically $300, so it was very hard to recommend to most people.
But with the Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite, we have a PTZ webcam that cost just $179, which, to be fair, is still a lot for a webcam. But at that price, this webcam is undercutting options like the Logitech Brio, Dell UltraSharp 4K Webcam, or the HP 960, at least in terms of their MSRP. And even with discounts, they’re usually within striking distance, so if you want a premium webcam, you don’t have to spend a lot more to get a PTZ model. It’s much cheaper than the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra I also reviewed, for example, since that also launched at $300.
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PTZ webcams are worth the investment
In the past, I was a bit more cautious about recommending a PTZ webcam because of the high price, but now that we have some cheaper models, I really can’t recommend them enough. If you’re investing in a high-end webcam, it absolutely should be one that can physically move around to keep you in frame. The tracking alone makes it worth it, and if you have the extra budget, you can make that experience even better with more premium models, so there’s a lot to love about these models.
Of course, if you have a limited budget, you’d be better off looking at our list of best cheap webcams. But maybe in the future we’ll have a PTZ webcam on that list, too.