Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, Widescreen Video Calling and Recording, 1080p Camera, Desktop or Laptop Webcam

I'm puzzled when I read the negative reviews, about this camera not working with [x]; this is my 3rd Logitech camera, and I've never had a problem getting them to work when I've reviewed the system requirements and made sure I was on a compatible machine running appropriate software. I've split use of this camera between my Mac Mini and my Macbook Air, and had no problem getting it to work on either machine, nor have I had any issue switching back and forth between them. Picture and sound quality are excellent, and there's a free Logitech app in the App Store that lets me adjust the zoom, lighting etc that's also effective and simple to use. What's really blown me away is that it's also just as impressive now as it was almost two years ago, when I first started using it. I bought it in October 2016, to replace another Logitech camera; the cord connected to the back of the camera had frayed over time as a natural consequence of adjusting the angle over and over, making the older camera only work sporadically, and I fully expected something of that nature to happen to any camera I purchased. Not so with this one. The cord has held up, and not because I've babied it; it's just a sturdier design and tougher than the model it replaced. And while we now have Ultra HD/4K cameras and better, this 1080p is still respectable quality; it's not like the old "high def" TV a friend of mine has that's 12 years old but whose picture now looks grainy and not at all impressive compared to other newer TVs. I've used a projector as a monitor for my Mac Mini and broadcast the video from this camera onto a relatively big screen (bigger than any TV I've seen) and the picture quality is still impressive. (I hope I don't jinx myself!) I'm not accustomed to peripherals like this maintaining their function over time. Either the gadget breaks or it becomes obsolete because newer versions of it do the job so much better that it becomes a relic. Not so with this camera. I spent more than the current price (not quite double what it's going for now) and still really feel like I got my money's worth. If I needed another camera I would consider buying another one, it's that good. It's nice to not have One More Thing that needs to be replaced, that just keeps working. So yeah, take the time to look at the system requirements, and make sure you're using a Mac running the stated minimum version of MacOS (or better), or a PC running the stated minimum version of Windows (or better), and your processor is fast enough and you've got enough room on your hard drive and all that, before you buy it. If you're planning to use it for a specific app, perhaps you should check with that app's developers to be sure that it's compatible with it, but I can vouch for Mac versions of Skype, Zoom, ezTalks, and of course FaceTime and Photo Booth, as well as browser plugins for Firefox, Safari, Vivaldi and Opera: it works with all of them. I can't say enough good things about this camera. Unless you just absolutely have to have 4K/Ultra HD quality video, it's well worth the price it's currently going for, and I am happy to recommend it.

Very good product, very decent audio and and video. This has been on top of my display monitor for years, still very good for videocalls, even for today standards.

This webcam is fantastic! The video quality is super clear and crisp — 1080p looks great even in lower lighting. It was incredibly easy to set up and worked right away without any complicated software. The widescreen view is perfect for video calls, meetings, and recordings, and the built-in microphone picks up sound really well. Overall, it’s a high-quality, reliable camera that’s perfect for work or personal use. Highly recommend!

I bought this webcam solely for the ability to make YouTube videos which might not be a webcam's main intended function but nonetheless it's marketed as being able to do that so I decided to go ahead and try it. In fact it is super easy to use the included software to take pictures and videos with it but immediately you'll notice the terrible audio when playing a video back. For just occasional video chatting that would be fine but for online videos it just sounds low quality and like you're underwater. I decided to get an affordable USB microphone (the Samson Go Mic) which works amazing and keeps the price of this camera and microphone combo just around $100 which is much less than a decent camera or camcorder. The video quality nor the picture quality is that amazing for being 15MP and 1080p but it's not terrible either. Don't expect to ever get more than 30fps (and much less if you are using the built in mic as that seems to lower the framerate if the webcam is also recording the audio) and I assume having proper lighting is a must as most of the time indoor lighting just isn't good enough. You will need to experiment with the exposure and other lighting controls which make a huge difference and can help your videos look much better. The auto focus can be a bit too finicky and can try to refocus too often then when you need a close up shot takes far too long to focus up close, often times you'll find that you are better off controlling the focus manually with the slider. The included software is packed with features and controls however I do have some issues with it. The biggest draw back is the tiny little window/virtual view finder you're given which can't be resized and is more of a 4:3 ratio so you can't see the entire space you're recording as the camera does record in 16:9. The view finder is also kind of low resolution so it can be hard to tell if something is in focus or going to look good unless you end the recording and view the finished video in a video player to see it properly, which makes making a test video of a few seconds to check everything important to do before each video. For someone that can use this camera with a different recording software you may not have these issues. I do really like the excellent build quality and weight of the camera, it's universal adjustable clip, and the screw for a tripod. I use my webcam with a Ravelli 61 inch tripod which it mounts to easily and perfectly. Paired with the tripod and Samson Go Mic this camera is quite a performer but will leave you disappointed if you're expecting camcorder quality. But for the price it definitely gets the job done and being a Logitech product it's built well, works well, and offers great support if you need any help. The bottom line is as a webcam you can't do any better than this but if you want to use it for video making on a budget you will need some additional hardware and might find the quality a bit lacking.

I've been testing and using the Logitech C920 for a week now. This is really a nice little camera! It takes good, sharp video, and the Logitech Webcam Software (LWS), works fine, though a bit limited in settings. For those wanting some tech specs, I ran a bunch of tests and analyzed the files with MediaInfo. LWS provides 4 modes: 360p (640x360 WMV), 480p (864x480 WMV), 720p (1280x720 MP4/AVC), and 1080p (1920x1080 MP4/AVC). In "Preferences," under the "Quick Capture" tab, it provides 3 audio and 3 video quality settings: Audio: Good (16) -- 16kHz at 20kbps (mushy) Better (32) -- 32kHz at 48kbps (fine for voice) Best (48) -- 48kHz at 191kbps (DVD quality) -- These only matter at 360p and 480p. -- In the higher modes, the audio (AAC) is always 48kHz at 99kbps (vbr), no matter where you set the audio quality setting (bug?). kbps and frame rates : ( 360p WMV / 480p WMV / 720p MP4-AVC / 1080p MP4-AVC ) Standard (small file): 549 at 15 / 1155 at 15 / 2000 at 30 / 3000 at 30 High Q (medium file): 943 at 15 / 2848 at 15 / 3000 at 30 / 4000 at 30 Lossless (large file): 1723 at 15 / 3848 at 15 / 4000 at 30 / 6000 at 30 -- In 360 and 480, the video bit rate will vary quite a bit depending on the amount of motion in the video. Frame rate is constant at 15. -- In 720 and 1080, the bit rate is constant, and the frame rate is constant at 30, tho MediaInfo sometimes shows it as variable. So you can see the highest quality mode is 1080p at 6000kbps at 30fps, which is probably what you wanna use if you're gonna pull it into an editor, and then spit out the results at say, 2000, which makes a good quality video at a reasonable file size for uploading to YT, etc. I don't know what they mean by "lossless," because what the software calls "lossless" is a mere 4-6 Mbps, highly compressed by the camera. But it's more than good enough. For the two AVC modes, the camera is putting out profile Baseline @ L4.0, no CABAC, 1 Reference Frame, CBR, and CFR. The color model is YUV 4:2:0, 8-bits, Progressive, as expected. This profile is widely compatible with many consumer HD video devices and software players. If you're gonna simply downsample the bitrate with Handbrake, you should make a profile that matches what the hardware in the camera puts out. Make your Handbrake (v0.9.6+) profile like this: -f mp4 -O --crop 0:0:0:0 --strict-anamorphic -e x264 -b 1500 --vfr -a 1 -E copy:aac -B 0 -6 auto -R Auto -D 0 --gain=0 --audio-copy-mask none -x bframes=0:8x8dct=0:cabac=0:weightp=0:ref=4:psy-rd=1.00,0.15 --verbose=1 (where -b = bitrate and -E copy:aac = audio pass-through). Note that I set RefFrames to 4, as it falls back to L3.1 if the ref is left at 1. What about other video resolutions and modes? Running other capture software, like BB Flashback or AVS Video Recorder, you can pick all resolutions from 160x90 to 2304x1536 (at 2 fps) and the C920 will switch to any of them -- so, yes, it will do all the 4:3 modes like 640x480, but not with LWS. There's no reason they couldn't put some common 4:3 modes in it, because the camera will do'em all, and wide-screen isn't always desirable. Does the camera put out raw video in the non-AVC modes, like a regular webcam? In LWS my processor (dual 3.06GHz) runs about 25% capturing 1080p, but about 45% capturing 480p. In other capture software, capturing 1080p in mjpeg or mpeg2/xvid maxes out the processor and stutters badly. So it would appear that the camera's hardware compression only kicks in with 720p and 1080p AVC, and a good thing it does! My computer (and its USB2) won't handle raw 1080p/30 video. Snapshots, using LWS (all JPG, Q unknown and not settable): Low: 1920x1080 (2MP, 472kB), a bit blurry in the details Med: 2304x1536 (3MP, 649kB), the native resolution of the image sensor Lrg: 3280x1845 (6MP, 1047kB), interpolated Max: 5168x2907 (15MP, 1984kB), interpolated -- I can see no detail difference in medium, large, and max, so interpolation is useless (as expected). -- I took the sharpest snapshot at 2304x1536 (its native res.) in another capture program that will save a BMP (uncompressed). Indeed, I took that and up-scaled it to 15MP in IrfanView, then saved it as 80% jpeg, and it's half the file size and better quality than what LWSs "Max" setting provided. IrfanView took the 45 meg BMP down to a 1 meg JPG (at 80% Q) and I can't see any difference in details. Now for the little complaints: None for the camera, but the LWS software could use some 4:3 resolutions and finer-grained controls, like setting the bit-rate of the audio and tweaking some AVC profile settings, more video containers like AVI and MOV, and an uncompressed (BMP) option for snapshots. RightLight: Doesn't seem to do anything. Either the Exposure and Gain are in Auto or not, and you have to uncheck RightLight to uncheck Auto. In auto, the exposure slider usually stays at 9 (of 14) clicks, and the gain varies. Fast motion is nice and smooth, though blurry. With ample lighting, you can improve the video a little by going to manual and putting the exposure at about 5 clicks and then up the gain for a normal picture, and there will be much less motion blur, just like setting a faster exposure on any camera. I found one little bug in LWS: When you put the Gain in manual, it will slowly creep down, about 1% per second. It's annoying. Auto White Balance: Makes you look cold and dead. Set your lights, hold a white card about a foot in front of it, then turn off AWB, and you'll look about right. Also, reducing the Color Intensity a bit makes faces look more natural. YMMV, so don't be afraid to put it all in manual and set it just right for your lighting. And remember, no "auto" stuff will completely fix every lighting situation. I'm using a 45-watt, 5500K, CRI-91 full-spectrum Alzo CFL, and still need manual tweaking. RightSound: A simple auto-volume that cuts the volume to about half if you get too loud. Seems to take about 1-2 seconds to respond. LWS has no VU bars or mic test, so you have to run something else to see what it's doing. There is a mic level slider in Preferences and I found it to be too loud at the default mid-point; putting it at about 35% made the audio better. There are no audio equalization settings, and it's just a bit "boomy" for my ears. A simple bass and treble filter would be nice. Stereo: If you're right in front of the camera, it sounds mono, but if you move around, you sure can hear the difference! But the software should have a mono setting, for those times when it's pointed at something besides your face (like, your hobby on the table), and you're talking beside the camera. Autofocus: The range is from about 1.4 to 14 inches, and everything beyond that is infinity. To get it to macro-focus, you have to move in slowly, and the object needs some detail, or it just loses it and goes back to infinity. Better turning it off and setting manually for the task at hand. But if you're talking within the 14 inches, the AF tracks pretty well and is reasonably fast. Face following: Because it's just moving the image around on the sensor, you have to be zoomed in some for it to work, and it only works in 360 and 480 modes. At most, it only "follows" for a few degrees of angle. Didn't try any of the "Effects" -- not my cup of tea. You cannot use them at 720 and 1080, only 360 and 480. Didn't try video phone or chat, so can't comment on that. Overall, I'm very impressed with the C920, and happy I made the purchase. And glad I didn't get the C910, because my computer won't handle raw 1080p. --kv5r

I purchased the Logitech C920 and I'm very happy with it so far. After reading lots of reviews, I decided to purchase this webcam because 1) with software you could get 15 megapixel image quality and 2) you could use a tripod with it. I had read many reviews with some saying that the C910 had better image quality because it had 5 megapixel true whereas the C920 had only 3 megapixel true. That was a concern for me at first. Also I was concerned about reviews that said it is very good for close-ups but not good quality for the background. I found it was high quality for both close-ups and background. Also, some had said that the camera only "sits" on top of the monitor. Well, that is NOT true. There is a clip and it allows it to fit any monitor thickness which is a plus. You can even have it sit on top of you CPU tower on on the tripod (which you must purchase separately -- important because I thought that the tripod came with it). I purchased this webcam to replace my much older Logitech 4000 webcam. As I expected, the image quality of this webcam is so much better. I don't get the blur and it isn't as grainy as my older webcam. I took a video of me holding up my credit cards and you could read the numbers on the credit cards very clearly. It blew me away because I wasn't even using zoom. I even made a video with the lights off with just the monitor on and the image quality of my face was super! I love the widescreen to it and I love the hi-def. I also read about the noise quality -- I think all webcams have this issue, but this one is much better. Some said that this is not a good webcam for travel. I disagree. This webcam folds up and it will fit any thickness of monitor you need it for, and if you have one of those dinosaur monitors, you can just have it sit on top of it. Only 2 negatives I see so far is that it does not have 360 degree turn or any turn for that matter. But for sitting on top or my monitor or on a tripod (which I need to purchase), it does great. My old Logitech 4000 that did rotate was always turning when I didn't want it too. Very annoying I must say. With the 920 I can adjust it going up and down, just not side by side, so it is not a problem for me. Other negative is that if you want to do a video call with someone they have to be using the same software and I don't yet know how the image quality would be with other software since it is the Logitech software that gets it to 15 megapixels. I need to try that out too. Could I get a better webcam? Sure, if I wanted to pay a lot more! For the price, this is a great webcam and so far it is doing what I need it to do. I only did a few test pictures and videos today (only received it today), but so far I love it. I still need to see how it works for web calls and such. I also need to learn how to make some of the great effects it has. All in all, this webcam beats any of the other ones in the Logitech line for features and image quality. This is also my first review ever. I felt I needed to write a review because there were so many negative reviews on this product. I am ready happy with my purchase and I'm glad the negative reviews did not sway me to not purchase it. I'll play around with it a bit more and see if I still love it :)

After several years of owning this webcam (bought it in 2016) I can definitely say a lot of good things about it, and thankfully NOT a lot of bad. The TLDR is that this model (C920) is literally all you need, the newer models (C922, etc) aren't worth the price jump unless you really need some feature that's not in this one. Two of my friends have the new ones and they're buggy as heck. This is an old model that works well, which I recommend to every one of my friends. You won't be disappointed if you purchase this webcam. If you want to know why I stand behind this webcam so much, then you need to understand my lifestyle. I am rough on my electronics. Not on purpose, but I tend to drop things, yank on cables when I'm in a rush, and move technology around on a daily basis. This webcam has seen three different states, maybe 20 different bags, been hooked up to 4 different operating systems and swapped from one computer to another on a frequent basis. And this sucker is still holding up strong. It focuses pretty quickly without issues and keeps most things in the picture in focus, it catches my voice from across the room and finds a way to level its audio nicely without unwanted audio artifacts, it doesn't take more than one attempt to get software to work with it (almost ever), a blue ring lights up to let you know it's recording (which has been surprisingly helpful), and it does pretty well in all lighting conditions. In fact, if you can find software that controls camera systems, this has white balance modifiers as well as controllable F-Stops and manual focal points and a few other really neat manually adjustable settings. The video is REALLY clear. A lot of webcams output in 1080p, but don't really have the quality to fill it out; and this one definitely does. I would compare this webcam to the Apple iSight that's in the newer MacBooks. It's really that good. The color in it is sort of low contrast (aka, slightly flat), but the clarity is amazing and it's not a DSLR; it's a webcam. Granted, this is coming from a photographer who is picky; most people will probably think it has a very sufficient amount of color and will have no idea why I even mentioned it lol. Additionally, the color balance is great, even in harsh lighting conditions. Another bonus is that it's tripod mountable using a standard tripod screw. It's also not very light and the integrated stand arm can support its weight if you place it on a desk and angle it. The little lip on the back is also nice for mounting it on a TV or really any scenario where it would be off balance. This webcam also works on Mixer with my Xbox One S (video only), and theoretically it should work with all Xbox One Variants [Xbox One, One S, One X]. Honestly, the only two bad things I can think of is that it doesn't support night vision (although, it still see's me in pretty dark conditions), and when it's dark the blue ring is a little bright if you sit really close to your screen (like laying down on Skype with your computer in your face), but those issues are rarely ever happen and are manageable in some way. Other than that, this thing is amazing and I have absolutely no complaints. Even has a wide enough of an angle to be usable in all scenarios, and zooming in to counter it doesn't degrade quality too much to be an issue. I could probably go on all day about it, but the reality is that I gave this thing a five out of five in every category for a reason. PS: I didn't rate it for facial recognition because this model came out before Windows Hello and isn't supported because solely because of that reason, so it didn't really seem fair to judge it based on said circumstance (also considering you can now buy it for half the price, this webcam technically competes with some lower-midrange models where such a feature really isn't such an expectation).

I'm creating an inexpensive multi-point business video conferencing system using low-cost, off the shelf commodity components, and I'm using the Logitech C920 as part of this effort. Considering that a top quality PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) camera can be several thousand dollars, I needed an alternative that could put out a reasonable 1080p image at an affordable price. Since I can control the lighting and so forth, I don't really require anything special in terms of low-light performance...all I really need is a camera that puts out a credible image when displayed on a 10 foot projection screen, and is simple enough to work with a variety of online video conferencing systems, including Skype, WebEx and so forth. So far, the Logitech hasn't disappointed me. It was easy to setup (assuming you have a Windows PC in the mix) and it performs well. Construction quality is good for the price, and it's so small as to be easily mounted in a variety of settings (mine is attached to the top of a 65" plasma monitor using a custom bracket). With good lighting, I get very good video quality out of this small camera, even when compared to my firm's $100K Telepresence system. I can't really speak to the audio quality - we're using an in-ceiling microphone and speaker system, so we have little need for the built-in audio on this camera. On the software front, so far we haven't had any issues whatsoever, and the camera works with just about everything we throw at it. The one exception is Macs - although we have good results viewing video on Macs, it doesn't seem possible to connect the C920 to a Mac directly - you need a Windows PC somewhere in between (it *does* work with Windows under VMware Fusion on a Mac, so long as you have a really fast Mac). Definitely recommended at the price.