Anker PowerConf C200 2K Webcam for PC, Computer Camera

 

Anker products continue to surprise me with their quality.

Have been using a logitech Web cam for years with no issues but it died so had to replace it. I thought I’d try this one instead of the same logitech I bought 7 years ago and it is surprisingly good.

Would recommend.

 

My iMac built in iSight camera is shockingly bad in a slightly dark room, and it was unsuitable for work calls. Grabbed a highly recommended Logitech C920 Pro for double the price of this one and nothing seemed to detect it. Returned the Logi and took a punt on the Anker having loved their power banks and earphones in the past. Really happy with it, no software or drivers needed and it’s auto detected by Zoom & Meet. Rests nicely on top of the iMac despite the curved back of the display – also has a tripod mount. Solid in low light and sharp as a tack. Potentially overkill at 2K resolution (Google Meet limits you to 720p) but I’m happy. Given it 4 stars only because the autofocus drifts sometimes and the focal length is a bit wide for my liking – you can crop in and set the crop as the default view, but you lose quality in doing so which is mildly annoying. Anker’s pricing always amazes me though, great product.

 

The unit feels very, very sold and made to a very high standard and belies the fact it cost me less than 50 with an Anker discount. I particularly love the built-in privacy shutter and the overall look and design of the web cam. It feels MUCH better than more expensive web cams including my Logitech Brio 500.

The image quality for the most part is excellent. It is very sharp and clear, with good contrast, colour and exposure – much better than all of the webcams I have owned or tested under 120. However the zoom can be a little inconsistent. More often than not, it nails focus really well but at other times it mis-focuses enough that the image looks soft. To fix this, I just wave a hand in front of the camera to ‘force’ it to refocus. On some rare occasions, it just doesn’t focus on my face. I suspect this is caused by the fact that I work against a white wall/background.

I love the 3 zoom levels but please note this is a digital rather than a true optical zoom so the picture is just being magnified and the image quality is being sacrificed when you use a field of view setting outside of the normal focal length. However this feels like a harsh not pick since pretty much every other webcam within this price range and even above, do the same thing.

The software is intuitive to use but the colour and brightness settings don’t always seem to transfer correctly to Microsoft Teams.

For me, the big downside is the mic. No one should expect great sound from a built-in mic but I would expect something on a par or better than my laptop mic. The sound from the Anker C200 is quite harsh and very digital sounding. It does a great job in picking up details and in terms of amplification, but voices do not sound natural at all. Setting the mic to directional rather than Omni-directional does improve things but it still some way off sounding great. What is excellent however, is the noise cancellation feature – it is almost like witchcraft in terms of how well it works. Perhaps the harsh, digital sound quality is a by product of the noise cancellation software?

For most people the mic will be good enough, but if you do a lot of presenting or video calls, then you might be better off getting a dedicated mic or web cam with a better mic (the Logitech Brio 500 has an amazing mic).

My last and final nit pick is that the clip isn’t wide enough to fit on my BenQ 27 inch, 4K monitor so the web cam is just balancing on the top of the monitor.

I wanted to love this web cam. I could forgive the minor auto-focus and clip issues but the mic quality is a real deal breaker for me. If they improve this element then I think they’ll have the best web cam on the market below 150.

 

Picture is sharp quality camera for the money, well worth the purchase, only negative is the manually lens to cover, But worth the money for the quality picture you get.

 

Needed a camera after buying a Mac Studio, looked around at all the reviews, this came up on the last set of reviews. Looked at the reviews on Amazon, thought I’d give this a go as many cameras don’t fully support full software, especially on M1 Apple silicone. As I’ve bought an Anker Soundcore Bluetooth speaker and loved that, this hasn’t disappointed either. Plug in, download software, adjust to your own needs. This past week client’s have said all clear picture and sound, so I’m happy.

 

Bought this as a travel webcam for use on business calls from hotel rooms. Good in all respects except would have been nice if a case had been included. Otherwise, small and good enough. Especially pleased with choice of FOV choices.

 

I bought this to replace an old iPhone I had setup as a webcam, driver issues and instability forced me to look for a dedicated webcam.

Based on all the reviews on the C200 – I wasn’t disappointed. The image quality is perfectly adequate for work Zoom/Team meetings; it performs well with dim lighting conditions or high contrast situations.

What surprised me the most is the quality of the microphone, it’s very good. For my calls I use this mic and an external bluetooth speaker, there’s no feedback (audio echo) from the external speaker and I’ve had no complaints from my colleagues regarding voice/audio quality.

When the shutter cover is closed (blocking the camera) – the mic is still active which can be a pro or con but it suits me.

A lot of reviews do focus on image quality / accuracy etc… For basic webcam functionality for Work meetings where you want to look relatively sharp/visible in all lighting conditions – this webcam is brilliant (and so is the buit-in mic).