Elgato Facecam 4K Ships Without a Microphone, Now $159.99 at Amazon

news
Elgato Facecam 4K Ships Without a Microphone, Now $159.99 at Amazon

The Elgato Facecam 4K is $159.99 at Amazon at the time of writing, a full $40 under the $199.99 Elgato still charges on its own store. What the $159.99 does not buy is a microphone, because Elgato leaves one out on purpose and says so.

Elgato Facecam 4K clipped to the top edge of a monitor
The camera clipped to the top edge of a monitor on its included mount. Image: Elgato

The camera shoots 4K at 60fps through a 1/1.8-inch Sony STARVIS 2 sensor, behind a fixed-focus f/4.0 lens with a single 90-degree field of view. Against the Logitech MX Brio at $169.99, that $10 gap decides between frame rate and a finished call setup.

Amazon sits $40 under Elgato's own store

Elgato lists the camera as SKU 10WAF9901 at $199.99 on its US store and marks it in stock. Amazon is named as both seller and shipper, the saving reads 20%, and the listing is not Prime-gated.

This is not a cut that landed today. The same listing was recorded at $176.99 on 18 October and at $159.99 on 19 October, and it has not moved since.

Corsair owns Elgato, so its store is worth a look as well. A search there returns a single result, a $779.96 Streaming Control Pack built around a Xeneon Edge display, a Key Light and a Stream Deck MK.2 that has been down to $119.99.

Corsair does not sell the Facecam 4K on its own at any price. Elgato's $199.99 is the only first-party number, which makes Amazon's $199.99 list price a real anchor rather than a detached one.

Front view of the Elgato Facecam 4K lens
The f/4.0 Elgato Prime Lens takes standard 49mm filters. Image: Elgato

Elgato Facecam 4K specifications

SpecificationElgato Facecam 4K
ModelFacecam 4K, SKU 10WAF9901
Top mode (USB 3.0)2160p60, MJPG only
Uncompressed ceiling4K30 in NV12, or 1440p30 in YUY2
HDR resolutions2160p30 and below, 30fps maximum
Image sensorSony STARVIS 2 CMOS, 1/1.8 inch
LensElgato Prime Lens, 21mm, f/4.0
FocusFixed, 30 to 120cm at 4K, 25cm to infinity at 1080p
Field of view90 degrees
MicrophoneNone
Privacy coverLens cap sold separately at $4.99
MountingMonitor mount included, 1/4-inch thread
Lens filtersStandard 49mm
ConnectionUSB-C, UVC 1.5, 200cm detachable cable
SoftwareCamera Hub, free for Windows and Mac only
Platform supportWindows 11 or later, macOS 13 or later
Size and weight104 x 54 x 52 mm, 112g without mount and cable

The 4K60 and the HDR belong to different modes

Elgato lists HDR for 2160p30, 1440p30, 1080p30, 720p30 and 540p30. HDR stops at 30fps in every resolution, so the two features the listing advertises together cannot actually run together.

Uncompressed capture splits the same way. Elgato puts that ceiling at 4K30 in NV12 or 1440p30 in YUY2, which leaves 4K60 as an MJPG mode.

The port matters too. Over USB 2.0 the camera tops out at 1080p, a limit that appears on Elgato's spec sheet and not in the Amazon bullets.

HDR is a toggle inside Camera Hub, the free app that also holds manual exposure, ISO, noise reduction and the saved presets. Elgato publishes Camera Hub for Windows and Mac alone, and asks for Windows 11 or later or macOS 13 or later.

Settings are written to flash memory on the camera, so they survive a reboot. Tint control is still marked as a future firmware update, and Stream Deck control needs a separate Camera Hub plugin.

How it compares with the MX Brio at $169.99

The Logitech MX Brio is $169.99 at Amazon and $169.99 on Logitech's own store, so it sits $10 above the Elgato with no retailer gap to exploit. Logitech caps that camera's 4K at 30fps and keeps 60fps for 1080p, which is the round the Facecam 4K wins outright.

Most of the other rounds go the other way. The MX Brio carries dual beamforming mics with a 4ft range, Advanced Autofocus, a built-in privacy shutter and three fields of view at 90, 78 and 65 degrees.

The Facecam 4K has none of those. Its focus is fixed between 30 and 120cm at 4K, its privacy cover is a $4.99 cap sold separately, and no microphone is fitted at all.

WebcamPrice4K frame rateBuilt-in micSeller
Elgato Facecam 4K$159.9960fpsNoneAmazon.com
Logitech MX Brio$169.9930fpsDual beamformingAmazon.com
Insta360 Link 2 Pro$249.99Not listedDirectional dual micsInsta360 Direct
YOLOLIV YoloCam S3$199.0030fpsNot listedYOLOLIV Official Store

So the decision turns on audio rather than on badges. A desk that already has a dedicated microphone on it, perhaps something like the 32-bit Corsair Voxara, should take the Elgato and the extra frames.

A desk that wants one USB cable to handle a meeting should pay the extra $10 instead. The Insta360 Link 2 Pro at $249.99 and the YOLOLIV YoloCam S3 at $199.00 both ship from their makers' own storefronts rather than from Amazon.

What neither store publishes

No end date is published for the $159.99, at Amazon or at Elgato. Bitrate, minimum illumination and the exposure range are absent from Elgato's spec sheet, as is any warranty term on the product page.

Elgato also confirms the camera does not support Windows Hello, so it cannot stand in as a sign-in camera. Logitech, for its part, publishes no sensor size for the MX Brio, which rules out a size-against-size reading of the two.

Motorised tracking is another absence, and it is where the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite, discounted to $119 in September, pulled ahead of both. Prices at either retailer can change without notice.

Discover: News

Discussion (0)

Be the first to comment.