Elgato Facecam 4K Webcam Review - Studio-level Camera Quality for $249

TweakTown Rating: 95%

Our Verdict

The Elgato Facecam 4K is a powerful webcam that bridges the gap between traditional webcams and DSLR cameras in terms of quality and accessibility, all for $249.

Pros

• 4K 60FPS recording
• Image quality
• Plug-and-play
• Physical design
• Camera Hub software

Cons

• Flat image

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

Elgato has released its most ambitious webcam to date, with the goal of blurring the line between traditional webcams and expensive, studio-grade DSLR cameras. Introducing the Elgato Facecam 4K.

20

The Facecam 4K is a step up from Elgato's other webcam offerings, and is aimed more at the professional side of video production, as it offers filter support, meaning creators can place hardware filters on the Facecam 4K's lens, and high-resolution video output at 4K 60FPS.

Elgato touts that the Facecam 4K provides studio-grade production in a clean, plug-and-play package, which is quite a difficult objective to achieve given that webcams have traditionally fallen remarkably short of DSLR cameras.

With that being said, Elgato has always gone one step ahead of the competition to provide a solution that benefits streamers and content creators, and the existence of the Facecam 4K may end up being yet another testament to the company's ability to have its finger on the pulse of what content creators are after.

Specifications

Close-up

Best Deals: Elgato Facecam 4K Webcam

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	-	-	$199.99 USD	Buy
	-	-	$259.99 CAD	Buy
	-	-	£179.99	Buy
	-	-	$199.99 USD	Buy
* Prices last scanned 2/1/2026 at 4:45 pm CST - prices may be inaccurate. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We earn affiliate commission from any Newegg or PCCG sales.

Design, Lens & Sensor

Elgato has maintained the typical size of a webcam with the Facecam 4K, with its dimensions measuring 104mm x 54mm x 52mm (width x height x depth). Additionally, it's not very heavy at all, weighing just 112g, which means it's easily light enough to sit on the top of any average desktop monitor, or be mounted on a tripod, or any other stand via its 1/4-inch threaded mount.

20

The build quality of the Facecam 4K is quite premium, with the webcam made of hard plastic. There are no obvious points of failure, and I trust that even if it were knocked off the top of a monitor by a nasty desk bump and fell onto the floor, it would survive the fall. The physical design is minimal and exudes a "pro-gear" look, making it easy to blend into almost any desktop PC rig or streaming setup.

Further Streaming Reading – Our Latest Content

• Elgato Stream Deck + Review - Content Creators, Don't Walk, Run to Get One Now
• Elgato Prompter XL Review: Bigger, Better, Exactly What I Wanted
• Cooler Master's MasterHUB Creator Kit is a game-changing modular control system for creators

Moving to the optical design and lens, the Facecam 4K uses a custom "Elgato Prime" lens that is paired with a 1/1.8" Sony STARVIS 2 CMOS sensor, which is fairly large by webcam standards. The 1/1.8 sensor captures more light, providing even sharper images in dark environments. The large sensor also leads to cleaner image quality, improved dynamic range, and more accurate color reproduction, especially when paired with good lighting.

20

Elgato has opted for a Prime Lens rather than an auto focus lens for the Facecam 4K, which isn't a decision I dislike, as the results speak for themselves. Keeping to the lens, Elgato's custom Prime Lens is a wide-angle lens with a field of view of around 90 degrees. At this field of view, streamers who want to capture some of their background in their shots can easily do so without awkwardly placing the camera in specific locations in the room. Additionally, the fixed focus is set to approximately 30 to 120 centimeters, meaning anything within that distance will be in focus.

That said, the Facecam 4K maintains impressive sharpness across its entire image. It doesn't offer the dramatic background blur found on many DSLR cameras, and if that is something you are looking for in your content, you won't get it with the Facecam 4K. More specifically, the Facecam 4K produces an image with very even focus, meaning the background and the subject have a very similar, and often identical, level of focus.

20

To add a little bit more flair to recordings or streaming, Elgato has provided support for standard 49mm screw-on lens filters, which is extremely uncommon in the webcam space. With support for lens filters, creators can customize the Facecam 4K image without having to use any editing software. Popular filters for content creators are polarizing filters, which dramatically help reduce glare from screens and lighting. Additionally, cinematic filters help soften highlights and diffuse light even more.

Lens filter support is a fantastic addition to the Facecam 4K, as creators now have much more control of their look without having to dive into software. Powering all this hardware is the USB-C to USB-C cable, which needs to be plugged into a USB-C port to access the full capabilities of the Facecam 4K. When plugged into a USB 3.0 port or higher, the Facecam 4K is capable of outputting ultra-HD video at up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second.

Software - Camera Hub & OBS

To pair with the Facecam 4K, Elgato has the Camer Hub software, which can be downloaded from the Elgato website here. The Camera Hub software is used to control and configure the Facecam 4K's settings, specifically important settings such as exposure, white balance, framing, contrast, processing, and more. The Camera Control software enables the user to set the Facecam 4K to manual or automatic, which will adjust the settings based on your lighting conditions. I recommend the manual settings for any content creators, as they let you tailor the Facecam 4K to your specific lighting environment, resulting in a much better image than the default settings.

20

Although the default settings are still quite impressive, and for anyone who doesn't want to spend time manually adjusting anything, I think the image is more than passable. However, manually adjusting at least some settings will yield a much better image, and once you are happy with the settings, they can be saved to the camera's onboard memory, so you don't need to reconfigure the Facecam 4K after each session.

20

While you can use the Facecam 4K as a plug-and-play webcam in any software that supports camera input, such as OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), it's best to use the Camera Hub alongside that software so you can make adjustments. For example, the Facecam 4K works with OBS by simply selecting Add New Source > Video Capture Device > and selecting Elgato Facecam 4K.

20

Notably, the Facecam 4K can only be output to one application at a time, so you will need to disable the preview window in the Camera Hub before selecting it in another application, such as OBS. If you don't do this, the image won't display. There is a workaround for this, though: the Elgato Facecam 4K Virtual Camera, which essentially copies the camera's video feed to the other piece of software with no delay. An example of this in practice is a user wanting to record a video in OBS while maintaining a Discord video chat.

20

The user would select Facecam 4K in OBS as the camera input source, then select the Virtual Camera in Discord. That way, the user can record a 4K 60FPS video without removing their camera from Discord. Quite a handy feature. Other settings in the Camera Hub software worth knowing include integration with NVIDIA Broadcast, which unlocks a plethora of features users can play with. One example is the AI-powered background blur/removal/replacement.

A user with an NVIDIA RTX GPU and the required SDK installed will enable real-time background effects, such as blurring, replacement, or removal. Essentially, this feature provides a user with green-screen-style compositing without a physical green screen. The Camera Hub also offers color-grading presets (LUTs) that let users stylize video output, which can be saved directly to the Facecam 4K.

Performance

Below is a 4K 60FPS video recorded with the Camera Hub software, and I think the results speak for themselves. The quality is extremely good for a webcam, but it's still not on par with an expensive DSLR.

However, we have to remember this is a $249 webcam, and not a fully fledged video-focused camera. The Facecam 4K image still shows some noise when closely inspected, but not enough to concern me or prevent me from recommending the device to someone doing livestreaming/content creation.

Final Thoughts

So, should you buy the Elgato Facecam 4K? I believe the ideal owner of the Facecam 4K would be looking to upgrade from their 1080p 60FPS webcam to something a little beefier, with customization capabilities. However, they still don't want the level of customization that a DSLR camera offers, nor do they want to spend that kind of money.

20

The Facecam 4K is a humble step toward more professional-level video production, but it still has many of the hallmarks of a webcam: noise, flat image, etc. Albeit, someone with a 1080p 60FPS webcam will feel a considerable upgrade moving to the Facecam 4K, as they will now have a video camera that is not only great for livestreaming their content, but also more than usable for high-resolution video recording.

Essentially, for $249, an aspiring content creator can get the Facecam 4K, a livestreaming camera, and a camera for recording talking-head YouTube videos. Additionally, with the ability to add physical filters to the Facecam 4K and the customization options in the Camera Hub software, users looking for a medium level of customization will be satisfied.