Best Webcams for 2021 – Buyer’s Guide

In 2021, because of COVID, most of us have moved from the office to our home as our primary work location. We find ourselves on various video conferencing systems such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webex. So good quality webcams have become more important than ever.

As a blogger in 2021, you may find yourself creating a video. Many bloggers will create a video blog to go along with their written blog posts. This is a great practice as it will help your audience connect more closely to you. When  it comes to recording video for your blog, the way I see it, you have two main options. You’re going to use a webcam or a camcorder. In this resource list we are going to stick to webcams for those of you that want to record in front of your computer.

Webcams – Picking the Right One

If you’re planning on recording video blog posts (vlogs) sitting in front of your laptop then a webcam is the way to go. It’s a much less expensive option that can still give you great quality results. Of course to have great quality results, you’ll need:

1. A good webcam
2. The right lighting
3. A good microphone

If you plan on doing more than sitting in front of your laptop then you’ll want to look into a good quality camcorder such as the Akaso.

Having a great webcam is only part of the equation. As I mentioned, having the right lighting and a good microphone are the other two parts to that equation. So when it comes to lighting, most of the time, the standard lighting you have in your house will not be enough. Fortunately, with a small investment, you can invest in a lighting kit that will make a world of a difference. A basic swivel arm desk lamp positioned right behind your laptop pointed down at you may be all you need.

Also, here is a video on how to achieve great lighting using a basic swivel arm desk lamp.

If you want to get a little fancier, a couple softbox lights on each corner of yourself does excellent as well. Here’s a softbox lighting kit you may want to invest in.

Lastly, most webcams have built-in microphones. The problem is these microphones tend to suck. Yes, I believe that is the technical term. Kidding aside, the built-in microphones on webcams tend to have a lot of echo and not sound too clear. The solution to that problem is to upgrade to an external microphone. Thankfully, USB microphones have come a long way and there are some really good ones that will give you studio-quality audio. Check out the USB microphone resource list here at Pro Blog Resources.

So without further ado, my top ten best webcams for 2021.

 NexiGo N60 – Amazon’s Choice

If you didn’t want to invest into an external USB microphone, I believe the microphone built into this webcam is better than the rest. It has built-in noise cancelling microphone.

The picture quality is amazing as well coming with a 110 degree ultra wide angle picture, this webcam would work great if there’s more than one person in front of it.

After viewing some customer reviews, here’s the main take-aways that customers love about this webcam:

•  It’s cheap
• Does well in lower light conditions
• Good gaming cam
• Good for video conferencing / Zoom meetings if you work from home
• Video and microphone quality are great
• People seem to like the manual focus.
• People like the wide angle.

View on Amazon

NexiGo A229AF/N930AF Webcam – Best Seller

With over 9,000 ratings coming in at a 4.5 out of 5 star review, overall, this webcam has earned the best seller status and for good reason.

It has the ability to auto focus to make you look at crystal clear as possible.

Echo cancellation and noise reduction make for a great built in microphone.

You can also mount this webcam to a tripod if you desire.

In the comments section people seem to like how easy it is to install. They also like the privacy lens, picture quality, and sound quality. Most people will tell you, for the price, this is a solid webcam that works great.

View the Samcorn on Amazon

 Wansview HD 1080P PC Webcam – #1 Best Seller

Similar to the other webcams this one has a noise cancelling microphone built into it. It has an adjustable focus lens so that you can get your picture just right. The video quality is amazing. Wansview is a great company that is also known for making baby monitors and outdoor security cameras. So they are a big name in the world of cameras.

Here’s the benefits customers are reporting

• Adjustable focus lens makes a big difference in quality
• Recognized by Linux system
• Works great in various video chat programs
• Built-in microphone sounds clean
• It just works. Plug and play.

View on Amazon

Logitech C920

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 is at the top of the list and for good reason. It’s an Amazon #1 best seller. In regards to webcams it is at the top of the class. In relation to how it compares with its top competitors, it beats them all out.

What Makes the C920 Stand-out From the Rest?

Just about everything. I’ll start with the lens. The C920 has a Full HD glass lens. This is opposed to the plastic lens that most other webcams have. This five element glass lens helps capture razor-sharp, clear images/video.

So let’s talk a bit about the video, since that is probably the main reason you would make this purchase. This webcam comes with H.264 compression technology. Not many other webcams have this technology. If you’re streaming, this is ideal. It will also be less taxing on your laptop. So you get better quality video and less CPU utilization.

The webcam also records in full HD 1080p whereas most other webcams record in 720p. Even on Skype, it can work at 1080p. This makes this webcam ideal as a solution for a video conference room. It will do a great job of capturing the whole room in great clarity.

It has a 15MP camera built-in to it as well which beats out all the rest. You can even attach this webcam onto a tripod as it has a screw mount. Not many other webcams have this feature. You can tell Logitech made this webcam with professional use in mind.

The audio quality isn’t bad, but as with all the webcams listed here I suggest purchasing a quality USB microphone.

The only con about this webcam is that it is unable to rotate 360 degrees whereas a couple of its competitors do have this ability.

View the Logitech C920 on Amazon

Microsoft Lifecam Studio

The Lifecam is one of the few webcams I know of that can connect to a tripod. But what makes it better is how easily adjustable it can tilt up or down. Similar to the Logitech C920, the Lifecam has a glass lens as opposed to plastic which gives the cam much better image and video quality. It can record in 1080p widescreen which makes this camera a great choice for conference rooms and greater overall clarity.

The build quality is also very nice. The outer casing is brushed aluminum whereas most others are plastic.

I really like the versatility of this camera. It has 360-degree rotation. It can rotate halfway in both directions. This is great for shooting video or doing Skype calls with multiple people.

Finally, the webcam comes with a nice case for traveling. It is definitely one of the best webcams on the market.

View the Lifecam Studio on Amazon

AUSDOM Webcam 1080 HD Camera,Desktop or Laptop Webcam

Although Ausdom isn’t a big name like the Logitech C920 or the Microsoft Lifecam Studio I included it towards the top of the list because it has certain features that only the best webcams on this list have. For example, it captures video in 1080p HD and has a glass lens. Those two features, alone, seem to be reserved for the best webcams on the market.

Possible Con – The reviews are mixed. Most of the reviews are 5 star. But there doesn’t seem to be a lot in-between. It’s either 5-star or 1-star.

Another possible con that I noticed is in regards to the focus-type which is manual as opposed to auto.

For the price (which is on the low end), this webcam offers some features only found in the higher-end webcams which may make it worth trying out.

View the Ausdom webcam on Amazon

Logitech C310

I’ve personally used this webcam for Skype calls at work and it works great for that purpose. There’s a huge difference from the webcam built into my laptop. The C310 gives a clean clear video quality. If you’re doing videos where you will basically want to record a head-shot, this camera will do the trick. You’re not going to get the depth and clarity you will from a product like the C920 but quality it still great. For the price, it’s a great webcam as it comes in at the low end of the price scale.It usually sells for around $30.

View the Logitech C310 on Amazon

Logitech C525

The C525 is very similar the C615. The main difference is that the C525 utilizes a plastic lens as opposed to a glass lens. So the image and video quality will not be as good. That said, the C525 is listed as “Amazon’s Choice” on Amazon and has excellent ratings to go with it.  

View the Logitech C525 on Amazon

 HP HD 3110

HP is not very well-known for their webcams. The HD3310 looks promising. Features that make it stand out include its ability to pan 360 degrees and it’s ability to autofocus and autoexposure. There’s not a whole lot of reviews out there on this webcam compared to some of it’s competitors that are close in specifications. It’s a little pricey for the what it offers. That said, HP is a good company that makes quality products. So it maybe worth a try.

View on Amazon

 Genius Widecam F100

This webcam is great for Skype calling and especially great for conference calls due to it’s 120 degree wide-angle glass lens. It also sounds great for recording as it claims to be able to record HD 1080p at 30fps which is similar to the C920 webcam. As I mentioned, it has a glass lens which will add to the clarity of the picture. On top of all that is can rotate 360 degrees.

This camera has amazing specifications. One thing worth noting is that it does not offer H.264 compression. What does this mean to you? Well H.264 compression is what helps a camera such as the Logitech C920 be able to record full HD 1080P at 30fps (frames per second). Because of that this camera may drop the frame rate which could adversely affect the video quality.   

View the Genius Widecam F100 on Amazon