Review on 📷 Amcrest AWC897 4K Webcam with Privacy Cover, USB Camera for PC/Desktop & Laptop, HD Streaming Webcam with Mic, Wide Angle Lens & Superior Low Light Sensor by Johnathan Delgado

Amcrest reimbursed me the full cost of the product testing program in exchange for an honest review. Below is the full email (with minor edits for clarity) that I sent to Amcrest. ---------- I'm a sysadmin for a relatively small, private, non-profit university, and also an occasional Twitch streamer. I also have two other Amcrest devices (WiFi security cameras, although one doesn't work). I've tested the webcam on my work PC multiple times since receiving it, including today's interview with a candidate. I've also tested it using OBS Studio on my computer at work (which I've used to test several other audio/video devices), although I haven't tried actually streaming Twitch at home yet. My goal is to provide the smallest details to help you create the best products. My feedback is: **Image quality** The lens focus is not optimal for desktop use and as it is a fixed lens it cannot be changed. It would be nice if you could do this manually by manipulating the lens like some cheaper webcams do. My webcam is almost exactly 2 feet from me on my monitor at work, but my face and hair appear relatively blurry/blurry. Attached are two pictures taken on different days. My face looks a little blurry and objects in the background are much sharper. The sharper parts of the image look fantastic, much better than your regular webcam, but the device's Achilles' heel is that a person sitting 2ft from the camera (whose effective distance is listed as >1ft) in the The background is blurry by comparison, and this is especially so given that there's no way to control focus by rotating the lens on the camera like mine (insert the random name of Amazon's Chinese brand) which I previously used makes it only a minor upgrade in comparison to the camera . The overall image quality is better than a cheap, no-name camera, but it's very, very distracting and frustrating that everything behind the subject is in much better focus than the subject itself. The lack of 60fps at any resolution is also disappointing. I believe some other popular brand devices can play 1080p@30 or 720@60. This gives 30 fps at all settings except 4K. For content creators, where many streamers try to stream at 60fps regardless of the resolution to be broadcast, this webcam isn't really for those users for that reason. Another problem I encountered is the network frequency. I'm not too familiar with the specifics of where 50Hz vs 60Hz is required, but the camera for me defaulted to 50Hz and had some very strange image quality issues, I think you'd call it flickering. I had to use the windows camera app to change it to 60hz to fix it. If it's region dependent (like NTSC vs. PAL) it's going to be extremely frustrating for US buyers, many of whom won't know that setting the network frequency is even a thing, and especially how to change it . That's because there's no setup software for the camera at all. The most important point here for me is the focus. It would be SO killer webcam if the focus was better! Manual setting, auto focus or just factory set focus setting. Unfortunately, the focusing issues described earlier are ruining my mood when using this camera at this price point.**Build quality**Decent. Doesn't feel too cheap, but doesn't feel premium by any means. What I thought was a second microphone was actually just an LED. Speaking of that light, I understand that some people find it reassuring not to have their webcam turned on, but most other manufacturers do this by simply not activating the light when the device is not in use. The always-on LED is annoying, and there's no way to remove the "off" light without covering it, which disables the camera's on indicator. This can easily be toggled with customization software if available. Also, the stand feels sturdy, but it seems like it should be a little harder to adjust as simply closing the privacy shutter tries to tilt the camera forward for me unless I squeeze it shut or wave my hand open a very specific way. I think if it was tighter/heavier in motion it would stay in place very firmly when the camera itself is tilted up and down as well as using the privacy shutter.**Sound Quality**The audio quality of a webcam was still never so good so good except paying an exorbitant amount of money. This is no exception. For this reason, I almost always use a dedicated headset microphone. The HVAC system in my office is quite noisy, with ambient noise levels measuring around 48 or 49 dB according to my watch, compared to around 30-32 dB background noise measured in a quiet room at home. The camera mic picked me up without much background noise, and while my MS Teams test call sounds like I'm at the end of the bucket (granted, some of it could be a service), it's still a lot better than not having one. the camera name I mentioned earlier. I've never used a mic on an unnamed camera, but we have several of these and our users who don't pair them with headsets have to ask us to install equalizer software to actually make these cameras work with MS Teams or become unintelligible. The fact that the Amcrest camera captured me with no issues is a plus. **General Thoughts** This is a very good webcam that was affected by the focus issue I keep talking about. If the focus issue wasn't an issue, I'd say the price (I paid about $70) is pretty fair. However, given the focus issues combined with my other shortcomings (notably detecting and adjusting line frequency, etc.), I would say that this camera in its current form ($70) is overpriced compared to alternatives that can auto and manual focusing, as well as the ability to work at lower resolutions at 60 fps, which is important for digital content creators, an industry that is growing in popularity. Most web conferencing apps don't typically deliver fantastic video quality, so I think it would be better to focus on the feature set and optical glass/lens rather than trying to cram in more megapixels. It doesn't matter if my face is blurry at 1080p, 1440p or 2160p, it's still blurry. Thank you for the opportunity to receive and test your product. I hope my review is helpful.