The Brio also supports HDR, which means bold colours and better performance in low-light situations. And, if you don't need 4K, the Brio also offers 1080p recording at 60fps – the only webcam here to also offer that feature. The Lube Cube Wireless ring light might seem overpriced but it has a lot of really great features compared to others. The light itself is really bright, and you can either run it off mains power or for up to 90 minutes on batteries (which are supplied). It also includes an LED readout to monitor your settings and it comes with a sturdy 6.5ft light stand. You never want to be seen fiddling with your light, trying to make adjustments while filming. A remote control helps you make minor adjustments and do it out of the line of sight. The ring light and wireless remote control kit from PIXEL come with a 19-inch bi-color vlogging light, filter, mounting adapters, and a wireless remote controller. It's the perfect setup for casual and professional Zoom meetings, vlogging, and FaceTime chats.

When you need an inexpensive light that will work just as well with your laptop as it will your phone, we like the QIAYA selfie ring light. It's USB-powered and clips directly onto your phone, tablet, or laptop; giving off soft, warm, adjustable light. Pros: Wide-angle lens for more image capture; decent 1080p image quality; tilt and swivel adjustment options This camera records 1080p footage at 30fps—smooth enough for any everyday situation—and it produces plenty of detail and lifelike colours. Microsoft’s camera does a great job with low-light situations, with images only becoming a little blurry. It handles bright lights easily too—your face won’t be washed out if you’re sitting in front of a window. Image quality, for starters, is superb: crisp, clear and well-balanced, with natural colour and good detail. The good core image is bolstered by fast, effective autofocus, solid exposure adjustment and automatic white balance. Audio quality is decent thanks to stereo microphones. Image quality is outstanding: crisp, bright and colourful, with great contrast. The white-balancing works well, and the Brio handles lighting adjustment with ease. In short, you're almost always going to get fantastic image quality with this unit.

Given their donut-shape, ring lights are perfect for headshots and close-ups, whether you're shooting still images or video. So if you photograph or film yourself or others directly looking into the camera, a ring light is perfect for you. Ring lights can also be used like more traditional LED light panels, to provide overall key or fill lighting to a scene, but they are tailor made for shooting faces. Do professionals use ring lights? But another reason is the arrangement of the light. The ring creates a dispersed light that’s much more flattering on the face. Depending on the position of the light, the ring will usually be reflected in the subject's eyes, and if you look very closely you'll probably see that telltale halo in many videos online. However, this can also be advantageous, with the glint adding life to the eyes. For creatives and streamers, though, the Logitech offers plenty of versatility alongside smooth, high-quality 1080p footage, so it’s a great choice. In terms of image quality, there’s a lot to like here too. The Dell records at 4K alongside 1080p and 720p, and it supplies solid output at all those resolutions. Colours are a tad oversaturated and other cameras are a little crisper. Despite these minor criticisms, Dell’s picture is still in the top tier when it comes to webcams. This camera doesn't disappoint if you want high-quality output for business calls.

This ring light earns its "Pro" designation with distinction. At 17 inches in diameter, it's an inch smaller than the Lume Cube Wireless Ring Light (below), but it gives you a half hour more battery life, and the new light stand is a half-foot higher.The new remote control is a godsend for lighting yourself without having to keep getting up and down, and the improved diffusion is a dream for lighting portrait subjects. The quality of light is also absolutely spot-on, which is particularly important for creators shooting content such as makeup tutorials. Most people will benefit from choosing one of the best ring lights with a dimming/brightness control: Having a ring light that allows you to control the brightness will make life a lot easier – if the brightness is fixed, then your only option if the light level is wrong is to move the light closer or further away.A dimming control allows you to place the light where you want it and change the strength of the light as required. Do I need a ring light with changing colour temperature? It really depends if you need to be able to take the light outside or on location. Some models are mains only and as such can be a little less expensive because of the extra connections and electronics required to accept batteries, but there are models that offer both. The Brio's auto-contrast performance isn't the best on the market, but it's still easily good enough for most situations – and still better than most webcams.The best lighting for webcam streaming comes down to positioning, brightness options, and your budget. If you want professional-grade light, we recommend the Neewer 5600K USB LED Lights. They're dimmable, come with eight filters, and offer endless lighting options.

In our list above, we've also looked for options with dimming/brightness controls, versatility (i.e. whether the ring lights can support different types of camera) and reliability, which is what often influences the reputation of a brand. Another measurement to look out for is CRI (colour rendering index). This is a measure of the ability of the light to show colours faithfully in comparison with natural light. The higher the CRI, the more accurate the colour rendering. A light with a CRI of80 to 90is good, while 90+ is excellent. Which is the best ring light brand? It's an 18-inch ring light which makes it perfect for shooting portraits or filming videos. As it's wireless you can use it on location or in the studio which makes it a great option if you want to be able to do both.Modern ring lights are LED lights, since they are powered by clusters of LED bulbs. However, most LED lights come in the form of rectangular-shaped panels, which produce much flatter illumination. Ring lights, on the other hand, are donut-shaped, which is much more flattering to faces. So rather than providing harsh, flat lighting, ring lights sculpt your features and provide a more dimensional, pleasing, professional look. What are ring lights good for? There are several qualities that make the best ring lights so popular for filming to-camera social media videos or for making video calls. Firstly, they're quite affordable and their size makes them handily portable and easy to set up on a desk or on the floor, without the need for a lot of space.

Elsewhere, the Dell has a clever AI-based focus system that keeps subjects smoothly in focus. There are plenty of tweakable settings in Dell’s straightforward management app. The device tilts but doesn’t pivot, though, and it also doesn’t have a microphone.We also take them out to see if they're sturdy enough to be transported and used on location, or if they're only really robust enough to stay on your desk or in the corner of your room. It's important to see how the output performs when using batteries versus main power, too, if that's something they offer. Frequently asked questions What's the difference between ring light and LED lights? The rest of the feature set is excellent. The field of view can be widened all the way to 90 degrees, and there's an infrared camera that works with Windows Hello login. The USB-C connection also means longer cables can be used. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Paying extra does deliver loads of extra functionality. This is the only webcam in the group that offers 4K video recording. It runs that high resolution at 30fps, and it's a stunning option: video is crystal clear, with loads of detail and sharpness. They can be attached to your laptop, tablet or phone so long as it's 18mm or thinner. They're great for taking on nights out so you can capture well-lit selfies, on holiday or even when traveling away from home so that you can Facetime loved ones no matter how much light is around you.