We’ve come to expect great things from webcams in the last few years, given the pandemic forced everyone indoors to buy one for their work or other needs. This mass increase in use of webcams spurred companies to develop new and improved versions. What has been striking to us though is that even though webcams are a necessity for anyone working remote these days, they still haven’t been developed to the degree that matches phone camera quality, by a long shot. It’s rather depressing how webcam technology just hasn’t caught up to the tiny devices in our pockets yet.
Perhaps that sentiment will change with today’s review of the budget offering from Poly Studio, the P5 Webcam. Budget doesn’t necessarily mean ‘cheap’… but let’s find out.
The package deal
The Poly Studio P5 Webcam (P5 Webcam for short from here on) didn’t really look like a lot when we opened up the packaged, but then again that’s not what we are buying it for… looks matter little to us as long as it isn’t downright ugly. Because webcam’s are just that, a camera, unique features tend to go towards the physical features and the software. The Poly Studio P5 Webcam is no exception here, though it keeps the physical features reasonable but still unique (some webcams border on the obscene in their design to try and distinguish themselves from the rest… don’t do that, it just makes your product look childish).
While it’s a convenience, the P5 Webcam does come with a lens cover in case you want to ensure no one is watching you through the webcam and don’t trust software to do it.
Official Specs
- 1080p resolution
- Max focal length: 4
- Max aperture: 2f
- Flash Memory type: SDXC
- Screen Size: 2 inches
- Connectivity: USB
- Color: Speckled white
Setup and usability
Setup wise it’s a webcam that plugs into the USB port of a computer or laptop (the camera is great for portability in this way) and was automatically detected on our latest macOS, Windows 11 and Windows 10 machines.
A neat feature we don’t often see with webcams were the P5’s lighting indicators:
- Green means a call is active (or the camera is enabled on some software)
- Red confirms the lens covered is enabled
- White means the camera isn’t doing anything but is able to be activated
The software (called Poly Lens) serves the user’s needs well enough, allowing all basic adjustments you would expect for a webcam. We don’t cover that part of the P5 Webcam in this review because it’s all common settings and features. It just works… for the most part. We had some weird issues getting it to preview properly at times, but this was most prominent on our non-Windows PC. It worked flawlessly on Windows 11.
Performance
The P5 Webcam performed well enough at 1080p, but like all other webcams, we unfortunately didn’t experience any dramatic breakthrough with other budget webcams. It needed some tweaking of various settings like contrast and gamma, but surprisingly it was one of the better webcams to be ready out-of-the-box.
Here is a single front-face view. I purposefully positioned myself along the sunny window side of the house to show how it treats lighting extremes:
In short, the P5 Webcam will do you just fine, especially if you’re traveling and need a quick plugin solution… just don’t expect any miracles.
Pros
- Easy to set up and simple to manage
- Good video out-of-the-box with one caveat below
- Clear and neutral audio
- The lens cover is a nice bonus
- Portability (it’s small and light-weight)
Cons
- Camera sharpness in some low light situations is a bit blurred ever so slightly. We couldn’t seem to improve it, though it’s minor.
- It isn’t the prettiest (if you care about that sort of thing)
The value of the P5 Webcam is quite good at currently just $29.49 on Amazon.com.
