At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• ‘DSLR-quality’ imaging
• 4K choices, HDR too
• Terrific configurability
• Lens cap in addition to a privateness protect

Cons

• Whew, that value!
• Average mic high quality
• No Windows Hello
• Limited buy choices; simply Razer.com for now

Our Verdict

If you’ll be able to put aside the value, the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra is a unbelievable 4K webcam that merely lets you look your finest.

Price When Reviewed

$299.99

Best Prices Today: Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra

Does the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra justify its $300 price ticket? That was our query, and undoubtedly yours as nicely. Our reply? If you personal an older laptop computer, completely. But the 4K-capable Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra additionally affords a noticeable improve in comparison with even the most recent webcam {hardware}. You’ll seem like a professional whereas utilizing this digital camera.

Razer’s Kiyo Pro Ultra claims to supply DSLR-like picture high quality, and its large 2-inch-diameter lens definitely reminds you of that proper out of the field. In observe, the webcam holds as much as its claims. Simply bear in mind that it doesn’t do fairly every part, and one shortcoming specifically may depart you questioning why.

Most of the gadgets we function in our listing of the best webcams step down significantly in value—as does this webcam’s predecessor, the 1080p, $199 Razer Kiyo Pro. The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra is for these individuals who need to seem like they’re on a professional-quality YouTube stream, with the digital camera presenting you at your finest. What this webcam doesn’t do, nonetheless, is provide Windows Hello capabilities by way of a depth digital camera, so that you’ll have to make use of your PC’s default mechanism to log you in. (We have an inventory of the best Windows Hello webcams, too.)

Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra: Features

From a options standpoint, the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra can report in numerous video resolutions as much as 4K: 4K at 30 FPS (4K30), 1440p30, 1080p60/30/24, and 720p60/30. Images are captured at as much as 8.3 megapixels, which is nearly smartphone high quality. The field-of-view varies between 72 levels and 82 levels, relying on the decision. Manual pan and zoom can be found. The digital camera additionally supplies choices to report video in HDR, although your body charge will slip by an undisclosed quantity when you select this feature, Razer warns. The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra additionally features a microphone able to recording at 16bit/48KHz, although you’ll most likely discover {that a} good laptop computer’s stereo mics sound higher.

You might want to set up the Razer Synapse app to regulate the webcam, nonetheless, which requires roughly a 550MB obtain. (The app additionally controls some other Razer {hardware} it’s possible you’ll personal.) You don’t have to register the Razer Synapse app, which saves your settings to the cloud, with a view to use it; merely conform to register as a visitor as a substitute. Razer additionally lets you obtain a “virtual ring light” app, which makes use of your monitor as a supply of white mild to light up your face. Just just be sure you set your video choices in Teams/Zoom/Google Meet to make use of the suitable digital camera, and choose the most effective audio, too. (We’d advocate utilizing Zoom’s “test microphone” function within the settings to check each mics.)

Mark Hachman / IDG

The Kiyo Pro Ultra measures about 3 inches deep, relying on how the digital camera is oriented. The lens mount is nicely designed; the adjustable L-shaped joint merely hooks over the entrance of your laptop computer show or monitor.

Though chunky, the digital camera is just not significantly heavy, so that you shouldn’t have to fret about your show tipping over. An extraordinary clamshell laptop computer, nonetheless, will most likely battle to carry up the digital camera with out the show reclining involuntarily, until you place the display screen to counterbalance it. A pill with a kickstand shouldn’t have any bother. In common, nonetheless, clipping the Kiyo Pro Ultra to the highest of a monitor positions the digital camera at eye stage or barely dealing with down, which helps keep eye contact.

In the case of a laptop computer, the clip additionally folds again to function a standalone mount, or you’ll be able to even screw it in to an extraordinary digital camera mount. A 4.9-foot (1.5m) braided cable connects the digital camera (USB-C) to your PC (USB-A). Be warned, nonetheless, that Razer asks you to make use of a 10Gb/s USB-A port to attach the digital camera; an older 5Gb/s USB-A port (discovered on older PCs) received’t provide sufficient bandwidth. Consult your PC’s guide when you’re undecided.

Interestingly, the removeable clear plastic protector that the Kiyo Pro Ultra shipped with didn’t hinder the lens whereas offering scratch safety. However, the webcam additionally ships with a devoted lens cowl that may be fitted to the entrance of the webcam. That serves as one privateness possibility when not in use, and you can too use a separate privateness dial on the webcam’s barrel to shut a bodily shutter. Just bear in mind that the small white LED on the digital camera itself signifies that it’s receiving energy, and not that the webcam is in use. Close the webcam shutter, and the LED will stay lit.

Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra: Video high quality

For higher or worse, high-resolution cameras with good shade capabilities have grow to be synonymous with YouTube streamers, the information, and extra. They connote an air of professionalism, authority, and superstar, and there’s a little bit of a thrill to see your individual face in the identical mild. In 2020, we highlighted the webcams on the Microsoft Surface lineup as among the finest within the enterprise, with 1080p decision and strong shade stability and distinction. The Pro Ultra simply places them to disgrace—its digital camera sensor contains a 2.9 μm pixel dimension, capturing 3.9x extra mild in comparison with different webcams, Razer claims.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Put merely, this webcam is excellent. Colors pop, although not overwhelmingly, and there are picture presets (together with “cool,” heat,” and “vibrant”) if you wish to emphasize these. Many laptop computer webcams have a form of gauzy, ghosty impact, partly due to the decrease decision, slower body charge, and poor shade stability. You’ll see none of that right here. You’ll look alive and authoritative. Just remember the fact that any videoconferencing app you utilize could decrease the decision or compress the stream, so it’s possible you’ll look a bit worse.

The digital camera had no drawback auto-focusing on me (or my son, when he poked his head inside a couple of inches of the digital camera) and dealt with odd lighting conditions very nicely, together with backlit lamps that blew out a relatively poor 1080p webcam on one other laptop computer. Maybe as a result of I’m used to a sure “look,” turning on HDR didn’t do something for me and arguably made the picture worse.

All of the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra’s controls are discovered throughout the Synapse Streaming tab on the very prime: All of the choices are typically nicely organized below Camera, although you’ll discover the decision and body charge inexplicably tucked contained in the Processing tab.

Many of the accessible choices you’ll be able to depart on the default settings, and there are a ton of them: every part from low-light compensation to dynamic noise discount to lens distortion compensation and extra. You most likely received’t need to modify any of the Image settings for brightness, distinction, and so on., in any respect.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The foremost Camera settings, although, are the place you’ll have the choice of choosing how autofocus works, whether or not it’s passive or energetic, and the way the digital camera adjusts for lighting in your face or simply the scene itself.

About the one apparent omission is a piece on prime of the Camera tab, which affords guide pan and zoom. According to the settings, the digital camera can zoom as much as 4X (digitally, it seems). When zoomed, the digital camera may be panned left and proper. What we’re left questioning is, if the digital camera can already observe your face to regulate the lighting, why can’t it pan and zoom routinely, too? Webcams within the Surface Pro 9 (5G) and Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 series use {hardware} AI to attain this by way of Microsoft’s Windows Studio Effects, and so does the Dell UltraSharp Webcam (WB7022), this digital camera’s closest competitor. It nearly looks as if one thing Razer may even add in a firmware replace, although that’s simply hypothesis on our half.

With all that mentioned, Razer’s Kiyo Pro Ultra is an outstanding webcam, one which we’d wholeheartedly advocate. Just contemplate it an funding, and one which isn’t completely fairly as skilled as we’d like.