I have been utilizing the Razer Kiyo Professional Extremely for years now. Of all of the webcams I’ve examined, it does one of the best job of capturing crystal clear 4K footage in a great deal of totally different lighting situations. In my eyes, it is as shut as you may get to a DSLR digital camera with out spending large on one, and it ought to completely be a part of anybody’s dream gear for streamers setup.
It has been over two years since that digital camera was launched although, and Razer hasn’t launched a brand new webcam till now. The model has simply launched two new fashions, the Razer Kiyo V2, and Razer Kiyo Professional V2 X, however they appear to be successors to the unique Razer Kiyo webcams greater than the content material creation powerhouse that’s the Kiyo Professional Extremely.
There are upsides and disadvantages to that. Firstly, the costs are much more affordable for on a regular basis customers and non-professional content material creators who simply need a greater high quality webcam. The Kiyo V2, which provides you a max recording functionality of 4K, 30fps, prices $149.99 / £149.99. The Kiyo V2 X solely offers you a max of 1440p recording at 60fps, but it surely prices simply $99.99 / £99.99. 4K webcams have been getting extra reasonably priced for the reason that Kiyo Professional Extremely’s day, when the high-end choices price round $300.
“With the Kiyo V2, we wished to offer creators one of the best of each worlds,” mentioned Addie Tan, International Head of Life-style Division at Razer. “The unique Kiyo Professional set a brand new customary for webcam picture high quality, however we knew creators wanted extra than simply sharp visuals.”
The brand new webcams additionally adhere to the most recent development out there – AI integration. With intelligent pan, tilt, and zoom performance, the brand new Kiyo V2 cams can have quite a lot of versatility, though from our critiques of the Obsbot Tiny 2 and the Insta360 Hyperlink 2, it may possibly typically be arduous to seek out makes use of for these AI options, and so they’re undoubtedly not going to be wanted by most customers.
The actual draw back in my eyes is that with a change in design, the brand new Kiyo V2 and V2 X will miss out on one of many Kiyo Professional Extremely’s greatest weapons, its massive sensor. The brand new fashions will nonetheless make use of a Sony Starvis sensor, however the Kiyo Professional Extremely units itself aside as a result of it has the biggest Starvis sensor ever put in a webcam.
Sure, this did imply the design was greater and clunkier, however the image high quality makes up for it, particularly in lower-light scenes. The design of the brand new Kiyo V2 offers it an uncanny resemblance to the Logitech MX Brio, a webcam that captures nice 4K footage, however is not on par with the Kiyo Professional Extremely by way of image high quality.
As a substitute of enhancing on the {hardware}, Razer is leaning into AI in additional methods than one.
It is teamed up with Reincubate and its highly effective Camo Studio app. That is typically a well-liked little bit of software program amongst of us who cannot afford higher webcams, as a result of it permits you to customise issues like publicity, lenses, filters, and extra to get your on-camera visuals the way in which you need them. Razer has teamed up in order that Camo’s options are built-in into Synapse, which is able to allow issues like One-Click on Picture Enhancement – form of like Nvidia‘s DLSS upscaling, however for webcam picture high quality.
“Camo Studio has helped hundreds of thousands of customers level-up their video, and mixed with Razer’s cutting-edge {hardware}, we’re making it simpler than ever for creators to give attention to what issues most: their content material and their communities,” mentioned Aidan Fitzpatrick, CEO of Reincubate.
I’ve little doubt that this software program will assist the gorgeous reasonably priced Kiyo V2 cams be on par with its current-day rivals, however as a content material creator, I am actually searching for enhancements to {hardware} that really give me the flexibility of a DSLR digital camera.
I would love a brand new model of the Kiyo Professional Extremely that I may use to seize 4K60 footage, or one with a better lens that will enable me to play with aperture. The Kiyo Professional Extremely is in the identical boat because the Obsbot Tail Air in that it blurs the strains between webcam and fully-fledged digital camera, and I hope a Kiyo Professional V2 Professional Extremely may be within the pipeline to capitalise on that.
When you’re searching for extra content material creation gear, check out the greatest seize playing cards, the greatest streaming mixer, and the greatest microphones for streaming and gaming.
