The price of webcams went up even as people found themselves searching for budget-priced options. Mosonth introduced a new webcam with a high resolution but a low price. The company sent a review unit for our consideration, and we spent time trying the camera out in a variety of uses to measure whether it’s worth a look or not.
Technical Specs
The Mosonth 2K Webcam has impressive specs for a $30 camera (only $21 with a coupon right now). It’s the perfect resolution for business meetings or listening to a lecture, and it’s not half-bad for streaming on Twitch or another platform, either. The webcam has a 2560x1440p resolution with a 4 megapixel lens. It says it captures video at a rate of 30 frames per second, but in use it felt slightly lower–minor stutter could be seen in the video. The actual frame rate isn’t 30 frames per second, as there are frame drops every few seconds. A built-in microphone means a secondary mic isn’t necessary. It has an effective range up to five meters, as well as a filter that cuts out ambient sound. This is another beneficial feature for streamers, as it reduces the amount of keyboard sound picked up by the mic. That said, a dedicated microphone will always be better than a built-in option. One particularly interesting feature of this webcam is the manual focus adjustment. The Mosonth 2K Webcam has an adjustable focus–just twist the knob around the lens. You can improve the clarity of the webcam and achieve a much better picture by doing so. Changes are reflected in real-time, so you can easily dial-in the appropriate focal length. The camera has a 67-degree field of view. It can mount on the back of your monitor thanks to its flexible arm, but it also includes a tripod if you don’t want to position it on the monitor. In drier details, the USB cord length is 4.9 feet, and the camera itself is a plug-and-play device. You can use it on Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10, and it works with macOS.
Setup and Use
The Mosonth 2K Webcam is a plug-and-play device that works with almost any operating system just by plugging it into a USB port. According to the company, the webcam also works with Linux and Android. There are no settings to adjust or manipulate. Once you plug the webcam in, the universal driver will be detected and it should work out of the box without the need for a download. If it isn’t detected, just restart your machine. If you use the webcam on a laptop, you will need to change the input settings. For example, when tested on a Macbook Pro, the computer didn’t see the new webcam from the settings menu, but it could be switched within apps like Skype and Facetime. The microphone and the webcam are recognized as separate devices within your computer. The microphone is seen as the RealTek USB 2.0, while the camera is recognized as the RS Camera.
Our Impressions
The Mosonth 2K Webcam is a handy device. It isn’t the best webcam we’ve ever used, but it isn’t the worst either. The biggest downside is the slight stutter in framerate–buttery-smooth performance would be better. The included tripod is a nice bonus, and helps to position the webcam in exactly the right spot. The tripod is perfect for grabbing B-roll footage for other videos, but the camera is better placed on the back of the monitor if you’re streaming. Your head won’t be positioned the right way otherwise. The manual focus adjustment is also an interesting feature, but ultimately not necessary. The one place it stands out is the ability to focus more on your face and slightly blur the background, which could almost remove the need for a green screen.
Is It Worth the Price?
The Mosonth 2K Webcam is a solid purchase, especially at the $30 price point. In a market when webcams are hard to find, the 2K Webcam has an impressive resolution and fair list of features for such a low cost. It isn’t a high-end webcam by any means, but it will absolutely get the job done. It’s also a great investment for an up-and-coming streamer. When you’re just getting started, the last thing you want to do is invest a lot of money in something that might not work out. The price point makes the 2K Webcam an attractive purchase, while the plug-and-play setup means you can focus your mental energy on the more complicated aspect of streaming–OBS. If you’re in need of a webcam, the Mosonth 2K Webcam is a great purchase. If you want something with a perfect frame rate, you’ll need to spend a bit more. But for a budget-level webcam, you would be hard-pressed to find a webcam with a larger feature list at this price point.
