Elgato Cam Link 4K

Very similar setup here: Sony a5100 + Samyang 30 + Elgato Cam Link 4k and a usb-powered dummy battery. This setup has been rock-solid for over a year now, and I run it all day, every day. Also useful is Sony's remote control, for engaging/disengaging autofocus without reaching for the camera. The a5100 has a useful flip-up screen, where I can see myself. Before that, I was running a RasPi Zero with a HQ camera module and a C-mount lens as a webcam. That worked well, too. Better image quality than any of my colleagues, but a long shot from the Sony, obviously.

I bought an Elgato Cam Link 4K to use my Sony A7II for video calls. I didn't have a webcam before the pandemic so I would have spent at least 100$ for a passable one. Sound was already solved with an Antlion ModMic 5 on a good pair of open headphones (Drop x Sennheiser HD6XX). I like to have a modular setup to reuse/upgrade independently each component. I use the Logitech MX Ergo as my go-to mouse. Once adapted to the thumb trackball, it's really comfortable. As an added benefit, you need very little space on your desk and no mouse pad because it's stationary.

During the pandemic, I tried something similar since there was little point to go out to take photos: 1. Sony A7II 2. 35mm lens (I tried others and this gives the best results for 2-3 feet) 3. Sony XLR-K2M adapter + Shure condenser microphone (this is absolutely overkill but I like to record myself playing guitar, and it beats timing stuff by hand) 4. Mini-HDMI cable to Elgato CamLink 4K USB dongle (I tried others, this one worked the best) 5. Two cheap LED photographic lights from Amazon - my workspace is very badly lit, so these also help me keep things well illuminated. The main downside of using a setup like this is white balancing - I found the camera was not doing a good job by itself, so I had to do some trial-and-error. In less controlled environments, like rooms with lots of windows, this becomes even harder over the course of the day. And yeah, I originally set all this up to stream games. How could you tell?

I use a Sony A6000 with an Elgato CamLink 4K USB adapter. Works great in Windows and Pop_OS 22.04. Slack, Discord, etc all work and I didn't have to fiddle with any configuration since the CamLink shows up as a generic webcam. I set up howdy (facial recognition login) in Pop_OS and was pleasantly surprised at how relatively simple it was to get working.

My setup is: Older Nikon D71000 DSLR here with 17-55mm on wall-mount Elgato Cam 4k dongle mentioned in the article two good lights with nice diffusers to the left and right of my monitor facing the wall, for reflected light HyperX glowy red mike with physical mute, love that thing This gear works 100% of the time, all the time, in Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, you name it. Bootup is definitely does some things, turning on two lights, camera on/off switch, and a small button on back of it to shift to the 1080p output. But at this point it is just seconds, muscle memory. I get a lot of compliments on quality, clearness, and the natural optical effect of out of focus blurred background. And I definitely notice other people's poor lightning, bad quality picture, artifacting of cheapo webcams or got forbid native built in laptop cameras.