The Logitech Brio 4K has been the reference for webcams for years and has only recently been caught up in quality by others. In the meantime, the manufacturer has launched a new conference camera, the Brio 500. Despite the same series name, it is not a luxury model: the 140-euro Brio 500 only resolves with Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels) at 30 fps, instead of 4K like the sister model.
“Show mode” shows the desk
The tubular webcam has a plastic housing and is magnetically attached to a mount that is clamped to a monitor or notebook display. A tripod mounting is also possible. The camera can be rotated and tilted on the mount. It is connected to the computer via a USB-C cable that cannot be exchanged. There is a cover in the housing that can be pushed in front of the lens with a rotary knob when not in use.
Manufacturer: Logitech // Dimensions: 51.5 × 110 × 45 mm // Weight: 40 g // Colors: graphite, off-white or pink // System requirements: Windows 8, macOS from 10.10, 2 GB RAM, USB-C // Price: €139
Funny: If you tilt the Brio 500 90 degrees downwards on its mount towards the desk, a position sensor registers this and activates “Show Mode” if desired: The camera then automatically rotates the image so that it is no longer upside down. This is useful if you want to show a document in a video call, for example. Switching worked well, but we often pulled the camera from the mount when adjusting it.
Follow mode unreliable in beta
In addition, the Brio 500 should be able to follow a mode (“Right Side”): Here, the camera changes the image section when the user moves around the desk so that it stays in the center as much as possible, similar to Apple’s Center Stage (“Folgemdous”). However, the mode was still in beta status at the time of testing and did not work reliably. For both modes described, you have to install the free software “Logi Tune”, we tried it on macOS.
The image quality of the Brio 500 was roughly on par with the webcam on a MacBook Air M2. Colors looked vibrant, videos came out sharp and detailed. An HDR mode brightened shady areas with light coming in from the side. The camera rattled slightly in the dim light. The built-in stereo microphones recorded speech somewhat quietly, but understandably.
The Brio 500 delivers solid picture quality, the show mode is a nice touch. If you are looking for a camera with a follow mode, you are currently better off going for the similarly expensive Pro Webcam from Dell.
(lbe)
