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Razer took an early lead when I began testing webcams back in 2020. Since then, it has continued to expand its lineup of Kiyo webcams, and that brings us to the Kiyo Pro Ultra. As the name suggests, this webcam takes aim at the very top end of the desktop camera market.
It nails most of the basics just fine—I would hope so at its $300 price—but fine visuals just aren't enough to give it top marks.
Not to be confused with the 1,080p webcam, the Kiyo Pro, the Kiyo Pro Ultra has the ability to record in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps) or 1,080p resolution at 60 fps. If you're livestreaming, you can have it convert video to uncompressed 4K 24 fps, 1,440p 30 fps, or 1,080p 60 fps. Uncompressed just means you don't lose video quality.
The picture quality of the Kiyo Pro Ultra is razor-sharp (pardon the pun), and the colors are rich. This is thanks to the 1/1.2-inch sensor, which is slightly larger than the main camera in the iPhone 14 Pro. Large camera sensors can simply capture more light, which in turn means sharper, more detailed images. The problem for Razer is the autofocus—I've always encountered jarring autofocus with Kiyo webcams. They do well to keep subjects looking sharp, even if they're moving around, but the autofocus can dip in and out, and it's just very noticeable.
White balance, which is more of a software concern, is excellent. Whether I was shooting in a nighttime room with lots of yellow light or a bright sunlit room or on an overcast day, the Kiyo Pro Ultra had no issues presenting me and my surroundings in tones that matched how the human eye sees. There were no weird colors or sickly skin tones here.
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The field of view is adjustable from 72 to 82 degrees. Wide-angle lenses are especially useful for webcams, and the Razer's field of view is spot-on. Too many times I've used another webcam with a narrower field of view and felt like I was mashed into a subway car with the other participants on my call. With a wide-angle view, you don't have to scoot your webcam (and the screen it's balanced on) way back out of arm's reach to fit in the frame.
You can use the Kiyo Pro Ultra without Razer Synapse 3.0, the app that lets you fine-tune settings on the webcam, though you'll lose out on a ton of functionality. But—and here's a big but—Synapse 3.0 is not available on macOS, only on Windows. Previous versions of Synapse 2.0 worked fine for Apple's MacBook software. It's a shame that the newer version remains unavailable for Macs, especially when it's such a necessary app on Windows machines. You can use it to set the Kiyo's ISO, shutter speed, pan, tilt, zoom, and more, but only if you have a Windows machine.
The built-in microphone does a far better job of transmitting your voice than a typical laptop-integrated microphone. Compared to the 2021 MacBook Pro I used it with, the Kiyo Pro Ultra's mics made me sound much more clear and dynamic. (People listening on the other end agreed!) A USB microphone is the best way to significantly improve your recording quality, but the Kiyo Pro Ultra does a fine enough job if you don't want to store yet another peripheral (or if you travel with your laptop).
The Kiyo Pro Ultra has the nicest build quality of any webcam I've ever handled, and I've handled a lot in these last few years. It's no exaggeration to call it superb. The tactility of operating the privacy shutter—twist for open, twist for closed—is pleasing beyond reason.
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Sometimes it's tough to tell that a webcam's privacy shutter is closed if it has one at all. Not so with this Razer. When closed, the shutter's light gray teeth stand out clearly against the black webcam. I could spot whether the shutter was open or closed from across the room. In case you want to travel with this webcam or keep the lens dust-free, it comes with a rubber cap that slips over the whole thing.
The downside to such bomber build quality is that the webcam is quite large and heavy. On a desktop or an external monitor, that's a non-issue. But on a laptop, the webcam pulls the display down, so you have to set the screen's angle just right. The Kiyo Pro Ultra was made with laptop use as an afterthought, which is evident from the USB-A cable it comes with. Just about every laptop comes with USB-C ports these days and barely any USB-A, so you'll have to use a USB hub or dock to hook the Kiyo Pro Ultra to your machine. Desktops, on the other hand, often have a plethora of USB-A ports, as do some external monitors.
The desktop webcam to beat right now is the Insta360 Link. Both sell for $300. The Link's image quality is a bit better with a modicum of more natural color balance. That's nitpicking, although the Insta360 does without the Razer's jarring autofocus. More important, the Link comes with a motorized head, with hand gesture recognition and automatic tracking. Plus, the Link is smaller and more lightweight, so it works on any laptop without dragging down the lid. It also comes with a USB-C cord, unlike the Razer, so you won't have to go hunting for an adapter.
The Kiyo Pro Ultra isn't a bad webcam at all. It just can't justify its price on the market when the Insta360 Link does nearly everything just as well and more for the same price. If you're saying to yourself that you don't need the Link's fancy tracking or its pan-tilt-zoom functionality, then you may as well go with the Logitech Brio 4K, which sells for less than half the Kiyo Pro Ultra's price and still delivers fairly sharp quality.
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