While watching a recent episode of Front Page Tech, I paid attention to the two-minute sponsorship spot. The Opal C1 webcam for the Apple Macintosh is now available for order. If that webcam looked familiar, Casey Neistat gushed about its DSLR video quality on Twitter in January 2022.
A year-and-a-half later, should you still buy the Opal C1 webcam?
Opal C1 Webcam
I had three complaints about the Opal C1 webcam: it cost $300, works only on the Apple Mac, and has a $4 per month subscription fee.
- The price is now $250.
- The webcam is still Apple Mac only.
- The Composer App for Mac includes a lifetime of updates and device protection for FREE.
The price dropped by $50 and the $4 per month subscription fee is gone. Fixing two out of three of my complaints was a big step forward.
The Opal C1 is being marketed as a replacement for the built-in Apple webcams. Which were limited to 720p for a great many years. The newer MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac have a 1080p webcam. But the overall visual quality has always been meh.
Apple has to cut corners somewhere to keep their products thinner year after year.
The 4K visual quality of the Opal C1 rivals that of a DSLR camera. Jon Prosser, host of Front Page Tech, replaced his Sony DSLR camera with the Opal C1 for his Genius Bar Podcast. No one noticed the difference between the two.
Should You Still Get an Opal C1?
If you own an Apple Mac, should you still buy the Opal C1 webcam? That depends on the software you plan to use.
For virtual meeting software like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, stick to the built-in Apple webcam. Or get a Logitech C920 1080p webcam for $60. Virtual meeting software can vary the visual quality at 1080p or less to maintain a consistent network speed.
If you record talking head videos in front of your Mac or use a streaming service that records 4K video like Riverside, get the Opal C1 webcam.
If your application doesn’t support 4K video, don’t waste your money on an expensive 4K webcam.
Will I ever get the Opal C1 webcam? Probably not. I don’t own a current Apple Mac and my Logitech C920 is great for virtual meetings on Windows.