Logitech C910 differences - C920 - C930 Webcams (Mac / PC)

I use it Webcams Mac among others to post on my Youtube channel "wforkel" guitar recordings. Unfortunately, the current generation of internal Mac iSight cams leaves much to be desired with regard to image quality still and full HD is not at all. That's why I looked around at Logitech. Already the C910 was significantly better, and ran on both Windows 7 and Mac OSX 10.8 with no driver. I then bought the C920 and later the C930e and compared all 3.

All 3 Cams are recognized by Retina Macbook and iMac from under Mountain Lion and Maverick no driver immediately and you can immediately shoot movies with QuickTime in full HD. On Windows PC QuickTime is not, you have to AVS4YOU or something similar take, but it is also here requires no driver installation. For Skype every three are suitable without restriction. The differences lie in the details (see below).

The picture quality is in all 3 models very neat and surpasses anything I have ever seen in Webcams: Sharp Full-HD video and faster autofocus up in the macro range. Audio default, all three models are equipped with 16 kHz PCM sampling frequency rather limited despite ordinary stereo microphone. For music recordings you should allow yourself an external USB interface with good microphones. The best a simple stereo interface, which is in contrast to some multichannel interfaces QuickTime processed. For multichannel interfaces QuickTime generally lays all channels to Center so that it afterwards only mono sound.

Difference C910 - C920 - C930e:

In the C920 and C930 the mounting has been improved, it is no longer wobbles so and also has a tripod socket, which lacks the C910. The microphone orientation has also been changed to increase the stereo effect. The lens seems to be the same for all 3 models, the differences come from the sensor chip. The C930 has a loud Datasheet view (FOV) of 90 degrees, while the C920 has a FOV of 78 degrees. In the C930 so you have something to get closer for the same picture size. The 930 has a white front light, which in low light is not so conspicuous as the blue lighting of the older models.

All 3 cameras support Full HD 1080p at 30 fps (frames per second) with H.264 at 25 Mbit / s data rate. Apple Pro Resolution (Quicktime X) is also possible at about 200 400 Mbit / s and Motion JPEG (with QuickTime 7) at about 1 Gbit / s.

According to the Logitech Webcam C920 and the app display have the same C930 sensor chip, I suspect there is a 3.7 megapixel chip (2304 x 1596, 3: 2). With Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080, 16: 9) So take advantage of the cameras is only one part of the sensor surface. Those who value a large zoom range, to choose the C930. The image quality is not significantly different, the C930 sharpen only stronger after.

The C910, however, also works with full native resolution even with 10 FPS.
The C910 has according to data chip (2592 x 1944, 4 a 5 MP: 3 so that the oldest model also offers the highest resolution It also delivers to my experience in low light the best picture, while the C930 works best in daylight..

Here are a few tips for the Mac software:

You to shoot movies with the webcam on Mac is next to QuickTime as the app RecordMe which offers a wider choice of formats. On Windows I've tried cameras with AVS4YOU and VLC.

Unfortunately I found no app for the Mac that allows all different recording modes. QuickTime X uses either H.264 or Apple Pro Res, QuickTime 7 and the app Record Me with H.264 or Motion JPEG. VLC offers among others MPEG TS.

Although Logitech has quite hidden camera software for Mac, but is just as bad as the Windows software. So: Install the Logitech software on both operating systems not only !!!

Slightly better is there already the free webcam app Logitech in the AppStore with which you can change the most important settings. However, the zoom function will only work with the C930 and the app can not manage multiple cams.

Significantly more can the app called "WebCam Settings" from the AppStore. So you can adjust all the settings on OSX such as aperture, focus, zoom, color saturation, white balance etc. manually complete and store (also works with several web cams). This can also sharpen.

The paid app "iGlasses" has also installed more comic effects, but can only 720p. But however it is also recognized by Final Cut Pro X, so you can now import directly from the webcam in FCPX. This was previously possible only with the built-in iSight camera.

With several cams can produce videos with different angles. I have three Webcams (2x C920 and C910 1x) connected to the Mac, and each started a QuickTime Capture (each in its own instance). All 3 cams have been simultaneously shot with no problems, however, was a maximum of 720p, above is the data throughput is too large. Even USB3 ports support up to 480 Mb / s with Cams with USB2 interface. A Hub helps as not, no more than a second USB chip in the computer.

Supplement February 2014 (OSX Maverick):

Under Maverick you can record with QuickTime in the native mode, ie the entire sensor surface advantage. This is but only with image rates of around 10 per sec. Unfortunately, QuickTime supports the Full HD mode, the Logitech cams not with H.264 but only with the Apple ProRes codec, what data rates s attracts up to 300 Mbit / by itself. This means that audio may be dropped. The built-in hardware encoder of the cams is apparently not used.