Logitech BRIO Webcam (Hands-on) Review: Flagship 4K Webcam with Manual Focus and HDR

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After recently reviewing the MX Keys and MX Masters 3 mouse, and experiencing first-hand what Logitech can do at the top of their game, I was especially impressed with the veteran peripheral maker's ability to balance beautiful form and providing top-notch functionality, without compromising one for the other. Together with the BRIO webcam - these three pieces of hardware have the potential to form the trinity of the ultimate peripheral upgrade for a work setup. Being another flagship product, can the BRIO live up to its MX cousins? Let's find out.

Premium build

Just as Apple's unibody design is no longer exclusively seen on Mac products, the 'space grey anodized aluminum' design has also been ported over to a variety of devices. The BRIO will look right at home with the MX Keys and MX Master 3 mouse with the same finish, looking like it was born to be used with space grey Mac computers.

The design language even includes the sharp corners on Mac products bodies that gives it an outworldly look, thankfully the BRIO won't be anywhere near my wrists to cut into them (MacBook Pro owners, you know what I'm talking about), and is a visual candy instead that can be appreciated from afar.

The front face of the BRIO is covered by glass, containing the array of cameras, light and IR sensors that gives it the sophistication beyond average webcams, as well as the dual microphones.

The overall body of the BRIO is like a pill-shaped aluminium block, nicely weighted it looks and feels premium like what it's meant to be: Logitech's top-end webcam that belongs on an executive's desk.

Cleverly engineered clip

Logitech's clip for the webcam deserves a special mention here, because I want to give well deserved props to its creators. Someone made this clip that can be folded roughly to the size of a Zippo lighter, but can be unfolded and be oriented to stand in pretty much any position and hold up the camera at a desired angle and position.

It can free stand or sit on a flat surface - all while holding up the camera to tilt at any desired angle, it can also be clipped onto thin laptop screens or thick desktop monitors - all without spring loaded clips, but clever using the weight of the camera and its own body to pivot and hold it in place.

This might seem like a trivial detail, but anyone who understands how significantly the camera angle affects the image, this versatile clip will be greatly appreciated.

One thing to note however is that removing the clip is not an easy feat, and I don't suggest doing it on any light whim. As I found out, the camera is attached to the clip like a dowel, and should not be twisted, but simply pulled off with small wriggling movements. The only time you'd want to remove the clip would be when you want to use BRIO's standard tripod mount, located at its base.

Full manual mode - via G-Hub software

One of the advantages that Logitech has over its competitors has to be the software and the amount of customization you can do on these devices. After using my share of peripherals over the years, I found the hardware-software interplay to be the key point of separation between major players like Logitech and Razor from smaller start ups. It was true for the MX Keys and MX Masters 3, the Blue Yeti X microphone, and for BRIO it was the same. What's more impressive is that they all ran on the same Logitech G-Hub software, which means instead of installing 4 softwares for 4 devices, all I need is 1 suite to customize them all.

For the BRIO, the G-Hub software detected it as soon as the USB-C cable connection was made. Through clicking on the BRIO image, a set of adjustments unique to the webcam became available, not unlike a full manual mode on a smartphone camera. You have zoom, focus, exposure, field of view, priority and HDR as available camera controls. In the video tab, you have yet more image controls over brightness, contrast, sharpness, white balance, saturation and anti-flicker.

For my use, I especially appreciate the full manual control over focus and exposure that you would normally not expect on a webcam, which can give you some depth of field in the image, not to mention crisp, fixed focus that can increase the cinematic quality in your videos.

The focus at the shortest setting, can even take macro-shots of objects that are just half an inch away from the lens. The BRIO's ability to be customized makes it a great choice for the creative types who are not satisfied with the typical imaging of the average webcams.

Grab and shoot, plug and play

Though the BRIO has the customizable prowess of a modern smartphone, for the average user who only needs it for video conferencing and streaming, they are just hidden features that you wouldn't normally think about. Despite owning various webcams, I found myself grabbing the BRIO most often, because of how easy it is to get a great image out of it.

The 4K resolution gives that extra sharpness in the image, and the microphones' sound pickup are excellent - according to the people on the other side of my video calls. The HDR and lens set up of the BRIO makes the brightness and colors of the videos consistently excellent, even under various lighting conditions. It's just one of those peripherals that you end up using the most because it's simply the most effective.

Final remarks

The Logitech BRIO is a webcam that has that minimalistic sleekness going for it, and backing it up are very capable sensors and software customization capabilities. Very similar to its cousins the MX Keys and MX Master 3 mouse, you get the functionality without the geeky form, the stylish form without the compromised functionality. In my opinion, the BRIO completes the trinity of an ultimate upgrade to anyone's work setup to boost not just productivity, but looking suave while doing it.

Sam is a production engineer turned tech writer who specializes in seeking out gadgets that enhances productivity while still looking sharp. This is a contribution to an ongoing IBTimes review series on gadgets for Business Travelers.