Poly Studio P5 Webcam - 1080p, 80° FoV, 4x Zoom, USB 2.0

Bought this used "like new". For £35 this is a steal, considering it has autofocus. Overall video quality is decent and better than my older LifeCam Cinema that is only 720p. Also love shutter that kills the video feed once you twist it out of its resting position. Doesn't need Poly Lens to work, just plug and play! Something to note is this really does not work well through a USB-C dock, needs to be plugged directly into the laptop.Auto exposure (for the brightness etc) could perhaps be slightly improved but you can manually set this should you wish.The shutter dial appears to come shut out of the box and it takes a small bit of force to twist it to the "open" position - you need to wait to hear it click into place before the camera will send video to the computer. This is definitely something to keep in mind as it seems whoever returned this previously didn't know this.

In a market not exactly lacking choice, the Poly P5 stands out in in terms of its design. Picture quality is sharp and the colour well balanced with a good autofocus response. The internal USB connector has proved to be an incredibly useful feature simply to free up a USB port for another peripheral.I love the privacy filter - the bezel rotates to open/close. The red 'petals' of the cover are a nice visible reassurance that the lens is covered, but the bezel also triggers a physical switch, so the camera doesn't switch on until you rotate the filter to fully-open.The mount is good, adjusting to clip on to the screen and give some angle, but if you remove it (its magnetised rather than screwed in) so you just gently pop off the base to access a standard tripod mount thread (which I am using) - I've read reviews saying the lack of a tripod mount is a negative and that did put me off initially, so I really wanted to address this - it's a great webcam!

Overall I've been reasonably impressed with this camera, it certainly is an upgrade to a previous, budget end model that I was using before. The main thing I've noticed is the improved image quality, it is smoother and and has a less washed out appearance, it is however traded off by a slightly narrower field of view. There is a lot of functionality within the software to tweak the settings as well to suit the environment which is nice to have.In a call with some friends I did an audio comparison, again the microphone is a big upgrade. It's not a patch on having a dedicated headset or standalone mic, but it certainly is at a good standard for teams/discord/zoom etc.Packaging was nice, good to see everything recyclable. I'm not keen on the actual looks of the camera, it stands out against my screen with its speckled white finish, but fortunately I'm the only person who has to look at that! The only real issue I have is that the autofocus doesn't seem great, it struggles at times to keep up, at this price I would expect a lot better.

I chose the Poly Studio P5 Professional Webcam (Plantronics) - 1080p HD Laptop Camera for Video calls with family and friends as I always hate using the webcam on my laptop and had hoped that the image presented via P5 would be better and clearer. That said it arrived securely, amazon actually sent me a code to my mobile, which was asked for by the delivery man. First time I have had this experience from Amazon and was impressed. Made me think that 'inside this box is something special'. I carefully unpacked my P5 and found it was very easy to set up, in fact it took seconds from delivery to installation - very impressive. All you have to do is download the polylens app from their website. Easy. I was impressed with the security features, the aesthetics and the overall robust design of this webcam but disappointed that the visual acuity was not as sharp as I would have liked. If your home is light and airy then, there is no problem but without the light and without optical zoom available it didn't quite meet all my expectations. However for the price, I would suggest that it is a product that is pleasing to the eye, does not incumber my laptop and goes some way to improve ones video experience.

I’ll start with the packaging, I was pleasantly surprised by the cardboard only packaging. It’s really important that companies do what they can in this regard, however, the somewhat needless plastic bag over the camera itself was disappointing.In terms of the camera, it is plug and play. The cable is of ample length and it worked within a few seconds of connecting to my laptop. However, to access the configuration settings, to improve contrast/brightness etc. You do need to download the polylens application from their website. It’s relatively straight forward, however, be aware that it will likely need a firmware update.The camera itself is quite attractive and sits well on top of my monitor, the privacy lens is helpful but it’s a 2 hand operation or you may knock it off.The sound isn’t great, and I’ve defaulted back to using my Jabra conference speaker as it is perfect for that job. However, aside from people noticing a marked difference from my usual audio quality, it wasn’t dissimilar from other people on the call.The video quality is good, it renders well although if you lean in / out a lot whilst on meetings (squinting at presentations!) it sometimes needs to refocus on you which takes a second or so. However, I’ve had lots of comments that I look washed out. I’ve played with the settings a lot, but the vibrancy of the room / my face is reduced to just an almost monochrome hue. I am in a standard room, with a window off to my left and the room light above me, but it can’t handle this anywhere near as well as my standard laptop camera.I have put a lamp in front of me now, and it is better, but not great.Overall, an okay camera, with some good features