CA Essential Webcam Flex (WC-Flex) – Multi-function HD webcam with three mounting positions, Center View for better eye contact, Table View for desktop sharing and Traditional View on top of a monitor

This is a fun device. I couldn't use it on my monitor because my desk is a classic bushman and has cabinets built all over it. But using it with my laptop, especially for meetings, fantastic. Great to be the person looking forward not down..or worse..up.An unexpected, to me, feature was the scoping out and aiming at your keyboard. I paint warhammer miniatures and this really helps with our online hobby night so we can discuss the miniatures we are painting and how we are doing it.Good device, definitely enjoyed it. It had trouble shooting tips in the manual...but so far, its been plug and play for us. No downloads or tweaks needed.We tested it on a windows 10 desktop and a windows 11 asus gaming laptop, no issues. You do have to manually select which camera to use on the laptop. That is probably something I can fix, but selecting the new camera is just a drop down.

I tested this camera and it's just not for me. I found other smaller less bulky over the monitor cameras that work just fine. In fact, this advertises as HD...but I never found an HD setting. May work for some, but I found better cameras for less money.

Pros:- Video quality is good enough for virtual meetings.- Love the flexibility of using it like a normal webcam on top of the monitor, lowering it to do center screen so there's the appearance of better eye-contact, point it down at the desk for close-ups of whatever you're doing, raise it up and stick it out so you get a closer shot, etc.- Love the physical controls for zoom/rotate/mirror/focus and they work well- It mounts to my monitor easily and holds firmly in place once you adjust the clamp to the right position.- Is simple to adjust as long as you use two hands like the instructions say.- The included instruction manual, the product pageon their website, and this product listing are excellent and I wish all manufacturers were this thorough and detailed.Cons:- Image zoom doesn't work at full resolution. The lower the resolution the more it zooms in. Running at 1080p gives you a decent amount of zoom. Any higher and the zoom is negligible. When switching between applications that use the camera, the zoom level (and other image settings) may be lost. For example if I'm in a MS Teams meeting and have it zoomed in all the way and then open the Windows Camera app it will reset the zoom level to all-the-way zoomed out so I'll have to zoom back in next time I do a MS Teams meeting. Also if I start out a meeting with it zoomed in all the way and it's perfectly framing my background the way I want it, it is possible for the video conferencing software to lower the resolution on-the-fly to adjust for bandwidth constraints and when this happens you'll be zoomed in WAY too far and will have to zoom out. Then when the software auto-increases the resolution now you'll be zoomed too far out and showing your cluttered background you thought you had framed out properly. I don't think this is any fault of the manufacturer necessarily - it's just a quirk of using any form of digital zoom. The only way to avoid this is to use a camera with optical zoom or just don't use the zoom function at all.- if you don't have the mount clamped tightly against the monitor and you have the camera lowered all the way down it'll bounce a little tiny bit when you type. Easily fixed by squeezing the mount more tightly against the monitor or by mounting it to something sturdy using the threaded mounting hole.- When using the camera in center screen position - If you're just going to have the video feed from other people behind it then it's not bothersome to have the camera in the way. It doesn't cover up much. However if you're like me and you like to have documents or note taking apps up on the screen the camera can block visibility enough that it becomes mildly annoying and you may have to move the window or scroll to be able to see what's behind the camera.Overall I recommend this product as long as you understand the quirks relating to the zoom functionality.

The very first thing was trying to get this camera out of the box without breaking anything. We were even afraid of trying to tear the box apart because it was like the camera was stuck. Finally managed to get the camera out of the box, and looked for the instructions in case there was something special that needed to be done first. (Like downloading drivers, etc.) No instructions included, so figured that trying out plug-n-pray was next. Oops, my bad! Old habits are hard to break, what I meant to say was Plug-N-Play. Everything worked fine when it came to connecting to the computer. The buttons on the camera work as expected. The camera facing out was fine, except you have to make sure to use the zoom button, and not bring the camera too far forward, or else it will fall off your monitor. When trying the option with the camera in the middle of the screen, again got worried that we would break it. There isn't a release button or anything like that, you have to almost force it to pop open. When trying to do the document option, wasn't able to do this fully since once you pull the camera out past a certain point, the camera gets too heavy to stay sitting on the monitor. We even tried setting the balance so that everything started out leaning way back in an attempt to compensate for the weight. It didn't work. The last thing, there was a slight off-centeredness or tilt to the camera that we couldn't get to go away. You might not notice it when the camera is in use, but you do notice it if looking at the camera itself.I had a really hard time deciding between a 3 or 4-star rating on this product. In the end, I figured that there were enough negatives to give it a 3. It was really on the line and this is more of a 3.899 Stars.(Tried this on a flat and curved monitor. Everything mentioned above was worse on the curved monitor.)🐻 *Statement/Disclaimer: This review is part of Amazon's Vine Program which provides products at a reduced cost in exchange for sincere/frank reviews. The products are not offered completely gratis, as their value is taxed as income in the US. I take pride in writing honest, accurate reviews based on many product factors. I try, use, and test all products that I provide a review. Once a review is posted, I will not alter that review for any reason, even if contact from a Vine provider has been made to rectify a negative product experience through Amazon Messaging. The opinions and statements above are my own and may not reflect others' experiences.

I recently conducted an annual HOA Meeting on Zoom using a somewhat dated webcam and it was a disaster. Following that meeting I began searching for a better webcam setup to improve our hosted meetings. Installation was seamless and the video & audio is excellent. Additionally, the design of this device allows for configuration on your laptop, monitor or display screen. Going to begin zooming monthly meetings to perfect our performance before another large scale meeting. Overall very pleased with this device!