Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware
The Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K, like its smaller brother, the Live! Cam Sync V3, has an all-plastic construction, It is rectangular shaped with rounded left and right edges, which fits in nicely on top of my Dell monitor. The webcam is matte black to keep fingerprints and distractions away. It is a clean, simple, and functional design. In the middle of the Live! Cam Sync 4K is the heart of the product, the lens. The f/2.2 manual focus five element lens has a 95° horizontal field of view, which feeds the image to a Sony Starvis IMX415 1/2.8" 8MP CMOS image sensor. The image sensor can capture at 3840x2160 resolution at 25 FPS with a third-party application like OBS Studio. It is too bad that it cannot do 30 FPS at 4K, and the frame rate only increases to a maximum of 40 FPS if you step down to 1080p. It would be great if it can do 60 FPS at 1080p.
A diffuser extends out horizontally from the lens, which has an LED behind it that illuminates white when the webcam's video is on. A separate LED indicator located at the top left corner also illuminates white when the microphone is unmuted. Under the lens is the dual built-in omni-directional digital MEMS microphone array. Meanwhile, Creative's logo is found in the top right corner, while the Live! Cam 4K branding is above diffuser strip on the left side of the lens.
A manual physical privacy filter that opens downwards is located in front of the lens ensures no one is spying on you through the camera, which is definitely a welcomed feature. However, the way it flips down is a bit awkward and feels a bit cheap.
Here is a look at the back of the Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K. At the top, a physical slider switch turns the microphone on or off. A second physical button is present to adjust backlight compensation. You can hold it down to cycle through an eight-step exposure adjustment. We will see how well the Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K's backlight compensation feature functions in low light situations on the next page
A fixed 1.8m cable with a USB 2.0 Type-A connector leads out the back of the webcam. It is plug-and-play USB video device class compliant provided by the Sonix SN9C2809EJG USB 2.0 camera controller, so you do not need to install any additional drivers for it to work.
When it comes to dimensions, the Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K is 106mm wide, 53.2mm tall, and 57.5mm deep. This is measured at the largest dimensions, including the monitor clip. It weighs 103.0g thanks to the all-plastic construction, making both its size and weight quite reasonable.
Flipping the Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K upside-down and we can take a better look at the base. The webcam can stand by itself, but flipping the base open will allow you to place it on top of any LCD display, including your laptop. The front and back of the clip is rubber-lined for additional grip. If you want to tripod-mount it, a standard 1/4" thread makes this possible.
The base connects to the camera module using a ball-and-socket joint. This means the camera can be rotated on all axes. A label for the serial number can be found inside the base, shown in the above photo.
With all these things in mind, how will the Creative Live! Cam Sync 4K perform? Let us take a look at sample shots and videos on the next page.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Software, Sample Videos, Analysis
4. Conclusion
