Introduction
The live streamer’s camera is one of the most essential and integral components of any streaming equipment setup. It’s not just a webcam, it’s an extension of your personality and the way you connect with your audience. Live streaming video cameras are also fairly easy to come by these days, so finding one that suits your needs shouldn’t be too difficult.
Many low-end cameras are not only cheaply built, but also offer basic video qualities that would make grandma blush. If you’re serious about your streams, though, it’s important to look at the difference between standard definition and high definition. Too many live streamers fall into the standard definition category because they don’t realize just how big of a difference there is between these two quality levels.
1. 6 Megapixel is not HD!
In the last few years, more and more low-cost video recorders and cameras have been introduced to the market. These cheap video devices always record at 1.6 Megapixels (MP), which is roughly equivalent to standard definition (SD). Standard definition is considered to be inferior quality compared to high definition.
High definition video (HD) is the quality standard now and this is what you should be shooting for if you are serious about streaming professional video content. HD video signals can broadcast in 1,280 x 720 pixels, which is twice the resolution of standard definition signals. There’s more than just megapixels when it comes to comparing SD and HD, though.
2. Check the megapixel(MP) number
A higher megapixel number usually means better video quality, but there are other things you should consider before choosing between a camera for live streaming and a standard definition video camera. Remember, high definition cameras can exceed 1,600 mp and still offer a much better quality of video.
HD cameras are very expensive in the market right now, but they do exist and you should give them a shot if you want to get serious about making professional-quality streams of your life.
Streaming Cameras
In our article on choosing a live streaming camera, we talked about the difference between standard and HD cameras, but we didn’t focus on how you can make a live stream look as professional as possible. Let’s go over some of the main things you should consider in choosing this necessary equipment for your streams.
Picture quality
First, what are the essential features you need in a live streaming camera? There are two main qualities to consider: megapixels and resolution.
Megapixels refer to the amount of pixels in a camera’s sensor and should always be at least 6 megapixels. Anything less will give you a blurry, pixelated image that won’t look good on your stream. The resolution of the camera refers to how many pixels the camera can display on its screen at any time; this is measured in pixels per inch (PPI).
A higher pixel count in megapixels or a high PPI rate means a much better looking stream, since the pixels will be much smaller.
Field of View
In addition to quality, field of view is another important factor when choosing your live streaming camera. This is basically how much of the scene you can see from your camera angle. This can vary from 60 degrees to 120 degrees, with 120 being the widest angle possible.
If you’re planning on streaming yourself against a backdrop, then you wouldn’t really have to worry about this. But if you plan on recording more active scenes with a lot of action, it might make sense to get a wider field of view.
