How important is camera quality?

[kylexy]

A question to both models and users. While visiting different rooms you can clearly see difference in camera quality. Some models use the latest HD cam and some use their 10 year old laptops integrated webcam.

So how important would you say that the camera quality is to you, both when visting a room or setting one up yourself?

For me, I think a good camera is essential. Your cam show can be the best there is, but if all people see is a laggy, pixelated mess it doesn't matter. I understand that it might be a money issue, but you can get a good HD cam fairly cheap nowadays.

 

[Puffin]

As a viewier who mostly uses an iPad on MFC I find it important that High Definition (HD) is enabled, else it's to slow to watch.

I'm not sure if the HD is the quality of the camera or the internet connection; both perhaps.
There are two sisters, KaylaKayden and KendallKayden, one has HD the other not, the one with HD does much better, in terms of camscore, even though it's unclear if there is much other difference in there camming skills.

 

[Gen]

It's super important to me, and always the first upgrade I'd recommend to someone who was camming with no equipment (as in, no external cam/lighting/etc).

The standard cameras are like $100 or less now, I think it's worth it. When I'm watching cams I want to be able to see the person quite clearly.

 

[Nordling]

Camera, lighting and sound are all prerequisites to a successful room, IMHO.

 

[Snowie1969]

It's one of the upgrades that can make a huge difference. If you can upgrade your cam: DO!, A.S.A.P.

 

[fandango]

Incredibly important to me. If I go into a room and the pic is all blurry or pixelated I'll probably leave pretty quickly, even if she was the hottest model in the world I cant stick around to watch for too long.

I kind of feel like there should be some sort of check on the stream and picture quality before someone is even allowed to start camming or it should be in big bold letters when a model signs up that its probably one of the main things that can make a huge difference to whether they are successful or not.

I've cant even count the number of models Ive seen whose rooms ive been in who seem great but have been like "once I make some money I'll buy a better cam" but with a shit cam you wont make any money in the first place and then your camscore tanks and you make less money and end up in an awful downward spiral.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

Also, because it drives me crazy...granted it's not any particular type of camera, but please turn off auto-focus! I'm always amazed when I see top earning models with cams blurring in and out. I think my favorite brainhurt was a smoking fetish model who's cam would blur and focus every time she smoked her cigarette. >.<'

 

[Nordling]

Good lighting can, in many cases, overcome the shortcomings of a mediocre camera.

 

[LilyEvans]

Good lighting is 10000% more important than a good camera. Good lighting can often turn a bad cam into an okay cam, and bad lighting will turn a great cam into a piece of garbage.

While I do agree that a good cam is pretty important, I had pretty good success when I first started camming using the built-in webcam in my Mac. Still, I wouldn't recommend using the integrated cam on your computer, definitely invest in a nice webcam if you're going to be serious about camming.

 

[SaffronBurke]

Also, because it drives me crazy...granted it's not any particular type of camera, but please turn off auto-focus! I'm always amazed when I see top earning models with cams blurring in and out. I think my favorite brainhurt was a smoking fetish model who's cam would blur and focus every time she smoked her cigarette. >.<'

My C920 is a butthead, and doesn't save its settings, no matter how many times I turn the autofocus off, set the color and white balance settings, etc, once I turn my computer off at the end of the night and on the next night, I have to re-set all of these again.

It's a pain in the butt, but it's completely worth it to check your cam's settings frequently and make sure that they're correct! I was trying for a while to get my color balance, white balance, etc, correct, and no matter how I adjusted everything manually, it looked like poo. Then I tried clicking the auto button for those features. I let them adjust however they want to for the area that I usually am in, then uncheck the auto buttons and save them where they are. Don't leave these on auto, though, because having the color changing constantly is also frustrating to watch (I know it bothers me to see it just in my own preview window!)

 

[UncleThursday]

Very important.

It doesn't matter is the model is the hottest woman on the planet if her cam makes her look like a pixelated mess.

Decent HD cams run from $70-$120, so not that big of an investment. However, lighting is also important... even good cams look like crap in the wrong light. And, as I've said before, internet speed is also important. A model could have a good cam and good lighting, but if her upload speed is under 4 mb/s, minimum, it won't matter, because her upstream can't send out the good picture.

 

[SoTxBob]

to me, a good clean clear image is 75% of winning the game. please keep in mind also, the "pixelated mess" some have is the result of the internet speed and hardware ability to handle the process. I tried to help a girl a couple years ago get her stuff tweaked right after she got a C-910, come to find out, she was using an old laptop [with a built in cam] that could barely handle the stream let alone any HD imagery. Her connection was very random. Her district wasn't one of the better ones in Bucharest and the net service could vary upload from 1+mbps to 9, on any given day/time, "just because" ......

 

[Roger]

Being able to see is important, but audio is more important for me since I generally get more satisfaction from the interactions / discussions.

With that being said, I do checkoff "HD" in my MFC homepage settings as a filter priority, but probably because "HD" is such a big marketing buzzword ingrained in my head. Nowadays, I think almost any camera you buy would qualify as "HD", so using the filter probably does very little filtering.

 

[ramblin]

MFC's resolution is so low, even in "HD", that I'd imagine that once you meet the minimums of compute power and upload speed, lighting is going to make much more difference than a better camera. That said, having something on a cord vs. built-in to the laptop does give much more flexibility in shooting angles.

You'll see much more of a benefit from a better cam (and compute, and upload speed) on sites that actually stream in high res, like Streamate.

I agree about audio. I don't care how cute or engaging the model is, if all I hear is blown out clipped static, I'm off to the next model. As I understand it there's no foolproof way for a model to hear how she sounds on most sites, so find a friend and do a level check every once in a while (all the way from conversational volume while looking away from the mic to screaming in excitement/ecstasy).

 

[UncleThursday]

to me, a good clean clear image is 75% of winning the game. please keep in mind also, the "pixelated mess" some have is the result of the internet speed and hardware ability to handle the process. I tried to help a girl a couple years ago get her stuff tweaked right after she got a C-910, come to find out, she was using an old laptop [with a built in cam] that could barely handle the stream let alone any HD imagery. Her connection was very random. Her district wasn't one of the better ones in Bucharest and the net service could vary upload from 1+mbps to 9, on any given day/time, "just because" ......

Yes, trying to run good cams on old hardware is pointless. Anything 5 years old or older is probably starting to push it, especially in the laptop area, where upgrades to the hardware are pretty much nonexistent.

Decent CPU speed, a decent amount of RAM (4GB+), and a halfway decent video card are all needed in addition to a good cam, lighting, and internet speed in order to get a good quality picture and sound to come through.

 

[penfold_43]

Lighting is more important than outright cam quality, as cheap cams struggle mightily in poor light, but for me having decent audio is more important than either. Built in microphones in laptops are so awful, especially if the model also has music playing, that the audio ends up a tinny mush and speech is near incomprehensible. Since most models rarely seem to type in their chatrooms, even when their sound is breaking up, the major part of the interactivity and hence interest that a cam site provides over pre-recorded porn is taken away. Also, them getting the input level wrong and it going into distortion every time they raise their voices is painful to listen to. (I do appreciate that everyone has different wants and expectations and I'm probably a bit weird in this regard)

Best sound quality I've ever heard on MFC (for about 5 minutes, as she came on just as I was going to bed and I've not seen her online again) was Alice_Biscuit. I think she must have made a serious effort with it, as it was so clear that I think even my friend the BBC radio sound engineer would have been impressed. What it says about me that the main thing I remember from a brief watch of a really beautiful and seemingly incredibly sweet and charming young woman on cam was the quality of her audio is another question entirely though!