A lot of the major players in peripherals for content creators have been exploring expanding their portfolio in terms of what products they offer to their customers. HyperX, one of the biggest names in gaming peripherals with microphones, keyboards, mice and more. Yet after all of their time in the game, they’ve never offered a webcam… that is until now. The company has introduced the HyperX Vision S webcam, a sleek webcam with high-end tech.
At a time when people are a little more hesitant about making big purchases, a reasonable alternative to the more extravagant mirrorless and DSLR cameras have come into demand and several companies have stepped up, HyperX being the latest to throw their hat into the ring with this first effort.
In the box, you get the HyperX Vision S with an attached mount that has 3 pivot points and a ¼” thread, a magnetic privacy cover, a braided USB-A to USB-C and the documentation. The camera’s USB-C port is at the bottom of the camera, rather than the back, which takes the tension off of the cable and allows for the privacy cover, complete with padding to protect the lens, to be stored on the back of the camera until needed.
The HyperX Vision S is an 8-megapixel camera that comes equipped with a Sony Starvis sensor and is capable of 4K/30 fps, 1080p/30 or 60 fps, 720p/30 or 60 fps and 640×380/30 fps with NV12 or MJPG codecs. You can control this via camera controls in OBS or by using HyperX’s software, NGenuity. From there, you can control the focus, toggling autofocus on or setting your own manual focus, optimizing for low light or excessive backlighting. Exposure can be set to auto or manual with additional gain, white balance is also auto or manual and all the usual controls (brightness, saturation, hue and sharpness) are present.
“Unlike a lot of cameras that offer a 4K resolution, the HyperX Vision S actually delivers on a quality 4K presentation.”
I recommend turning off all the “auto” features and setting them to your own liking. I found that the auto white balance skewed a little cool, adding a lot of blue to my face, so you should spend the time on the sliders to match up the colour temperature to something more accurate. Auto exposure was pretty decent, but I managed to get closer to that mirrorless quality with the mix of manual exposure, contrast and saturation.
The autofocus is one of the better ones on a webcam. It does less focus searching, keeping us from experiencing that breathing effect. If you are the kind of person to move around the room, keep the autofocus on, but if you are planted in your chair, just set it manually. The depth of field is more than enough to keep you in focus even as you shift around at your desk.
“The HyperX Vision S is an 8-megapixel camera that comes equipped with a Sony Starvis sensor and is capable of 4K/30 fps, 1080p/30 or 60 fps, 720p/30 or 60 fps and 640×380/30 fps with NV12 or MJPG codecs.”
The picture quality on the HyperX Vision S is incredibly crisp. It is an immense jump from the webcams of old and, with the right adjustments to compliment your lighting, can be a better bang for your buck than a mirrorless camera. Its flexibility with the multiple pivot points lets you set this camera up anywhere and frame you up perfectly.
Unlike a lot of cameras that offer a 4K resolution, the HyperX Vision S actually delivers on a quality 4K presentation. It is easily accomplished with the 8MP sensor and the 90 degree field of view will give you a better than average wide-screen experience. There is a very slight background blur, but nothing near what you can find in a mirrorless camera.
If you are using it as a facecam for a gaming stream, I’d recommend going with the higher frame rate at 1080p since you won’t be utilizing it as a full-screen webcam in those scenarios. For full-screen, just chatting-style streams, definitely go with the 4K because, even if you are streaming at 1440p, it gives you room to punch into the frame quite a bit for effects or just to cut something out of the frame that you don’t want to show off.
The camera is also the best value of this latest generation of high performance webcams. While other webcams in this category go for up to $300, The HyperX Vision S Webcam is available for $199.99 USD, a considerable drop in price compared to the competition without a considerable drop-off in quality. The Vision S is a spectacular first camera from HyperX and a must-buy for people looking to remain in the HyperX ecosystem.
