Logitech MX Brio 4K Webcam Review: Much Better Than You'd Think
Logitech's first serious webcam in a long time surpassed my expectations.
Our Experts
Pros
- Capable of close focus
- Excellent video and sound quality
- Nice manual shutter design
- Magnetic attachment to mount
Cons
- No support for Windows Hello facial security
Logitech's first significantly updated webcam in way too long, the MX Brio 4K surprised the hell out of me. So did its pinstripe-buyer equivalent, the identical MX Brio 705. But to be fair, the bar was low. Logitech launched one of the first 4K webcams, the Logitech Brio, in 2017 and then just kind of left it to languish for seven years. Years in which demand surged, the related technologies improved dramatically, and new players like Insta360, Obsbot, computer manufacturers and more entered the consumer market.
And what do you know: For its $200 price, which puts it at the typical price for mainstream 4K webcams, it's quite good. It delivers excellent image quality with the broad-featured software -- like most webcams, without the software it's just OK -- focuses quickly and accurately and the built-in mic has very good sound.
But its ability to focus closely -- up to a couple of inches from the lens, as far as I can tell -- distinguishes it from from almost all other webcams. That's not something that a lot of people may need, but if you need it for things like demonstrations, quick captures or more, then this is your camera. And Logitech uses the front ring the way I always wanted it to on webcams: to open and close an internal lens cover.
The external tripod socket magnetically attaches to a standard webcam mount.
Less rare but still uncommon, the webcam attaches to the monitor mount via a magnet that doubles as a tripod socket. Being able to quickly detach the camera without removing the mount from its perch means you can easily put it back, as well. Though the mount isn't that big and has a sticky pad to secure it to the back of a monitor (well, secure it a little), it's still awkward to get the webcam to balance on top of a thin screen, like a laptop's or desktop OLED.
The camera supports 4K/30fps and 1080p/60fps, the latter specifically targeting streamers. With software that lets you set the resolution, like OBS, you can also set it to 1440p, but probably at 30fps. Unlike a lot of competing 4K webcams, the MX Brio doesn't get hot.
The Brio 4K is part of Logitech's MX brand, the company's line of peripherals that actually have some some settings you can change, the camera works with the company's Options Plus software. It lets you adjust the webcam's exposure, image, focus and crop-zoom. You can also create Smart Actions -- macros that launch a user-defined set of applications, web sites and so on -- which work across all your MX peripherals (notably mice and keyboards). It also works the same on both Mac and Windows, which makes it better for working on the Mac than Logitech's past webcams. You can also access the identical set of controls via Logitech's G Hub, the company's software for its gaming peripherals.
As with a lot of 4K webcams, the bundled USB-C cable can be a little too heavy and stiff for the lightweight webcam to easily balance.
Those controls include full manual exposure, manual focus and image adjustments, such as white balance and saturation. You can create presets within each of the four categories of settings, but not an overall superset preset, which I wish it had. Even a quick view, so you could see all the currently applied presets at a glance and switch where necessary, would help. There aren't any mic controls; not even the ability to make sure it's working and set the input volume. That's not unusual, but It would be nice to have.
Unfortunately, to use Smart Actions in Options Plus requires that you create a (free) account and be signed in to use them, which grates. You can't even simply try actions without an account to see if they're worth it. I went through the exercise of creating a garbage account just to see if I could automatically load webcam presets as part of a Smart Action, but nope.
If you enable it in the software, the MX Brio supports an overhead mode; that means when you tilt it enough to view your desktop, the image will automatically flip so the people on the other end see the same thing you do. With the manually tilting mount it can get a bit awkward as you grapple with keeping it on its perch while tilting, but even so it's a nice feature to have. And in conjunction with close focus, it can be handy.
The MX Brio incorporates an 8.5-megapixel Sony Starvis sensor, the minimum resolution you need for native 4K, which means zooming in is digital rather than a crop like it is in 1080p. The software doesn't warn you if you're connected to a port that doesn't support 4K -- which can happen if you're using a USB-A to -C adapter or a third-party cable, for example -- and there's no choice within the app to set it or turn off the preview (the only way to change settings while viewing in an application is to load that first, then launch the settings menus in Options Plus or G Hub).
Rotating the external lens ring rolls a shutter over the camera.
With everything set to auto it delivers a top-quality image down to reasonably low light, and you can get good results with the manual exposure controls; like most webcams, it's harder to get neutral results for white balance using manual controls, despite letting you tweak tint, saturation and vibrance. Those do come in handy when you have RGB lighting in the scene as you do while streaming to preserve or emphasize the unbalanced white balance.
The HDR setting actually makes a perceptible improvement in exposure for the shadows; in fact, with it off the image clips dark shadows to black, making it look too contrasty. In dim light you can see some noise, which may or may not be visible on the other end, since that the hidden video compression used by most conferencing applications like Teams and Zoom may exacerbate it or overprocess it to look smeary.
The accompanying Low-Light Compensation setting is just the opposite -- it didn't seem to have any effect -- and a lot of people probably won't realize that what it's doing is varying the frame rate (analogous but not identical to changing the shutter speed in a camera). You're probably better off using the manual exposure controls to change shutter speed and ISO sensitivity.
Autofocus operates a bit better than most webcams. It pulses briefly as it adjusts rather than repeatedly, and usually gets it right, even when focusing up close.
Unlike many competing webcams, the MX Brio's beamforming mics are quite good, with good pickup. They've got noise cancellation, which can make voice sound processed and a bit high frequency -- that's pretty common -- but if you don't have much ambient noise they actually produce a full, warm sound.
At $200 it's not cheap for a webcam, but the Logitech MX Brio costs about as as you'd expect given its capabilities -- less than a pan-tilt-zoom model or one that targets streamers more directly than this, but more than the meh models put out by companies for whom it's an afterthought peripheral. It's definitely worth a look if you're in the market for one.