Looking Great on your Zoom Meetings is Easier than You Might Think
If you are finding yourself spending the majority of your time on Zoom calls with your team and clients and are underwhelmed with the quality of your video, then consider upgrading your setup! You can just get a nicer webcam, or you can upgrade to a digital camera mounted separately from your computer. I use this equipment and people are always asking me what kind of camera I have, so here it is!
The best part of using a real digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera is that it blurs your background a bit and also handles lighting much better than a webcam. If you want to look your best for your team and your clients, here’s how to do it:
Here’s What You’ll Need
- Canon EOS RP camera with a 24-240 zoom lens–you’ll look amazing, and you can use it as a regular camera also, but if you don’t want to spend $1,500, then check out the list of cameras compatible with the Canon EOS Webcam Utility. Any of those cameras will work the way I’m using mine.
- USB interface cable (make sure you have an available USB-C port on your computer, and if not, use a USB-C to USB-A cable
- Powered with a Canon AC adapter – note these have been persistently out of stock so I purchased a non-Canon adapter
- Mounted on an Elgato Multi Mount or a Manfrotto Magic Arm Camera Mount to my desk – any fixed camera mount will work – I prefer to mount to my desk because I have a sit/stand desk, and so everything just goes up or down when I stand up or sit down. Ideally, mount the camera at eye level and set it up so it frames your face without too much distraction from your background. If you can set it up where you will generally be looking so that you appear to be looking into the camera, that’s the best.
- Two Elgato Key Lights which are controlled from a mac or PC
- For audio, I’ve tried a variety of configurations but find that my AirPods Pro do the trick
Note that some of these items are out of stock so you’ll need to find alternatives that do something similar or setup stock alerts.
I’ve found that the EOS Webcam Utility is not compatible with GoToMeeting.
Getting this setup is as easy as mounting everything, connecting the camera to your computer, installing the free Canon EOS Webcam Utility, and selecting that camera in Zoom.
The camera does go to sleep after a period of time, so I just half-press the shoot button to wake it back up. I occasionally have to unplug and plug the camera back into my computer. I’m using a Mac but I’ve tested and it works perfectly with my Windows 10 PC as well.
I hope you get as much enjoyment (and compliments!) out of this setup as I have!