Logitech MX Brio webcam review: light in the darkness

Logitech is launching its own ‘most advanced’ webcam ever with the MX Brio. The webcam sometimes fails to deliver on all promises made.

Logitech has been a reference when it comes to webcams for many years. Since the video meeting boom during the corona pandemic, the supply of high-quality, professional webcams has exploded. With its latest version, the MX Brio, Logitech wants to show off as usual and it does so with an acronym that everyone wants to hear today: AI.

Logitech’s ambitions with the MX Brio webcam are high. The product must be everyone’s friend and appeal to streamers and private individuals in addition to business professionals. Does the webcam manage to fulfill all its wonderful promises?

Business appearance

The webcam is designed to be barely noticeable on your desk. No crazy colors, just gray or slightly darker gray aluminum for a business look. Without base, the webcam measures 38mm x 45mm x 20mm. The webcam slides easily into the base with a magnet and an adhesive pad provides a stable grip on the back of a monitor or laptop.

Source: Logitech

At times when you do not want to use the webcam, you can turn the lens to close the ‘curtains’. We see this feature more and more often in professional webcams. Logitech does not provide a cover for the lens to protect the webcam from potential damage while on the road.

Large pixels

The Logitech MX Brio shows off the words on the camera Ultra Wide 4K. The 8.5 MP sensor contains larger pixels to capture more light, which should provide better natural lighting. Logitech has some other tricks up its sleeve for this. With the basic settings you get realistic sharpness, clarity and color balance. The camera has a viewing angle of ninety degrees, which you can vary between 65° and 78°.

It is tempting for manufacturers to wave 4K image quality during announcements, but that figure means little for video meetings. After all, the major video meeting platforms do not yet go beyond 1080p. Only professional video makers benefit from the maximum resolution.

Lights off

If 4K isn’t enough, Logitech throws in another two-letter word: AI. The presence of algorithms in webcams is nothing new and don’t let anyone fool you into thinking so. You also only have as many AI-powered imaging features as are supported by the software application you use for video conferencing.

The added value of AI is in the light correction in challenging lighting conditions. This works in both directions: the webcam can compensate for both a lack of natural light and bright backlight. You will notice little to no difference in image quality if you dial in with the curtains open (left photo) or closed (right photo), unless closed curtains would make the room pitch black. The correction is also not exaggerated so that the image still looks realistic.

Invisible tube

Image without sound is never pleasant, so the Logitech MX Brio has a built-in microphone. This also involves a touch of AI: the microphone is equipped with beamformingtechnology that creates an invisible ‘sound shaft’ around you. Sounds that fall outside the channel should be filtered from the outgoing audio. In the audio clips below you can hear how the Logitech MX Brio sounds compared to the microphone of an average business laptop.

Fragment 1 (Logitech MX Brio):

Fragment 2 (laptop):

Choose your software

The webcam has different versions for the private and professional market. The hardware is identical and the only difference is in the supporting software: for business users it is the LogiTune app. With the software you can adjust some image settings such as saturation or contrast and you can enable additional functionalities. Autofocus, for example, is only available with LogiTune.

The additional functions that this webcam supports are rather limited. In our opinion, Logitech is completely wrong by ignoring Windows Hello. The webcam does not contain an infrared sensor, so you cannot use it to register yourself with facial recognition. Biometric identification is becoming increasingly popular and it is strange that Logitech is not responding to this with this device, especially considering that the six-year older Brio webcam did support it.

Showtime

Logitech wants to be very innovative with one feature: Show Mode. This feature allows you to tilt your webcam ninety degrees to frame an object on your desk, such as a notepad. This function is not available for various reasons. First of all, it takes a lot trial and error to tilt your webcam down without knocking it off your desk.

Secondly, the image is a lot blurrier or the camera does not seem to know exactly what you want to focus on. Show Mode is a nice experiment, but it still needs refinement.

Verdict: ambitious webcam, sometimes just a little too much

Logitech wanted to show off the new MX Brio and they succeeded. There are few webcams that can produce such a sharp image in challenging lighting conditions. This webcam will appeal to a wide audience, from seasoned video conferencers to professional video makers.

Logitech just has to be careful not to promise too much. The MX Brio webcam has to be able to do a lot and sometimes fails in doing so. The prime example is the Show Mode: a feature where Logitech wanted to be very creative, but which turns out to be mainly for show.