I looked like a vampire on Zoom. This $30 Acer webcam fixed it

This affordable webcam made me look more like myself

Welp. It finally happened. My old webcam bit the dust. 

Now I don’t spend all day on Zoom nor do I stream for a living, but when I do need a webcam, I want it to work reliably. My Irish skin tends to absorb the light coming in through my office window, so a lot of webcams leave me looking pale and kind of vampire-like. To be clear, I’m not looking for studio-level webcam, here–I don’t need a million features I’ll never use. My wants are pretty simple, just something that delivers 1080p video and is easy to set up. A built-in privacy cover would be clutch, too.

That’s what led me to this 1080p Acer webcam on Amazon. The first time I used it, I was happy with how natural I looked, especially on video. My cheeks had a slight pinkish glow to them. For once I looked like myself–alive, not overly pale. It was also nice not having to explain that I really don’t look that pale in real life. The privacy cover is a nice addition, too. I flip it shut whenever I end the call. I always worry that someone’s going to hack into my camera and watch me go about my life, so the privacy cover offers peace of mind. 

If you just want a dependable webcam that’s easy to set up and makes you look like a human being instead of a creature of the night, this Acer model is a good one.