TECH & OTHER NEWS

Trust Taxon QHD Webcam, hands on: An affordable, basic 2K webcam

August 4, 2021

If you haven’t yet invested in a webcam, or are looking to upgrade from a laptop-integrated camera that’s proven less than satisfactory for video conferencing in recent times, there is good news. The market has burgeoned, and there are some good-quality cameras around at reasonable prices. For £69.99 (inc. VAT) the Trust Taxon QHD Webcam brings 2K image resolution, a sliding privacy cover and versatile mounting options.

The camera is small (90mm x 65mm x 50mm) and light (85g for camera, 127g total), but the build quality isn’t great and if you’re likely to carry it around, you’ll need to provide your own pouch as Trust doesn’t include one in the packaging.

The Taxon QHD Webcam can be mounted on top of a monitor, or on a tripod (which is not included in the £69.99 price).

Images: Trust International BV

The camera has stereo microphones, and will shoot QHD (2560 x 1440) video at 30 frames per second (fps), or FHD (1080p) or HD (720p) resolution if required. The autofocus is pretty good — I tested it by moving both myself and the camera around, and it worked fine, if a little slowly. The camera is truly plug and play, installing itself in a few seconds. The USB 2.0 cable is hardwired at the camera end, and is a generous 1.8m long, so there should be plenty of flexibility using the camera in situations where a hub or laptop is a little way from a screen. The Taxon QHD Webcam comes with a two-year warranty.

People on calls said I sounded nice and clear, and that colour rendering was also good.

The field of view is a little wide for my liking: at 80 degrees it’s ideal for getting two or three people comfortably in the frame, but when I used it for work calls I was more than aware of the clutter behind me in my office, and I’d have liked to limit it a bit. Maybe I just need to tidy more frequently, but I do think Trust has missed a trick by not including any software to allow this kind of personalisation. As noted, the camera is truly plug and play, but the trade-off is the lack of any software to adjust its settings.

Still, I found the mounting very flexible. The camera sat with stability on my monitor, and mounted securely on a small tripod. The Trust Taxon QHD Webcam is basic, but it does the basics well enough.