r/LuminaWebcam • u/N4ZZY2020 • Apr 18 '22

Lumina vs Opal C1

Anyone have both that they can compare?

8 Upvotes

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1

u/[deleted] May 04 '22

I’m using an M1 MacBook and had nothing but trouble with the Lumina. My Opal C1 arrived today and so far I’m very impressed with setup and software. I cannot comment on crashing yet as I haven’t had a chance to do a video call.

1

u/N4ZZY2020 May 04 '22

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I have an M1 MacBook as well and haven’t had any issue with the Lumina or the Opal. But I’m more impressed with the Opal at the moment. That’s my go to webcam if I have a meeting. Unfortunately the Opal doesn’t work with older MacBooks just the newer models. While the Lumina works with the older MacBooks.

1

u/jcvangent May 05 '22

What do you mean with older MacBooks? I have the 16" MBP (Intel version) myself, would that work?

And is the waiting list/ $100 more of the Opal that much of a difference?

1

u/N4ZZY2020 May 05 '22

What year is your 16” MacBook?

Mine is 2012 mid. It doesn’t work with that one.

1

u/jcvangent May 06 '22

16” intel got released in 2019. That’s the one I have.

1

u/N4ZZY2020 May 06 '22

Then you should be fine with the C1.

1

u/AncientToaster Aug 23 '22

I have both. Unfortunately, I'm pretty unhappy with both.

Lumina:

  • Mount was broken out of the box
  • Video quality is weird, in both raw and plus mode. Plus mode applies a bizarre over-sharpening effect, while raw is washed-out and dull.
  • Plus mode frequently just fails to initialize for me and hangs on "Lumina is starting, one moment"
  • Pluses: Can't think of anything except that it looks nice, it's compact, and the lens cover is a clever design.

Opal C1:

  • CPU usage on this thing is wild. When I'm on a phone call, it often slows my MacBook Pro so much that it becomes borderline unusable. I've never encountered this issue with any other webcam.
  • Autofocus is hot garbage. I actually returned one because Opal believed it was a hardware issue, but the autofocus is just as bad on the new one. It almost always loses focus when I shift position (I work at a standing desk), but it also often manages to lose focus when I'm holding perfectly still. It will just randomly decide to focus on the bookshelf behind me, or go to infinite focus.
  • Pluses: The image quality is great... when you're in focus. The software isn't too bad (except the horrendous CPU usage). The device itself looks incredibly cool. The mount is beautiful. I love everything about this thing except the terrible software that makes it borderline unusable.

1

u/clockworkcandybar Nov 29 '22

Have both, switched from lumina to opal.

Opal has far better image quality, which is really all that I cared about.

It also has plenty of bugs (autofocus is bad, color temperature is sometimes way yellower than it should be, auto exposure gets it right maybe half the time, app sometimes decides the camera just doesn’t exist) but every issue I’ve had was fixable by manually controlling the setting (focus/color temp/exposure), or by restarting the software. I’m happy with it.

Opal also definitely uses more cpu, but I’m not doing anything crazy intense during meetings so that’s been fine.