Not all that easy to find at a retailer, and not all that easy to afford at $400, the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra is top dog when it comes to choosing a webcam that’s capable of showing 4K video for recording, live streaming, or video conferencing.

When I was using it, I found its white balance, lens sharpness, color accuracy, and performance in meh light deeply impressive. You have to have a good case for spending this much on a webcam, though.

If you make your living being on camera behind your computer—say, you’re a streamer or a businessperson—then you could call it an investment in looking good and avoiding the scourge of your laptop’s built-in webcam making you look like a pale zombie.

it’s in the sensor

If you want to understand why the Kiyo Pro Ultra broadcasts such detailed video, just consider its image sensor. Made by Sony, the 1/1.2-inch sensor is quite a lot larger than that inside any other webcam.

Similar to a digital camera, the larger a webcam’s sensor, the more detail it can see and show on screen. The Insta360 Link 2, another 4K webcam with excellent image quality, has a 1/2-inch sensor by comparison.

Logitech doesn’t say what size the image sensor on the Brio 4K uses, but as good as it looks on screen, it doesn’t quite match the Link 2, meaning it all but certainly doesn’t have a sensor size approaching that of the Kiyo Pro Ultra’s. The Razer also uses an f/1.7 lens that is, just frankly, gorgeous.

There’s a reason I included it in my piece highlighting the three best 4K webcams on the market. But there’s also a reason I included two others on that list at more moderate prices: Razer really is charging a price almost unheard of when it comes to webcams.

If $400 sounds too steep for you to justify, check out the other 4K webcams, which offer significantly upgraded video, compared to your laptop’s webcam, at much more moderate price tags.