Key Takeaways The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite offers 4K image quality, AI motion tracking, and remote control at an affordable price point. Highly responsive gesture controls enhance AI motion tracking for dynamic content creation needs. OBSBOT Center software provides deep customization options, but compatibility issues exist with Apple Macs.
The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite is among the most flexible webcams for creators. It offers a quality 4K image and stellar hardware PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) with AI motion tracking. For creators with dynamic needs, this may be the perfect device to add to your setup at a comparably affordable price.
OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite 9/ 10
The OBSBOT TIny 2 Lite is a 4K PTZ webcam offering a high quality image, hardware-based AI motion tracking with both remote and gesture controls, and robust software customization options via OBSBOT Center, all at an affordable price.
ProsAffordable for a hardware-based AI motion tracking webcamGood 4K image qualityOBSBOT Center software has highly deep featuresGesture controls for AI tracking are responsive and intuitive ConsOBSBOT Center software is a bit clunkySome software features incompatible with Apple Silicon MacsLow price holds back the image quality from being amazing $179 at Amazon$179.99 at B&H$179.99 at OBSBOT How We Test and Review Products Price and Availability
The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite costs $179.99 and is available on the OBSBOT site, Amazon, and B&H Photo. The companion remote costs $49.99 and can be purchased separately on OBSBOT's site and B&H, as well as via a bundle option on Amazon.
Specifications
Brand OBSBOT Resolution 3840x2160 4K Rotation 360 degrees Wide Angle Lens 79.4 degrees Connection USB-C Frames per second 4K30, 1080p60 Mounting Monitor Mount, .25" thread Compatibility Windows 10+ (full), macOS (partial); UVC compatible Sensor size 1/2" CMOS Additional features AI Motion Tracking with Gesture Controls Size (WxDxH) 1.83x1.9x2.53 in. / 48.37x46.46x64.2mm Weight 91.4 g Expand The Device Is Light but Premium
In terms of build, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite is small yet sturdy, even with the flexible PTZ gimbal. It does run a bit hot when in use for extended periods, but that heat seems to localize at the base of the device. The device has a USB-C port on the back for connectivity to your computer.
In addition to the folding monitor mount, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite also has a quarter-inch mounting thread, which is compatible with most tripods and camera mounting options.
Last, the device's base has a rubbery finish, which will give it decent grip on whatever surface you place it on. If you simply place the webcam on a desk or other flat surface instead of a monitor or tripod -- this is how I primarily used it -- it remains highly stable.
Otherwise, the Tiny 2 Lite has a dual microphone, which is perfectly acceptable for basic calls and even has noise reduction features. While it is vastly superior to many webcam mics in terms of quality and noise reduction, I still would recommend using a separate dedicated microphone instead.
Setup Is Almost a Breeze on OBSBOT Center
OBSBOT Center is the companion software for the Tiny 2 Lite, available from OBSBOT's website. It offers a wide variety of customization options and features and can be used to control multiple OBSBOT-connected devices. The software has many features, but the settings that matter to most users are mostly simple to customize.
It has three main menu areas: Console, Image, and More. The Console section allows for customizing AI tracking, switching between setting presets, and manually controlling the camera's PTZ function and zoom. It mimics many of the functions of the separate remote.
The Image section allows for customizing the webcam's picture, such as via an HDR toggle, focus and exposure settings, anti-flicker, white balance, and typical webcam image settings. By default, most of these are set to auto and actually look quite decent, even with no lighting.
The More section contains miscellaneous options, such as customizing the device's initial state, a sleep timer for the webcam, gesture controls, microphone settings, and more.
Above the main setting sections, OBSBOT Center has multiple icons tied to other functions and settings. From left to right, they are camera preview, sleep mode, video recording, virtual camera, beauty filters, enabling a separate OBSBOT remote, global hotkeys, and OSC protocol.
Last, at the very top of the OBSBOT Center window, the comment icon takes you to OBSBOT's site with some software tutorials. The gear icon opens more detailed settings with panels, including device management, output, audio, and general settings. This audio mixer is surprisingly deep, permitting multiple audio inputs to be captured simultaneously, with audio monitoring while using OBSBOT Center to record video.
Default Picture Settings Are Surprisingly Good
The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite does not have the most crisp or beautiful webcam image, but with a 1/2in 48MP CMOS sensor, it certainly has a better picture than many of its competitors. That said, the image is great for a webcam, but for anything over $150, "great" should be the minimum.
By default, most image settings are on auto, and the Image section is at 50% down the line. These default auto settings look quite good, and most users will not need to make any adjustments.
In fact, auto is likely better for most. Because this webcam is designed for AI motion tracking with hardware PTZ, many will likely move around their space while using it, and most rooms are not evenly lit. Therefore, auto exposure and white balance as a default make sense for more users without evenly lit studios.
Video Customization Is Deep Yet Intuitive
While the auto settings are good and probably best for most, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite features surprisingly deep manual settings. First, I wouldn't even touch manual focus, except for setting a preset for particular creative or meeting settings, such as pointing at a whiteboard. If you intend to move around and take advantage of AI motion tracking, manual focus will ensure you are rarely in focus, but you can adjust it with a slider.
Regarding exposure, it uses real camera terminology with shutter speed and ISO. These may confuse casual buyers, but as a camera user, I strongly prefer real camera exposure terms since I know exactly what the exposure settings mean. Then, even if you stick with auto exposure, you can pick between global or face exposure, which picks exposure based on the full image's brightness or your face's, respectively.
Finally, HDR is an option, but in my testing, it seemed to only make a minuscule difference, with or without lighting, or with auto settings enabled or not.
Manual white balance falls a bit flat, though. Under auto white balance, the picture adjusts both temperature (yellow to blue) and hue (green to magenta). However, the manual white balance only adjusts the temperature, while the hue is left in the regular image settings. On one hand, it's nice to be able to adjust hue while auto white balance is enabled, but it's also an odd placement for the setting, as its green to magenta tinting is clearly for white balancing. Strangely, the auto white balance seemed to look better than manual, no matter how hard I tried to tune it.
Last, the image section offers typical adjustments for a webcam, including contrast, saturation, sharpness, and hue. Contrast and sharpness are useful for fine-tuning, as they aren't excessive at either 0 or 100, but saturation and hue can only go a bit above or below 50 before they ruin the image.
The manual customization for this webcam's image isn't perfect, but it could certainly be much worse.
Additional Filters Are Interesting but Unnecessary
Through OBSBOT Center's beauty options, you can apply additional filters to your image. However, these features only work when recording video inside OBSBOT Center or when using the virtual camera, which creates a new video output using the filters for use in other software.
Unfortunately, I could not get the virtual camera to work, but this is probably because I tested the product on an Apple Silicon Mac. OBSBOT recommends using older Intel-based Macs and may lack complete Apple Silicon support on its software.
These filters seem tedious to set up and mostly pointless to use. The bokeh filter blurs your background, but it does so poorly, often blurring parts of the face. NVIDIA Broadcast and macOS's Portrait Mode blur filters are far superior.
Retouch filters are more impressive, as they somehow could change the proportions of my face and have a huge amount of customization options. However, the beauty filters unnaturally blur the image, and the proportion-changing ones distort the video. Below, I have a comparison. First, I took a picture with no filters.
Next, here's a picture with many retouch options applied.
Last, a variety of filters can be used, which add stylistic color correction to add a visual mood. These have sliders to toggle intensity. By default, each starts at 50% intensity. I think these are interesting, but I preferred the filter-free look over that of a filter every time I switched a filter on and off. Below is an image using the film filter at 50% intensity.
All in all, these filters do provide fun customization options, but I doubt most users will need them or end up using them.
AI Motion Tracking Is Highly Responsive
Gesture controls make the AI motion tracking shine but have a short learning curve. If you hold your open palm to the camera, you can toggle AI motion tracking on and off -- toggling off leaves the camera's PTZ where it is. Similarly, there are gestures for zooming in and out by making an L with your index finger and thumb, then holding still or pulling it "out" on the frame.
Below is a quick video showing the AI tracking and gesture controls, as well as how the mic sounds at various distances.
Many other webcams have digital pan, tilt, and zoom, but hardware PTZ is a superior effect. Electronic PTZ only crops the image, whereas this webcam physically moves to follow you, maintaining full resolution unless you gesture to zoom it in.
AI tracking and hardware PTZ are impressive, but this is not the first webcam to utilize these features. That said, this is likely the most affordable webcam to have such features by a decent margin, with the Insta360 Link costing more even when on sale.
The Remote Is Only a Nice-to-Have
The OBSBOT Tiny Smart Remote 2 is a great way to control the device, but outside of power users pushing this product's limits or those with multiple OBSBOT products, the remote is ultimately unnecessary. When gesture controls are so responsive, you can likely get easier, hands-free results with gestures alone and save the $49.99 this remote costs.
Additionally, on my Mac, the remote only worked when OBSBOT Center was the active window. This is almost certainly an issue on my computer's end as well.
Should You Buy the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite?
The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite may be the most flexible webcam at its price on the market. It's a camera with an AI camera operator. The video quality is great but not amazing, but this device truly shines in its hardware PTZ and AI tracking. Creators who want to add a huge degree of dynamism to their content using hardware motion tracking, all at a surprisingly affordable price, should absolutely purchase this webcam.
However, if you're unlikely to use the AI motion tracking or even find it distracting, you're probably better off with a static webcam with a larger sensor. Similarly, I would recommend this webcam more to Windows owners than Mac users, as the software is far more compatible with Windows. This is still a fantastic webcam and offers incredible value, considering its price and features.
OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite 9/ 10
The OBSBOT TIny 2 Lite is a 4K PTZ webcam offering a high quality image, hardware-based AI motion tracking with both remote and gesture controls, and robust software customization options via OBSBOT Center, all at an affordable price.
$179 at Amazon$179.99 at B&H$179.99 at OBSBOT
