Review: Logitech Mevo Core

Streaming video can be a big business, if a bit painful. Whether you’re playing games, making crafts, or just hanging out in a hot tub, one of the biggest streaming challenges can be finding a camera system that works for your needs. That’s what Logitech had in mind when creating the Mevo Core multi-cam system, and it’s an impressively simple solution to a modern problem.

The Mevo Core is an unassuming cube-style camera that uses a Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens system. The four sides flanking the lens each have a ¼-inch 20-thread mount, allowing you to mount it by the top, bottom, or sides. On the rear, there are two USB-C ports for charging or connecting as a wired webcam, a 3.5-mm audio output, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot tucked behind a protective cover.

The whole system is designed to be adaptable to a wide range of shooting situations. The camera can capture 4K video locally, and stream up to 1080p video over Wi-Fi 6E, and it even has an internal rechargeable battery that can record or stream for up to six hours on a single charge. It’s a fascinating camera system that walks the line between streaming webcam and more professional mirrorless cameras used for shooting video. But it’s the software that steals the show.

A Studio, Made Simple

The Mevo Core cameras are designed to be used in multi-cam setups—where you have multiple cameras around you for various angles—and to approximate one if you only have one camera. The Mevo Multicam app is the key that makes the whole system work. This app allows you to connect multiple cameras and feed them all to a single output for livestreaming.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

The Mevo Core cameras are shockingly easy to pair with the app. Open the app and it will automatically detect the camera and walk you through adding the camera to your Wi-Fi network. Once they’re on the network, you can connect them to the app with the touch of a button.

Once your cameras are connected, you can tap the source to swap the live output to that camera angle. In addition to the Mevo Core cameras, you can also add Mevo Start cameras, or, with a Mevo Pro subscription, you can connect any smartphone camera as another video source.

On top of this, the Mevo Multicam app lets you add picture-in-picture presets as well as graphic assets like full-screen overlays, lower-thirds, and over-the-shoulder images. The result is a makeshift live studio that can run on equipment you can easily fit into a messenger bag.

Streamers typically have to rely on apps like OBS and StreamLabs to manage video streams, and while those apps are certainly more robust, there’s a simplicity to the Mevo Multicam system that makes it incredibly easy to manage multiple camera angles while live. The app can show you all the camera feeds at once and let you quickly tap one to swap angles, adjust each one’s audio input levels, and add graphics with a tap. If that was all this system did, I’d be impressed, but then Logitech added something I would’ve wanted years ago if I’d thought to ask.

Turning One Camera Into Many

The 4K sensor inside the Mevo Core is solid and captures decent picture quality, but its better utilized as a 1080p streaming webcam. So why the extra resolution? Well, because when you shoot with more resolution than you need, it gives you the flexibility to crop in on the image without sacrificing picture quality. It’s partly why some of our favorite cinema cameras use 6K sensors for shooting 4K content.

Usually, that’s a postproduction process, but the Mevo Multicam app makes it easy to use that flexibility for live productions. In the app, you can tap on parts of the frame to crop in on the subject and send just a portion of the videofeed to the output. This is a technique I’ve used myself when editing video essays, but this camera system brings it to live performances. You can use a wide shot, then crop into a medium shot to emphasize a line.

Depending on your setup, you could also use this system to simulate having multiple cameras by framing your shot to include multiple subjects, then use the software to crop in on each subject separately. Then, when livestreaming, it’s a simple tap to alternate between the two angles.

The app also supports simple gestures like pinch-to-zoom so you can move closer into specific parts of the frame, or drag the area of focus around to pan to different parts of the image, without having to move the camera at all. It’s not quite as flexible as having a person holding the camera, but it’s better than a static camera sitting on a tripod.

For those who have run live productions, this is a godsend of a setup. As a bonus, the cameras can record the full 4K video locally as a backup, if you want to reedit the footage later for upload to another platform. If you stream to Twitch but then post videos on demand to YouTube, this can be a super simple workflow.

The picture quality on the Mevo Core isn’t going to rival comparably-priced mirrorless cameras, but the trade-off in the multi-cam system might be worth it. With the right lighting and lens, you can get some excellent images out of this camera. I found it struggled with some lower-light situations, but a brightly lit streaming setting was no problem. Most streaming-focused webcams won’t give you the option of interchangeable lenses, either, so it’s a step up from most options on the market.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

The only downside is that $1,000 is steep for a streaming-focused camera, especially for one that doesn't come with a lens. (Mevo has a selection of lenses you can buy here.) For example, the Nikon Z 30 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has a more traditional camera body style that can stream online and costs about $300 less. Plus it has a built-in lens (though it can’t be changed).

Still, the simplicity of the Mevo Core’s streaming setup makes it appealing if you want to build a multi-cam studio with as little gear overhead as possible. The cameras are small and have excellent battery life, they’re easy to install and operate without requiring a ton of space for camera operators, and all the cameras go through one of the more intuitive switcher apps I’ve used in years.