Hardware

I'm sure everybody who has ever held a camera knows there is a thread for tripod somewhere bottomside of the camera. This is what my Canon EOS would look like from the belly-side:

Why all cameras have that specific threading is because manufacturers want to be ISO 1222:2010 -compliant. Reading Wikipedia article Tripod (photography), Screw thread, reveals the spec having a 1/4-20 UNC or 3/8-16 UNC thread. There is also a phrase "Most consumer cameras are fitted with 1/4-20 UNC threads."

UNC? Quarter inch?

According to mandatory Pulp Fiction reference, in Europe we have the metric system. Personally I have no idea what is a 1/4 inch Whitworth UNC thread mentioned in Stackexchange article Why aren't tripod mounts metric? Following up on the history, to my surprise, that particular camera thread can be traced at least to year 1901. There seems to be suggestions to circa 1870 and name T. A. Edison being mentioned, but none of that can be corroborated.

Time warping back to today.
My work has been remote for many many years. Given the global pandemic, everybody else is also doing the same. As every meeting is done over the net, I've made choices to run with some serious hardware. If you're interested, there is a blog post about microphone upgrade from 2019.

This is my new webcam setup:

The camera is a Logitech StreamCam. What I rigged it into is the cheapest mirophone table stand I could order online. The one I have is a Millenium MA-2040 from Thomann. The price is extremely cheap 20,- €. However, cheap it may be, but it does the job well.

It doesn't require much thinking to realize, the ISO-standard thread in StreamCam is 1/4", but a microphone stand will have 3/8" or 5/8" making the fitting require an adapter. Thomann page states "With 5/8" threaded connector for recording studios and multimedia workstations". Logitech provides options in their package for camera setup. The typical use would be to have monitor/laptop-bracket which makes the camera sit on top of your display. Second option is the 1/4" setup. To state the obvious: for that you'll need some sort of tripod/stand/thingie.

Here are pics from my solution:

When you go shopping for such adapter, don't do it like I did:

Above pic is proof, that I seriously suck at non-metric threads. From left to right:

• female 1/2" to male 1/4" adapter (bronze), not working for my setup
• female 3/8" to male 1/4" adapter (black, short), not working for my setup
• female 5/8" to male 1/4" adapter (black, long), yes! the one I needed
• female 5/8" to male 1/4" adapter /w non-UNC thread (silver), not working for my setup

For those wondering:
Yes. I did order 4 different adapters from four different stores until I managed to find the correct one.
Also, there is nothing wrong with my laptop's camera. I simply want to position the camera bit higher than regular laptop camera will be.

My gaming PC Windows 10 started acting out, it wouldn't successfully run any updates. I tried couple of tricks, but even data-preserving re-install wouldn't fix the problem. It was time to sort the problem, for good. The obvious sequence would be to re-install everything and get the system up and working properly again.

Doing such a radical thing wouldn't make any sense if I'd lose all of my precious data while doing it. So, I chose to put my hand to the wallet and go shopping for a new SSD. That way I could copy the files from old drive without losing anything.

This is what I got:

A Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD. It was supposed to be much faster than my old one, which was pretty fast already.

Installation into Asus motherboard:

The M.2-slot is behind a block of aluminium acting as a heat sink. All cards, including the GPU needed to be yanked off first, then three screws undone before getting a glipse of the old 1 TiB M.2 SSD.
Note: In my MoBo, there is a second, non-heatsink, slot for what I was about to do. Transfer data from old drive to new one. I think it is meant to be used as a temporary thing as the drive is sticking out and isn't properly fastened.

Putting it all together, installing Windows 10 20H2 and running a benchmark:

Twice the performance! Every time you can boost your PC into 2X of anything, you'll be sure to notice it. And yup! Booting, starting applications or games. Oh, the speed.
Note: In a few years, the above benchmark numbers will seem very slow and obsolete. Before that happens, I'll be sure to enjoy the doubled speed.