Arcturus Vision Camera Review: Color Passthrough Upgrade for Steam Frame
The Arcturus Vision Camera is a small, $150 add-on that improves Steam Frame's passthrough view with color and higher resolution. It plugs into a hidden expansion port beneath the nose bridge and takes over the headset's passthrough cameras without requiring a restart. The reviewer found it easy to recommend and capable of making a phone screen readable, though much of the gain comes from Steam Frame's weak default passthrough.
The Arcturus Vision Camera is a 10-gram module priced at $150 for Steam Frame. It connects through a concealed port below the nose bridge and immediately replaces the headset’s built-in passthrough cameras, with no reboot needed. Its main benefit is color and sharper resolution, making text on a phone readable where the stock view cannot.
The add-on also supports spatial video capture through a free Steam Frame app, with specs up to 6MP (2,464 × 2,464), 60 FPS, or 120 FPS at 1.5MP, plus 10-bit HDR. A separate Sync app for Windows and Mac transfers and converts recordings; Linux support is planned. Arcturus advertises 3D gaussian splat capture, though it currently needs command-line tools and a Linux desktop.
For Steam Frame owners, this $150 add-on could make mixed reality more practical, especially for reading phone screens or capturing spatial video. It may help close some passthrough gap with Quest 3, though not with Vision Pro. Creators might benefit from easier spatial capture, while advanced gaussian splat workflows may remain limited by Linux and command-line requirements. Broader societal impact is likely modest, since the accessory depends on one headset’s weak default passthrough and a niche hardware ecosystem.