21–30 of 794 posts
> So there is a market gap between so-so webcams for $100-200 and a full-blown setup with a mirrorless camera, an external mic and lighting panels that will cost almost a grand or two, if you're so inclined. Nope. You can get a mirrorless camera set up (with mic and lights) for around $500 to $600. There are plenty of 1" compacts as well in that price range.
oh yeah, the webcams suck big time. even the expensive ones. just get a dslr over hdmi. it's 100x better and used dslr is cheap these days. you can even get panasonic gh4/5 which is a real video camera.
Can you recommend any dslr models or what to look out for when buying used with the intention of only using it as a webcam?
I use https://www.elgato.com/epoccam on my iPhone and for a few dollar is far superior than every webcam I've tried in my life.
Similarly, and multiplatforms, I recommend DroidCam ( https://www.dev47apps.com/ ). The interface could use some polish but it works well on android/ios phones to Mac/Windows and Linux.
My experience was a delay of half a second, making it unusable for live conferencing.
oh yeah, the webcams suck big time. even the expensive ones. just get a dslr over hdmi. it's 100x better and used dslr is cheap these days. you can even get panasonic gh4/5 which is a real video camera.
Can you recommend any dslr models or what to look out for when buying used with the intention of only using it as a webcam?
https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/webcam/en/download/
A year ago, you could easily buy a good webcam for very little. The Logitech C920 is, to my eyes, superior to the MacBook Pro webcam, and offered at least semi-decent audio quality. Pre-pandemic, it could sometimes be had for £25 (~$35). Post pandemic, however, webcam prices seem to have at least tripled (if not quadrupled). As I type, the C920 is going for £140. I can understand this as a supply/demand thing, but su…
I've also investigated this quite deeply. As I'm sure most of us know, the main problems with 'webcams', either the built-in ones or USB ones that you perch on top of your monitor, are the lens size, and the CCD/CMOS image sensor size. Manufacturers spouting specs like '4k' are deliberately misleading the public if the sensor and/or the lens aren't also upgraded. The only cost-viable methods to get 'broadcast quality…
My entry-level Canon DSLR (EOS 550D) can stream over USB, although it's not "plug and play", at least not on Linux. To make Chrome detect it as a webcam I need to go through gphoto2 -> ffmpeg -> v4l2loopback pipeline.
aaaag
> So there is a market gap between so-so webcams for $100-200 and a full-blown setup with a mirrorless camera, an external mic and lighting panels that will cost almost a grand or two, if you're so inclined. Nope. You can get a mirrorless camera set up (with mic and lights) for around $500 to $600. There are plenty of 1" compacts as well in that price range.
Can you mention a specific models that would work well in this use case?
If you want better sound, grab the A6600 which can also sport the XLR-K2M microphone adapter.
Regarding HDMI capture: the Blackmagic DeckLink card series works just fine in a Thunderbolt case (at work I run a 2x A6000 system + external HDMI input).