There's a software solution to this: https://reincubate.com/camo/
Use an old phone for your webcam. The quality is terrific, up to 4k. You just need a phone stand.
Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
411–420 of 794 posts
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#412Seems like what we are all after is a good software mod that turns your phone into a good quality, USB-connected camera. I have tried some but they create a cumbersome webstreaming service that ads delay and compression overhead.
The sound would not be great, granted, but that can be easily fixed with a separate microphone connected to the PC or the phone itself, a lavalier microphone with Bluetooth etc.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can https://www.e-consystems.com/13mp-autofocus-usb-camera.asp I bought one of these for using with my lab microscope since the alternatives from thorlabs was 10x more expensive for no reason. It worked fine for a year then it stopped working. Maybe I spillled something on it? Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
thorlabs cameras, and scientific cameras in general, have very different response functions. useful if you want to make quantitative measurements, accurately represent a B&W scene, etc. I use a BlackFly (FLIR) camera on my scope, but have been looking to do something similar to you, since the camera API is not V4L2, but rather a custom framegrabber SDK.
I just wanted something to capture transmitted light images on a real-longterm setup. Turns out the best method is to wheel a simple tissue culture microscope to a warm room and put a cell phone on the eyepiece :) made some cool movies for sure!
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#414My solution: Download DroidCam, use your phone's camera as a webcam. Night and day difference versus awful built-in laptop cameras, only takes a few minutes to pair the first time. Granted, the positioning is a bit annoying. If I did it more often, I'd get a tripod.
I've got DroidCam X and it's very flaky with random freezes and disconnects, where I have to relaunch the PC-side app.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#415When this pandemic fuss was at the beginning in January, I've decided to buy a webcam just in case I got sick and have to work from home. It was Logitech C310 HD[0] for like $40 including delivery. When we became full WFH in april, people in working chats started asking me what kind of that super nice camera do I have. Our company is issuing MacBooks for workers. Turned out that internal webcam of MacBook is so crapp…
Yep, Logitech makes good ones. Recently upgraded C920 to StreamCam, both are awesome. The reason for the upgrade, neighbors borrowed my C920 for remote schooling of their kid due to the pandemic.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
A camera off a $50 budget phone will probably beat every $100 webcam on the market. So why can't I get that same camera module, minus the phone parts but plus a usb interface, for $100.
Phones can already be used as a webcam, e.g droidcam app. No need for special hardware.
DroidCam connected via USB on my Android smartphone makes a great 1080p webcam. The latency is minimal.
It has great linux support and works great with OBS (and its chroma key filter)
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#417The real reason is buried in the article: You can’t buy a good webcam because the number of people willing to pay a lot of money for a high end webcam is very small. At the lower end, people are satisfied with their built in laptop parts or a cheap webcam that sits on top of their monitor. At the high end, people go down the rabbit hole of buying a do-everything mirrorless camera that they can use for so much more th…
A camera off a $50 budget phone will probably beat every $100 webcam on the market. So why can't I get that same camera module, minus the phone parts but plus a usb interface, for $100.
When John Gruber did his "zoom" video edition of his podcast the Talk Show (back around WWDC), the video wasn't actually zoom. They used zoom for live interaction, but everybody had an iPhone mounted above their laptop screens for the actual recorded video and audio which was composited in post-production.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#418I'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…
Finally made an account, just to reply to this. With newer Canon DSLR bodies you can use the Canon Webcam Utility[1] to directly get the video feed show up as a webcam, with just a USB cable. I've been using the EOS R as my webcam with the RF 35mm F1.8 lens and it's working pretty great. I just hook it up with the USB-C cable and it shows up as a webcam. The only annoyance that I haven't been able to get around yet i…
You can buy a dummy battery with a/c adapter.
Sony also updated their software in august and now support using their cameras as webcams without a capture card.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#419The real reason is buried in the article: You can’t buy a good webcam because the number of people willing to pay a lot of money for a high end webcam is very small. At the lower end, people are satisfied with their built in laptop parts or a cheap webcam that sits on top of their monitor. At the high end, people go down the rabbit hole of buying a do-everything mirrorless camera that they can use for so much more th…
I realized the same situation exists with Mail Boxes. At homedepot/amazon you can get a $20 mailbox or a $40 mailbox which are both shitty. Or you can get a 300-900 mailbox which is very high quality.
I finally found a decent one on wayfair for 60.
Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
#420There's a software solution to this: https://reincubate.com/camo/ Use an old phone for your webcam. The quality is terrific, up to 4k. You just need a phone stand.
This is a phenomenal product, I've been using an old iPhone 6s and the quality is very good.
The license subscription is more than I'd prefer to pay, but considering every passable webcam has been sold out since April, it's much cheaper than some disposable USB webcam with horrible quality.