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Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

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Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#11
post #8

I'll put Reincubate Camo here as an option too - turns your iPhone in to a webcam. I was so impressed I bought a used iPhone to use solely as a webcam; the whole setup was cheaper than the Logitech C920 he mentions. The picture quality is great.

Don't iPhones do that annoying thing where it shows your image flipped the wrong way when you use the selfie camera? Selfie cameras should always behave like a mirror, in my opinion. It's how humans are used to seeing themselves.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#12
Some camera manufacturers offer software that uses your mirrorless camera to emulate a webcam without requiring a capture card.

For example, Fujifilm's X Webcam software[1] would allow the author to connect his X-S10 to his PC using a USB-C cable, and use it as a webcam. The downside is X Webcam lacks support for Linux.

[1] https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/software/x-webcam/

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#13
Early into the pandemic, I was experimenting with an Elgato Cam Link as an alternative to a webcam. However, I never got the setup to work reliably with MacOS and MS Teams (e.g., random disconnects). Has this changed over the years and become a good solution suitable for daily usage? Currently, I'm using a Logitech Brio with two video lights; the quality isn't amazing but at least everything works out of the box.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#14
post #11
post #8

I'll put Reincubate Camo here as an option too - turns your iPhone in to a webcam. I was so impressed I bought a used iPhone to use solely as a webcam; the whole setup was cheaper than the Logitech C920 he mentions. The picture quality is great.

Don't iPhones do that annoying thing where it shows your image flipped the wrong way when you use the selfie camera? Selfie cameras should always behave like a mirror, in my opinion. It's how humans are used to seeing themselves.

There's an option to flip the image, you can have it either way.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#15
If you're willing to throw $1000 at a "proper camera" of the sort the author recommends, then sure, it would be very disappointing if it didn't outperform the webcam built in to most laptops or phones.

But is there a "proper camera" for under $100 that can also offer an improvement over a webcam?

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#17

Early into the pandemic, I was experimenting with an Elgato Cam Link as an alternative to a webcam. However, I never got the setup to work reliably with MacOS and MS Teams (e.g., random disconnects). Has this changed over the years and become a good solution suitable for daily usage? Currently, I'm using a Logitech Brio with two video lights; the quality isn't amazing but at least everything works out of the box.

I have the Elgato FaceCam and it's absolutely fantastic on the Mac. Zero issues, great adjustability, good quality (much better than a laptop webcam, not quite as good as an iPhone/"real" camera.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#18

Could somebody do an ELI5 on why some phones have very good cameras but for some reason there's no standalone USB version of them?

Phone cameras are very good but owing much of it to the DSP and software. An iPhone camera will not produce iPhone quality photos without the chipset and OS.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#19
Extra note here, I've been running my olympus em5 mk-2 with the drivers Olympus released to run it as a web camera and its been working just fine, out of the box. I got an extra dummy battery to power it (cannot be powered though usb) so I have no worries of it dying during a long meeting.

in a remote office world, I'm glad my team leaves their cameras on and I view it as a form of professionalism to present myself as best I can, and if that's not following a dress code and keeping trim in an office, its giving good video quality in online meetings.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#20

Another reason to not use a DSLR is that many (all?) have timeouts (<30min) in their video mode due to some import tax reason, even when hooked up to a computer. Atleast this is what I found when I tried a canon DSLR with canons webcam software.

This changed in 2019 IIRC. The EU changed its regulation and the 30 minute record limit no longer applies. Furthermore, it was always possible to install custom firmware on many cameras that bypassed this limit. Record limits due to temperature and overheating, though, is a different story.
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