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Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

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Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#101

Post by ldayley »

pmoriarty wrote: post #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?

Not quite $100 but I see the aging yet highly-regarded, video-centric Panasonic GH4 sold used for as little as $200 without a lens. This is the camera many small-midsize video production outfits have stuck to for a >decade. There are many (often fairly good) generic lenses for the 4/3” sensor mount it uses, and the camera is known for having a clean Full HD HDMI out. I can see building a setup like this for as little as $300-400. Add a $40-$100 LED light mounted on the camera and you’ve improved your video presence by 10x for less than $500.

*Edited for grammar.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#102

Post by gernb »

callumprentice wrote: post #79

The quality aspect is obviously important but I'd suggest that the location of the lens is also vital if you don't want to have meetings where everyone seems to be not looking at you. I cannot wait until cameras work behind the screen and can be positioned right in the center but for now, the only option I found was something called Center Cam that mounts a small lense on a skinny support that can be positioned over…

As someone that puts a cover on their camera since I am in various states of compromise in front of it I'm not looking forward to a camera I can not cover.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#103

Post by ozten »

EveYoung wrote: post #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.

+1 I wish I could make the Elgato Cam Link 4k more reliable. Some days it is flawless and then other days during an important meeting, I have to keep resetting the USB dongle.

I have a setup much like the article, Sony A5100.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#104

Post by aendruk »

formerly_proven wrote: post #88
aendruk wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That still leaves the original question of why dedicated cameras aren’t doing this.

The question of GP wasn't that, but why you can't buy "iPhone image processing pipeline to UVC/USB".

I think we agree but you don’t understand me.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#105

Post by callumprentice »

gernb wrote: post #102
callumprentice wrote: post #79

The quality aspect is obviously important but I'd suggest that the location of the lens is also vital if you don't want to have meetings where everyone seems to be not looking at you. I cannot wait until cameras work behind the screen and can be positioned right in the center but for now, the only option I found was something called Center Cam that mounts a small lense on a skinny support that can be positioned over…

As someone that puts a cover on their camera since I am in various states of compromise in front of it I'm not looking forward to a camera I can not cover.

Oh good point - I hadn't thought about that and of course, no one will trust it's off via software. I should imagine that's a blocker for many people.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#106

Post by callumprentice »

jimhefferon wrote: post #97
callumprentice wrote: post #79

The quality aspect is obviously important but I'd suggest that the location of the lens is also vital if you don't want to have meetings where everyone seems to be not looking at you. I cannot wait until cameras work behind the screen and can be positioned right in the center but for now, the only option I found was something called Center Cam that mounts a small lense on a skinny support that can be positioned over…

I appreciate the cleverness of your approach. But is it possible to take a C290-ish webcam, chop off the left and right, and maybe the top and bottom, until it is the width of a dime, so I can suspend it in the middle of my screen? Unlike the thread's original post, I am not overly concerned with image quality, but the "not looking" effect that you mention is an issue for me.

Yeah - that's what Center Cam does I think. You might be able to make both the lens and the support really small and/or transparent these days too.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#107

Post by ldayley »

michaelt wrote: post #35
adoxyz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's only if you actually hit the record button and are actively recording to the memory card, but if you're using the DSLR as a passthrough, it works all day. I have done it w/ my Sony a6500 and it works really well.

Can you run autofocus continuously when you're not actively recording?

Sony cameras work (as mentioned below) but nearly every mirrorless or dslr I’ve used does this by default or can be set up to by switching to continuous AF modes. This is best done while connected to a power source, as the motors drain battery faster.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#108

Post by jannyfer »

ldayley wrote: post #70
renewiltord wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah ha, thank you. Which device are you currently using?

Currently using an Atomos Connect since theyre compact and not expensive. Good luck!

FYI, online reviews say the Atomos Connect is just a repackaged version of the same generic HDMI-to-USB converters with the ms2109 chip that sell for $10-20 on Amazon (like the one linked in the original article).

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#109

Post by vladvasiliu »

formerly_proven wrote: post #85
supermatt wrote: post #48

Having done exactly this, my main annoyance is that you have to manually power on and off the camera, which means losing whatever zoom and settings you had configured.

There are proper cameras which don't remember settings across power cycles and battery swaps? Curious. Never heard of that before, that's a complete deal-breaker for actually, y'know', using a camera to me. Perhaps the SRAM battery/capacitor in yours is just dead? (Then again, not exactly sure how that happens, I've used 15+ year old Nikon DSLRs and they had no trouble with Alzheimers)

Some newer compact zooms aren't manual, but zoom by wire. They usually retract when the camera is turned off. This is also the case for most compact cameras, which maybe the GP is talking about, because technically they're also "proper" cameras".

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#110

Post by delinom »

moduspol wrote: post #47
ldayley wrote: post #42

One thing that I’ve been trying to educate my colleagues about (including the A/V folks!) is that one can bypass the need to fiddle with drivers by using a generic hardware HDMI -> USB video conversion stick utilizing the mirrorless/DSLR’s HDMI output. It’ll mount as a generic video input that Zoom/Teams/OBS can use. You can find these for $40-$100 and it allows one to switch out hardware brands at will without insta…

I just failed at this recently. Apparently the camera needs to support "clean HDMI out," which many don't. Mine (for example) has HDMI out, but it's for like a "preview" screen for a photographer--it doesn't just output a clean, high-res HDMI stream. There's a web page on Canon's site here: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/se... You'll see one list of cameras on there, but at the bottom, you…

Custom software, such as Magic Lantern[1] for Canon cameras, can offer clean HDMI out for certain models, among other features.

[1] https://magiclantern.fm/

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