131–140 of 499 posts
This is the main reason I own a Sony ZV-1: it supports UVC out of the box. With a use case as repetitive as jumping on a call, the UX is important.
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…
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…
> You can find these for $40-$100 and it allows one to switch out hardware brands at will without installing drivers. The cheap ones (as little as eight bucks) all use the same all-in-one HDMI-receiver-MJPEG-encoding-USB-device chip; it's not perfect, but they do actually support 1080p at 30 fps.
i found this article https://havecamerawilltravel.com/nikon-d3400-webcam-live-str... that suggests the budget device is workable but obviously doesn't deliver the quality that the camera can provide. but how does it compare to a regular webcam?
Nearly all modern cheap webcams are UVC-compatible and they work with linux. Different models expose different functionalities, but I ended up with this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R489K8L
It does 1600x1200 25FPS YUYV (as well as a wide range of other resolutions and FPS) uses the C/CS-mount lens standard (easy to buy a wide range of high quality lenses). It doesn't have a microphone but you should be using an independent mike anyway. Has software control of exposure color temp, and gain, which is great for various lighting conditions.
You read the data through USB, not HDMI. The one thing I haven't managed to do is autofocus, but imho, for webcams you want to set a fixed focus around your head anyway.
Works with all video conference programs, and OBS studio (I actually import the video in OBS and then create a virtual camera).
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-$100 and it allows one to switch out hardware brands at will without insta…
Isn’t the video interface over USB standard? You don’t need drivers do you? Just plug and play.
Extra note here, I've been running my olympus em5 mk-2 with the drivers Olympus released to run it as a web camera and its been working just fine, out of the box. I got an extra dummy battery to power it (cannot be powered though usb) so I have no worries of it dying during a long meeting. in a remote office world, I'm glad my team leaves their cameras on and I view it as a form of professionalism to present myself a…
I'm also using an E m5 mk2 on macos, with the battery holder grip and 25mm lens. I'm happy with the image but the software is pretty bad, isn't it? There's a substantial lag between the audio and video which is disconcerting to the viewer. And the video stream doesn't reliably start. I usually have to flip the video off and on a few dozen times in the Zoom app before it begins working. Aside from that the cost of the…
The battery I use is one that uses the shell of a matching battery but provides a wired 8V DC through a usb SMPS, 20$ from aliexpress and I never have to worry about it.
We had to ask one employee to go back to his reliable built-in webcam because every other meeting started with 2 minutes of him getting his camera turned on, messing with audio inputs, getting his microphone boom in place, and fighting other quirks. He also had a tendency to drop out of long meetings when his camera overheated, at which point it was another 1-2 minutes of messing around with the camera setup.
If you're going to do this, it must be reliable and ready to go before meetings. Don't be the person fighting with expensive equipment all the time just to get a marginally better image for your highly compressed Zoom video stream. This isn't a Twitch stream. We just want to talk and get down to business.
I've been using an A6300 with a Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens (both of which I already had), mounted to the monitors stand using a basic clamp. It works great, looks fantastic [3] and I still get a lot of compliments for how good my video quality is. One issue I did run into was getting a decent HDMI -> USB capture device that works with Linux. My first choice was a high end (~£200) ClonerAlliance Flint 4KP [1] which worked f…
Also useful is Sony's remote control, for engaging/disengaging autofocus without reaching for the camera. The a5100 has a useful flip-up screen, where I can see myself.
Before that, I was running a RasPi Zero with a HQ camera module and a C-mount lens as a webcam. That worked well, too. Better image quality than any of my colleagues, but a long shot from the Sony, obviously.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
It's not ideal but I've circumvented this by disabling automatic focus and other things that add visible elements to the preview, and the just using the preview's 720p output. It's a hassle and you'll have to manually adjust the focus so that everything's not blurry, but the end result quality is quite good.
If you go this route, please make sure your system is robust and ready to go before meetings. We had to ask one employee to go back to his reliable built-in webcam because every other meeting started with 2 minutes of him getting his camera turned on, messing with audio inputs, getting his microphone boom in place, and fighting other quirks. He also had a tendency to drop out of long meetings when his camera overheat…