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Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

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Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#261

Post by jcelerier »

I use an X-T4 that way, exposed to V4L2 like this it works well (but with a ridiculous 1024x768 resolution which is apparently the best one can get out of its USB...):

     gphoto2 --stdout --capture-movie | ffmpeg -i - -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -threads 0 -f v4l2 /dev/video1
At some point I should buy a proper capture card for it... but for meetings it's already day&night vs laptop webcam

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#262

Post by dekhn »

aendruk wrote: post #251
dekhn wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are cameras that do this; there are many UVC USB3 webcams with phone-grade sensors (medium quality).

“This” refers to the contribution of software processing described above, i.e. explicitly not the matter of sensor quality.

oh, that's for economic reasons. The industrial and desktop consumer computer vision markets are orders of magnitude smaller and their development cycle times orders of magnitude longer.

I looked into this a while ago- trying to use gcam technology for scientific imaging- when I worked at Google, and there was zero interest from those teams. They were 100% focused on next-gen camera tech (and it showed- that was the period when phones got unbelievably good at taking high quality images using computational photography).

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#263

Post by TheBozzCL »

During the pandemic, I tried something similar since there was little point to go out to take photos:

1. Sony A7II

2. 35mm lens (I tried others and this gives the best results for 2-3 feet)

3. Sony XLR-K2M adapter + Shure condenser microphone (this is absolutely overkill but I like to record myself playing guitar, and it beats timing stuff by hand)

4. Mini-HDMI cable to Elgato CamLink 4K USB dongle (I tried others, this one worked the best)

5. Two cheap LED photographic lights from Amazon - my workspace is very badly lit, so these also help me keep things well illuminated.

The main downside of using a setup like this is white balancing - I found the camera was not doing a good job by itself, so I had to do some trial-and-error. In less controlled environments, like rooms with lots of windows, this becomes even harder over the course of the day.

And yeah, I originally set all this up to stream games. How could you tell?

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#264

Post by tomatocracy »

formerly_proven wrote: post #81
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…

> 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.

They're generally pretty reliable but an issue to be aware of is that the cheaper ones can have quite high latency (0.5s or more). This means for Zoom etc you will have to choose between audio/video being desynced and more awkward conversation (if interactive discussion is more important than presenting).

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#265

Post by alexitosrv »

I disagree with the people here saying that no image is better than a camera feed. As an individual contributor and trainer myself, multiple times, I've found out that looking at someone explaining something in itself adds value. It doesn't need to be a sales pitch, you can discuss something with a colleague with a shared whiteboard, and still I appreciate seeing another one, their expressions, face complexion, mood, even their cats, dogs, etc.

That doesn't subtract to the fact that audio is the stronger medium. A great mic setup is orders of magnitude better than a pretty face via a DSLR. Podcastage has been one of my favorite youtubers on the matter since last year, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEMZa5VN3Zw, and in that video he somewhat proves the point.

For camera recommendations, I agree with the majority that it needs to be a reliable setup. I was not a fan of DSLR with capture cards precisely because of that. I recommend AverMedia line of 4K webcams which have good defaults, amazing glass and have a great resolution and adjustable depth of field. In the past I used an Aver C340 4K which is amazing, but bulky, and now more recently I use a PW513 which is way better than anything Logitech has to offer.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#266

Post by kejaed »

NamTaf wrote: post #160

Protip: if your goal is to use your smartphone as a webcam, check out this: https://vdo.ninja Written by some guy named Steve, it’s an incredible piece of web software that uses WebRTC to stream phone audio and video as an OBS input. OBS then features a virtual webcam capability to take that stream and make it a webcam. I can then also use OBS to do whatever processing I want, e.g. making my webcam also contain a scr…

At work we had to create a streaming setup to provide remote training to a customer on the other side of the world that involved parachute packing & guided drone integration. Stuff that was usually done in person but due to the pandemic traveling was not an option at that time.

vdo.ninja and a couple of iPod Touch's (RIP) were really useful to give the trainers the ability to walk around the parachute loft to get up close and personal with a specific set of equipment. Combined with OBS, some powerpoint plug-ins, and vdo.ninja, we were able to bring something together that worked really well in no time at all.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#268

Post by post_break »

I use my GoPro and it's pretty excellent. The logitech C920 is amazing when using the software "webcam settings" unfortunately the app no longer works. You could adjust the gain, exposure, every setting that logitech for some reason does not let you adjust. I could get incredible quality out of that thing with that software, but since I can't use it on my M1 it's garbage.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#270

Post by maccard »

foo92691 wrote: post #256
randerson wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can recommend a full-frame Canon RP ($999) with RF 35mm f1.8 lens ($449) as a relatively inexpensive narrow FOV setup. Edited to add: Meant Narrow DOF when writing this, but both are true if you sit close to it!

"relatively inexpensive"

Thats roughly my team's budget for a laptop.
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