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Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

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Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#331

Post by a10c »

bradlys wrote: post #316
stingraycharles wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true? I know that Zoom can stream in HD, I can’t imagine the extra detail getting lost in those resolutions?

Bandwidth requirements for Group HD video Standard HD (720p) - 1-on-1 video calls: 1.2Mbps (up/down) - Group video calls: 2.6Mbps / 1.8Mbps (up/down) Full HD (1080p) - 1:1 video calls: -- Receiving 1080p HD video requires a minimum of 3.0Mbps. -- Sending 1080p video requires a minimum of 3.8Mbps. Group video calls: - Receiving 1080p HD video requires a minimum of 3.0Mbps. - Sending 1080p video requires a minimum of 3…

> I've worked in environments where they pay tens of thousands of dollars per room to set them up with professional cameras

Me too. The value isn't so much in the quality of video, its things like PTZ control of the camera and preset control of the position of the camera. For example, in a larger room you can click a button 'whiteboard' on the control panel and it will pan up and zoom in to the whiteboard.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#332

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #137

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…

Amen. Can confirm this 100% - I just spent the past two years doing robust physical tech product presentations with multi-cam setups and many different video streaming configurations. It always takes quite a bit of effort to set up and something doesn’t work right randomly all-the-fucking-time.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#333

Post by thinkmassive »

dekhn wrote: post #134

I have an alternative approach that I discovered recently while building a microscope with a webcam driven by linux. 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 sta…

I have a very similar hardware setup and love it. What benefits does OBS provide for your video conferencing? If it’s worth the extra hassle I might need to look into adding it.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#334

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

nunez wrote: post #173
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #137

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…

He was probably using software, like Canon's Webcam Utility, to stream his camera's HDMI OUT to his computer instead of using a capture card. He likely did this because of his camera not having "clean" HDMI output (i.e. you'd see icons if he were to capture what was on his camera's screen). Software like this is extremely unreliable by comparison and consumes CPU cycles like crazy, both on the camera and on your comp…

I’m starting to suspect something is wrong with our Elgato card because it has been a hit and miss experience for a long time now. We also have a knock off chinese 4k stream box (not the total dirt cheap ones) and that has sometimes been better than the elgato.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#335

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

tjpd wrote: post #320
bradlys wrote: post #305

I hate to say this but it’s almost entirely not worth it. The image quality only shows up here because they’re uploading images that they took from the camera locally. Trying doing it with Zoom. The compression is absolutely terrible. You’re gonna find that you spent a lot of time and money only to see a decent quality image on your side . Everyone else is gonna see the same muddy mess that they always saw. The image…

Respectfully, I have to disagree. I have a similar setup to the one in the article (Sony A6400 + Simga 30mm f1.4) and the difference in image quality is dramatic _even over Zoom_. It is such an improvement that, in my experience, almost every first meeting that I have with someone over Zoom the other participant will remark on how good my picture is. The perception of "quality" has little to do with resolution issues…

The lens and sensor makes the biggest difference here - paints a completely different picture due to capturing light in the way were used to seeing in tv and film.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#336

Post by Acen »

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…

> https://vdo.ninja

An alternative for a local network is running NDI. That's how for events we stream a bunch of remote cameras (and even computers on the network) into visual displays.

https://www.ndi.tv/

There are NDI apps for most phones etc.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#337

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

waddlesworth wrote: post #246

I have a pretty full on setup, with a condenser microphone on a boom, studio lights and softboxes pointed at me, with a full frame mirrorless camera and a high frame rate capture card. I tried doing meetings with it, but ended up getting a lot of inane comments about it, particularly as the microphone is in frame. Personally, I don't want to draw attention to myself in a meeting, so I've ended up going back to using…

Ha! That would be the off putting trying too hard effect

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#338

Post by tgtweak »

sorenjan wrote: post #325
tgtweak wrote: post #319

Just a note - I had a Nokia D90 dslr that would overheat if left in video mode for too long (over 5 minutes). Check for any "max video recording length" mentions on the camera's spec sheet as a early sign that this might be the case. A "yesteryear" smartphone that is collecting dust is also an excellent alternative, as they have surprisingly high quality cameras and lenses (on the rear side, anyway). I use a cracked-…

What's the latency like?

Less than 100ms which is very acceptable for video conferencing. Phones also have pretty solid wifi antennas in them so throughput is great even when wirelessly connected to the network.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#339

Post by sebular »

bradlys wrote: post #305

I hate to say this but it’s almost entirely not worth it. The image quality only shows up here because they’re uploading images that they took from the camera locally. Trying doing it with Zoom. The compression is absolutely terrible. You’re gonna find that you spent a lot of time and money only to see a decent quality image on your side . Everyone else is gonna see the same muddy mess that they always saw. The image…

This is absolutely not true.

I worked with a guy who used a DSLR as a webcam and his picture was totally remarkable over Google Meet and Zoom. The very first thing I did was send a screenshot of the meeting's tile view to a friend, asking if he noticed anything funny about one of the videos, and he easily spotted the one I was talking about.

Every time we had a new team member join the calls, they would immediately comment on this guy's ridiculously nice picture quality and ask him what kind of camera he had.

Re: Using a "proper" camera as a webcam

#340

Post by GekkePrutser »

mkr-hn wrote: post #283
jtvjan wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a picture of your face, set it as your background in OBS, and stream that. It's much more convenient, because you only have to make sure your camera works well once, instead of for every meeting.

You could even have it change at random intervals so it looks like you're on a choppy connection.

Yeah Apple's network link conditioner is great for this. If you don't want to send video but the organizer insists, just tune it down to the point your audio goes roboty. They'll be begging you to turn off video to improve the connection :D
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