Earlier quoted context omitted.
They announced just this at WWDC a couple weeks ago.
Link?
The feature is called “Continuity Camera”.
Webcams aren't good enough
411–420 of 610 posts
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#412Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smartphone cameras are small and far better sensors than what you get in webcams. They rely on software to produce images of the quality we're used to seeing, especially with less-than-ideal lighting, but the lenses and sensor are still far better than the Logitech C920. A webcam doesn't need the latest and greatest video hardware. Give it a camera module from a midrange 2017 smartphone and use the latest image proce…
This is the answer. Camera and processor from a several-year-old smart phone, which is now quite cheap. Sell it for $500. So far no one has, there must be a reason no one can.
At that price point you're competing with a GoPro, which is likely as good or better at a lower price. All (or most?) current GoPros can be used as a webcam.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure! 1) Avoid fluorescent lighting like the plague. You’ll look sickly. 2) Find a nice warm (tungsten/more orange) lamp if your lighting is inadequate. It can be small it doesn’t matter. Place it diagonally from you at eye level. 3) Camera at eye level. 4) If you want to get fancy, get another lamp higher above you (several feet) and place it opposite your main lamp for a backlight. So if your main light is front ri…
Camera at eye level is very hard when your giant monitor is at eye level. I almost wish there was some way to make monitors act like teleprompters.
Mine is between my dual monitors at eye level. Works great.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's still on my to-do list to look for a way to crop the image, and manual quality control would also be a welcome feature. OBS with virtual camera. Add the camera as a source, scale and crop to your heart's content, click 'start virtual camera', then launch your videoconferencing software and choose the virtual camera.
Thanks! I already glanced at my options and this one seemed like overkill, but yeah it does sound like the go-to solution that everyone uses. Will be installing this some time soon, thanks for confirming this is the way to go :) (Also to the sibling comment)
On linux you may be able to set it up with fmpeg and v4l2loopback (create a v4l2loopback device and have ffmpeg grab your input, crop it, and output to that device).
Maybe less overkill, but probably more involved to set up though so OBS is probably your best choice unless it is really too heavy.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Size isn't everything. As the iPhone shows, you can get very good image quality from a tiny sensor and lens if you have the right tech supporting it. (At Lumina, most of our eng effort is on the software layer) This is my problem with all the webcam startups. So what if you can mask some of the problems of small sensors and lenses using machine learning that adds a whole new set of problems? You could have done tha…
Smartphone cameras are small and far better sensors than what you get in webcams. They rely on software to produce images of the quality we're used to seeing, especially with less-than-ideal lighting, but the lenses and sensor are still far better than the Logitech C920. A webcam doesn't need the latest and greatest video hardware. Give it a camera module from a midrange 2017 smartphone and use the latest image proce…
For what it’s worth, I agreed with the cynical view of GP until I read this comment. A very convincing defense of the prioritization of the software layer.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#416I briefly worked with a guy whose previous startup had been premised on the idea of combining several consumer-grade phone-cameras into a small array and using software to build a far better image than any one of the cameras could accomplish individually, yet remain cost effective because these things are sold in such absurd scale.
I don't know what became of it, but it sounded plausible (at least the computer vision parts that I understood were sane-sounding).
Does anyone know if people are doing this sort of thing? (I'm aware that the expensive iPhones have more than one camera but IIUC that's for different reasons).
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#417As I had a Canon DSLR lying around during Covid, I have repurposed it to a webcam using Canons webcam driver: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/se... Image quality is top notch and the ability to Zoom in/out using the zoom lense is nice. You also get some nice background blur, depending on your used lens. For power there are modified "batteries" allowing to plug the camera into AC for power.
I've done exactly the same with a canon dslr. Everybody asks me if I am a streamer Many are jealous, i think. It's hard to understand through their poor webcams haha
That's a good idea actually, especially older DSLRs are quite cheap on the used market.
The problem is I'm more of a Nikon guy and I don't own any Canon lenses. But my Nikon body is an ancient D50 which doesn't have any of this fancy webcammy stuff. Or even video recording for that matter. And I don't know if newer Nikons have webcam features. But thanks for the tip, I'll investigate.
Even that cam would provide excellent images though with its 5mpx sensor.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd remove 'UK English' from that at least - at my previous company we joked about how completely unusable it was: almost everything was transcribed as 'Samoa'; it also liked 'certainly Christmas' and other odd phrases that certainly weren't being said.
I'd love to hear a sample of a British accent where everything sounds like Samoa or similar! :D
I guess it is meant to be 'somewhere'.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
People who have video calls throughout the day constantly. I don't want to have to mess around setting up my phone on a stand and getting it connected every time I need to do a meeting.
I also dual call into many meetings. For these, I use my phone to see how my screen sharing is working. I have to do a lot of screen sharing presentations to present data (tables, figures, etc). With this use-case, it’s very helpful to have a second login to be able to see what everyone else is.
Or I’m in a group meeting and I see a text or even a phone call I want to quickly respond to. Apple’s demo at WWDC seems interesting but not sure how much I would actually use it unless it was to partially repurpose an old phone.
As for cameras, I got things setup with my Canon 5Diii but it was way too much trouble to use given even pre-recorded Biddeford is most of the way there with a Logitech C920–and I’m better than most of the people recording videos.
Re: Webcams aren't good enough
#420A nice device is the Nexigo N970p, it is expensive with about $200, but the good part is that is has very good quality and comes with a remote. All settings are made in an OSD and are stored on the Webcam. It just works, not software drivers or anything is needed.
Only downside is the power draw, it is quite warm. It seems to suck so much power that the USB plug next to it in a dell docking station was not working correctly.