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Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

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Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#61

Post by _joel »

dewey wrote: post #56
diffeomorphism wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What work? That seems very comparable to any moderately nice webcam: Install software once, then forget about it. The "setup" for something like skype is then just selecting the cam from a drop down menu. An argument I could see is having to get out the camera, put it onto a tripod, connecting power, ... etc.. Though that is only an issue if you cannot just leave everything set up.

> Install software once, then forget about it. Are you new to Linux? As it appears to be necessary: \s, it was a lighthearted statement about how software is almost never "forget about it" and breaks on updates in unexpected ways.

It handled via dkms so it's rebuilt automatically everytime you update your kernel. Then it's loaded on boot, no insmod/modprobe needed. I'm not sure what the issue is.

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#62

Post by _joel »

Gigachad wrote: post #47
LtWorf wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes 10 minutes to reload a kernel module??? Not even on a 386 :D

First you have to spend a few minutes searching your bash backlog for the exact modprobe command, then you realize you updated your kernel so you have to recompile and resign it, then you have to fiddle with your video inputs but the gui is somehow out of sync with the actual setting. Then run a test before joining the call. And then the other person has the window under their browser and never looks at your video.

It's via DKMS and loaded automatically at boot. That's the point of DKMS

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#63

Post by erwincoumans »

harry8 wrote: post #5

How can you write all of that and miss the fun? apt-get install gnome-video-effects-frei0r #or whatever works for you filter_idx=2 filters=( "videobalance" "quarktv" "rippletv" #2 "streaktv" "radioactv" "vertigotv" "frei0r-filter-twolay0r" "frei0r-filter-distort0r" "dicetv" "edgetv" "warptv" "revtv" "frei0r-filter-cartoon" "shagadelictv") gst-launch-1.0 autovideosrc device=$CAMERA ! videoconvert ! ${filters[$filter_i…

Usually running 'sudo ldconfig' will sort this out, once the shared library directory is added in the right ld.so.conf file (for example /etc/ld.so.conf)

See also https://blog.andrewbeacock.com/2007/10/how-to-add-shared-lib...

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#64

Post by noselasd »

_joel wrote: post #61
dewey wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Install software once, then forget about it. Are you new to Linux? As it appears to be necessary: \s, it was a lighthearted statement about how software is almost never "forget about it" and breaks on updates in unexpected ways.

It handled via dkms so it's rebuilt automatically everytime you update your kernel. Then it's loaded on boot, no insmod/modprobe needed. I'm not sure what the issue is.

Maybe this particular dkms doesn't have the issue, but the ones I've used breaks when the internal kernal APIs changes and the external module isn't updated yet.

Happens frequently enough to be irritating.

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#65

Post by rroot »

dewey wrote: post #56
diffeomorphism wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What work? That seems very comparable to any moderately nice webcam: Install software once, then forget about it. The "setup" for something like skype is then just selecting the cam from a drop down menu. An argument I could see is having to get out the camera, put it onto a tripod, connecting power, ... etc.. Though that is only an issue if you cannot just leave everything set up.

> Install software once, then forget about it. Are you new to Linux? As it appears to be necessary: \s, it was a lighthearted statement about how software is almost never "forget about it" and breaks on updates in unexpected ways.

Light hearted statements on HN is like walking through a minefield. I learned the same way as you. I can sympathize.

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#66

Post by ycombinete »

nicolaslem wrote: post #54

With a setup like this, I imagine that the camera is far enough from the center of the monitor to make having "eye contact" impossible. Any solution to this problem?

I would love such a soultion.

I use my old iPhones as webcams. The Picture quality amazing! But I use a selfie-tripod as a mount, and it has exactly this problem.

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#68

Post by ghaff »

Gigachad wrote: post #17

Nice post, but that's way too much work to be worth it. You really want your camera and mic setup to just work rather than having to tell someone to wait 10 minutes to call because you need to reload your kernel module.

To be honest, it's not really about Linux and reloading kernel modules. Fairly early on in the pandemic, I setup my Canon EOS as a webcam on my Mac. I immediately had a problem with an agency trying to record video of me with that setup. And it was generally a certain hassle to turn the camera on, get it focused properly (older model that doesn't continuously keep focus on video), etc.

I went back to just using my Logitech 920. People probably can't mostly tell the difference given regular network glitches and so forth.

Re: Using a Canon EOS camera as a webcam in Debian

#70

Post by _joel »

noselasd wrote: post #64
_joel wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It handled via dkms so it's rebuilt automatically everytime you update your kernel. Then it's loaded on boot, no insmod/modprobe needed. I'm not sure what the issue is.

Maybe this particular dkms doesn't have the issue, but the ones I've used breaks when the internal kernal APIs changes and the external module isn't updated yet. Happens frequently enough to be irritating.

I've never found that with dkms provided by the official repos, which this is. Also I've got personal experience maintaining a fleet of these for video ingesters, using that exact dkms packaged module.
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