How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS) • Hacker News Board

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#61

Post by SECProto » Mon, Nov 14, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

gsich wrote: post #58

SECProto wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Live view auto shutoff can be disabled? No it can't[1], not without modified firmware that either doesn't exist[2] or is only available from sketchy mega uploads[3]. There are other[4] hacky workarounds, but nothing clean. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Nikon/comments/c5wjg6/how_to_turnof... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Nikon/comments/hqp2wu/any_way_to_tu... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKSY0eEC5gM [4] https://w…

You forgot to specify what camera you use. No need to extrapolate from your camera to all Nikons.

I said "with my Nikon". You said definitively that it "can be disabled". Your statement was incorrect - you were the one extrapolating.

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#62

Post by gniv » Mon, Nov 14, 2022, 9:33 AM UTC

sjs7007 wrote: post #10

If you have an iPhone+mac you can use continuity camera which is pretty seamless in comparison: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213244

I kept trying to get this to work and failing. If others run into problems like me, note that this feature requires macOS Ventura, release last month.

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#63

Post by gsich » Mon, Nov 14, 2022, 3:10 PM UTC

SECProto wrote: post #61

gsich wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot to specify what camera you use. No need to extrapolate from your camera to all Nikons.

I said "with my Nikon". You said definitively that it "can be disabled". Your statement was incorrect - you were the one extrapolating.

Yes, because you didn't mention any camera model.

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#64

Post by codazoda » Mon, Nov 14, 2022, 4:10 PM UTC

dognotdog wrote: post #11

sjs7007 wrote: post #10

If you have an iPhone+mac you can use continuity camera which is pretty seamless in comparison: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213244

I've created PTP Webcam [1] during COVID to get DSLRs working for video conferencing on the Mac. [1] https://ptpwebcam.org/

This works better than the Canon EOS Webcam utility for me, even though my DSLR isn't officially supported. It works fine in Zoom. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Quicktime. I'll take a look at some of the code signing info in your docs and see if I can fix it.

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#65

Post by dognotdog » Tue, Nov 15, 2022, 3:20 PM UTC

codazoda wrote: post #64

dognotdog wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've created PTP Webcam [1] during COVID to get DSLRs working for video conferencing on the Mac. [1] https://ptpwebcam.org/

This works better than the Canon EOS Webcam utility for me, even though my DSLR isn't officially supported. It works fine in Zoom. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Quicktime. I'll take a look at some of the code signing info in your docs and see if I can fix it.

My understanding is that Quicktime Player has been in the SIP domain for recent OS releases, so it just won't load 3rd party libraries at all :/

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#66

Post by thisisben » Sun, Nov 20, 2022, 2:24 AM UTC

Using a DSLR as a webcam is pretty straightforward with other Linux distros: https://www.crackedthecode.co/how-to-use-your-dslr-as-a-webc...

I've been using this for ~2 years now, and it's been rock solid.

Re: How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)

#67

Post by evgpbfhnr » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 4:49 AM UTC

yrro wrote: post #25

evgpbfhnr wrote: post #4

Note if the author reads this (perfect is the enemy of good, feel free to ignore): You can make udev run systemd services directly, replacing RUN=... by e.g. TAG+="systemd", ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}+="foo.service" That might require you also remove the 'enabled = true' for the service, and make sure gphoto2 dies when the camera is unplugged? Anyway, it was a nice read :)

Is BindsTo= the right way to have systemd shut the service down if the device disappears?

It's been a while but yes BindsTo is a good idea if you can express the device in a reliable way. Unfortunately for USB devices the path will look like something that depends on the USB port it's been plugged in (I only have a sound card on my hands, but something like these two alternatives on two different ports):

    sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:14.0-usb1-1\x2d4-1\x2d4:1.0-sound-card1-controlC1.device
    sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:14.0-usb1-1\x2d1-1\x2d1:1.0-sound-card1-controlC1.device

notice the usb-`1-1:4` became `1-1:1`

That makes BindsTo unpractical unless you're sure you'll always plug in the camera on the same port everytime, so it might not be best.

This made me look up how I'd do this if the needs arise, so I haven't tried, but `StopWhenUnneeded=true` in the service definition looks like it would stop it properly when the device "wanting" it is gone? cf. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/528803/systemd-does...

I learned something new :)