Can You Use A Camera As A Webcam

If you lot've been working from dwelling house for the past few weeks, you've probably had to join more than a few video conference calls. Or perhaps y'all've been using video chat apps to proceed in touch with friends and family while social distancing. Either way, you've probably noticed that the webcam on your laptop is, well, crap. It leads to blurry, pixelated video calls, and unflattering viewing angles.

In that location are a few ways to address this trouble. You could purchase a proper webcam, but good luck finding 1 of those in stock. You could repurpose an one-time smartphone and employ that equally a webcam, if you lot happen to take ane lying around. Either of those might be slightly better than your laptop'south webcam.

Just if you really want to pace up your video phone call game, you can actually use a DSLR or mirrorless camera as a webcam for your estimator and take the best-looking video of anyone in your group chat.

Depending on your photographic camera and your reckoner, this can be equally elementary equally installing a slice of software and just using a USB cable to hook your camera to your estimator. If you have a relatively modern Canon photographic camera and a Windows PC, there's an app at present available that lets you hook up the camera to your computer over standard USB and employ it as a webcam. There are software-only solutions for other cameras and for Macs also, but they frequently involve "virtual" webcams created by software which some apps tin't use (including, sadly, Zoom).

The "easiest" method thus includes spending some money. Most people will probably demand some actress hardware that converts a camera's HDMI output into a USB input. These devices are called USB capture cards and generally run $100 or more than. Thank you to the global pandemic, they are also very hard to find in stock. But we've tested this IOGear model and it works well. Unlike the popular Elgato Cam Link, the IOGear model is available from B&H Photo right at present.

Y'all will too demand an HDMI cable that can plug into your camera, which likely means a Micro HDMI on the terminate that goes to your camera. You can either become a total-length Micro HDMI cable or an adapter that converts the larger HDMI plug down to a Micro HDMI. Once the camera is connected, y'all'll desire to enable "clean HDMI" output, which volition get rid of all of the photographic camera exposure information and give you an unobstructed video feed. Depending on your camera, this is either done by putting the camera in its video mode or toggling an choice in a settings menu. Consult your photographic camera's manual for the way to do it on your model.

In addition to the USB capture device or software for your calculator, you'll also desire to have some way to mountain your camera for video calls. This can exist as simple as a basic tripod, but if you're looking to put the camera above a desktop monitor, like a traditional webcam, things tin get a bit more complicated. In that location are mounts and clamps you lot can buy to affix the photographic camera to your desk-bound and bring it up to eye level, only yous're merely going to have to figure out how to go information technology to work for your own state of affairs. I take been able to become a GorillaPod wrapped around my monitor arm to work, only it'south not the most elegant solution.

Finally, since using your camera as a webcam means information technology'due south basically on and streaming video to your computer constantly, you're going to want to get an A/C adapter to power the photographic camera instead of relying on its batteries. Some cameras can exist charged via USB-C battery banks and chargers, while others require special A/C adapters from the manufacturer. You will too want to disable whatever automatic power shutoff features in the camera. Consult your camera'due south transmission to see what you need.

Other things to be aware of:

Almost webcams have wide-bending lenses, so it's easy to stay in frame. If you primarily want to use this setup for video calls, you'll want to use the widest lens you take for your DSLR or mirrorless camera, otherwise your video calls will exist all face and you'll constantly drift out of frame.
You besides should try to utilize the fastest lens y'all have available. The lower the aperture (the number after the f/ on your camera'south lens), the more blurred and pleasant your groundwork volition look. You'll desire to be at least at f/2.8, simply if you tin can go lower, that's amend. I set up my 16mm Fujifilm lens to its lowest aperture of f/1.4 for the best effect.
Your camera likely has some sort of face detect autofocus, which y'all should enable. That style if you shift your seat or motion, information technology will just follow your face to stay in focus. You will probably hear your lens refocusing as it keeps track of y'all, simply odds are people on the other end of your video chats will not hear it.
Keeping the camera constantly on and feeding alive video to your computer for long periods of time can brand the parts in your camera hot, and in some instances, a photographic camera might shut downwards if it overheats. It's smart to turn off your camera in between calls.

On the left is an epitome from my laptop'southward congenital-in 720p webcam. On the right is a shot taken with my Fujifilm mirrorless photographic camera connected to my computer.

One time you have all of the parts, setting up the photographic camera is as uncomplicated as plugging the cablevision into the side of the photographic camera, plugging the other terminate into the capture card, then plugging that into your reckoner and turning your camera on. Both Windows and macOS volition automatically recognize the photographic camera as a webcam and it volition exist available equally an option in Zoom, Google Meet, FaceTime, or whatsoever other software yous use for video calls. From in that location yous can but bask in the glory of the image quality from your overpriced webcam.