[HN Gopher] How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (...
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How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam in 2022 (NixOS)
Author : revilotom
Score : 160 points
Date : 2022-11-13 10:18 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.tomoliver.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.tomoliver.net)
| sjs7007 wrote:
| If you have an iPhone+mac you can use continuity camera which is
| pretty seamless in comparison: https://support.apple.com/en-
| us/HT213244
| dognotdog wrote:
| I've created PTP Webcam [1] during COVID to get DSLRs working
| for video conferencing on the Mac.
|
| [1] https://ptpwebcam.org/
| ycombinete wrote:
| If you have an iPhone and Windows PC, iVCam works great.
| filoleg wrote:
| Similarly, I can recommend Reincubate Camo, works on
| macOS/Linux/Windows. It also has plenty manual camera
| settings to play around with to get the exact view you want,
| including focus/white balance/exposure/cropping and tons more
| that the Apple's official continuity functionality lacks.
|
| Disclaimer: zero affiliation with the product (outside of
| being their happy customer). I simply found it way before the
| official continuity feature was even announced for macOS+iOS.
| cowsup wrote:
| There are lots of solutions that are more seamless than the
| DSLR, but which are vastly more expensive, including just
| buying a webcam proper. But the fact that you _can_ use the
| DSLR as your webcam is cool, and may save some folks money if
| they happen to have a DSLR laying around.
| julianlam wrote:
| The problem with buying a webcam proper is that the industry
| has reached a "good enough" point where manufacturers will
| re-release essentially the same camera with no real
| improvements in resolution, hardware, or software.
|
| I bought a Logitech webcam during the pandemic. Imagine my
| surprise when the webcam resolution was worse than the one
| built into my XPS 13.
| 1123581321 wrote:
| The XPS has a 1080p camera. Were you trying to buy a 4K
| webcam and accidentally bought the super cheap 720p
| Logitech sells?
|
| Opal C1, Instalink, continuity cam/droidcam, and a
| DSLR/mirrorless setup like in this article are essentially
| your upgrade options if you don't want to pay for a 4k
| Logitech.
| w_for_wumbo wrote:
| This is frustrating, I thought that the pandemic was going
| to create a demand for high quality webcams. I'd settle for
| a 4K phone quality. I bought the Logitech Brio thinking I'd
| get better picture than my phone (since it's a dedicated
| camera), which was a bit of a disappointment. I don't think
| it's terrible, but I had higher expectations of it.
| AndreasTheDead wrote:
| thats exactly how i feel over the brio, picture is greate
| but i hoped for more
| hamaluik wrote:
| If you have {Windows, Mac Linux} and {Android, iOS}, you can
| use Iriun: https://iriun.com
| przmk wrote:
| There is DroidCam which works with an Android phone and Linux.
| The set-up is straightforward and it works great.
|
| https://www.dev47apps.com/
| NayamAmarshe wrote:
| Mine keeps disconnecting after a few seconds. DroidCam has
| never worked well for more than a minute for me.
|
| Wish there was a FOSS alternative.
| kroltan wrote:
| Not FOSS, but try also IP Webcam, it gives you a MJPEG
| stream and you can set it up on your computer.
|
| I use https://github.com/agarciadom/ipwebcam-gst as a way
| to turn the MJPEG into a video device.
| Havoc wrote:
| Also - discovered you can make an old iphone stream rtsp via app
| periscope HD.
|
| Only gotcha is thermals...don't think it can run like that long
| term without active cooling
| stavros wrote:
| I've been using an old Android phone as a webcam for a while,
| it's very good and latency is minimal, but conferencing software
| will just kill your stream. There's no reason to have even an HD
| webcam when your fellow participants will see a very compressed
| 0.4 Mpixel stream.
| throwaway46829 wrote:
| I don't think resolution is everything, I can definitely notice
| that the image is "better" in other ways when people are using
| proper cameras (whereas for a phone camera the resolution is a
| bigger part of what makes it better than a webcam), I'm quite
| happy with my own webcam being clear but not too clear though,
| it's a meeting not Instagram.
| vouaobrasil wrote:
| A normal lens in the 50mm to 85mm range farther away will show
| your features much less distorted than the typical wide-angle
| lenses of webcams. Wide-angle lenses close to your face will
| make your closer features like your nose look bigger. It's
| basically very ugly.
|
| Doing this is less for the image quality and more for the
| natural representation of your face.
| Markoff wrote:
| whole guide about using some gphoto software, yet not a single
| link in article
|
| btw it's only for Linux, so don't even bother reading the linked
| web, if you are in windows
|
| http://www.gphoto.org/
|
| Correct title:
|
| How to use your DSLR from 2008 as a webcam IN LINUX in 2022
| (NixOS)
|
| I wished people would not omiss such important information in
| title when writing articles or linking them wasting everyone's
| time including server traffic
| [deleted]
| opan wrote:
| The package is obtained via your package manager, so you do not
| need to use your web browser to get it.
| seabea wrote:
| NixOS is Linux
| Markoff wrote:
| How am I supposed to know that? I assumed it's some special
| custom firmware/OS for Nikon cameras before opening the link.
|
| You way overestimate popularity and general knowledge of some
| rare Linux distros even among IT guys.
| palata wrote:
| Which may someday replace Arch in the saying that Arch people
| never forget to mention they are using Arch :-).
| thomastjeffery wrote:
| Throughout the article, they use NixOS specific features.
|
| You can't really follow this in Arch without installing Nix
| and changing some parts of the instructions.
| arriu wrote:
| This should work with a ton of other cameras from roughly 2008
| onwards. So long as it supports live view over usb with gphoto.
|
| The camera from this article is also known as the Canon 500 or
| 1000D in other parts of the world.
| mrkeen wrote:
| Any restrictions about how long you can keep it turned on? I
| tried to do this but found I'd need to flash the cam's firmware
| to override the 10min recording limit.
|
| (I read that cameras which can record longer are taxed as video
| cameras, so they're deliberately crippled)
| BirAdam wrote:
| Magic Lantern will take care of that.
|
| To accomplish what the OP does, I use a USB HDMI in, a mini
| HDMI to HDMI cable, and Magic Lantern on my Rebel. It works
| well.
|
| Magic Lantern allows me to leave the camera in preview without
| overlays for indefinite time periods. It can also provide video
| this way, but heat can be an issue there...
| Xeoncross wrote:
| Magic Lantern was a game changer that really helped expose
| thousands to amateur videography. The Canon 5D MkII was the
| start of a revolution (an to a lesser extend, the T3i+) and
| the Panasonic GH4 and then Sony Alpha lines really played a
| role in pushing those young people from hobby to actual
| product videos and commercials.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| Normally you can leave live view (768x512 resolution, 0.4 MP in
| this case, usually not much higher for modern cameras) running
| indefinitely. Besides the low resolution especially on older
| cameras the readout for live view will use pixel skipping to
| conserve power at the expense of quality. This is why "the pro
| streamers" don't use the live view image, but instead go the
| HDMI-to-UVC route using the camera's video mode.
| throwaway294566 wrote:
| Unfortunately most cameras do not provide "clean" HDMI
| output. That is, the HDMI output contains camera UI symbols
| like focus points, battery state, lighting, etc.
| Configuration options to disable those UI symbols are
| generally not available, at best one can disable some of
| them. A model with "clean" HDMI is usually more expensive and
| you have to explicitly look for it as a feature.
|
| Live view readout via USB is something that works far more
| often than HDMI.
| gsich wrote:
| Most cameras do? Especially if bought in the last ~5 years.
|
| Nikon D750 also can do it, 2014.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| I'd expect pretty much any system camera from the last
| decade should include it
| throwaway294566 wrote:
| You are definitely expecting something that the camera
| makers' market segmentation does not provide. If you need
| clean HDMI, you can buy a camera that has it, but I
| estimate only a quarter of currently available DSLRs do.
| philsnow wrote:
| You can sort-of "clean" whatever output you get from your
| camera because the symbols are typically around the
| periphery. Adjust focus+zoom so that your subject is within
| the rectangle that doesn't have symbols, take the camera
| output and put it through OBS with a crop filter and you've
| got something that's clean.
| revilotom wrote:
| Even on long video calls (1-2 hours) I haven't had any problems
| but have not tested anything longer than that.
| gsich wrote:
| Why recording limit? Leave it in live view, no need to record.
| Or is the HDMI output not active then?
|
| I don't think this tax applies anymore.
| SECProto wrote:
| Live view turns itself off after a period of time. I believe
| with my Nikon it's 30min.
|
| For me, having to press the LV button twice an hour seemed
| more preferable than flashing the firmware.
| gsich wrote:
| Can be disabled
| SECProto wrote:
| 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_wa
| y_to_tu...
|
| [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKSY0eEC5gM
|
| [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrPd4b22Y4
| ISL wrote:
| I believe that the tax law changed in the last few years.
| Most cameras in use today still have the limit, even though
| many new (especially higher end) models have unlimited
| recording.
| bzzzt wrote:
| The webcam described in the article is so old, it has
| PAL/NTSC video out. Later generations switched to HDMI, but
| not all of them have a 'clean feed', so some information
| regarding exposure settings, battery level etc will remain in
| the picture.
| borissk wrote:
| Did you read the article? The author's camera can't record
| video at all. He uses software that creates video from static
| images taken by the camera.
| rhapsodic wrote:
| evgpbfhnr wrote:
| 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 :)
| revilotom wrote:
| Wow thanks for the suggestion! I knew there must be some way to
| do it with fewer steps but didn't quite figure out what it was
| so I really appreciate this comment. When I get a chance I'll
| test what you said out!
| Filligree wrote:
| Make sure it doesn't end up stopping the service on system
| activation, if you do that.
| ilyt wrote:
| Huh, I was solving similar problem some time ago. I needed to
| run some pulseaudio commands (to split stereo input into 2 mono
| ones) after USB device was reconnected and my solution was RUN
| script adding a systemd timer (the commands had to be ran after
| pulseaudio registered new device) that just ran it few seconds
| after device was connected
| yrro wrote:
| Is BindsTo= the right way to have systemd shut the service down
| if the device disappears?
| l0b0 wrote:
| Using your suggestion I ended up with the following for a Canon
| 7D: services.udev.extraRules = ''
| ACTION=="add", \ ATTR{idVendor}=="04a9", \
| ATTR{idProduct}=="319a", \
| ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}+="external_webcam.service", \
| SUBSYSTEM=="usb", \ TAG+="systemd" '';
| systemd.services.external_webcam = { enable = true;
| script = '' ${pkgs.gphoto2}/bin/gphoto2 --stdout
| --capture-movie | ${pkgs.ffmpeg}/bin/ffmpeg -i -
| -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -f v4l2 /dev/video0
| ''; wantedBy = ["multi-user.target"]; };
|
| Worked first try!
| codazoda wrote:
| I literally tried this yesterday (with official Canon Webcam
| software) and gave up. I think I'll give it another go.
| moooo99 wrote:
| I've also heard colleagues struggling with the manufacturer
| software. Many of them resorted to buying HDMI capture cards
| which seem to be working a bit more seamless (also a nice plus
| if your software installation abilities on your work laptop are
| limited)
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| Coincidentally, I read about the v4l2loopback driver which
| enables this yesterday. It was in an article about how it it a
| PITA to get working on Fedora due to the requirement for signed
| kernel modules. Glad to see it's easier on NixOS.
| https://dev.to/archerallstars/i-am-no-longer-use-fedora-36-t...
| nottorp wrote:
| Hmm but what's so wrong with a DSLR from 2008 that he wants to
| throw it away?
|
| Recent cameras may have a lot more pixels but the optics should
| still be just as good.
| SSLy wrote:
| MILC's have shorter flange distance therefore more weird lenses
| can be created. Also they're smaller, lighter, and quieter due
| to the elimination of the moving mirror.
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