Canon Software Solution Allows Select EOS Interchangeable Lens Cameras to Function as High-Quality USB Webcam

dcm

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Apr 18, 2013
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I’ve been teaching a course on campus that is also recorded/live for students that want to take it online for a few years now. So we just all moved online. I could have kept teaching in the empty classroom for the recording and distribution facilities, but decided to do it at home since my other course was not online and I had to solve the problem anyway.

I think I prefer a capture device solution like CamLink in my case. Unfortunately they were already gone from the stores by athe time I decided. The software solutions I tried were CPU intensive on my university supplied Mac laptop. My personal Mac mini would be up to the task. This Canon solution could be a nice alternative. But I have a Mac. And only one week of lectures left in the spring semester so it came a bit late for me. Looks like I’ll have plenty of time to explore options over the summer. Not sure what format we’ll be teaching in the fall yet.

But the real issue isn’t the device or software. Like photography, it’s the composition. Monitor/camera placement. Microphone. Lighting. Backdrop. I even provide background music and chat with them before and after the live lecture. I turn on the video when the lecture starts. Most people haven’t a clue. Fortunately, I’ve been to enough conferences over the years to see how the professionals do this. I’m actually getting to use a lot of my photo/video gear even with a webcam. My video feed stands out in a Zoom faculty meeting and students talk about my talking head (black background, black shirt, spot light, hair light) ala Max Headroom on an MS Teams video feed. I just couldn’t resist with the beard. But that’s another story.

Photo on 5-3-20 at 12.58 PM #2.jpg
(straight from a Logitch C930e webcam)
 
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troppobash

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May 29, 2014
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Re EOS 5DM II and suggesting it works with this new canon web cam plug-in

I have installed the canon plug-in successfully. but have some trouble connecting the camera.

I setup the camera to movie mode but as soon as I connect to the computer it closes movie mode. The W10 is connecting it as a mass storage device and will not see it as a camera/image device.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix?

Thanks
 
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Re EOS 5DM II and suggesting it works with this new canon web cam plug-in

I have installed the canon plug-in successfully. but have some trouble connecting the camera.

I setup the camera to movie mode but as soon as I connect to the computer it closes movie mode. The W10 is connecting it as a mass storage device and will not see it as a camera/image device.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix?

Thanks

It doesn't matter if you are in movie mode or not. If you are in movie mode, it should close it that is the correct behaviour. While using it as a webcam the screen should be off and the mirror should be up.
Seeing it as a storage device is also normal behavior.
Also make sure EOS Utility is not running.

Where are you expecting it to show up?
What program do you use to test it?

It will not show up in Explorer as a different device than the normal storage option.
It will show up as EOS Webcam Utility Beta in a supported application.

I would recommend using OBS Studio to test it, as it can be used as a workaround (by installing a plugin called VirtualCam) for making it work with applications that don't currently support the Canon EOS Webcam Utility Beta.
 
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Mar 26, 2014
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Sorry I was too lazy to search through the posts, but wouldn't this really heat up the camera, like, a lot?

AFAIK, the relevant models can shoot video for 30 minutes straight, and that limitation was artificially set so the cameras would be taxed as stills cameras, rather than cinema cameras. Using the camera as a webcam requires less power, as the camera doesn't compress the video and save it to memory cards.
 
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troppobash

CR Pro
May 29, 2014
50
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It doesn't matter if you are in movie mode or not. If you are in movie mode, it should close it that is the correct behaviour. While using it as a webcam the screen should be off and the mirror should be up.
Seeing it as a storage device is also normal behavior.
Also make sure EOS Utility is not running.

Where are you expecting it to show up?
What program do you use to test it?

It will not show up in Explorer as a different device than the normal storage option.
It will show up as EOS Webcam Utility Beta in a supported application.

I would recommend using OBS Studio to test it, as it can be used as a workaround (by installing a plugin called VirtualCam) for making it work with applications that don't currently support the Canon EOS Webcam Utility Beta.

Thank-you for your help.
I was tying it out on zoom - and the canon webcam is there to choose but it has just has the words in writing - EOS web cam - and no picture.

I set up the camera in live view so the mirror is up but as soon as the usb cable is connected to the computer the mirror drops and is no longer in live view.

Thanks, I will look at OBS and the VirtualCam plug-in, but if the camera drops out of live view as soon as the usb cable is connected to the computer - then it seems that I will have the same problem with any type of webcam software. :(
 
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Valvebounce

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Apr 3, 2013
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Hi Folks.
For those wondering about heat, a couple of weeks ago I had my 1DsIII in front of my westerly facing window with the sun streaming in doing Macro shots, after a couple of hours I was busy shooting tethered to the laptop in live view, I noticed a flashing red pop up, hmm, warning camera internal temperature high (or something along those lines)!
Bearing in mind 2 hours in the sun, I reached for the camera to take it off the tripod, let it go pretty quick, not hot enough to burn but I didn’t fancy holding on to it for long so I moved the lot tripod and all away from the window.
Checked after a while, once it was at room temperature, all works fine as far as I can tell, I have never had a temperature warning using live view tethered apart from that one due to the sun, the next time I laid a white cloth over it, no discernible temperature gain!

Cheers, Graham.
 
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Thank-you for your help.
I was tying it out on zoom - and the canon webcam is there to choose but it has just has the words in writing - EOS web cam - and no picture.

I set up the camera in live view so the mirror is up but as soon as the usb cable is connected to the computer the mirror drops and is no longer in live view.

Thanks, I will look at OBS and the VirtualCam plug-in, but if the camera drops out of live view as soon as the usb cable is connected to the computer - then it seems that I will have the same problem with any type of webcam software. :(

Camera needs to be in Movie mode and EOS utility can't be running - check your Windows task manager. I used it successfully in a 2.5hour zoom webinar. Only thing is that the feed it basically only 1024 x 576. I suspect that output was already there because the camera probably sends that feed for Preview / Remote tethered shooting. I just wish it was at least 720P at 30 or 60fps.
 
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It's similar resolution, but that's not really the point! If you have good lenses (L series with low f stop) then you can get an image quality your webcam can't possibly achieve :)

True to some extent. I was using my RF35 at 1.8 and the shallow DOF is lovely. Zoom records my webinars at 4K though so compared to speakers with 1080 webcams, occasionally you can see the resolution limits. Once I re-compress the video for sharing (lower bitrate) - 2gb/hour, the differences are hard to spot but the shallow DOF and noise-level is clearly superior.
 
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Camera needs to be in Movie mode and EOS utility can't be running - check your Windows task manager. I used it successfully in a 2.5hour zoom webinar. Only thing is that the feed it basically only 1024 x 576. I suspect that output was already there because the camera probably sends that feed for Preview / Remote tethered shooting. I just wish it was at least 720P at 30 or 60fps.

It doesn't need to be in movie mode. It works in all modes. My Canon bodies don't even have a movie mode , unless you count Live view as a mode. I just need to plug in the cable and turn the camera on.
 
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AFAIK, the relevant models can shoot video for 30 minutes straight, and that limitation was artificially set so the cameras would be taxed as stills cameras, rather than cinema cameras. Using the camera as a webcam requires less power, as the camera doesn't compress the video and save it to memory cards.
Thanks for the reply. I'm not worried about power consumption since we'll be plugging the camera into a power source for long sessions and not running on battery. It's the heat I'm not sure about. Sure not writing to memory cards will lower the temperature, but if I want to conduct a 45-minute session with coworkers... Obviously Canon isn't going to make this feature available without covering the bases so I'm not mortally petrified, just curious. As for the 30 minute limit, I think it's 29 minutes and 59 seconds. ;)
 
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Mar 26, 2014
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Thanks for the reply. I'm not worried about power consumption since we'll be plugging the camera into a power source for long sessions and not running on battery. It's the heat I'm not sure about. Sure not writing to memory cards will lower the temperature, but if I want to conduct a 45-minute session with coworkers... Obviously Canon isn't going to make this feature available without covering the bases so I'm not mortally petrified, just curious. As for the 30 minute limit, I think it's 29 minutes and 59 seconds. ;)

I referenced to less power to mean the camera will also produce less heat.
 
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I referenced to less power to mean the camera will also produce less heat.
And I mentioned a 45-minute session. Heat clearly won't be an issue after a 5 minute chat, but how long can we hold meetings before the heat stops things? Or is the heat so low that it can run forever until the power company cuts me off? That's my question.
 
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And I mentioned a 45-minute session. Heat clearly won't be an issue after a 5 minute chat, but how long can we hold meetings before the heat stops things? Or is the heat so low that it can run forever until the power company cuts me off? That's my question.
I'd be more worried about the internet connection cutting out, the chat software crashing and bladder capacity.
 
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And I mentioned a 45-minute session. Heat clearly won't be an issue after a 5 minute chat, but how long can we hold meetings before the heat stops things? Or is the heat so low that it can run forever until the power company cuts me off? That's my question.

I used it for around 2.5hrs for a webinar I was hosting. Since I was worried the battery would die in the middle, I ran the camera with my V-mount battery pack.
 
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dcm

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...

But the real issue isn’t the device or software. Like photography, it’s the composition. Monitor/camera placement. Microphone. Lighting. Backdrop. I even provide background music and chat with them before and after the live lecture. I turn on the video when the lecture starts. Most people haven’t a clue. Fortunately, I’ve been to enough conferences over the years to see how the professionals do this. I’m actually getting to use a lot of my photo/video gear even with a webcam. My video feed stands out in a Zoom faculty meeting and students talk about my talking head (black background, black shirt, spot light, hair light) ala Max Headroom on an MS Teams video feed. I just couldn’t resist with the beard. But that’s another story.

...
(straight from a Logitch C930e webcam)

For my final lecture this semester I played ZZ Top during the prelude.

FFC8330A-BF8A-47B8-B320-E352FBF4FA95.jpeg
 
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HikeBike

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Works beautifully with my EOS R. I like using the 15-35 @ 15mm f/8. Nice wide view with the entire room visible, which allows family and friends to see my toddler running around or playing in the background as we chat. I have to run on battery, as I don't have the battery grip and AC adapter combo necessary for the R. Anyway...even after one chat which was over 2 hours, I still had half my battery, and the camera wasn't hot at all. Plus, my docking station charges the R battery over USB once I turn off the camera. Very happy. Thanks, Canon!!!
 
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I still haven’t been able to get this to work on a win10 PC with a 1DXii. Tried using MS-Teams and Zoom and for both apps the EOS Webcam splash screen is all I see.
Don’t have EOS Utility running or even installed, so I know that is not interfering.
Using the canon cable that came with the camera, so I assume it is ok.
Any other ideas?
 
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I still haven’t been able to get this to work on a win10 PC with a 1DXii. Tried using MS-Teams and Zoom and for both apps the EOS Webcam splash screen is all I see.
Don’t have EOS Utility running or even installed, so I know that is not interfering.
Using the canon cable that came with the camera, so I assume it is ok.
Any other ideas?
The symptoms are as if you have EOS Utility running, you may have EOS Utility installed even though you don't think you do. Check all the "hidden" icons in the tray from the /\ on the task bar, hover over them to see the name. If you find it, right click and quit it from the popup menu.
 
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