Configuring a digital camera as a webcam

Objective

Turn your Canon DLSR camera into a webcam for your PC or Mac computer

Environment

  • PC
  • Mac

Procedure

Mac: Camera Live/Camtwist Setup Guide

This setup is possible on Macs:

  1. Download Camera Live.
  2. Download Camtwist.
  3. Open Camera Live.
  4. Plug in your Canon DSLR and power on.
  5. Select your device in Camera Live and wait for it to say "Ready."
  6. Double-click the Canon Digital Camera entry and wait until the top field changes from Ready to Active.
  7. Open Camtwist.
  8. Highlight Syphon.
  9. Click "Select" below.
  10. In the Effects option, choose Flip-Flop and check Horizontal Flop only.
  11. You should now see a new video device available to use in your video conferencing applications.

PC: OBS Setup Guide

This setup is possible on PC:

  1. Install all the necessary software:
    1. Check to see if the Canon Camera you are using is compatible with the Canon EOS Utility. If your camera is listed, click on the your camera model to bring you to the Utility download page.
    2. Install the Canon EOS Utility for PC or Mac.
    3. Install Open Broadcasting Software (OBS).
    4. Install the OBS Plugin, Virtual Cam, from GitHub.
      • The install file can be found on the release page.
      • When you install OBS Virtual Cam, install it in the same folder as OBS.
      • When installing, you will be prompted to choose to "install plugin and register 4 virtual cameras" or "install plugin and register only 1 virtual camera" Please choose to Install 1 virtual camera.
  2. Set up your camera:
    1. Connect your camera to the your computer through a USB to USB Mini B cable and turn on your camera.
    2. This should show a pop-up on your machine for the Canon EOS Utility, giving you three selection options. Select Remote Shooting and press "ok."
    3. Click the "Live View shoot" near the bottom of the EOS Utility dialog box (dialog box is named as the camera model).
    4. The "Remote Live View window" will pop up and show what the camera is viewing.
    5. Do not minimize the "Remote Live View window" so that you can find it later in OBS.
  3. Connect to your camera to OBS:
    1. In the Sources Panel on OBS, press the plus button to add a new source in the source panel.
    2. Select Window Capture.
    3. In the pop-up dialog, there will be a window selection menu. Select [EOS Utility 3.exe]: Remote Live View window.
    4. Press Okay.
  4. Cropping your video frame in OBS:
    1. Use the Alt key and left click and drag to create a cropped window of your window capture. This will remove the additional control menu in the Canon Utility from displaying on your webcam video feed.
  5. Start the VirtualCam Plugin in OBS:
    1. Open Tools → Virtual Cam.
    2. In the pop-up dialogue, Check the AutoStart option. This will have the VirtualCam plugin launch automatically whenever you launch OBS.
    3. Press Start.

You should now see an option on your video software to use an OBS-camera as your video device.

Additional Notes

Some cameras have an internal sleep function built in to the camera. Please refer to your camera manual to turn this setting off.

Print Article