Has anyone used the extrawebcam s/w that turns a digital Canon EOS into a webcam?

[themos]

extrawebcam.com - turn your Canon digital camera into webcam for video conferencing and more

[themos]

OK, I used it last night with my 450D and a Windows XP laptop.

Connection was possible but the software lost connection to the camera a few times (the software is marked as a "beta").

PHD could connect to the virtual "webcam" the software produced but displayed only in gray. AMcap could also see the "webcam". wxAstroCapture could not.

The software provides user controls over shutter speed, f-number, white balance, ISO, focus. It makes a number of streams of different resolutions available through the "webcam". I could not get the "5x" mode to work.

A promising bit of software to watch out for but at the moment I am not tempted to pay the USD 9.95

[astro_dt]

I saw some stuff on the web about this a while ago (can't remember where).

There was a concern that the Canon was not designed to keep the CCD "always on" and that the utility could damage the camera.

I didn't investigate any furter into the details but you might want to check it out.

Cheers

Danny

[Matthew.Blake]

Given the 500D can record HD movies I'm sure using using it as a webcam can't be that taxing for it, just an expensive way of getting a webcam!

[astro_dt]

Given the 500D can record HD movies I'm sure using using it as a webcam can't be that taxing

Hi Matthew, I agree but not all the earlier versions (350 etc) had the facility to record movies.

Danny

[themos]

Reviving this old thread to say I have now purchased a license for ExtraWebcam. I am happy to support the developer but I found out that if you speak Russian (and put a Russian name in your Camera Owner field in the camera) you can get a free key to unlock the software. Just Google Translate ExtraWebcam: Ôîòîàïïàðàòû Canon â êà÷åñòâå âåáêàìåðû [52] - Êîíôåðåíöèÿ iXBT.com and all will be revealed.

Any Russian speakers here who can confirm this is the case?

[Rangnarok]

Hi,

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I have some interesting news.

Thank you to themos for suggesting that idea in the post above me. I have tried and indeed that worked.

Basically, you will need to go to that forum and ask the creater of the program ExtraWebcam for the key. All you need to do to get this free key is to register on the forum, set your camera name to a Russian name or a name of Cyrillic alphabet. After that, post the OwnerID and ask the creater for the key. many people have done this before, and I have also managed to do this. He is a very kind guy indeed.

For those who use and English version of XP or Mac, when you put in the Russian name, the box may appear as ???? ???. If you send the ownerID with the name appeared as ???? ???, the key will not work. You will need to change by going to

Control Panel -> Regional and Language Settings -> Advanced -> Language for non-Unicode programs -> Russian

After you have done this, the Russian name should appear correctly. This was the problem I had too and the creater suggested that for me.

If you have a problem with Russian, use google toolbar. It translates the whole site for you automatically so you will understand what's going on. If you need a Russian name, use google translate

Hope this helps those who are looking for a way to put your Canon to more use. Please donate to him if you think it's good.

Thanks to the creater of extraWebcam. I don't know why nobody has done something similar. This program just makes sense.

[George]

I missed this thread originally but using the live view as a webcam as already been done before.

Browse EOS Camera Movie Record Files on SourceForge.net

[themos]

eos_movrec could save the LiveView stream to a file but not present it as a stream for other software to work on, last time I looked.