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jdsandifer / Office-Setup

Want to know what I'm considering or currently using in my home office? Here's a list!
MIT License
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Improve Video for Video Calls #4

Open jdsandifer opened 4 years ago

jdsandifer commented 4 years ago

I have an integrated web cam on my laptop, but I'd like to consider something external so I can put it in one place and leave it.

There's also the cool mirrored, custom webcam that works like a teleprompter but in reverse - I might like to place that on one of my monitors for better eye contact during video calls.

Finally, I'd also like more options for adjusting exposure and color on the camera, but I don't know if that's a software or hardware thing yet. (Or both.)

jdsandifer commented 4 years ago

I've had luck with getting both OBS Studio and SparkCam to control the settings of my webcams so I can theoretically lock the exposure and white balance. However, OBS Studio - the free option - seems to add about 1/10th of a second of delay to the camera signal when I hook it up to Zoom. SparkCam seems to work better, but would cost $40 to remove the watermark.

I'm also considering buying a newer webcam - maybe even the just the bare sensor/camera that would be installed in a laptop - and mounting it on my central monitor. This would definitely be an upgrade in quality and would hopefully include better options for setting exposure and white balance (and maybe focus).

LiveView on my DSLR camera was a bust - only 640 x 480 resolution and the same problems of OBS Studio and SparkCam above. (Something like that is required to use the LiveView.)

There's a glimmer of hope that I might be able to use some kind of capture card (more $) to capture the live video output from my DSLR at a better resolution, but I'm not really expecting that to pan out.

A mirrorless digital camera with a nice lens would be a cool way to go, but I think that's out of my price range for this project.

jdsandifer commented 4 years ago

This has now become high priority because solving this issue might mean having a centralized webcam so I don't have to keep moving my laptops around. That would be nice.

jdsandifer commented 4 years ago

I have a Logitech C270 webcam, but had lent it to a friend at the start of COVID since they didn't have a decent webcam (and my work laptop's webcam was sufficient). I got the C270 back recently and have started using that which has been a good improvement.

I really enjoy it being on my large, external monitor because it's easier to see everyone on the bigger screen - especially with big calls. The webcam is also a little bit nicer in terms of image quality and adjustment options.

However, I also grabbed a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable to test the output on my Nikon D90. If I can get it to output 1080p or even 720p, I imagine the image quality will be a lot better with the large lens, manual white balance settings, and better focus and exposure control. It will require an HDMI capture device and a power supply for the camera, but that'll still cost significantly less than buying a new camera and probably still be cheaper than buying a high-end webcam (which I can't see me doing - I want the options and control of a camera with a lens).