SOLVED Use your phone as a super quality webcam

[Ian]

Since we have been doing Zoom video conferences i have been using the one and only USB Webcam in the house - it's a Logitech C720 but it's about 8-9 years old and frankly I'm not happy with the picture quality.

The setup software has very poor colour and contrast controls and it's only 720HD resolution. I don't think the lens is particularly good either - basically it's not really as good as the webcam in my laptop, but I can't use that and my big screen at the same time.

So I have been looking at some alternatives and I really wanted to use a camera I already had rather than buy yet another (webcam).

I looked at using my OM-D. That would have meant purchasing a HDMI capture device to convert the camera's HDMI output into a USB data stream that could be understood by the host computer and the conferencing software. Nice idea, but these capture boxes start at around £100 for a decent one. On top of that a camera designed for photography and video footage up to 30 minutes long is not really ideal for webcam use - our most recent session lasted nearly an hour and a half. I have read that sensor overheating can be a problem with some cameras. Running off a battery only would also be a concern and I don't have grips with external power for any of my cameras these days.

I have a Yi 4K+ action cam, a GoPro competitor. That could also have made an interesting webcam. However, it would also have needed a HDMI capture box and the issue regarding only being able to run on battery power arises again.

Fortunately, I have discovered that there are lots of software solutions to turn smartphones into very high quality webcams. Your run a client app on the phone and a server program on your computer. The phone's main or 'back' camera provides the view. The phone can feed its signal over WiFi or via a USB cable. I am testing my phone with the latter in the hope that the data rate will be better and more consistent and the phone will have power at the same time.

What I can say is that the video quality is a lot better. The software I'm using is a free package called Iriun. It works on Android phones connecting to either Macs or Windows PCs. It's also very easy to set up and you can select a high resolution mode if your phone supports it (I've been using Full HD although the phone does support 4K - which would be wasted on a Zoom session).

I don't use the phone's microphone and have a separate desktop mic and I also listen via speakers instead of headphones.

It has been working well so far and I'll try to use it for tomorrows first 'just members' virtual afternoon tea meet.

Ian

[MJ224]

Look forward to seeing it Ian…:-))

[OM USer]

An interesting setup. I have not looked at using a non-integrated webcam/camera for conferencing so I will wait to see how it all turns out. I just have my laptop sitting right next to my big screen.

[Ian]

I noticed that you are facing away from the camera looking at your screen, presumably In your very green garden

[OM USer]

Just so. The webcam is about 6 inches to the left of the monitor - not ideal but good enough until I can come up with something else. I do have a lowish resolution B&W CCD webcam for videos of planets but I feel that this would be a backward step.

[Internaut]

I'm going to try that once the new tripod head (with a smartphone holder attachment) arrives form Modern Filmware. The webcam fitted to the corporate Dell is actually quite good, but the positioning isn't good (well not good for me - some of my colleagues make me look like a pro).

I noticed once of our directors was standing up to give a presentation, complete with background (I assume a green screen)…. I think these are good skills to have in these times.

I was also thinking of using the OMD E-M1 mk 2.... I take it that has the 30 minute limitation?

[Ian]

Zoom can be used with a green screen but its own algorithms for separating you from even a complex background are remarkably effective.

[Bikie John]

Thanks for this Ian. I have been using Zoom etc. on the tablet as I don't have a webcam and it is a pain - can only see 4 people at once and I can't find lots of the options (backgrounds for example). This will be useful.

Just a small point - the software is Iriun with an "N" not Irium with an "M" - if you look for Irirum software you will find lots of links for a French company who supply retail point-of-sale software!

John

[Ian]

Thanks John - I will correct the mistake!

One thing you need to be careful of is other apps or functions overriding the Iriun app on the phone during your use of the app. I now routinely close all apps that might be in the background.

Irium doesn't provide any camera controls - DroidCam for Android phones apparently does in the paid for version. My phone is slightly dark. The lens is also wider angle of view than ideal - the paid for apps sometimes let you crop-zoom.

[blu-by-u]

I am looking a trying that out. Question, are you using the front selfi camera or the higher quality back camera?

[Ian]

As John says - I'm using the high quality main camera. Not the selfie camera.

[Bikie John]

I think by default it uses the high quality rear camera, Henry. I've installed it and got it working really easily (Android phone, Win 10 PC) but haven't had a chance to play with any options yet.

John

[wornish]

Just tried running Iriun on my Android phone (Nokia) and iMac it works great. Thanks for sharing.

[blu-by-u]

Thanks for the answers. I got it to work also but each time it comes up with having to do some selection in developers mode. And in Zoom, I still cannot get that backdrop to work without me being a ghost.

[Ian]

You need more contrast - more light on yourself so that the software can see you better.

[Ian]

I have done my best to contact all members who have responded so far to this topic and made a donation in order to express my thanks. This month's and a proportion of next month's basic running costs have been covered thanks to your generosity.

If you have donated and not heard from me it's not for the want of trying - thank you all. I think it's possible to leave a note in the PayPal donation process - sometimes it's difficult to identify who is who because PayPal email addresses don't tally with forum account email addresses, so if you can identify whp you are on the forum that would be great

In future, the site needs more members to donate smaller amounts more regularly. That way there will be a smoother flow of funds and we won't need to rely on the several large donations (amazing - you know who you are! 👍) that result from periodic appeals.

I do have some proposals - there is the 'buy me a coffee' model, whereby if you feel you have enjoyed using the site for a period, or enjoyed a particular aspect of the site on a particular day, you can make a small donation equivalent to buying a cup of coffee (or tea!). In an ideal wrld these will add up. I will work on that and update you once there is something to show for it.

Ian

[OM USer]

Thanks for the answers. I got it to work also but each time it comes up with having to do some selection in developers mode. And in Zoom, I still cannot get that backdrop to work without me being a ghost.

Zoom has 2 options for placing you on a virtual background - greenscreen and non-greenscreen. If you have a high end processor then you can untick the greenscreen option and let the power of the computer work out what is you and what is the background. On my (gaming standard) laptop this works very well. If zoom decides that your machine is not up to the task then it insists on the greenscreen option. This of course only works if you do have a solid background colour (green is best but any plain coloured bed sheet or curtain will do). With a busy background the greenscreen option does not work very well even on a fast processor as it is expecting that plain background to sort out which bit is you.

[blu-by-u]

Tried un ticking, Guess my old lappie is not cutout for that sort of processing power. Guess it's going to stay without a virtual background

[Ian]

Henry - which CPU do you have in your laptop?

[BDennis]

This is a good Webcam solution found by Ian for Zoom.

Has anyone found a similar solution that works for Mac? I have a Mac Mini which has no integrated video or audio devices but I also have a perfectly good iPad Pro I would use as a Webcam with video and audio. I found something similar called EpocCam but the iPadOS version does not support audio transfer. A couple of people asked me if I could do a Zoom session showing how I do the star trails videos which I could do if I can sort this out - the Mac Mini is the best system due to the processing requirements for a live demo!

[Bikie John]

As far as can see from the Iriun website, both ends of it will work on Mac. Dave wornish above has got half way, getting his Android phone to talk to an iMac, and on the Iriun web page there is a link to the Apple store which talks about downloading to your iPhone. I don't know enough abut the Appleverse to know whether this would meet your needs, sorry.

John

[wornish]

If you have an Android phone running a fairly up to date version of Android or an iPhone then using Iriun certainly works. I got my Nokia running Android to work on my iMac straight away. For the Android version, you can download the phone app from the play store, for Mac download it from the app store. On the Zoom call this morning Zoom offered to use it instead of the built in camera so it works.

[BDennis]

Thanks - I tried 2 software solutions - ePocCam (https://www.kinoni.com/) and iRiun (http://iriun.com/).

The first one had great video but no audio (audio support for iPad "coming soon").

iRiun looked promising and I could get it working with Quicktime player video recording, but the video would not work with Zoom for some reason then it crashed to webcam server on my Mac.

I just ordered a Webcam through the Amazon link on the site here to help Ian (not sure how to tell it worked to help the site). See how that goes - I could use a better webcam for work presentations anyway!