![]() Was it fun to explore how to make an older DSLR into a webcam? You bet.That Android phone or tablet you've got? Consider it your dSLR's best new accessory. Is the quality lower than what you get from modern webcams? Yes. Is the video received from the Nikon laggy? Yes. I can now see the full frame in OBS!Īnd there you have it - I can now use an OBS plug-in, like OBS Virtualcam to create a virtual camera that I can use with Microsoft Teams, Skype, Google Meet, or any other tool that needs a video feed. Looks much better! There is still the time counter for video recording, but that’s about it. I ended up playing with some values that I thought would work best, to see if I can crop out most of the unnecessary info: Now I need to jump into the live view, and try to crop out what I can from the output. ![]() ![]() I selected Cam Link in the list of devices, and got the by now familiar HDMI output:Ĭool! Almost there. I gave it a descriptive name, just so I remember what it is later: But I still don’t want to embarrass myself with all this photography info on the screen, so what can I do? OBS Studio to the rescue!įirst, I am going to add a new Video Capture Device: Thankfully all other information is captured outside the picture frame when connected to a HDMI “monitor”, so there is more to work with. Yeah, minimal effect - I just removed the video quality indicator, but that’s about as good as we’re going to get from this camera. But can I minimize the amount of stuff shown on the screen? The answer is yes - I can use the Info button on the device to cycle through different views: There is another slight problem with the D3100 - it does not have a clean HDMI output. Now, of course, if I would be filming a video from this camera, it would make sense to have it all there, but I don’t need it when it’s a webcam. There is a lot of stuff on the screen that is not the image itself. What happens if I switch to the live view? This is just me taking the HDMI output from the camera and pushing it to Cam Link, using the standalone Windows camera app. When I initially plug in the camera into the Cam Link, I am able to get this view on the PC: There are better ways that don’t require a brick hanging over your monitors at all times. So if you were reading this, and on the second monitor had your favorite shopping site open to find a D3100 - don’t do it. Also, most answers are from 2013 - kind of tells you that it’s unclear why I even bother trying to experiment with an older camera.įor me, this experiment is more of a “can I do it” and not “should I do it,” because I probably shouldn’t do it - there are better ways, and the Logitech C920 I use as the main camera can produce 1080p video, and has a whopping 15 megapixels (compared to 14.2 megapixels in D3100). If I search online for the scenario that I am trying to accomplish, I get a lot of answers like the one on the Photography StackExchange, basically saying that it’s not possible. ![]() But it does not have a “webcam mode.” Allow me to demonstrate. Nikon D3100 does have a live view - for video recording. ![]() In theory, theory and practice are the same. So, at least in theory, I should be able to grab the image from the Nikon camera and send it to my computer. The great thing about Cam Link is that it creates just another webcam on my computer when you push an HDMI input to it. It’s an older camera, sure, and it was most definitely not designed to be used as a webcam, but it does have a Type C Mini-HDMI - could be a clue for how I can go about connecting my camera to the PC?Īlso, I am lucky enough to be alive in 2021, when we have this magical device - the Elgato Cam Link: With all the hype around home setups, and everyone and all their friends, neighbors, pets, and colleagues jumping on the “DSLR as a webcam” bandwagon, I started asking myself if I could use my D3100 as one too. It takes nice shots, supports interchangeable lenses, can film decent quality (by that I mean 1080p) video, and has some extensibility points. It’s a nice camera, and for 99.9% of cases it works perfectly well. Back in 2010, Nikon built a nice 14.2MP entry-level DSLR camera - the D3100, which I was using for some time now. ![]()
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