Can a digital still camera be used as a webcam? I have a Sony DSC-P150 still camera with live preview in the LCD like any other generic point and shoot. Shouldn't it be relatively easy to get this to double up as a webcam? Is idea seems easy enough. Is there some software I can use to do this?
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I'm not sure that digital still cameras, which have video mode, can output the video to an external device in real time. But this is an experiment that you could try. Even using camcorders there is software required -- there's lots of it on the web.
The bottom line is if you're just going to use this in something like Yahoo Messenger, it has such low quality that you might as well use a $10 dedicated webcam and save yourself the heartache.
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by: lherrouPosted on 2007-03-02 at 05:16:18ID: 18639933
Oceanstar,
It depends on the camera. Some of them have the capability, and some do not. It's a matter of the firmware installed in the camera itself, so there's no way to change that for a particular camera, but if you tell us what kind of camera you have, we can probably tell you if it can or cannot be used as a webcam.
Cheers,
LHerrou