Webcams are one of the weak points in computer components and peripherals. As the years have passed, webcams have become almost a niche product, so users either have a poor one integrated into the computer or are betting on acquiring one at a high cost and of higher quality. Canon seems to have an ideal solution to this confinement video call boom: use your EOS cameras as a webcam.
As explained in DPReview, the company has published a beta version of ‘EOS Webcam Utility’, software that, as its name suggests, is a tool to convert EOS cameras into webcams. Of course, only some of them and only on PCs with Windows 10 . MacOS users, although the software is not available, it is possible to use a third-party HDMI capture card that turns the camera into a webcam.
EOS Webcam Utility, a Canon and a USB cable
This is everything we need according to Canon to have video calls of a spectacular quality: EOS Webcam Utility, a Canon, and a USB cable. The first thing to do is download and install EOS Webcam Utility on a Windows 10 PC, software that can be downloaded in beta right now. After this, we put the Canon camera in video mode and adjust the desired exposure. Finally, we connect the USB cable and you just have to select ‘EOS Webcam Utility’ as a webcam in any video call app like Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, or websites in Chrome.
The cameras supported by the EOS Webcam Utility are as follows:
- EOS-1D X Mark II
- EOS-1D X Mark III
- EOS 5D Mark IV
- EOS 5DS
- EOS 5DS R
- EOS 6D Mark II
- EOS 7D Mark II
- EOS 77D
- EOS 80D
- EOS 90D
- EOS Rebel SL2
- EOS Rebel SL3
- EOS Rebel T6
- EOS Rebel T6i
- EOS Rebel T7
- EOS Rebel T7i
- EOS Rebel T100
- EOS M6 Mark II
- EOS M50
- EOS M200
- EOS R
- EOS RP
- PowerShot G5X Mark II
- PowerShot G7X Mark III
- PowerShot SX70 HS
The solution is undoubtedly interesting, using a DSLR camera as a webcam probably means having a better image quality than any webcam on the market thanks to its resolution, defocusing or exposure capabilities achieved by opening it. However, it will also depend on the ability of the Internet connection to transmit the highest possible video quality offered by the new webcam.
For those users who do not have one of the Canon cameras mentioned in the previous list or have a Mac computer, it is always possible to use other ways to achieve a similar result. In this case, you will need an HDMI capture card that allows you to send the video from a camera directly to a computer. And if not, we can also use the Android phone as a webcam.
