New Canon Announcement: EOS Webcam Utility Beta Software

[garry23]

Some be be interested in this, especially at the moment.

https://1.shortstack.com/VChq6Z

[Luther]

That's pathetic:

* This Software is for use in the U.S. and will not be supported outside that area.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/self-help-center/eos-webcam-utility/

I haven't tested the software, since my cameras are not supported (they apparently decided that old cameras should not be supported even though they have the same liveview mechanism). I'm sure there's a way to circumvent that geographic limitation, but in "challenging times" like these the company limits its software to one country... and for what purpose? None.

ps: btw, thanks for sharing the link @garry23

[yourboylloyd]

Yeah. Us guys over here have to stick to random stream/screen recording solutions or Sparkocam... These cameras are too new for me lol

[garry23]

Although I don't have a camera that is compatible with the software, I did download it in the UK and it loads and runs on my Win10.

I think 'not supported' means that Canon won't answer questions. It doesn't appear to be region locked.

[71m363nd3r]

https://github.com/v002/v002-Camera-Live

mac alternative

[ngemu]

doesnt work for the eos m?

[Walter Schulz]

According to Reddit users there are a number of unlisted cams working with this utility. Not confirmed for EOS M yet.

[garry23]

According to Reddit users there are a number of unlisted cams working with this utility. Not confirmed for EOS M yet.

Hopefully someone will post a list ;-)

[Walter Schulz]

Looks like it is working for all cams supporting liveview. Including Digic IV.

I'm not a programmer: Funny thing (IMO) they managed to get a clean USB output but keeping cam's liveview display active including overlays. Looks like USB is able to do a bit more than we knew.

[yokashin]

I installed this application. After starting from EOS M, instead of the camera image, we have the application logo. The display has a black background with a computer icon.

[Walter Schulz]

Make sure EOS Utility doesn't get started when cam is connected. If EOS Utility comes up first you won't get a connection via EOS Webcam Utility.

[garry23]

Sadly, although it could be me, I can't get either my G7X or my G5X to work with the Webcam beta.

[Walter Schulz]

G7X, not G7X Mark III?
G5X, not G5X Mark II?

[garry23]

Yes, I saw the listed cams, but hoped the original G7X and G5X might still be supported, as unlisted cams.

[Walter Schulz]

I'm just speculating: Both cams are supported by CHDK which means they run on PowerShot code base.
Not a single cam running this code showed up working with this beta.
All cams confirmed running are with EOS codebase or - as called in CHDK forum - "hybrid" (M50, G7X III, G5X II for example).

Again: I'm just guessing!

[garry23]

@Walter Schulz

Sounds a reasonable 'guess' and I have no other view.

Oh well, such is life.

Cheers and stay safe

Garry

[IDA_ML]

Please excuse my ignorance but wouldn't EOS Utility do the same thing with our old cameras - allow to use them as webcameras?  In combination with OBS, also streaming should be possible.  Something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kza0FofwP0o

Has anybody tried that?  What about the video quality? Will it work with ML too?

[domasa]

Works with 5D Mark III. But output width is narrowed. Output resolution is 1280x720 (maybe smaller).

@IDA_ML
EOS Webcam Utility allows use DSLR direct as webcam without some hack tools.

[Walter Schulz]

Will it work with ML too?

Yes. Tested with 650D:
You can enable both screens at the same time, if wanted. Clean web cam screen all the time + Magic Lantern with menus and liveview overlays on cam's display. You can check proper exposure and focus settings via cam display.

@EOS M & EOS M2 users: Does it work with your camera?

[IDA_ML]

Thanks for this information, Herr Schulz, I'll check it out by myself.  What maximum resolution do you get on your computer screen out of your 650D when working with ML?

[garry23]

Just tried it with my 5D3 and it works.

Of course, not being a video guy, I've now got to work out a few things, like focus.

I assume the 5D3 in this 'cam mode' doesn't do continuous auto face focus?

[Luther]

Has anybody tried that?  What about the video quality? Will it work with ML too?

I have been doing that for about a month or so. It works well actually. The camera freezes from time to time (I think it's 30min max), so you have to reconnect it sometimes. The resolution is pretty low (640x480px I think). But it works. Here's the method I'm using: https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=24877.0

[yourboylloyd]

Wait what it's working with older cameras? Lemme try with my 5D2 and t3i real quick hold on

[masc]

https://github.com/v002/v002-Camera-Live

mac alternative

This one works nicely with 5D2 on OSX. Resolution is 1280x720 and I can get 25fps. EOS M does not work.

[IDA_ML]

Thanks a lot, Luther.  I tried EOS Utility on my 100D today but it does not work with ML.  As soon as I connect the cable to the PC, the EOS Utility starts and the RAW video mode turns off.  It ony works with the built in H264 video.

[Walter Schulz]

What are you trying to do? Purpose of this action?
Are you talking about EOS Utility or EOS Webcam Utility Beta?

Again: This software is about making your Canon cam to act like a web cam. No more, no less.

[masc]

Thanks a lot, Luther.  I tried EOS Utility on my 100D today but it does not work with ML.  As soon as I connect the cable to the PC, the EOS Utility starts and the RAW video mode turns off.  It ony works with the built in H264 video.

Correct. Same with my 5D2.

[IDA_ML]

What are you trying to do? Purpose of this action?
Are you talking about EOS Utility or EOS Webcam Utility Beta?

I tried EOS Utility, not EOS Webcam Utility Beta.  I wanted to use it together with OBS for streaming. There are videos on the net that show that this is possible.   I thought, it would work with ML but it didn't.  The reason why I dind't try EOS Webcam Utility Beta is because 100D is not listed as a compatible camera.

[Walter Schulz]

100D should work, like my unlisted 7d and my unlisted 650D.
Still the question what you are trying to do? You don't expect to run RAW/MLV via USB, do you?

[masc]

Still the question what you are trying to do? You don't expect to run RAW/MLV via USB, do you?

No, just a video stream. And this is not possible with RAW-Video active in ML with EOS-Utility or Camera-Live on 5D2. It seems with EOS 100D it is the same. With the new utility it was possible? With camera-live, ML elements + liveview + stream worked at the same time.

[IDA_ML]

Still the question what you are trying to do? You don't expect to run RAW/MLV via USB, do you?

In fact, this is what I was hoping - USB2 provides a transfer speed up to 60MB/s which is pretty close to the write speed of the SD-card interface.  So, I thought, 1736x976/24fps/12bit lossless should be doable.  Quality would be much better than the built-in H264 video.

I remember watching a video on the net in which a guy was taking the clean HDMI output out of the camera, pushing it through a Camera Link, connected through a USB cable with his laptop and was applying a LUT in real time to the video.  Quality was fantastic.  Unfortunately, I cannot find the link any more.

[Danne]

Could people stick to test the eos webcam utility here. First post is about this. Everyone is already familiar with eos utilty, nothing new there.
So is it working with eos m and 5DIII?

[Walter Schulz]

The only EOS cams* not confirmed to work (yet?) are EOS M and EOS M2.
Not working: All cams labeled "EOS" but running PowerShot code.

*: Equipped with liveview.

[luppes777]

FYI:
The good old 6D is working with the Webcam Utility too.

[luppes777]

The only EOS cams* not confirmed to work (yet?) are EOS M and EOS M2.
Not working: All cams labeled "EOS" but running PowerShot code.

*: Equipped with liveview.

According to this reddit post the EOS M2 is not working with the new tool as for now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/canon/comments/gb63q1/beta_eos_webcam_utility_tested_on_my_canon_dslrs/

[JMS]

I can confirm that 2 unlisted cams work. First I installed latest EOS Utility 3, then Beta, then close utility V3 (not running in background) then tested with R, no problem. Then tested 70D, no problem. Then with 50D "unable to connect" I had to run EOS Utility V2, connect 50D, close utility, then the 50D was recognized and worked fine with Zoom. Did not test with other streaming software. hope that helps.

[ArcziPL]

M50: worked out of the box
70D: took me some restarts and card swapping before it worked, in the end without ML card inserted. AF was not available at all. But I didn't spend more than 2 minutes for trials here.
M: no success at all, even without SD card, with non-bootable SD card, auto/photo/video mode...

I'm not a programmer: Funny thing (IMO) they managed to get a clean USB output but keeping cam's liveview display active including overlays. Looks like USB is able to do a bit more than we knew.

Well, it's not that new. In 2008 I played a bit with Canon EOS SDK (Software Development Kit -> some libraries for interfacing EOS cams from PC programs) and it was already possible to get clean output over USB from EOS 450D. So it would be also possible to use it as a webcam at that time, if someone knew how to redirect any video stream to something, what Windows (or any other operating system) is able to interpret as a webcam. I didn't and also had no use case for that. But it's doable for any software developer, without reverse-engineering.

[ozcancelik]

5d Mark III works. But sometimes adds border. On canon site, they say;

"When using EOS Webcam Utility Beta software with your camera powered off, turned on from the off position during video conferencing or set to Still Photo Shooting mode, a black border may appear around the video source image.  We suggest EOS Webcam Utility Beta software be used with your camera powered on and set to Movie Shooting mode, if available."

I didn't understand. Anyone experiencing this problem? How to fix it exactly?

Edit: Border issue depending on whether the program you will use the camera is opened or not. For example, you want to use Zoom; keep the camera off, turn on the zoom, go to the webcam settings, if you select canon webcam utility and then turn on the camera, there is no border. It may be wrong, it just worked that way in my experience.

[FilipS]

Works with 5D Mark III. But output width is narrowed. Output resolution is 1280x720 (maybe smaller).

@IDA_ML
EOS Webcam Utility allows use DSLR direct as webcam without some hack tools.

This is fine if using mac and windows10 - but I am using Linux but hope the just make the cam work in reguler webcam mode with UVC specification,
It should be in the firmware.

[markanini]

Works on my 600D/T3i but the stream gets cut off a lot with this message appearing briefly: