Fuji X-Photographer Kim Farrelly recently published a video explaining how to use a mirrorless or DSLR camera as a webcam with Zoom without using a capture card. The tutorial is only applicable to macOS, enabling photographers who are now working from home to utilize the camera hardware they already own rather than having to purchase a standalone webcam, which are increasingly hard to find.
Though the tutorial may seem a bit intimidating to users who are less tech-savvy, it’s fairly simple. Firstly, users are advised to check whether their camera supports tethering and live view, something that can be done on the Capture One website.
Assuming the camera does support these functions, the user must first download Zoom followed by XCODE from Apple onto their computer using the following command in the Terminal application:
- xcode-select –install
After Xcode is installed, use the following command in terminal to open up access to use external cameras with Zoom:
- sudo codesign –remove-signature /Applications/zoom.us.app/
The path in the second line of code must be the same as the path where Zoom is installed on the Mac. By installing Xcode and executing these two lines of code, Farrelly explains that Zoom will be able to use external webcams — or, in this case, a mirrorless or DSLR camera.
The process requires two additional applications called Camera Live and CamTwist, in that order, as well as a USB cable for tethering the camera to the computer. Farrelly explains that Camera Live version 13 works “100%” with his Fuji X-T2, but it’s unclear whether this version is needed for every camera model.
Farrelly walks viewers through this entire process, including some notes and links in the video’s description on the processes that will ‘piggyback’ each application so that the camera can ultimately be used as a webcam for Zoom video calls. Viewers who experimented with the process also dropped some additional tips, such as adding a zoom effect in CamTwist in order to remove the black bars from the video feed.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)