Cannon PowerShot USB Camera as Web Cam?

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Level 2

240 points

Cannon PowerShot USB Camera as Web Cam?

I’m pretty sure the answer is a big fat “no,” but I thought I might as well ask…

Is there any way to use a Cannon PowerShot camera (set to video and connected via USB) as a makeshift web cam? I’ve been able to use my firewire video camera, but the PowerShot would be great if I could make it work because it can easily be mounted on top of my Cinema Display.

Quad Core 2.66 GHz Mac Pro (Home) | Dual 1 GHz G4 (Work), Mac OS X (10.5.6), 80GB iPod Classic | 20GB iPod 2G

Posted on Jan 22, 2009 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Jan 22, 2009 9:16 AM in response to EP Meyer

PowerShot cameras don't provide a live web feed, so no, not without a lot of workaround. There have been workarounds posted for Windows systems and it might be possible to do the same on a Mac, but with USB webcams so cheap, it's probably not worth the headache.

BTW, the company's name is spelled "Canon", one "n". It'll make a difference if you do a web search for their products.

Regards.

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Answer 2

Ricktoronto

Level 6

11,560 points

Jan 22, 2009 10:56 AM in response to EP Meyer

You can at least see through one with the Canon Remote Capture software as the viewfinder is shown on the desktop and you can take pictures remotely or in intervals. Not in video mode, no need, but I doubt that feed is available to any other applications. A terrible choice for a full time webcam as already mentioned.

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Answer 3

EP Meyer Author

Level 2

240 points

Jan 22, 2009 12:21 PM in response to EP Meyer

Pretty much what I thought. I’ve got an old PowerShot in my closet that doesn’t get used anymore (I’ve since upgraded to something much better), so I thought I would see if I could repurpose the thing. Thanks for the answers, anyway.

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