Camera As Webcam

Usually, I've read that even if a digital camera has software to be used as a webcam, that buying a dedicated webcam is better, because it has the proper balance and mounting feet to sit on top of an LCD monitor.

They are generally less expensive than the full fledged camera, and the risk of dropping is lessened which can damage a regular camera.

Yes it is possible, but nowhere near worth the trouble. If you absolutely MUST use your digicam as a webcam:

http://ashwinkp.blogspot.com/2006/04/sw-hack-make-any-digital-camera-to-act.html

or

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/20922-3-digital-camera-webcam

Now doesn't the following two Amazon selections sound interesting?

http://www.amazon.com/Dynex-DX-DTCAM-Desktop-Web-Camera/dp/B000P9T5SO/ref=sr_1_158?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255815767&sr=1-158

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-68A-00001-LifeCam-VX-3000/dp/B000EVM5DK/ref=sr_1_111?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255815684&sr=1-111

No, you cannot use the Canon SX100 camera as a webcam device under the Canon software.

It has hardware/software limitations to used it as one webcam, mainly because it was not designed as one.

There are some 3rd party applications that claim that can be used it to have a digital camera ans some Canon PowerShot models simulating a WebCam. The issue is that such applications cost money ($50.00 average). You can try at your own risk in the following web link:

http://www.filebuzz.com/findsoftware/Canon_PowerShot_Sx100_webcam/1.html

I am seeing that you can check at your own risk because there are several variables that may arise and cause a conflict (USB drivers, applicartions drivers for Xp, Mac, Vista, incompatibility with your camera, etc).

I do recommend you to have debugged your webcam so it's working properly.

Best regards,

Take a look at this.

If you download the twain driver, your computer can manage the camera as any other optical input device, therefore , in that way you may use it as a webcamers.
However this camera had not been built to be a webcam and will not be recognised by messengers and similar software.

Better getting a cheap webcam instead.


Camera Twain Driver 6.8.0 Driver ...

Hello,
From what I managed to find out this is the situation:
It is possible to use it as a webcam if you connect camera video out to some video capture card (if you have any) in the computer. Also you must have software to support this connection.
But...
The reason I wasn't more specific about how to connect the camera and what software to use is because no one recommends using this camera for that purpose. First you would need external power source (AC/DC adaptor), because your batteries won't last long when continously recording video. Other, much more important thing is that camera is heating and can be seriously damaged if it's used like this for longer time.
Advice is to buy some cheap USB webcam and use that one.

I tired to do this with my SD600 and could not figure it out but I think it is possible with some changes to the camera like this
http://lifehacker.com/387380/turn-your-point+and+shoot-into-a-super+camera
anyway I have not tried it because they don't support the sd600 so I have no idea if this is safe or works.

I've researched this heavily myself, and came to the conclusion that yes it can be done. There is certain software, but the software is very involved and not worth the trouble. In reality, using a digital camera is way overkill as a webcam. Really, just buy a webcam. In fact, here's a very inxepensive but high quality camera (bought one for myself at around 8 bucks including shipping). Just make sure to read the user reviews about downloading updated driver software for it. That's why it's so cheap. It's store returns of a high quality camera that just needs an updated driver off the internet:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P9T5SO

I heavily researched this myself, and came to the conclusion that it's not easily done, it's overkill, and it's not really worth the effort. Instead went on Amazon and got the following very nice webcam for 8 bucks including S&H. If you do the same, make sure you follow the advice given in the user reviews to install downloaded/driver software for the camera.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P9T5SO
The reason the camera is so cheap is that it is open-package store returns due to defective driver software. The camera is actually high quality, and just needs updated drivers which you can easily download as the reviews state and show how.

For those interested... It is possible to use a Powershot camera as a webcam thou it requires 2 softwares: 1)PSremote 2)Softcam Basically I used psremote to create a viewfinder on the screen and den use Softcam as a virtual video capture device to capture the image on the "viewfinder". I tried and tested on MSN and it works.