DSLR camera for recording high quality videos through OBS on Linux

[Georgios]

I run Manjaro KDE Wayland and I want to create high quality YouTube videos. I’m trying to find a good camera that I can connect though USB to my desktop to record through OBS, but also have it being portable to record in a outside area using a tripod and saving to internal storage or SD card

Which camera would you recommend? I do not want those 10-15 years old canon or Nikon DSLR, I would prefer something newer.

Would this be able to work abs be recognized easily if it was plugged in or it would need special drivers and set up?
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop...ridge-splash-camera-padmcfz300#specifications

 

[AaronD]

I'm sure what you're looking for exists, but I'd be tempted to go with a camera that outputs live HDMI, and a separate HDMI capture device. More flexible that way, and a little bit easier to research.

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As you're doing that research, DON'T get the cheap stuff! They're pretty much all deceptively marketed, often with a USB 2 chip behind the hyped-up USB 3 connector, so it's limited to the USB 2 data rate despite the hype, which means it can't support uncompressed HD video and must compress *in the card* to make it work. Don't get the cheap stuff.

Stick with the name brand USB captures, for at least a *semblance* of honesty and accountability, and expect to spend about $100 per channel. Also, not all of those support Linux, being their own custom thing on USB that requires their in-house driver to have any chance of working at all, and they don't take Linux seriously. Do some digging and find the ones that do work.

 

[Georgios]

I'm sure what you're looking for exists, but I'd be tempted to go with a camera that outputs live HDMI, and a separate HDMI capture device. More flexible that way, and a little bit easier to research.

---

As you're doing that research, DON'T get the cheap stuff! They're pretty much all deceptively marketed, often with a USB 2 chip behind the hyped-up USB 3 connector, so it's limited to the USB 2 data rate despite the hype, which means it can't support uncompressed HD video and must compress *in the card* to make it work. Don't get the cheap stuff.

Stick with the name brand USB captures, for at least a *semblance* of honesty and accountability, and expect to spend about $100 per channel. Also, not all of those support Linux, being their own custom thing on USB that requires their in-house driver to have any chance of working at all, and they don't take Linux seriously. Do some digging and find the ones that do work.

Thanks so what you are proposing is a capture card?

Someone recommended to me a EVGA XR1 lite Capture Card. I wonder if I buy a used cannon EOS 80D camera, if it would be able to record at 1080p 60 fps in OBS in linux and features such as autofocus to work. Where would be the best place to ask?

 

[AaronD]

Thanks so what you are proposing is a capture card?

Yes.

Someone recommended to me a EVGA XR1 lite Capture Card. I wonder if I buy a used cannon EOS 80D camera, if it would be able to record at 1080p 60 fps in OBS in linux and features such as autofocus to work.

A quick google search turned up an Amazon listing, which makes a big deal of being "Certified for OBS". Unfortunately, that list is horribly out of date, but it does make a good marketing point for those that just happen to be on it.

Certified Devices | OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.

obsproject.com

Also, that page says it's good for Windows 10. Period. Others are listed there as being for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can take that as you will.

Autofocus and other camera-related features are the responsibility of the camera. You won't get those commands back through HDMI, even if OBS did know what they meant. So know your camera and how to run it.

Serious productions have a dedicated person for each camera and for each part of the electronics. You'll probably have to wear a bunch of those hats at once, but still keep them separate as you do them. Run the camera *on the camera*, for example. Or if it has another remote control that that's all it does, that's fine too, but you get into all kinds of mess when you try to combine those jobs into one shared device.

If you *really* know what you're doing and how everything interacts, and how each signal is going to go around the obstacles and get to where it needs to go anyway, whether it be a video signal, audio signal, control signal, or whatever, then you can CAREFULLY combine some things. But it's still a minefield. Until you know that, keep everything visibly separate.

Where would be the best place to ask?

Unfortunately, that information tends to be few and far between. It would be nice to have a central place like you're asking for, but I don't know of one. Sorry.