Question / Help Recording directly to my computer using a DSLR camera?

[divine123]

Hi I'm new here and I really need help. I'm having issues using my camera (EOS M) to be detected as a webcam. Not even my Windows camera app is detecting it.

It doesnt have an SD card. Would that be the case? Do I need an SD card to have my camera detected as a webcam? Cause I'm also thinking if its possible to record directly to my computer using a cable without an SD card. On digiCamControl I was advised that the camera needs SD card because it captures it first with the SD card then transfer it to the computer. Is that also the case on OBS?

 

[koala]

These kind of cameras are not made to be used as webcam or as source for live video. They are made to save pictures and video to the internal memory card. You cannot transfer live video through the USB cable. You connect the USB cable to copy the recorded pictures and video from the memory card to the PC with the software that comes with the camera. OBS is not involved in this.

The camera outputs its preview to a hdmi output. If you connect that hdmi output to a hdmi capture card in your PC, you can capture that preview and use it as live video with OBS. But it's probably cheaper to buy a real webcam than to buy a capture card, if you want live video. If you just want to transfer picture and video data from the camera and avoid using a SD card, it's probably also cheaper to actually buy some SD card instead of a capture card or a webcam and use the transfer software that comes with the camera.

 

[divine123]

The camera outputs its preview to a hdmi output. If you connect that hdmi output to a hdmi capture card in your PC, you can capture that preview and use it as live video with OBS. But it's probably cheaper to buy a real webcam than to buy a capture card, if you want live video.

Does any type of capture card would work on EOSM? There are some cheap capture cards I've seen online.

 

[koala]

If the capture card can be seen by Windows as camera device (or technically: "Video capture device"), it can be used by OBS. The capture card description should include something like: "...can be used by every Windows application..."
Make sure the capture card you choose comes with 64-bit drivers. With the cheapest models that are sold for many years, this may not always be the case.
Probably, all this is true for most of the cards available.