Posted on by Sam

Using Cam4You and Canon A70 as webcam

I’ve had a lot of people reach the site from google looking for information about using their canon A70 (or similar models) as a webcam. Having got the Cam4You utility to work I thought I’d give a quick run through of the how of getting it to work.

Step 1: Install Application and turn camera on

Sensible really, but install the cam4you utility and when thats done turn your camera on in the “preview” mode, while connected to your computer. You should then, when running the application see the following image:

Step 1 - First Screenshot of Cam4You utility

Choose “Pictures->Take picture remote” from the menu and continue.

Step 2: Configure Directories and Start Remote Connection

Next, choose the download directory, and any settings you want and then click the “Start Remote Process” button.

Step 2 - Setup and start remote connection screenshot

Step 3: Setup webcam settings

Next, go to the webcam tab and enter the filename you want the webcam file to have. This can then be uploaded on a regular basis using whatever program you want to your web-site.

Step 3 -Setup webcam settings screenshot

Step 4: Configure Timings

Finally, set the timings. You can set a start-time, which must be in the future else the application will not work (if you want it to start straight away then untick the “Use Start” checkbox.
Set the interval – every 10 minutes, or whatever you decide (every hour even).
Then set the end criteria, if any, either stop time, maximum number of pictures, both, or neither. If the stop time is in the past it will never stop :D

Step 4 - Configure timings screenshot

Then click the “Start taking pictures remote” button. If this button is grayed out then go back to the first tab (“Remote”) and click the “Start Remote Process” button again. If the camera fails to take any pictures (or the Time left to next shot counts UP) then check the start time is in the future, not in the past!

Again, you will probably need both a tripod of some description and a power supply, so be warned. Finally, there are lots of settings you can fiddle with, compression quality, size of image, zoom, exposure etc but I shall let you play with them. Enjoy.

24 Replies to “Using Cam4You and Canon A70 as webcam”

  2. Leo: not quite sure what you mean -the software is indeed designed for remote control of the camera, but in the way I’ve described above can be used as a kind of webcam.

    Its not perfect perhaps, but saves on having to spend another £70 on a webcam if you don’t mind using your canon as a webcam (and it will certainly produce better pictures than most webcameras).

    Personally I can think of better things to be using my Canon A70 for :D

  3. Hi, I´ve tried it and it works fine. I use my apache server and a flash auto-reloading web to let people see me (sorry for my english, im spanish). My camera is a canon a75, but the problem is, how can I get a better photo rate? The minimum i can get is around 5 seconds, and I think it´s too much, does anybody know how can I reduce it?

  4. mmh. not your fault i know, but this application you are raving about has completly faild to work in aqny meaningful way. Further, it has left undeleteable files on my system and isn’t even a proper webcam program anyway.

    :)

  7. It works okay but i want to use webcam in MSN when i speak whit my friends.But msn doesnt find the camera.Help pls and i have A75…

  9. ummm + alex: You can’t as far as I’m aware.

    I suppose its just not that ‘kind’ of web cam – it doesn’t supply a continously updated picture, just regular snapshots for posting to the web

    (Iox: I think the 5 second interval is about the minimum you’ll get).

  11. Thank you for this information about Cam4You.
    The problem I have is that I have connected my A70 to the USB but the computer cant see it. Message reads ‘error in communicating with camera is it connected with the computer’ I’ve tried restarting the programme and camera but no sucess.
    Can you give me any advice?

  13. asis: Unfortunately you can’t use it with MSN, or with NetMeeting I don’t think. I think perhaps there are two different meanings of the word Webcam – one takes regular shots for uploading to a web page, ther other is more of a video conferencing tool (ok, perhaps not two meanings, but two uses).

    It will do the first, but not the second.

    Myklo: No idea I’m afraid… it works fine for me. Does the normal Canon software work?

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  16. i think i know what people are getting at Sam.

    i have a Canon Powershot A70, and i can tell you that it actually IS capable of streaming live video, read on:
    the program RemoteCapture is available for download from the Canon website (enter your camera information, follow the links, it’s easy).
    run the program, and after connecting to the camera it comes up with a window named “shooting – Remote Capture” in teh foreground (with the original “Save – Remote Capture” window in the background).

    on the Shooting (foreground) window there should be a large button on the right with “release” written on it, ignore this for now.
    on the right is the text “Detail setting” with a triangle next to it. clicking this triangle will show you more features, so click this triangle to get them.

    in these features is the “Angle adjustment” tab. Goto this tab and then click the “Viewfinder On” button (it’s below the large blank area).

    the program will now STREAM LIVE video straight from the camera into the program, effectively like a video webcam. have a play with it :)

    this is pretty undisputable proof that the camera is capable of operating as a video webcam. unfortuantely i have been unable to figure out howto utilise this ability in any other program – so the only use it is at the moment is within the Remote-Capture program. If only someone knew howto use or access this live videostream feature in other programs! (could it be using the TWAIN? standard)

    here’s a screenshot. i’m pointing the camera at the screen so it’s making some cool parallax :). it’s displaying VIDEO – probabaly 15-20fps.

    a picture displaying this streaming feature in action is also in the software manual (also downloadable from canon’s website as a PDF) on page 38, 39.

    please, if anyone has any ideas or already has the answer, contact me (and others).
    or Sam, perhaps we should chat.

  17. Stop you’re moaning, and use softcam along with http://www.softcam.com/

    You can use softcam to grab anypart of your screen to be your webcam in say msn.

    So start the viewfinder in cam4you, and then start softcam to capture the part of your screen where the viewfinder is!

  18. I’d be obliged if someone would tell me which version is being discussed. I now have 6.0.0, which says that the remote capture feature is limited to 30 days. Earlier I had 5.0.0 but did not look into remote capture. Is it possible to remove the new version, install the older one, and use that together with Softcam, of which John speaks?

  19. Well… I just tried to use the remote capture + softcam + skype and it doesn’t work (with A70). I have never used my A70 as a webcam before – so if anyone is able to get it to work in skype – please post your instructions!

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