Has Anyone Connected their T8i as a Webcam?

[MrHVAC]

Has anyone successfully connected their Rebel EOS T8i as a webcam? I cannot get any software to recognize my T8i. I called Canon and their technical support was not able to get it connected either. I am using the EOS Webcam Utility Beta 0.9.0 for Windows. The T8i is not listed as a supported camera for that utility. I am using the one for the T7i. When I select the Webcam Utility, I only see the generic webcam utility screen. I have tried all of the usual things suggested. If you have connected yours, please tell me how you did it. Thank you.

[Waddizzle]

Welcome!  First time posting!

What are all of the suggestions that you have tried?  

There are a number of little details people miss, maybe even Technical Support misted them, too.

What brand of PC are you using?  Does it have an Intel Chipset?

Do you have another camera to test it?

Help someone to help you.  We do not know what you have tried.  I assume that you are using the USB cable, not HDMI.

[MrHVAC]

Good questions. I am using a Dell XPS15 Intel Core i7-9750H @ 26GHz. 32GB RAM. Windows 10. I am using a tested USB/Mini USB data cable. I have tried all USB ports and different cables. I am not using the HDMI to the camera's HDMI mini port. When I connect the USB to the camera, my computer recognizes and connects to the camera. I can view the camera's files.

When I select my camera in any software program, the camera's menu screen shows the message "Press <Camera button icon> button to prepare for movie shooting. It then displays the Battery Strength Indicator icon and a laptop icon. The screen switched back and forth. It does not do this when I am not trying to connect the camera to a software program. The software program always shows the EOS Webcam Utility Beta screen. I have tried Zoom, OBS Studio, and https://webcamtests.com/.

I do not have any other Canon software installed. I have checked the Device Manager. The T8i is recognized. I have checked the Event Viewer. No related warnings. I have uninstalled my old webcam software. I have disabled my internal builtin camera. The file is OS-Webcam-Utility-Beta.msi. I have uninstalled the Canon T7i driver and reinstalled it (the T8i support page does not have a driver). I have rebooted during these various tests. I have been using a Logitech C920S HD Pro Webcam on this same computer with no problems.

[Waddizzle]

How do you download photos from the camera to your computer?  I suggest that you install the EOS Utility.  If that recognizes the camera, then your USB cable is "good."   Now, you would need to disable the EOS Utility Launcher Service.

[MrHVAC]

Thank you for trying to help. I really do appreciate the time and effort.

To get my photos, I connect my camera to my laptop and use Windows File Explorer to get the pictures I want. I went ahead and installed the EOS Utility. It did not recognize my camera until I registered my lens. Then it worked fine. That gave me hope. However, I still have the same problem.

Interesting note: When I called Canon, the tech asked other engineers for help, through chat. They told me I was the first support call they had regarding the T8i and live video. They thought maybe the Webcam Utility was not built to include the new T8i, but will be added in a future update. 

[Waddizzle]

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@MrHVAC wrote:

Thank you for trying to help. I really do appreciate the time and effort.

To get my photos, I connect my camera to my laptop and use Windows File Explorer to get the pictures I want. I went ahead and installed the EOS Utility. It did not recognize my camera until I registered my lens. Then it worked fine. That gave me hope. However, I still have the same problem.

Interesting note: When I called Canon, the tech asked other engineers for help, through chat. They told me I was the first support call they had regarding the T8i and live video. They thought maybe the Webcam Utility was not built to include the new T8i, but will be added in a future update. 

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Good.  Your computer is able to communicate with the camera.  This means your USB cable is good, too.

The next step is to disable the EOS Utility Launcher Service from running.  It should be an icon in the System Tray, on the row of icons near the Clock on the lower right.  Right-Click the icon, and select "Exit" when a little menu appears.

Before you connect the camera, turn it on, and focus on where your face will be, or close to it.  Turn off the camera, and rotate the rear LCD to face forward to where you will be in front of the camera.

NOW, you should be ready to connect your camera to the computer via USB.  Make sure the camera is turned off when you connect the cable.  Some people leave the camera turned on, which is exactly the thing one should not do.

[Make sure the camera is in Movie Mode.  It works best with a Canon STM zoom, so that you can touch focus on the screen once, and then Movie Servo AF will lock onto your face and keep you in focus.]

IT'S TIME.  Time to turn on the camera.  You should hear the shutter open after a second, or two.  You might even see yourself for a moment as the screen might turn on, and then turn off.  Start a video conferencing app, and hopefully you should be able to select the Webcam Utility as a camera.

The Webcam is video only, without any audio.  I use a USB wireless headset, which works perfectly.  A Bluetooth headset would probably work better, as it would not consume a USB port.  But, having the USB dongle makes it easy to setup the wireless headset.  

[MrHVAC]

Once again, thank you for the help Waddizzle. I am not sure what you mean by "Movie Mode". My understanding is to turn the dial to "SCN" and flip the switch to the "Movie Camera" icon. Is that correct? I have tried both this and Automatic <A>.

I followed your steps (with the above assumption) and had the same result. The software shows the EOS Webcam Utility image and the camera's screen vacillates between two screens. One screen has a battery income at the top and a laptop icon below it. The second screen says "Press the <movie icon> button to prepare for movie shooting."

[Waddizzle]

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@MrHVAC wrote:

Once again, thank you for the help Waddizzle. I am not sure what you mean by "Movie Mode". My understanding is to turn the dial to "SCN" and flip the switch to the "Movie Camera" icon. Is that correct? I have tried both this and Automatic <A>.

I followed your steps (with the above assumption) and had the same result. The software shows the EOS Webcam Utility image and the camera's screen vacillates between two screens. One screen has a battery income at the top and a laptop icon below it. The second screen says "Press the <movie icon> button to prepare for movie shooting."

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Yes, the camera needs to be ready to shoot and record movies.  What happens if you go ahead and press the icon?

What "software" is is showing the OES Webcam Utility?  If it is OBS, or something similar, that would probably explain why it is not working for you.  

[MrHVAC]

When I press the icon, I hear the shutter. The display briefly flashes to something else but I can't make out what it is flashing to. It seems like it is trying to display what the camera is seeing or what I last had it pointed to. I can repeat the process over and over with the same results.

I am testing it with https://webcamtests.com/. Occasionally, I also try OSB but always the website. Canon support recommended the website.

[Waddizzle]

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@MrHVAC wrote:

When I press the icon, I hear the shutter. The display briefly flashes to something else but I can't make out what it is flashing to. It seems like it is trying to display what the camera is seeing or what I last had it pointed to. I can repeat the process over and over with the same results.

I am testing it with https://webcamtests.com/. Occasionally, I also try OSB but always the website. Canon support recommended the website.

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I guess if it does not work with that test site that Canon recommended,  The webcam utility was not intended for video capture apps like OBS.

If you are using a T8i, did you know that it has clean HDMI output?