Windows 10 and T7i

[AaronLibra]

Hello everyone! 

I'm new here, well, to ask anything. I've been a "reading non-member" off and on for quite some time whenever I've had a query. This place has usually been pretty good with covering most things without me having to sound out personally. Admittedly, I don't generally have questions though...oh, well, I hope that doesn't come across the wrong way lol. I'm just usually good at figuring things out.

Anyway, my reason of business today is a bit of a different breed. Is it possible to get Windows 10 to recognize my T7i as an external camera for use with other programs? Say, for example, if I wanted to use it as a glorified Skype cam instead of my webcam...or, for use as a direct recording device within Premier, Vegas or OBS? I've been able to find ways for using cellphone cameras wirelessly in this fashion and the live feed is even available online while running, it's surprisingly quite useful. It involves a pseudo-driver and, well, I'll spare the details since it's a bit off-topic...

However, has anyone concocted something like this for actual cameras? I realize that alot of people here aren't necessarily in favor of offering advice or solutions that involved potentially unofficial channels, but I'm 100% "at my own risk" with this question. Believe me, I would never do anything to needlessly jeopardize my equipment. I've been able to do live window captures of the feed within EOS Utilities, but by the time it gets to the software I'm intending to use it in the quality get degraded, which is never good. That's why I wonder if there's a more direct route.

Thank you kindly in advance 🙂

[Waddizzle]

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@AaronLibra wrote:

Hello everyone! 

I'm new here, well, to ask anything. I've been a "reading non-member" off and on for quite some time whenever I've had a query. This place has usually been pretty good with covering most things without me having to sound out personally. Admittedly, I don't generally have questions though...oh, well, I hope that doesn't come across the wrong way lol. I'm just usually good at figuring things out.

Anyway, my reason of business today is a bit of a different breed. Is it possible to get Windows 10 to recognize my T7i as an external camera for use with other programs? Say, for example, if I wanted to use it as a glorified Skype cam instead of my webcam...or, for use as a direct recording device within Premier, Vegas or OBS? I've been able to find ways for using cellphone cameras wirelessly in this fashion and the live feed is even available online while running, it's surprisingly quite useful. It involves a pseudo-driver and, well, I'll spare the details since it's a bit off-topic...

However, has anyone concocted something like this for actual cameras? I realize that alot of people here aren't necessarily in favor of offering advice or solutions that involved potentially unofficial channels, but I'm 100% "at my own risk" with this question. Believe me, I would never do anything to needlessly jeopardize my equipment. I've been able to do live window captures of the feed within EOS Utilities, but by the time it gets to the software I'm intending to use it in the quality get degraded, which is never good. That's why I wonder if there's a more direct route.

Thank you kindly in advance 🙂

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No, that is generally not possible with DSLRs.

[AaronLibra]

No, generally not. I'm mostly brainstorming the idea I guess, since the question of interfacing is plain and easy and can be done. The only missing factor in the equation is getting Windows to recognize it outside of EOSU and to assign a descriptor/label to it. Considering that Canon makes the SDK accessible, I was hoping that someone would have figured it out through that as an option too, perhaps.

[shadowsports]

@AaronLibra

Just my recommendation.

The likelyhood of overheating or premature failure might exist if you use your DSLR for prolonged video use.  I would not suggest investigating further.  The 70D was the first camera that failed due to prolonged video usage.  Granted it was due in part to a faulty PCB, but the failures were hastened by prolonged video usage.  This was the common factor in almost every failure we read about.  Will your T7i fail, maybe not.  If you don't care about it, then go for it.   

Best advice: If you want to find an alternative to a web cam, I recommend you buy a video camera.  However, you are free to do what you like.   

[wq9nsc]

I agree with Rick, these cameras weren't designed to dissipate the heat that builds up in high duty cycle video usage.  The pro series (i.e. 1DX) are a little better in this regard with thermal pipes built in to direct and manage heat but those also have a definite thermal/time limit based upon ambient temperature. 

Cameras designed primarily for video are designed to safely reject to the external environment the heat that builds up from the 100% duty cycle of the capture, A to D conversion, and storage of resulting data from this sort of operation.  In normal DSLR mode, most of the time the major heat generating components are just idling and that is what the camera thermal budget was designed around.  I use a XF-400 for video and it will record for hours without issue but it also has open vents and a fan meaning it doesn't have the sort of weather robustness that my 1DX series bodies provide; that is the tradeoff that comes from properly managing video heat generation in a compact package.

Given the low cost of "web cams", unless you want to do destructive testing of your T7i I would not try this experiment.  EVERY product is cost engineered and the thermal budget for these devices is based upon typical use with a bit of a safety factor but in no way will it stand up the same as a camera designed primarily for streaming video.  Your T7i will do a lot of things much better than a video camera but sustained video isn't one of those things.

Rodger