Wyze cheap security cameras released a firmware that turns them into a webcam. Still in stock.<p>You will also need a USB a-a cable that I didn't know existed or was legal.<p>And a 32gb microsd.<p>I did this last week, came in one day on Amazon prime. Under $50 for everything.<p>Setup went okay, although the 3-4 minutes for firmware write was under a minute for me with their branded microsd.<p>Quality is passable, lens is more fisheye than I'd prefer so you see my messy office, but it works. 1080/30 the software claims. Note it has a speaker, so check your sound mixer settings to have it not steal audio out.<p><a href="https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041605111-Webcam-Firmware-Instructions" rel="nofollow">https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041605111-W...</a>
It's incredibly annoying that you can't use your APPLE iPhone camera as a webcam for your APPLE Macbook, but instead are forced to use the atrociously terrible cam that comes with the Macbook.<p>I've tried workarounds using the excellent OSB, but there's currently no software that let's you reroute video on a Mac (like Loopback does for audio)<p>EDIT: I stand corrected, as user wolfhumble points out below, EpocCam seems to do this - thanks! <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epoccam-webcamera-for-computer/id435355256" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epoccam-webcamera-for-computer...</a>
I bought an Elgato CamLink instead... hooked it up to a DSLR I already owned, and it makes for a stunningly crisp and clear, high quality, webcam.<p>Of course, using a 42.4 Megapixel sensor and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens it would.<p><a href="https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/cam-link-4k" rel="nofollow">https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/cam-link-4k</a><p>Turns a HDMI input into a USB web cam.
Also bidets, nintendo switches, instant yeast, powdered milk, etc. I actually snagged some wine yeast on amazon and I'm on my third loaf of bread. Bidet was the best "waste of money" I have spent in a long time. My TP usage has been slashed.
Yeast. I haven’t needed yeast in years, recently I found a recipe with yeast I wanted to try and found out that, at least where I am in Germany, yeast is sold out.<p>I heard about the webcam thing from my boss, he asked me if he gave me a webcam years ago when I started remote working. He did, but it was in the attic and I had to go looking for it ;)
If you’re the typical hacker news reader, I suppose there’s a good chance you have a decent quality SLR or mirrorless camera. If it has a clean HDMI output, you can use it with a capture card (80USD or so) on amazon and you’ll have the best webcam money can buy. Couple that with a cheap lavalier mic or similar and you’ll have far better quality than any video call is likely able to transmit.<p>If you’re feeling really hacky you might be able to do without the capture card and use gphoto2 to stream your camera over usb, and then use something like OBS virtual am or V4l2loopback. This is fiddly though and only works with a few cameras.
Why shouldn’t the price increase with a supply chain disruption and demand boom?<p>Would you prefer a shortage with no incentive to increase production?
I wanted to buy a new webcam; basically because I'm finding half my life is spent using one.<p>Ran into the problems mentioned in the article, and put a Logitech camera onto pre-order.<p>Cancelled that order last night though: possible to use an android phone as a webcam that's most likely better quality than the current generator of USB webcam. I chose this app [1], others are available.<p>[1] <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam&hl=en_GB" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam...</a>
I ran into that the other week as well.<p>Get a UVC industrial camera with a M12 or CS mount lens to use as a webcam, most are better cameras than the "webcam" models and not everyone has noticed UVC cameras _are_ webcams so the prices are normal.<p>I grabbed one with an OV2710 sensor (does 1920x1080@30fps, 1280×720@60, and so on) and a 2.8-12mm CS lens for $65 that took a little over a week to arrive (I paid a slight premium from Amazon instead of Aliexpress because it looked like there was US stock... turned out to be the same seller shipping from the same place in China. Oh well).<p>I'm trying to limp the hands-on portion of some sophomore-level EE courses to the end of the semester, so I've got mine mounted as an overhead camera for drawing/demonstrating/etc. the crap laptop built-in is plenty for facecam.<p>The major problem is getting the video conferencing apps not to drop cameras to super-low quality, Zoom usually won't even use the full resolution mode of my built-in (except occasionally and apparently at random it decides to and changes the frame by selecting a 16x9 mode instead of the 4:3 it usually picks), and offers no real camera settings that I can find.
It's has been like this for quite a while. I tried to buy a webcam for a project about 3-4 weeks ago and found they were all gone.<p>Funny enough, at that moment, I just thought it was because Amazon had problem on stocking and delivery. I didn't even realize it's because of the high demand for remote work etc.
It's been like this for 1.5 months. It's been commonly brought up at universities when some professors require webcams for exams but some students don't already have them.<p>I imagine professional headsets are under similar price constraints because on the BBC I've seen at-home reporters using gaming headsets with RGB LEDs.
Sold out couple weeks ago in Canada, asked hackernews about apps that turn android phone into webcam. Two that worked fine:<p>iriun<p>droidcam<p>Turns out your phone's selfie / front camera and microphone is vastly superior to most laptop webcams. Grab yourself selfie tripod. Lots of compliments about picture and sound quality. Coincidentally WSJ covered this topic yesterday.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daqPLDDAntA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daqPLDDAntA</a>
It looks like you can take a Raspberry Pi (Zero variant or 3A+ should all work since they support gadget mode) with camera module and have it behave as a USB webcam. <a href="https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148361" rel="nofollow">https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148361</a><p>I haven't tried this, but will ask one of our team to give it a go and confirm - that would make a more affordable option around £40 or so.<p>Disclaimer: Co-founder of Pimoroni (Raspberry Pi re-seller)
It's irritating that some historical price comparison sites (e.g. CamelCamelCamel - at least in the EU) are being leaned on by Amazon to cease their activity.<p>Where items are available, I actually would like to know who's profiteering before sending them my money.
Feels like Apple could boost their ecosystem by making great iPhone/macOS webcam integration. There's Kinoni's EpocCam and it seems to work, but it is a bit rough and requires installing their driver which I don't love.
Went to the computer shop to get a few wekcams for our remote workers. The guy said they had 30 cameras in that morning and had two left. I got those two. Its a computer shop I only use as a last resort because they are useless.<p>Seems to be the case across the board though, I bought some Microsoft LifeCam Studios because Microsoft had some in stock. But couldn't find much else anywhere else.
I just duck taped the selfie stick to the monitor's stand and use the phone with skype/zoom apps. Camera, mic are already there and you can use headsets with it.
And standing desks. I've been trying to source some for my business (to retail) and all of the cheaper models are sold out. The models we have been able to source are a harder sell at their price point.<p><a href="https://www.elementrelocations.com.au/work-from-home" rel="nofollow">https://www.elementrelocations.com.au/work-from-home</a>
I saw this mentioned in a WSJ piece yesterday.<p>> You can get an external webcam—although top models are sold out across the web. ( Logitech says it’s increasing production and distribution to meet the new demand.)<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/living-the-coronavirus-work-from-home-life-here-are-all-the-tech-tips-you-need-11585059841" rel="nofollow">https://www.wsj.com/articles/living-the-coronavirus-work-fro...</a>
Similarly, I felt that I outgrew my kettlebell and tried to order a new one - absolutely impossible right now, like most other home exercise equipment. At least it's something completely non-essential.<p>I'm just grateful that we have food in the stores at the moment.
After bars and restaurants closed down here, some 3 weeks ago, various alcoholic drinks have become very scarce. People are just hoarding wines and beers like never before - was going to pick up a couple of bottles of wine, but walked out with cheap vodka.
One ProTip: You can order directly from Logitech website.<p>Couple of weeks ago there was no stock for C922 on Amazon, but was able to purchase it direct from Logitech. Shipping was free I think and it arrived in week or so.
Also Chromebooks. Seems like everyone is grabbing them for their kids since that's what schools have been using. Just getting a couple of them for my kids involved paying half again as much as the same ones were going for a month ago, and two involuntary canceled orders. Fingers crossed that Best Buy won't cancel again on the ones that I'm supposed to pick up on Friday.
On March 25th a friend noticed them being out of stock on Amazon and I found that they could get just the camera module, no box: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+camera+module&i=electronics" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+camera+module&i=electronics</a><p>These still seem to be available, though you'll need to be careful with them or build a box.
Look no further than simple headsets.<p>Wanted to have a light, cheap one from Sennheiser (one of those for 20 €) for homeoffice use. Sold out on Amazon. Estimated delivery mid or late May.<p>And it's like that for all the inexpensive "business headphones". If you want some shiny-blinky-bulky-"gamer headset", Amazon will be happy to send you a dozen till tomorrow morning.<p>It's crazy.
The webcam and video call market has stopped to improve like, 10 years ago. There's some exceptions, like the Brio, but they are worse and more expensive than a whole cheapo phone with 2 cameras. Overall we're mostly stuck with 1280x720 fixfoxus usb-2.0 crap. On the software side, things don't look better: UVC 1.5 finally does support hardware encode with bitrate control, but software support is scarce. Completely unsupported by Linux even. Don't get me started about free videoconference software and open, end-to-end encrypted systems.
Am I missing something? Is this really that hard?
I bought a webcam off of AliExpress that was supposedly shipped from the US and they said they had stock. It was ~$25 so I'm not expecting much but it will be something. I'm doing facetime/facebook video chats with family members so they can see my 15 month old son. We have been using the built-in camera in either a phone or laptop but my son keeps trying to reach out and smash the keyboard or touch the phone screen. The idea is to use a webcam and then hook the laptop up to the TV so that we can be visible.
Meh, I'm using the integrated webcam in my work Dell Latitude . It's sufficient.<p>I really don't see the need for super-high-res webcams for work meeting (unless you have to stream a whole room).
Speaking of which, there could be a serious opportunity for a startup to create an actually decent webcam stream service with low lag and low/no artifacts because I have no idea why the national media has such horrible connections in 2020, makes zero sense to me, it's like watching 2001 tech.<p>Sound correction for dead rooms or echo-y rooms would be nice too. If AI can magically "fix" video with almost no pixels and poor sound a hundred years old, they should be able to apply it to webcam broadcasts.
Akaso Pro 4k - The thing is a knock off gopro but it has the embedded webcam drivers so it's plug and play. I spent about 4 hours trying to get the Costco version of the GoPro4 to work with a bunch of drivers from some guy in Europe. Did not work. Any GoPro solution sounds hacky<p>The other thing is old phones and tablets. Wipe them, root, install something like Lineage and then get an IP camera app, dead simple and provides a second display for what you're presenting on the camera.
I ran into this a couple weeks ago getting my son set up for remote school. I ended up buying a 24” Dell monitor with a webcam, speakers, and mic built in. They are surprisingly few choices for monitors like this, but I’m really happy with the P2418HZm that I ordered. It was $280 on Amazon and took a week to get here. You can also use it to login with your face.<p>The other option I was looking at was just picking up a cheap chrome book with a camera built in.
I pulled my old Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 out of storage, to find that the video feed functions only when plugged in to a USB 2 port, and my current home desktop just has USB 3 ports.<p>I haven't yet tried fixing it, because honestly, nobody really needs to see any of... <i>this</i>. As I gesture vaguely at myself.<p>Video conferencing is vastly overrated. I'd rather share an image of my desktop or a drawing canvas.
And VR headsets, which have been sold out for a while (especially Oculus Rift S and Quest) and every time they're brought back in stock, they sell out within minutes or seconds. I managed to grab a Quest... with delivery date like May 1st or something.<p>(Granted, there were some 'rona-caused supply chain problems with the headsets and also Half Life: Alyx just was released, but still.)
I am in the process of building a new machine. Sadly I forgot to order a web cam for it.<p>One of my co-workers mentioned there is an android app that sets up a server on the phone and it allows you to turn your phone into a web cam for your computer.<p>I also just discovered that certain DSLR cameras can be used as web cams with certain software.
I started working from home in early March, and even then most webcams were sold out on Amazon. I ended up finding the camera I wanted on Bestbuy without any problems and it was delivered pretty quickly. I just checked again, and the same webcam I got off Bestbuy is now only available for in store pickup.
I discovered this myself around March 24, 2020. Here is a screenshot of the product page of the Logitech C922x on Amazon.com with the keepa.com browser plugin installed: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/GyvLY0m" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/GyvLY0m</a> .
I don't see any evidence webcams are worse than other stuff though.<p>Amazon's been sold out of current-gen iPad Mini's for a while too. (Though regular iPads are there.)<p>Global supply chains are disrupted, so all sorts of random individual products are either jumping in price or sold out, while plenty of other ones are perfectly fine. But aside from masks/TP/sanitizer/rice and similar, I'm not seeing a lot of whole product-category trends.
I got SparkoCam and use my DSLRs as webcam, as I just couldn't handle the quality of laptop or regular webcam :(<p>A bit pricey software, but now I can put transparent images or greenscreen the output, which gives daily amusement to the team :).
I've been looking for a C290s for a couple months now, which sell regularly for $70 or less. They're now on Craigslist for $140+, and on Amazon for $200+. Can we enforce price gouging on private sellers?
Yep - things have been sold out as people work from home. I've bought a cheap Chinese 'Action Camera' i.e. knockoff gopro from Amazon. £30 and it works perfectly well as a webcam for conference calls!
I noticed this last week when a coworker asked if he could get one. A normally $40 Logitech webcam was selling for $136 with very long waiting/shipping times. I told him, no, he cannot have a webcam...
I don't understand how Amazon has not shut this down. I went to buy one a month ago and it was already at this piratical price. Don't they actively prevent price gougers when they find them?
TIL people actually use WebCam's....<p>I have mine always disabled, before the new Lenovo's it was tape, not Lenovo has the disable built into the hardware, I super glued mine to the closed position
I paid $40+shipping for a Logitech C270 when it normally goes for something like $25. Such is life. Took me a while to find it (sparkfun.com if anybody's interested in getting one too).
I still don't understand how the quality of front facing cameras on smart phones has gotten so high, and yet even the most high end laptop's built in cam caps out at 720p. Why?
I noticed this a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for a webcam. Check Aliexpress, banggood and other chinese sites for much more affordable options.
Why would you want a video feed anyway? If you're just having a talking meeting, I don't really need to see your face, and also don't want you to see mine.<p>Edit: Maybe I'm antisocial, but I have talking meetings all of the time with people I know well, but never feel the need for video.