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Comment by ashtonkem | Hacker News Reader

Having used my Canon 80D as a webcam after Canon released a beta tool that made it possible to stream video over USB, I would personally recommend against trying this. Yes, it's doable, and yes the video quality is much better. But the logistics of mounting a full sized camera, or even most mirrorless cameras, to a desk somewhere close to your monitor is surprisingly annoying.

While a separate webcam perched on top of your monitor produces lower quality, it comes with fewer tradeoffs when you're not actively using it. I suspect that you need to be a professional streamer/youtuber before the tradeoffs make it make sense.

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Pop it on a short tripod behind your monitor, surely? Why doesn't this work? People likely already have LED lights for video conferencing on similar stands in a similar place.

Without a proper G clamp, it is a quick way to lose a couple thousand dollars to a stray elbow.

Edit: I tried what you recommend, and the resulting tradeoffs are part of why I don't recommend it anymore.

I'd have to rearrange the room to accomplish that, there is nowhere close to enough space behind my monitor to put a tripod. It would also block all the LED lights I have on the wall (I'm a bit obsessive on this subject), necessitating more changes. The wires also rapidly become annoying, since unlike a monitor-top webcam they can't be bundled up with the HDMI/Power for the monitor.

The further back the camera gets too, the less "real" it feels to your audience. Humans can tell where each others' eyes are focused, and the further the camera gets from the plane of where your eyes are focused (the monitor), the more it will feel like that you're not paying attention to them. This means the ideal place to put the camera is right on top of the monitor, exactly where we put webcams today. This might be doable with some cameras, but certainly mine is too heavy to pull this off. Perhaps a boom arm system would do the trick, at the minor cost of making my sit/stand desk less usable.

If you're going to try and use a real camera to improve video quality, I think you really need to go whole-hog and build a teleprompter setup. That's the right way to make it possible to see something and have your eyes focused on the right place without having to dodge around getting a monitor to work correctly. This is completely doable, albeit a bit excessive, but probably well beyond what's worth it for anyone but the most obsessive or those whose jobs involve being on camera a lot. Maybe if I was CTO it would be worth it just for extremely high-fidelity all-hands, but that's not my current situation.

> I'd have to rearrange the room to accomplish that, there is nowhere close to enough space behind my monitor to put a tripod.

My top tip is to use a full-size dining room table as your desk, rather than something sold as a modern desk. Then your monitor sits about in the middle of the table and you have so much space behind it, around the sides, and beside you. It's a huge improvement to have this extra space.

Things marketed as 'computer desks' are invariably about 4x too small for comfortable use and placing your equipment on.

This kind of gets into why I don't think it's worth the tradeoffs. You can get a desk big enough to support a tripod and monitor without sacrificing ergonomics, but then you have to have a massive desk. My current desk is 32" deep, and I'm certain that bringing the monitor close enough to make room for a tripod on the desk would involve bringing the monitor too close for comfort. In my specific case it would also necessitate giving up the gas-arm that my monitor is attached to since it only clips to the back of the desk, and I don't want to give that up.

You can make it work, if you rearrange your entire office space around this requirement. I personally wouldn't recommend it, but to each their own.

I suspect that computer desks are "too small" because a dining room table is a rather large object that doesn't fit well into small rooms or rooms that have anything else in them.

Probably. But given the time one spends staring at screens, even pre-covid that should be of no concern. I meanwhile solved that by getting a used drawing table for architects off auction. Electrically adjustable, even! And not looking shabby. This is a hugh part of my life, why should it be constrained by scroogery?

I did this a few years ago grabbing an ikea vastanby table. Unfortunately it I wouldnt really recommend it, or would at least recommend something else. The size of the top is great, but ergonomically it sucks, its far too high and non adjustable, and the supports for the top get in the way of a good sitting position, will be switching out to a large sit stand desk eventually, hopefully using the same worktop.

Are you aware of https://www.ergotron.com/en-us/products/mounts and the other offers they have? Obsess about that :-)

You just need a wide angle lens, so it can be mounted on the desk without needing more space. I recommend anything between 16mm to 24mm focal length lens (based on 35mm equivalent). Using DSLR or mirrorless camera as webcam on desk is done by many, especially by Twitch streamers, Youtubers, and Zoomers who want quality video. Also check out EposVox (Youtuber) who has a great setup with such a small amount of space. He has great video and tips on such setup.

> You just need a wide angle lens, so it can be mounted on the desk without needing more space.

The issue was physical mounting room for the tripod, not focal length. When I did try using my Canon, I actually didn't use the widest setting on my lens. A 16mm equivalent lens would've given everyone a really nice view of my closet, which isn't something I want to do.

> Using DSLR or mirrorless camera as webcam on desk is done by many, especially by Twitch streamers, Youtubers, and Zoomers who want quality video.

As I said below, those are groups that are willing to make tradeoffs for extremely high video quality, especially streamers and youtubers as that's their job. For the rest of us however, the tradeoffs are probably not worth it.

...would've given everyone a really nice view of my closet, which isn't something I want to do.

Ever heard of virtual green screening?

DUDE! Diz iz HÄCKERNYUZ! And you are fussing about such basics?

Is it really such a hassle to get a gorilla pod, or some similar thing, and wind/clip/fasten it to whatever is there?

https://joby.com/us-en/gorillapod-flexible-camera-tripods/

I got mine from Rollei about a decade ago for about 12 to 15EUR IIRC, to have something small and light for my backpack when underway, instead of something professional. Still works. And I neither stream, or take pictures often. Just something to be have with me if the need arises.

Maybe for you. For me it was a matter of grabbing a battery and putting the rear of the camera on top of it to make it tilt down a bit.

If you are using a desk, simply putting a tripod behind a monitor works too.

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