>and you usually need a capture card/camlink to convert the output from the camera

Early on in the pandemic the major mirrorless camera providers (I believe at least Sony[1], Fujifilm[2], Canon[3], and Nikon[4]) all released software that lets you use any of their relatively recent cameras as webcams with the regular USB transfer/charging cable. A separate capture card is no longer a necessity.

[1] https://imagingedge.sony.net/en-us/ie-webcam.html

[2] https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/software/x-webcam/

[3] https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/se...

[4] https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/products/548/Webca...

As I understand these are all awful in their own way, typically with quality problems and extra latency as well as the extra complexity of the software.

The obvious solution is a camera mode in which it presents itself over USB as a webcam… As far as I know no "real" camera at any price does this.

I solve the problem with a Camlink, but it really should not be necessary.

I use a camlink 4k/nikon d610 and a Movo UM700. Great color and low-light performance, with natural bokeh, far superior to software background blur solutions.

Now, I'm not sure it's a great idea to actually present myself in such find detail ;). But it was fun to set up.

My Sony a6500 has been perfectly fine with my macbook since Sony released the new drivers. I haven't noticed any latency and love getting compliments from zoom peeps on the non-AI blur I get with my 16mm f1.4 lens.

What are the max supported resolution and framerate in this mode?

> The obvious solution is a camera mode in which it presents itself over USB as a webcam… As far as I know no "real" camera at any price does this.

There are! Fujifilm X-A7, Fujifilm X-T200, and Sigma fp are three mirrorless cameras that support UVC. And if you classify action cameras as "real" cameras too, the Insta360 ONE R also supports this.

Note that you may have to update the firmware and put the camera in webcam mode to get this to work.

From what I had read at the time (may be better now) that software was bad and the low quality output from it negated most of the benefits of going with the mirrorless setup in the first place.

That's possible, but as others in the comments have mentioned it may be more people with bad lighting/positioning who just decided it was the camera/USB software that was faulty. Still, maybe it does suck. I never tried any of these programs myself because all of my cameras are just slightly too old to work with them.

The people I learned this from were professional YouTube people who have high quality lighting - it was the software.

The best solution I've found is using a app like ManyCam on both your phone and desktop to transmit the A/V stream to the computer and emulate a webcam. Has a ton of benefits like being able to adjust the picture, filters, switching webcams, being able to play videos for people, screen sharing.

Let's say you have a Mac. What hardware/software do you need other than the tripod to get a good mirrorless camera setup? I notice a lot of pro YouTubers use setups like this, but I'm not a photography guy so I don't know much about this.

You need something like the elgato camlink 4k and a camera that supports clean hdmi out.

That’s it - the software options today are bad.

I personally wouldn't want to start in this market, because by the time anything could reasonably ship the COVID vaccine has been distributed enough and most people won't care that much anymore.

I don't think WFH and remote work are going away though, even if COVID does.

I think the demand for it will tamper down quite a bit although, and there are still many traditional places that aren't tech that are itching to get people back into offices.