Using a Sony alpha camera as a webcam in Ubuntu

12 Oct, 2020

• Make sure you have ffmpeg: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
• Install latest release gphoto2: https://github.com/gonzalo/gphoto2-updater
• Install https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback from source (see README.md)
• On Sony alpha camera: change USB connection in settings on camera to PC Remote.
• Enable kernel extension: sudo modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 max_buffers=2
• Launch webcam: gphoto2 --stdout --capture-movie | ffmpeg -i - -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -threads 8 -f v4l2 /dev/video2
  • Change /dev/video2/ to device mentioned in v4l2-ctl --list-devices

It doesn't work anymore

• Did you start the kernel module? sudo modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 max_buffers=2
• When after upgrading the v4l2loopback kernel module will not load: build from source again, but start with a make clean make sudo make install sudo depmod -a

Main source:

• https://www.crackedthecode.co/how-to-use-your-dslr-as-a-webcam-in-linux/