Macos – Mac webcam photo application with access to camera settings (resolution, camera selection, color balance, focus)

macmacosphotoswebcam

Does anyone know about a webcam photo application (ie an alternative to photo booth) with would allow to change the settings on the camera, such as :

  • Select camera (I.e I want to use an external webcam)
  • Change camera resolution (with photobooth
  • change camera settings (I.e autofocus, aperture, color balance, etc..)

I did a lot of research on the internet with no success. I am looking for a very simple app (such as wmcap.exe on Windows)

What I tried so far:

  • photo booth: it works with an external camera, however there is no way to change the resolution, or the color/focus settings
  • manycam : a virtual webcam driver. you can add special effects to your camera and transfer those effects to any app, but not change your camera settings…
  • iGlasses : enables you to change the camera settings inside photo booth and other apps.
    However you cannot control the focus, nor the video resolution
  • macam (did not work on my Mac book Pro)

Does anyone know better than me?

Note : my only solution now is to launch a virtual machine (with parallels desktop) and take the pictures from there!

Best Answer

Well, it seems that the answer is that there is no such app, because - sadly enough - Apple did not implement the complete UVC protocol.

Here is a webpage where some people describe their findings, and try to implement the UVC protocol. It did not work with my own cam (Microsoft HD 5000), but it might work with others...

http://www.phoboslab.org/log/2009/07/uvc-camera-control-for-mac-os-x

Related Question