Fujifilm Turns X And GFX Cameras Into Webcams, Canon Version Adds Macs

Web-based video conferencing has become part of the "new normal" these days but that's not the only time you might want to use a webcam. Whether it's for video chatting, live streaming at home, or making instructional videos, sometimes you'll want a more capable camera other than your laptop's USB webcam or even your smartphone. If you have a Fujifilm X or GFX series camera, you're in luck because the company just released software that will do exactly that.

Why would you want to use a bulky pro camera as a webcam in the first place? Aside from the higher quality, a camera not attached to your laptop or monitor offers more flexibility in staging your scene. And because you're directly feeding the video via a USB cable, you don't have to worry about transferring your recording from your smartphone to your PC.

That's the convenience that Fujifilm's new X Webcam program for Windows is offering. After downloading and installing the software from the its website, you simply need to connect the camera to your PC like you were transferring photos or videos. The camera will appear in apps as a regular webcam after that setup.

Fujifilm's software is compatible with only a few camera models, namely the GFX100, GFX 50S, GFX 50R, X-H1, X-Pro2, X-Pro3, X-T2, X-T3, and X-T4. It is also only available for Windows, leaving creatives with Macs hanging.

Canon, in contrast, has been down this road last month and is now expanding its support to macOS as shown above. Curiously, the beta software is incompatible with Mac apps like Safari and FaceTime as well as the standalone apps for Skype and Zoom. Canon recommends using Google Chrome and the browser-based version of these services instead.