Although most laptops and desktop PC monitors have a built-in webcam, using the phone's camera instead can have benefits depending on loved ones. For example, it is likely that the computer's webcam, especially on laptops, is of poor quality and with low-resolution shots, with a suboptimal video quality.
If, on the other hand, you use the rear camera of your mobile phone as a webcam, you can take advantage of its large resolution and transmit images and videos via webcam on videoconferencing or video chat programs with higher resolution.
In order to use the rear camera of an Android smartphone as a webcam for the computer, also to be used for Skype or other live video programs, it is however necessary to install an application on the phone and a program on the PC that acts as a link.
There are at least two apps that you can use to turn an Android phone's camera into a webcam.
1) The best solution is to install the free application DroidCam, an app for Android that transforms your smartphone (or tablet) into a comfortable and portable webcam.
DroidCam must be installed both on the phone as an Android app, and the client for Windows PC, which can be downloaded from the Droidcam website.
Once the two installations have been performed, from the PC program, you must enter the IP address of the phone, which is displayed on the first screen of the Droidcam app.
Obviously, to operate the smartphone as a wifi webcam, it is necessary that the mobile phone and computer are connected to the same network.
From the desktop client you can play the audio from the phone and choose the video quality between low, normal and high.
You can also choose to connect your phone and PC via USB cable and avoid network configuration.
When everything is ready, press the start button on the phone in Drooidcam, to start streaming the captured images which will then be visible on the computer.
From the application settings, you can choose whether to use the rear or front camera.
The free version of DroidCam is good, but it's not perfect.
For example, the webcam can only be used in landscape mode, the zoom is limited in resolution and the brightness and various other controls are also limited.
But if you are satisfied, it is definitely worth buying the paid version of DroidCam by spending 4 Euros and unlocking all the functions.
2) Another application that works well and is free to use an Android mobile phone as a webcam for your computer is IP Webcam .
At the same time, on the computer, you need to download and install the IP Camera Adapter .
The adapter that is installed on a Windows PC simply serves to detect the Android phone as a webcam.
Prerequisite for this application to work is that your Android computer and mobile phone are connected to the same Wifi network .
Then run the application on Android to be able to configure some options such as quality, resolution and password if the network is also used by other computers.
Scroll through the options to the end and touch where Start Server is written to start the video transmission.
On the computer, open the web browser (Chrome or Firefox recommended) and type the address displayed on the phone screen which should be of the type: //192.168.2.101:8080/videofeed .
If all went well, and open the viewer link.
You will see the shot from the mobile phone camera on the browser.
By tapping the Actions button on the phone you can leave the webcam function active in the background so you can use your mobile phone to do other things.
If there are problems, open the IP Camera adapter from the Windows Start menu, type the address you read in the mobile phone on the field //: / videofeed and click the Detect button.
In the same window, write your username and password if they have been configured on the mobile phone.
The mobile phone camera becomes a full-fledged webcam and can also be used for programs such as Skype and other web applications.
In Skype, in the video settings, MJPEG camera must be selected as the input source.
IP Webcam makes it extremely easy to use an Android phone with a high definition camera as a webcam for streaming at optimal levels.
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