Software to use webcam as camera

Question

Is there software that allows the webcam to be used as a camera?

I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 desktop.

Thanks!

What's the difference? With the help of a video capture card I use my Camera as Webcam through analog CVBS input. Some troubles with deinterlacing (as webcam) but works. — Cornelius, Apr 23 '14 at 12:57
@YatharthROCK I want to use my webcam as a camera to take some pics of objects on my desk. — itsols, Apr 23 '14 at 13:07
A webcam is, by definition meant to be used via a computer. You can just use any regular camera application (the most popular being Cheese) to get the stream then. — Yatharth Agarwal, Apr 23 '14 at 13:10

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:11

24

As your goal is to take pictures of your desk, I'd suggest to install cheese

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t) and type:

sudo apt-get install cheese

Then start it with just cheese from the same terminal or from the Dash:

enter image description here

answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:11

Sylvain Pineau

@itsols Let me get this straight: you were simply looking for recommendations for picture/video capture software? Did you search AskUbuntu first? A quick glance turns up http://askubuntu.com/questions/9775/picture-video-capture-programs and others... – Yatharth Agarwal Apr 23 '14 at 15:31
1

I did not know that I had to look for picture or video editing/capturing software. I just wanted to get my webcam working as a camera. Thanks for the link anyway! – itsols Apr 23 '14 at 16:02

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:41

8

Another nice alternative to cheese: GTK UCV Video Viewer

Install it using sudo apt-get install guvcview

answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:41

Back.Slash

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 23 '14 at 13:16

May I assume you wish to be able to take a still photo with your webcam? If so, I recommend cheese. It is available in the Ubuntu repositories:

sudo apt-get install cheese

After you start it, there is an option to take a photo, photos in a burst or videos.

3 Answers3