web cam and DSLR

[Qapla]

Just a thought ... but .....................

Since there is a concern about the DSLR and live view and heat, how would it work this way :

Since most booths have the camera lens mounted just above the monitor, would it be possible to use a monitor with a built in web cam so that the web cam is being used for the continuous "live view" displayed on the screen while the DSLR is being used to actually take the pictures.

That way, the DSLR camera would not have to have live view turned on.

Both cameras would basically "see" the same thing, so there should not be any noticeable difference in the image being displayed for the booth and what the DSLR camera records for the prints.

Like I said ... just a thought.

[lbaird]

Sounds good to me, you do it and let us know how it works.

[Chris Breeze]

Heat from continuous use of live view shouldn't cause any problems except for a small degradation in image quality. The latest versions of DSLR Remote Pro for Windows allow you to set an inactivity timer to cancel live view after a preset time (or you can press F6 to do this manually). If the timer is set to 0 DSLR Remote Pro will automatically cancel and restart live view after 25 minutes of inactivity to prevent the camera from cancelling live view.

I think it would be difficult to setup a webcam to show an accurate view of what the camera sees. Most webcams have a different aspect ratio from DSLRs and it would be difficult to match the lens zoom setting.

[lbaird]

Under what menu is the timer located?

[Chris Breeze]

There isn't a menu setting for this, you have to change a Windows registry setting. This is from the help file:

Inactivity Timer

Using live view for long periods of time drains battery power and can cause the camera's sensor to heat up. Most camera models will automatically cancel live view after 30 minutes to prevent overheating. Fullscreen photobooth mode has an inactivity timer which will automatically cancel and restart live view after 25 minutes to prevent the camera from canceling it. Alternatively full screen photobooth mode can automatically cancel live view and display the welcome.jpg screen image if the photobooth is not used for a preset time. Live view can also be canceled manually by pressing the F6 function key. Press the F6 function key to reactivate live view and return to ready.jpg screen when the welcome.jpg screen is displayed.

The inactivity timeout in seconds is stored in the Windows registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BreezeSystems\DSLRRemot ePro\100\PhotoboothInactivityTimeout

This can be adjusted to make the timeout shorter if required. If it is set to 0 fullscreen photobooth mode will automatically cancel and restart live view after 25 minutes of inactivity. Alternatively setting it to a very large value (e.g. 360000) will have the effect of disabling the timeout.