Webcam Filter

[Totaly Pavlina]

UsingSkype, I have the option to blur out the background on my webcam. I'm now using Zoom and Google Meeting a lot more and would love to apply a similar filter in other apps.I've looked around for webcam filters / effects here but most posts are from nearly a decade ago.

In my HP Envy Notebook i7 with windows 10 the webcam suddenly stoped working like 6 months ago by an update, but i never took the time to check what happened until now. So i researched and tried updating the webcam drivers and uninstalling them and installing them again, and it worked; the camera was working again, BUT with a green filter on it, and i don't know how to get my webcam working normally without the look-like green filter. (It is not a vignette) it's the entire camera. I think it may have something to do with the drivers. PLEASE HELP

Disabling the webcam IR lights will cause display images to appear darker in low and zero light conditions. The webcam IR lights are also available on other webcam programs. Refer to the software Help for additional information.

I have a webcam in my laptop.I am user root, so I can do anything. The webcam works fine, everything worked out of the box.I can access it from Cheese and apply effects.I can also access the webcam from Skype (as /dev/video0)

But what I can't do, is apply an effect in Cheese (specifically the effect saturation, which produces a much better color quality than the quirky white balance without effects) and have Skype get the video stream with applied effects.

Side questions: how to add contrast and brightness (like all the filters in css) to the whole canvas and to separate elements (in my case : image()), is there something like filter(CONTRAST, 1.2) and or filter(BRIGHTNESS, 2). Or could it be done using canvas stuff instead of P5?

@DevaPan yes that would be perfect, but as explain in the first thread, it only work if the image is brought to the canvas using loadImage() or createImage(), which is not ideal because in my case the image comes from the webcam using capture.

Webcams do have IR filters. Generally the sensors used are excessively sensitive to IR and will give a pink/red cast to an image without one. In fact, I've stripped a webcam down, removed the IR filter and replaced it with a piece of exposed film (you remember that?) to make a camera that was only sensitive to IR.

Anyhow, sometimes the IR filter is a coating on the lens in which case it obviously gets removed when you take the lens off. Sometimes it's a thin sheet of coated glass behind the lens. I believe the reason that the removal of the filter is recommended is that they're not very high quality and can result in degradation of the image. But usually you'll still want some IR filtering, so you get a decent quality IR filter for astronomical use and add that (usually one that screws into the end of the nosepiece). It shouldn't degrade the image and has the added bonus of keeping dust off the camera sensor.

The IR-only camera is a bit of a giggle. The exposed film blocks pretty much all visible light, but in decent sunlight you can see all sorts of things that you couldn't otherwise. Bank notes look completely different, for instance, and I seem to recall being able to take a picture of something quite clearly that was hidden behind a PET bottle full of coke (the fizzy gassy kind, not the sniffy kind

With a OSC webcam I would tend to use a UV/IR cut for planetary.. For Lunar you can use an IR pass (blocks visible) the longer IRwavelengths are less affected by atmospheric turbulence and can give a sharper image...

Hi, is there a way to turn off the smoothing/filtering/averaging effect of the webcam in the new 2021 Macbook Pro with M1 Pro chip? It is very noticeable when using the webcam and makes the face look unnaturally smooth.

I just got a 2021 14" Macbook Pro and was super excited about having a 1080p camera. But now I discover that the camera applies skin smoothing. This is supposed to be Apple's professional machine. From what I am reading, there does not seem to be a way to turn this stuff off. BOO! Very disappointed and may return it.

With the camera of your MacBook Pro, the settings may be able to be adjusted depending on the app that you're using the camera with. With this, you'll need to explore the settings as they can vary dependent on the app. For additional information on this, we'd recommend checking out the following resource:

In regards to using this via FaceTime, there may be video effects that you're seeing which could contribute to the effects you're seeing. For help with locating these, take a look at the following resource:

With sudden working from home, video conferencing is all the rage, and many of the more fun features are only built-in to the Windows clients, such as background blur, changing background images, filters, turning yourself into a potato, etc. I realize it's not exactly business critical, but it adds to the camaraderie, and I've been feeling left out.

How can I add some features like this to my Linux system? Note, I don't have the option of changing clients/services. I'm looking for a solution that creates some sort of virtual camera device I can select from any conferencing application.

I have made a Linux package, weffe, for some basic video effects using ffmpeg on Linux webcams here: You can add a foreground image (like a frame), add top and bottom meme text, or stream a prerecorded video to a webcam, and use a couple of other features. It's very fast because it's written 100% in the shell, without any additional programming languages.

I found a fairly good solution using OBS Studio, with v4l2loopback and the v4l2-sink obs plugin. This lets me send output from OBS to a virtual webcam, which can be opened from any video conferencing client. Although I haven't figured out background blur yet, OBS has lots of options and plugins, like green screening.

Just quickly wanted to share my experiences about disassembling the HD 3000. I assume you already know what function an IR filter serves and why you want to get rid of it (that's for sure not the first and not the last Instructable about modifying a webcam, it's more about letting you know it can be done with that specific model). Be aware that Auto-Focus ability will be impared, even if you adjust the lens afterwards (which is possible). I read another Instructable that suggested using an abrasive fluid to get rid of the IR reflective coating, keeping the glass itself, thus not affecting the focal length of the lens system. You can have a look, I just pried the thing out. Also I believe auto focus will always be impared by IR light because of the different focal length for the different wavelengths. No liabilty on my side, have fun! ;)

Inside, at the upper edge of the camera case are some hooks. If you jam something thin in there (knife or small flat screwdriver) you can gently pry it open. Since you removed the screws the case should easily open.

The IR filter is on the sensor facing side of the lens. It reflects red. Be careful: It's glass and brittle. Cut from the edges of the filter towards and through the plastic ring. This way you will have some gaps to jam your knife in an pry the IR filter out more or less in one piece.

When you look at the assembled lens you will notice it looks a bit like a triangular screw. And that's what it is. Get some pliers and gently and carefully adjust the lens to make up for the changed focal length. Careful so you don't scratch the lens with the pliers. Do find the proper adjustment open a video capture app (eg. the Skype config menu or Win 10 Camera App) and look at an object a few meters behind you. You will notice that if you turn in one direction everything right in front of the camera will be very sharp, if you turn in the other direction stuff that is far away will be in focus. The autofocus can change the focus a bit. It's try and error now until you find a position that's good for your desired range.

Now you can assemble the case, or better leave the screw out, because you will maybe want to tinker a bit more with the lens adjustment during the next use. Once you have it figured out, you can close it. Have fun! You can explore your surroundings in infrared (trees are red) or build an Infrared lamp and have a night vision system. (I attached 9 Infrared LEDs (3 x 3 with a proper resistor) to a USB plug and can now easily use Skype in the dark.)

The issue is - I'm experiencing a strong ripple effect due to ambient led lightning (50hz).In windows, I could easily change the setting of video capture frequency to 50hz for any camera using windows settings (including the one in question) and this would resolve the ripple effect.

CameraController is a FOSS tool that allows you to change your powerline frequency without paying for the privilege of getting it on the Apple App store. Works very well here in sunny ol' England. Easy enough to install with two brew commands in the terminal.

This is a known problem with the camera recording at 60Hz by default and the LED lights flickering at 50Hz. There is an app in the App store called Webcam Settings which can resolve this. Costs A$12.99. Daniel Bradshaw explains at

It would be great if you expand your question with the specific model and brand of your external webcam. If it is from Logitech, they have a specific software for macOS and Windows called Logi Tune. There you can set the frequency to 50hz or 60hz, among other settings.

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