In an announcement that flew under the radar a little bit, Panasonic has released some proper webcam software that lets you use your LUMIX camera as a webcam on both Mac and Windows. This replaces the slightly hacky tethering software work-around unveiled back in June.
The aptly named LUMIX Webcam Software, still in Beta, was released on September 30th, and it does for Panasonic users what Canon, Fuji, Sony, Nikon, and Olympus have already done for their customers: it allows you to quickly and easily set up your professional camera as a webcam using only a USB cable. As long as you’re using one of the following cameras, there’s no need to buy an HDMI capture card.
Compatible Cameras:
Instead of using an updated version of Panasonic’s tethering software to remove the
control overlay, LUMIX Webcam Software enables popular video conferencing and livestreaming apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to recognize your Panasonic camera as a webcam from inside the system.
As of September 30th, all of the following software is confirmed compatible:
Here are two video tutorials that show you how to install the software on both Mac and Windows:
To find out more about the LUMIX Webcam Software Beta, or if you want to download and install a copy for yourself, head over to the Panasonic website. As with other Beta webcam software from companies like Canon, it’s still technically “under development” so expect to stumble across a few bugs that still need to be ironed out.
(via DIY Photography)