Switch off your laptop webcam and take full control of your image by streaming via your Lumix camer
An additional version of the Lumix Tether application has been released that is designed to allow Lumix users with compatible cameras to use the Live View preview window for online streaming and video conferencing. Called Lumix Tether for Streaming the new beta software runs alongside the current Lumix Tether and offers the ability to create a video image without the usual overlays of AF areas and the control panel that is displayed alongside it. Simply by clicking on an on-screen icon the overlays disappear to leave a clear video feed that can be captured via third party broadcasting software.
No one looks good on a laptop webcam. That’s a fact. These crude cameras usually offer only very basic control over colour, exposure and contrast (if any) and they always have the sort of wide angle lenses you’d never use for shooting a portrait. Lumix Tether for Streaming allows users to take full control of the way they look on social media and video conferences by allowing them to switch off that unflattering built-in webcam in favour of a professional Lumix camera.
Lumix Tether for Streaming allows you to switch off the limited webcam on your laptop and use your Lumix camera instead. The difference in quality between the webcam image on the left and the Lumix Tether for Streaming image on the right demonstrates why it’s worthwhile
Lumix photographers can now stream using a longer focal length that doesn’t distort our features, which allows control over depth-of-field and which resolves plenty of detail. Via the Lumix camera controls we can tailor exposure, white balance and Photo Styles just as we would normally, to present a much more professional look to our live streams.
System compatibility:
- Windows 10
Compatible Cameras
How to use Lumix Tether for Streaming
Firstly, download the Lumix Tether for Streaming (Beta) for Windows 10.
Install the software and Open the application. Then connect your compatible camera to your PC via a USB 3.0 or 3.1 cable. When you do this a menu display will appear on your camera’s rear screen – select the ‘PC (Tether)’ option.
On your PC screen you’ll see a panel appear that allows you to control many of the camera’s features. In the top left corner of this panel you’ll see an LV button that activates the Live View screen. Click on this and you’ll see a window that is streaming the live view from the camera.
In the top left corner of the LV display you’ll see the icon for removing the AF area display from the preview video. Click on this for a clear display of the live view video that you can then use to broadcast over social media or video conferencing applications.
It’s worth noting that Lumix Tether doesn’t record audio through the camera, so you’ll still need to use an external microphone or the one built-in to your computer.
Here’s a short video that explains the process:
Broadcasting via OBS with Lumix Tether for Streaming
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is an open source application that’s designed to allow users to broadcast live and recorded video streams to social media channels. With an extra tool called Virtual Camera the recordings can also be streamed to applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other video conferencing services.
You can download OBS here: https://obsproject.com and once it is installed attach Virtual Camera https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-virtualcam.949/
OBS won’t recognise your Lumix camera so instead we stream the Live View window from the screen. Set up a Scene – I’ve called mine Lumix Tether – and in the Sources window add a Window Capture of the Lumix Tether for Streaming Live View pane. The easiest way to do this is to make sure you don’t have any other windows open other than Lumix Tether for Streaming behind the OBS window. Hit the ‘+’ button in Sources and from the drop-down select Window Capture. OBS should automatically detect the Live View pane, so you just have to drag the corners of the pane to make it fill the OBS window. Then you are ready to go.
With Virtual Camera switched on via the Tools drop-down you can select OBS Camera as your video source when you open your video conferencing application.
Here’s a video that explains the process of using Lumix Tether for Streaming with OBS
Discuss this software in our community forum