How do I access my webcam in Python?
PythonWebcamPython Problem Overview
I would like to access my webcam from Python.
I tried using the VideoCapture extension (tutorial), but that didn't work very well for me, I had to work around some problems such as it's a bit slow with resolutions >320x230, and sometimes it returns None for no apparent reason.
Is there a better way to access my webcam from Python?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
OpenCV has support for getting data from a webcam, and it comes with Python wrappers by default, you also need to install numpy for the OpenCV Python extension (called cv2) to work.
As of 2019, you can install both of these libraries with pip:
pip install numpy
pip install opencv-python
More information on using OpenCV with Python.
An example copied from Displaying webcam feed using opencv and python:
import cv2
cv2.namedWindow("preview")
vc = cv2.VideoCapture(0)
if vc.isOpened(): # try to get the first frame
rval, frame = vc.read()
else:
rval = False
while rval:
cv2.imshow("preview", frame)
rval, frame = vc.read()
key = cv2.waitKey(20)
if key == 27: # exit on ESC
break
vc.release()
cv2.destroyWindow("preview")
Solution 2 - Python
gstreamer can handle webcam input. If I remeber well, there are python bindings for it!
Solution 3 - Python
import cv2 as cv
capture = cv.VideoCapture(0)
while True:
isTrue,frame = capture.read()
cv.imshow('Video',frame)
if cv.waitKey(20) & 0xFF==ord('d'):
break
capture.release()
cv.destroyAllWindows()
0 <-- refers to the camera , replace it with file path to read a video file
cv.waitKey(20) & 0xFF==ord('d') <-- to destroy window when key is pressed