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The Youtube channel DIY Perks has a video making essentially a homemade teleprompter mod for a laptop with very cheap materials.[1]

I've thought about getting a proper teleprompter but my issue there would be screen space and lighting. Has this worked well with a decently inexpensive webcam or do you use a full-on streaming/production type camera setup?

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

⬐ mrdonbrown

I haven't tried using the teleprompter with a webcam, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I use a Sony a6600 myself, with a Sigma 16mm/f1.4 prime lense.

Regardless, I recommend capturing in 4k, and running that through OBS so you can zoom/crop the image for ideal framing, optional of course.

This video shows a project to create a one-way mirror that allows a person to view their monitor while 'looking at' the camera.

https://youtu.be/2AecAXinars

If I was planning to do any interviews I would definitely build and use this.

It also makes me wonder, when people are staring into the camera if they are looking at a photo instead of the camera lens.

There are devices you can buy for a few hundred that place the image of the person you're talking to directly in front of the camera. That way you can look at who you're talking to while also looking directly into the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nCYWhYagqk

There are also a lot of homebrew DIY versions of the same device:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

It really isn't a minor point. Lack of eye contact is really important. I pulled out a gooseneck webcam mount I had bought and never used from years ago. I can position it almost right in front of the Zoom window and achieve almost direct eye contact, though it is tricky if I need to see detail behind the webcam itself. Multiple monitors with extra area reduce that problem.

I ran across a video that showed how to create an actual direct eye to eye contact effect, using a half-silvered mirror and parts from a laptop webcam[0]. I started shopping for a used laptop webcam part, and then realized I have never seen laptops rated by their webcams, so it is almost a shot in the dark to get something good.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

The 'DIY Perks' channel on YouTube has a nice solution to maintain eye contact: https://youtu.be/2AecAXinars

You can't mount a webcam in the middle of your laptop display, as even a small camera and thin cable would get in the way of looking at the screen.

But using a two-way mirror, you can be looking at both the screen and the webcam at the same time, without the webcam being visible to you.

⬐ ldenoue

I would use a simple velcro to stick my iPhone behind my laptop screen, search for "velcro iphone laptop" to get ideas.

DIY Perks did an interesting mod for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars Basically a box and a two way mirror.

Check this out. A maker’s take on fixing this problem:

https://youtu.be/2AecAXinars

There's a neat DIY project to try to overcome this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars&feature=youtu.be

TL;DW - use some cardboard a two way mirror and an external webcam to make a box you place over your laptop so that it lines up the camera + your eyes.

I don't think I'll be trying this, but it's a really interesting DIY solution to ensuring eye contact when video conferencing. https://youtu.be/2AecAXinars

⬐ cryptoz

Before I clicked I wondered why you wouldn't be trying it. Understood, I suppose I won't be trying it either. Maybe there's a business idea here though, in pre-made special-case videochat boxes. I bet there are other optimizations to be made as well.

Yes, there's multiple ways of doing it. DIY-Perks has a webcam mod[0] using 2-way mirror.

The other way is using a microLED display. A microLED is so compact/bright that you can leave spaces between elements and can be 50% transparent or more looking from behind. Alternatively Optical/sensor elements could be interspersed with the microLED elements giving as good an image quality as can be achieved based on the area used.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

I agree! I particularly liked the one using a two-way plastic mirror and webcam, so that you can maintain eye contact when you're video calling someone. Similar principal to a teleprompter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

https://youtu.be/2AecAXinars