How do I access my webcam in Python

Question

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

User · Accepted Answer

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
cv2.destroyWindow("preview")

User · Answer

import cv2 as cv  capture   cv VideoCapture 0   while True      isTrue frame   capture read       cv imshow  Video  frame      if cv waitKey 20   amp  0xFF  ord  d            break  capture release   cv destroyAllWindows    0  lt -- refers to the camera   replace it with file path to read a video file cv waitKey 20   amp  0xFF  ord  d    lt -- to destroy window when key is pressed

User · Answer

gstreamer can handle webcam input  If I remeber well  there are python bindings for it

User · Answer

John Montgomery s  answer is great  but at least on Windows  it is missing the line  vc release     before  cv2 destroyWindow  preview     Without it  the camera resource is locked  and can not be captured again before the python console is killed

[python] How do I access my webcam in Python?

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