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 · 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

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

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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