Digital camera direct to PC

[markemark]

I'm looking for a low cost solution to take photos and save directly to the PC. I have spoken to a couple of high-end webcam solutions and the resolution is not high enough. A number of manufacturers sell cameras with tethering capability but they are too much for what is needed. Are there any low cost (sub £200) pocket cameras that can basically be connected to a PC via USB but on click, save directly to the PC rather than having to transfer?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have not looked at this for a while but I did a few years ago

AT the time there were some SD cards that had inbuilt wifi and would connect to the configured wifi and automatically connect to it

you could look if anything like that will do what you want

 

[Baldy]

I think most bridge cameras will do that, you might need to spend a little more to get one that will do it via WiFi.

 

[markemark]

Thank you. TBH a pocket camera that was cheap as chips I bought years ago is fine quality for what I need - it's just they're too dumb. I have seen bridge cameras but not sure any can be tethered?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Thank you. TBH a pocket camera that was cheap as chips I bought years ago is fine quality for what I need - it's just they're too dumb. I have seen bridge cameras but not sure any can be tethered?

As far as fairly dumb camera go - nowadays a decent phone takes photos as good as a camera
unless you want a load of bells and whistles - or need a proper lens

 

[ColinJ]

As far as fairly dumb camera go - nowadays a decent phone takes photos as good as a camera
unless you want a load of bells and whistles - or need a proper lens

I haven't used my dedicated camera for a few years now for that very reason!

IIRC, that could transfer photos over Wi-Fi.

 

[markemark]

I cannot see an easy way though to take the photo and have it save onto the PC. I have tried turning the phone into a webcam but the resolution drops massively to useless. I bought an £80 camera about 7 years ago. The quality of that is fine. I just need to be able to press click (even no the camera itself) and it appear saved in a PC folder.

 

[ColinJ]

I have my phone set up to automatically upload every picture that I take to Google Photos, which I can subsequently access anywhere.

For example, I used my phone last night to take a picture of my iffy freehub bearing. I then walked into another room and picked up my laptop to download and crop the picture to this...

The phone uploads automatically, and I have a shortcut on my Chrome browser menu bar to take me straight to Google Photos.

 

[MichaelW2]

My old Canon Powershot A95 could be operated tethered to a PC. It was one of the cheaper old powershots, not the pro grade compact models.

 

[markemark]

My old Canon Powershot A95 could be operated tethered to a PC. It was one of the cheaper old powershots, not the pro grade compact models.

When you say tethered to a PC, does that mean a preview could be seen on the PC and you could control the camera from the PC as a quick google and I'm not sure?

 

[MichaelW2]

When you say tethered to a PC, does that mean a preview could be seen on the PC and you could control the camera from the PC as a quick google and I'm not sure?

https://www.canon.co.uk/support/consumer/products/cameras/powershot/a-series/powershot-a95.html

 

[lazybloke]

insta360 cameras can be used as windows webcams, but there are probably cheaper options.

 

[markemark]

insta360 cameras can be used as windows webcams, but there are probably cheaper options.

I have tried a couple of options of turning camera/phone into a webcam but they then operate as video quality and far below my 10 year old 6 Mp camera

 

[Baldy]

I cannot see an easy way though to take the photo and have it save onto the PC. I have tried turning the phone into a webcam but the resolution drops massively to useless. I bought an £80 camera about 7 years ago. The quality of that is fine. I just need to be able to press click (even no the camera itself) and it appear saved in a PC folder.

I have Canon cameras, there's an app, I have it on the phone and PC. I can control the camera from either the photo's are saved on either PC or phone as well as the SD card. This is all via Wi-Fi. What camera are you using.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I don't know if the quality would be good enough for you @markemark, I have an app on on phone (Nokia) that shows all my pictures (taken on phone) when I boot up my laptop.
If I like, I can then download them to the laptop
The app only shows what's on the phone if you don't choose to save.
The app's name is Link to Windows.