Camera Owner Asks Canon: Why Does Webcam Software Cost $5 a Month?

“Software development is not free and I am happy to pay for software that I use regularly,” Zipp writes. However, Canon is a hardware company, not a software company, and they should – due to the lack of standards – provide software that allows you to use their cameras as intended. Development costs aside, there is no justification for a subscription model, especially from a company that is almost makes $3 billion in profits.”

Zipp’s stinging complaint made the front page of Hacker News, where commentators were immediately sidetracked in a discussion about British tariff laws on video equipment, sneakers, cookies and ethanol. But further down will appear recommendations for the open source Magic Lantern camera add-on software, or possibly CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) firmware. Whether Zipp would be better off using his camera as a webcam is beside the point, or at least the point he’s making.

Many more expensive (or at least better than smartphone) cameras output video in formats that computers and web conferencing software cannot natively accept. HDMI output is an option, but using it typically requires a recording device and special software to mix and use it, and that the camera provides a “clean” HDMI output, with no overlays. The G5 X Mark II seems to offer that and has a USB-C port. It also seems to work fine once the software is paid for. It’s an open question whether Canon should provide this as part of the cost of the camera, a question that Zipp and many commentators have an answer to.

Ars has contacted Canon for comment and will update this message if the company responds.