Camera drivers
USB Video Class Drivers
Specific camera drivers are required for those cameras that aren’t plug_and_play. Camera drivers are also required for those that don’t yet have drivers updated in the operating systems such as Microsoft Windows XP or Vista. With the technology of USB Video Class standard most of the new cameras are compatible with any system. Many of the cameras are even compatible with the LINUX and the UNIX operating systems.
All webcams are different and require specific drivers. Manufacturers tend to bundle the drivers of the similar webcams as one when they sell the devices. Many a times the user can use an alternative camera driver for the webcam device that they are using. Windows in most cases has built in drivers for both webcams and the digital drivers. Even if you don’t find the camera driver for the specific digital camera for downloading the pictures, you can certainly use the camera wizard to install the device on your system.
Alternatively many of the CDs that carry the camera driver also come loaded with other software where you can edit the pictures and free software such as DirectX and Photoshop. You may be able to use many of the webcams with generic camera driver, but they will have limited capabilities only. Many of the manufacturers such as Logitech recommend that you install the camera drivers for their cameras to obtain the maximum out of their cameras.
Macam is a camera driver for the USB cameras
Macam is a camera driver for the USB cameras that will work on MAC OS. Specifically it’s great since it allows more than a few hundred USB cameras to work with the MAC system. It also supports the downloading of the images from many dual mode cameras. This is great for those webcams that aren’t’ supported by Apple. It supports Creative, Logitech, Acer, Dell to name just a few. Last updated, it supported 735 cameras. The most recent release version is the Macam 0.9.2. Visit the http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/ to know whether the webcam is macam supported for your MAC OS or not.
Third party drivers sites
There are third party sites that can be visited to obtain the camera drivers. Normally you can search with the make and the model number to get the specific camera driver. The camera driver is also available from the manufacturer such as Creative, Intel, Acer, Dell, Logitech etc.
Microsoft Up updates its list of camera driver along with other drivers every week. Check for the new updates to see whether the driver has been updated or not. If you still can’t find the camera driver that you have looking for, and then look at the CD or the floppy drive that arrived with the camera when you purchased the device. If all else fails, then install a generic for the device. At least the user would get the basic functions if not all the functions for the webcam.
