Sony releases Mac app to turn its cameras into webcams

Sony has released its eminently-useful webcam app for macOS, turning the company's digital cameras into higher quality webcams for you Mac. The hotly-anticipated macOS release follows Sony's version of the Sony Imaging Edge Webcam app launched for Windows PCs back in August.

The idea is simple. Rather than your laptop's built-in webcam, or a standalone USB webcam, you could use your Sony digital camera and whatever lenses you might have on hand instead. That way, you work around the current shortage of decent webcams – snapped up as many people discover they're working from home for the foreseeable future – and the fact that most laptop webcams make you look like a badly-lit potato.

It was good stuff, but there was a problem: Sony only had a version for Windows users. At the time, the company said that a Mac version of the Imagine Edge Webcam app was in the pipeline for the fall. Now, v1.0 is available for download.

It works with cameras from Sony's E-mount, A-mount, and DSC ranges, with almost 40 different models supported. The full list of compatible cameras is below. You'll need the latest firmware for them, it's worth noting.

The app is a free download, and all you'll need is a USB cable. This new version will work with any macOS 10.13-10.15 machine. At the same time, there's also a new version of Sony's app for Windows 10, clocking in at v1.1 now. That should iron out a few bugs users encountered along the way.

Sony isn't the only company offering software that turns a standalone camera into a webcam, mind. Olympus has versions of its OM-D Webcam app for both Windows and Mac, also launched this year, while Panasonic's Webcam beta does the same for its LUMIX models on both platforms.

α: E-mount（ILCE-）

ILCE-7M2

ILCE-7M3

ILCE-7C

ILCE-7RM2

ILCE-7RM3

ILCE-7RM4

ILCE-7S

ILCE-7SM2

ILCE-7SM3

ILCE-9

ILCE-9M2

ILCE-5100

ILCE-6100

ILCE-6300

ILCE-6400

ILCE-6500

ILCE-6600

α: A-mount（ILCA-）

ILCA-77M2

ILCA-99M2

ILCA-68

Digital Still Camera（DSC-）/ Vlog camera

DSC-HX95

DSC-HX99

DSC-RX0

DSC-RX0M2

DSC-RX100M4

DSC-RX100M5

DSC-RX100M5A

DSC-RX100M6

DSC-RX100M7

DSC-RX10M2

DSC-RX10M3

DSC-RX10M4

DSC-RX1RM2

DSC-WX700

DSC-WX800

ZV-1