The Canon G7X range is without a doubt one of the most, if not the most popular point and shoot camera bodies in the world. Although at the time of writing, there are now three variants of the ever popular G7X camera available on the market, it just keeps on going from strength to strength with each month that passes and ensures that it grows both its reputation as well as its user base.

Although the Canon G7X camera range saw its initial growth amongst vloggers who were looking for a small, light, and cheap camera body that is able to offer excellent image quality, it has since become a popular option for photographers, social media influencers, and many others too. Due to being used by so many people for so many different things, we often see a wide range of questions being asked day in day out on how best to use the Canon G7X.

One of the most frequently asked questions that we see is based around things such as “Can I use my Canon G7X as a webcam” so we have decided to make this the main focus of todays article. With the exponential growth of live streaming, we have also noticed a number of people asking questions like “Can I use my Canon G7X for streaming?” so we have decided to answer both questions in one article due to them being so closely linked.

Can I Use My Canon G7X As A Webcam For Streaming?

Well, as we mentioned above, the Canon G7X point and shoot camera range now has three variants of the camera, the mark i, mark ii, and mark iii. At the time of writing, you are only able to use the Canon G7X mark iii as a webcam for streaming right out of the box due to the mark i and mark ii not having been designed for use as a webcam.

That said though, if you are using the Canon G7X mark i or mark ii there are some videos on YouTube that suggest there are work arounds to get your camera to work as a webcam. That said though, from what we have seen doing it will void your warranty and unless you know what you are doing, potentially damage your camera beyond repair.

Due to this, we would only recommend that you use a Canon G7X mark iii as a webcam for streaming due to it offering the functionality natively, right out the box without any “work arounds” needing to be implemented. With the popularity of steaming only increasing with each passing year, we also expect the Canon G7X mark iv as well as any additional additions to the camera range to support webcam functionality.

How Do I Set My Canon G7X Up As A Webcam

As we touched on above, this next section is only specific to the Canon G7X mark iii as the earlier variants of the camera do not offer this functionality. That said though, these are the steps to set your Canon G7X iii up as your input streaming webcam. To use your Canon G7X as a streaming webcam, we are going to be taking advantage of their stream to YouTube feature on the camera and there are expectations for additional services such as Twitch and Facebook to be added in a future firmware release.

Check Your WiFi

Although this will depend on the resolution that you are planning to use when using your Canon G7X as your webcam, the majority of people will probably be using 1080p or 4k as their input resolution. Both of these formats have a high data rate requirement and as the built in Canon G7X webcam function is wireless using your WiFi, the faster your router the better. That said though, the vast majority of modern routers will easily be able to let you use the 4k functionality.

It is also highly recommended that you setup your Canon G7X as close to your wireless router as possible to ensure you get the best web cam performance that you can. Any walls or other barriers in the way can cause the stream to slow or stop and will only cause you issues in the future.

Prep Your YouTube Account

As the built in webcam functionality of the Canon G7X uses YouTube, you will have to prep your YouTube account read to work with your camera. Thankfully, this step is quick and easy so you just login to your YouTube account, go to YouTube.com/features, scroll down, and then click on the enable button in the live streaming box.

You will often need to go through a short tutorial on how to use YouTube for streaming but if you have used YouTube for streaming before or have turned tutorials off in your account settings, this will not happen. Either way though, even if you do have to watch the tutorial, it only takes a few minutes.

Prep Your Canon Image Gateway Account

Next up you have to prep your Canon image gateway account so quickly go to canon.com/cig and create an account if you don’t have one already. You can do this at the press of a button if you want to use your Facebook or Google account or you can signup via email and it will take around a minute.

Prep Your Canon G7X For Use As A Webcam

Next up, you have to sync your Canon G7X iii to your Canon image gateway account to allow you to live stream and use your camera as a webcam. To do this, turn on your camera, once it has booted up, press the wireless button on the right hand side of your camera to quickly open the wireless camera settings.

Out of the options boxes that show up on your Canon G7X screen, select the cloud icon. You will then be asked to connect your Canon G7X to your home WiFi so put in your network name and password. Once your G7X is connected to your WiFi, you will be asked to login to your Canon image gateway account so input the required details. Finally, your camera will ask you to input a four digit code.

At this stage, Canon will send you a confirmation email and although it will often go to your inbox, check your spam folders if the email has not been delivered within five minutes. You will get a custom link in the email that Canon send you that takes you to the Canon image gateway to sync your Canon G7X with your Canon image gateway account.

Once you have done this, press the wireless button on your Canon G7X mark iii again, select the cloud icon like before, and select update web service. Depending on the firmware on your camera, this may take around five minutes so be patient but once the process is complete, a new icon, the Canon image gateway icon will appear on your wireless camera settings option.

In your Canon image gateway account, you should now see your Canon G7X under your registered wireless products. Click on your camera in the tab and then click on the web service settings option, then click the live streaming icon, and click settings. You will have to agree to the Canon privacy policy before it will allow you to continue and then click on web service settings, scroll down and click live streaming on.

Press the wireless settings button on the right hand side of your Canon G7X once more, click the cloud to get your camera to update its wireless settings and it should add the live streaming icon to the menu that allows you to use your Canon G7X mark iii as a webcam. Although you will be live streaming, you still need a memory card in your camera to stream, click the live streaming icon and you are finally ready to use your Canon G7X as a webcam for live streaming.

Getting The Best Possible Audio Quality

Another advantage of the Canon G7X mark iii is that it does have an external microphone input allowing you to use a decent, cheap external microphone with the Canon G7X to improve your audio quality. Thankfully, the audio track from your external microphone will be the one that the camera streams by default when using your G7X as a webcam helping you quickly and easily improve the audio quality available.

Streaming To Twitch Or Facebook With Your Canon G7X

As we mentioned back at the start of the article, at the time of writing, the Canon G7X mark iii will only support using the camera as a webcam for live streaming to YouTube. We have seen people say that they think both Twitch and Facebook will be added in a future firmware update for your camera so keep your firmware up to date if you are wanting to use your G7X as a webcam for Twitch or Facebook.