How to Make Your Sony a6400 Camera a Webcam (Step-by-Step)
Having a killer looking camera for your videos is great, but there are usually a few hoops you need to go through. In this step-by-step, you’ll learn all the hardware, and software settings, you need to convert your Sony a6400 into a Webcam.
Watch the Video
The Gear
Recently I picked up the Sony a6400 as my new webcam, and despite watching several YouTube videos on how to hook it up to my computer, there was some missing information. First off, there was some gear I needed to pick up:
- A Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable
- A U3 capable memory card
- The Elgato Cam Link 4K
I also made to sure to pick up the plug-in battery so the camera doesn’t die while I’m recording. Here’s everything you’ll need in a nice convenient Kit:
The Chain
Once you have everything in place, the chain works like this.
- Add the plug-in battery and memory card
- Plug the micro HDMI side of the cable into the camera
- Plugin the HDMI side of the cable into the Cam Link
- The other side of the Cam Link is USB. If you can, plug this directly into the computer
On the camera, make sure the dial is set to movie recording mode. If you keep it on Auto, you will not be able to use 4K:
The Software Settings
Once your camera is ready to go, you might notice you’re getting a ton of extra display information in the shot. This is easily fixable:
- Press the Menu button
- Go to the Setup Tab (it’s Yellow with a toolbox)
- Then to got Setup4
- Select HDMI Settings
- Make sure HDMI Info. Display is set to “Off”
Once this is set, you’re ready to start recording, which you can do right from Quicktime or OBS.
Have any questions or advice? Leave them in the comments below!
If I add a mic to a computer How will that work?
Hi Maggie – wherever you record will allow you to set the audio input separately from the video input. For example, in quicktime, you can set the mic to whatever mic you connect. Here’s how to do that (in quicktime): https://casabona.org/2020/04/improve-recording-at-home/
I have this exact setup but no signal. Tried a gopro7 no issue. With the A6400 nothing. Any idea?
I have a A6400 and it looks nowhere close to the streamers online. Is there something Iām doing wrong?
hello, the sony a6400 allows for charing while shooting… why would you still need a dummy battery? Thanks
ATNONIO – No you dont, the camera will keep charging even after you press the ok to leave usb mode or whatever it says.
Does video get recorded to my memory card while streaming?
How to do Webcam on zoom meeting website with my a6400 with a windows computer
I have set up an a6400 for streaming, with the CamLink and a dummy battery. It keeps turning off mid-stream! Is there a setting I need to check?
Great stuff Joe! My A6400 (using Elgato) is working on Zoom, but won’t work on Loom….any ideas??
Is Cam Link Necessary along with Micro HDMI cable if I already have HDMI port in my laptop?
@Vikrant That’s an HDMI output, not an input…
I have a blue yeti mic into the Mac and the camera into the camlink4k. Issue is the audio and video seems to be off by like 0.2 seconds – vid/audio not synced when doing live or even recording. Any idea on that?
I unplugged my traditional video camera and switched it with the a6400, I have a 3.5mm audio input that I use for live streaming. It worked fine with the video camera but the A6400 seems to be very noisy. Why? I can’t find a audio adjustment on the camera input. Is there a way to remedy this?
Hi, I can use my sony a 6400 with Zoom directly (no need for Elgato because of an update on Zoom’s end) but aside from Zoom, I also heavily use Google Meets and Discord for work video meetings. Will using Elgato enable me to do that? Thanks!
Hello Joe,
Maybe you can help me. I did pretty much everything told in your article/your youtube video (cam link 4k in the . It’s still doesn’t work. I actually want3.0 port, settings into the sony camera, etc.) to record myself with the sony a6400 and record a game at the same time, but the video with the sony is lagging verry much… and i have the black screen for the gaming capture mode. I spent hours trying to fix the problem with other youtube video, but I’m not geting anywhere. Could you help me?
Thank you,
Karine
P.S: I have an Asus Rog laptop NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960M Intel core i7 if it can help š
Is there a way to fix the grain like image it is displaying on OBS without touching the camera? Is there anything we can do in the cam link software?
I have this all working…BUT, I do all of my work every day on Zoom. I want to use the Sony A6400 as a web cam for zoom. But, I seem to have to reset everything every time. Zooming in and getting the lighting right and all. Is there a way to get this done once and leave it. I may have my camera on 5 or 6 times a day for Zoom calls and I have to redo everything every time.