Windows 10: Disabling auto-light adjustment on the Camera app for a HP 5m webcam

How do you disable the light adjustment on a HP Envy 32 all-in-one computer with a HP 5M video camera? When I'm on a Zoom or Teams meeting, the video is constantly brightening and darkening the picture if I move just a little changing the lighting slightly??


The windows app controling the camera is standard MS Camera

:)

 

Reusing old laptop webcam as USB camera

I took the webcam from an old Compaq 620 laptop and after a few wire connections I can connect it to the USB port

For a few seconds it is detected as HP Webcam 2.0 in device manager under Cameras (which also shows the built in Webcam for this laptop), but then after a while the Device Manager window refreshes and the webcam from the old laptop goes under the node Imaging Devices and it is listed as HP Universal Camera Driver. The old laptop is broken so I cannot test it again, but if I remember correctly it's webcam used to shown as HP Webcam 2.0 as well, in device manager

However, the problem is that the external USB camera is not detected by any application. I have tested using online webcan test sites (eg, Webcam Test) and using Skype's camera settings window (it shows a preview of the selected webcam), but in both cases I can only see the built in webcam on the detected cameras list

Since the USB camera initially shows up as HP Webcam 2.0 for a few seconds initially (when auto installing drivers for the first time), if I manage to open skype's audio settings window within that period, the USB webcam does show up in the detected cameras list, but by them it will have become detected as HP Universal Camera driver and disappears from the skype camera list.

I have seen blogs and videos online of other people using their old laptop webcams as external USB webcams, so this should be possible for at least some models. Since it is consistently detected as a USB device I am supposing the connections are correct as well. I do have 4 diodes connected in series to the USB +5V line before it goes to the camera, and each diode drops about 0.5 V, so the camera is only seeing about 3 V. Since USB detection works up to the driver auto-installation point I am assuming power isn't an issue.

Is there anyway to test whether this webcam works as a USB webcam or not? Could this just be an issue of finding the correct drivers? Once this gets detected as HP Universal Camera Driver in the device manager, going to driver upgrade and auto-searching online only says the best driver is already installed. I have also tried searching for compaq 620 webcam windows 10 drivers but they don't seem to be available. Is there some kind of generic driver that should always work with any camera? Could this be a windows 10 issue? Would this work on linux? I'm not sure how to test webcams on Linux though.

EDIT:

I found possible drivers here:

HP Compaq 620 Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP

I could not find camera drivers for Windows 10 in HP's official page. This new linked page claims the camera driver is for Windows 10, and says the device name is HP Webcam [2 MP Fixed], which is what I expect, downloading the driver downloads files whose name implies camera device is manufactured by realtek. While using the webcam in my old laptop before I never recall Realtek being associated with anything to do with the webcam (this name was associated with the network card only) and looking at the PCB of the webcam itself doesn't indicate it is related to realtek in any way. Would it be risky to try and install this driver anyway? The new laptop is also an HP with the webcam being detected as Asus. I just don't want the drivers for the USB webcam to interfere with the built in one.

EDIT 2:

I installed drivers from the link above. The camera now shows up under Imaging Devices (not sure why it does not show up under Camera like the built in webcam) node as HP Webcam 2.0. It is also detected by applications such as skype (shows up in camera setup window's detected cameras list) but if I select the webcam skype just hangs up and I need to force close it from the task manager. If I disconnect the webcam the built-in webcam shows up and skype runs normally. The driver download link above comes with a webcam testing utility called "RsCap.exe". This utility also shows the usb webcam in it's list, but hangs if I select and try to preview the webcam. If I disconnect the webcam the built in webcam previews normally and is pretty fast.

I booted the computer using a USB live install of puppy linux and used the built in USB scanning tool to scan for everything connected to USB. This is what it shows regarding the usb webcam and the built in webcam.

Built in webcam:

Usb webcam:

Is there anyway to use this usb webcam?

 

How to turn off auto brightness adjustment on the WEBCAM

Hi there. I am lucky enough to have a desk in front of a window, so I have tons of natural light shining on to my face and room. With a properly adjusted camera, this looks wonderful. However, Windows has decided that their auto-brightness on the webcam
is just perfect, and therefore there is no reason anyone would want to turn it off, so as far as I know, you can't turn it off in settings. It is not perfect. When I go into the camera app, into "Pro" mode, and adjust the brightness slider, the image looks
perfect, the background not under-exposed, and my face not over-exposed. However, when I am in a zoom meeting or such, the camera is constantly fluctuating, zooming back and forth from me being a white blob to turning my brown hair black. I do not want this,
this an artefact of the CAMERA auto-brightness, NOT the screen auto-brightness. Please, do not leave me a link on how to disable screen auto-brightness, that is all I am seeing on similar questions, and that is NOT what I am looking for.

 

Enable built-in camera for Windows 10 HP 8470p

Hi,

We suggest you to run hardware and devices troubleshooter and check if it helps.

Please follow these steps:

• Type troubleshooting in the search box on taskbar and click on it in.
  
• Click "View all" and then click "Hardware and Devices".
  
• Click "Next" and follow on-screen instructions.

For more information regarding camera, refer to the article below:

Camera app and webcams help

We also suggest to contact HP support for best help.

Let us know how it goes. Thank you.