How to take still images through a webcam?

xEnOn

I know that I can capture picture frames from webcam using the Video library. But most webcams claim that they can take still image shots, and pictures taken through the camera's picture taking function are usually sharper and of higher resolution than the frames from the video. The other problem with taking picture frames directly from the video is that they are always noisy and have motion issues.

Since I only need still images from the webcam, how can I use Processing to take a still image shot using the webcam's picture taking function?

hamoid

Does it have to be a webcam? You could use a command line program to control a camera and shoot really good high resolution pictures. I've used http://gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php for that purpose.

xEnOn

I'm using a webcam because it is small enough to fit into the casing of my project. A regular camera would be too huge and heavy I suppose?

So with a webcam, I can't really take pictures but only frames from its video stream?