Can industrial cameras be used for streaming?

In this video Minvydas from Kurokesu sets up a simple experiment: can industrial machine vision cameras double as tools for everyday video content creation and live streaming? He doesn’t dive into technical specs – instead he connects several cameras, presses record and lets the results speak for themselves.

Setup

To test the idea he uses four Kurokesu C3-415C 4K USB cameras and arranges them around a single subject (himself). Each camera is fitted with a different lens:

A fisheye lens mounted above provides a bird’s‑eye view.
Two universal zoom lenses capture the main and secondary angles.
A telephoto lens is reserved for close‑ups and macro shots.

Because lenses are purely mechanical, he adjusts focus and zoom by hand and has flexibility where to set focus precisely. The variety of optics lets him switch between wide overviews and detailed close‑ups simply by changing cameras. All four cameras connect to one computer. Minvydas uses OBS Studio to manage the feeds. Switching between them during the recording is seamless.

Dealing with lighting and control

Lighting turns out to be the biggest challenge. The room is lit by just two LED lamps and whatever daylight comes through the windows, so brightness and color temperature fluctuate. To keep things simple he leaves all camera settings at defaults settings. However, he notes you can dive in and fine‑tune exposure, gain and other parameters via Windows controls or directly in OBS if you want more control.

What it’s like to use

The entire setup is quick to assemble and works reliably.
Swapping lenses and cameras is straightforward and gives you creative flexibility.
Having multiple viewpoints makes the resulting video more engaging.
The cameras are compact – smaller than their lenses – which makes them easy to transport for on‑location shoots.
Compared with consumer webcams he used in 2015-2019, these cameras offer far more manual control and better build quality.
He admits that playing with lighting remains the hardest part, especially with natural light, but that’s true of any video production.

Final thoughts

This experiment shows that with the right connectivity and software support, industrial machine‑vision cameras like the C3-415C can be used for streaming and content creation. You gain manual lens control, multiple angles and high build quality in a tiny package. If you’re comfortable adjusting lighting and using OBS, these cameras are a viable alternative to consumer webcams, offering a level of creative freedom Minvydas wishes he’d had years ago.