Zoom Camera Not Working

[kdavis1]

Hello - 
My camera has stopped working in Zoom calls. It is a built in camera on my Lenovo computer. My Camera app works and my video works on Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Here are the steps I've done so far

1. Log out, log back in
2. Confirmed Security permissions are turned on for the Camera on Zoom
3. Confirmed my built in camera slider is in the proper position
4. Confirmed no other application is open using my camera
5. Upgraded Zoom
6. Rebooted
7. Uninstalled and reinstalled Zoom

The camera video feed just remains black and my camera light on my computer slowly flashes a couple of times before stopping altogether. I have received a message once saying the background was taking a long time to load and asked if I wanted to proceed without the background (I had Blur turned on), and I said yes, but it still didnt work. I have since turned blur off and the camera still doesnt work. 

[VP13]

This happened to me also two days ago and has been persisting. Lenovo was of no help. Zoom as well. I've gone to BestBuy and spoke with Geek Squad twice. They did all the steps you did, and it worked there. As soon as I close the laptop and restart it at home, it's blank again. Something is not sticking. 

In a pinch I found this to be helpful, though it's a painful process to go through over and over. Go to settings, find camera, then navigate to Integrated Camera. It should work (this is only a Zoom issue, works well with Teams and Google Meet). Keep the settings camera on and open Zoom. Camera should work (most of the time) while running on both apps. I can't explain this but it works. Sometimes it does not, and you have to start the process again. But for each meeting you also need to start the process again. Zoom will not work if you leave and come back even if you keep the camera on in Settings. 

Wonder who can chime in on this. 

[kdavis1]

Hi there! Thanks so much for the response. This also recently happened to me - I believe it started up yesterday morning after my first call. So frustrating!

The instructions for going to settings... are you going to your Zoom settings or computer? In Zoom settings, I'm still only getting a black screen within Settings >Video or Settings > Background & Effects.

[VP13]

Which settings are you talking about? If for Zoom, it's very convoluted. It's not on the Zoom dashboard. You have to log into a Zoom meeting, then left click a little ^ sign next to camera icon on the lower left, click on video setting at the bottom of the pop-up menu. When the window comes up you will see "Advanced" in the middle of the footer of that window. Left click on that. Then choose last of the three "Video" pull-down menus. They should be all set to "Auto" by default. Then you change the last one to "Media"...

[Brandy_R]

This works but my video is upside down in zoom!?! what in the world. It's fine in the camera app. 

[VP13]

That's easy to fix by clicking on the rotate icon in the upper right hand corner in Zoom Video settings.

[MKieffer]

Are you going to settings in ZOOM or on your computer?

[Brandy_R]

The computer settings - go to the camera settings where you can see the video and keep it open while you are also in zoom. As soon as it's closed, the zoom camera no longer works. There's also a setting in zoom to flip the camera around if it's upside down. 

[CazJul]

Simply weird: I began writing a reply then it disappeared after navigating away for a few seconds. My Logi webcam with a USB connection won't recognise Zoom or Google teams, although it shows up as hardware on my Mac. All used to be find with High Sierra, but I've changed to Monterey, since when no camera connection. Zoom told me I can't get help because I've got no account which is r*bbish.

[Brandy_R]

This is hapening to me too just as of October 22. Didn't notice previously. Exact same thing though. Lenovo. Camera seems to work everywhere except Zoom. Teams and by itself are fine. 

[MKieffer]

Me too!  Also as of October 22nd.  It is so frustrating!  I have sent a ticket in to Zoom.  Crossing my fingers they have a solution.

[kdavis1]

Yes!! Mine stopped working on 10/22 as well! It's still not working, but I was able to get an external webcam to plug in via USB, and that works. At least I have a workaround for now...
@MKieffer how did you submit a ticket? Everything I found just kept pointing me to the community boards!

[VP13 · Accepted solution]

Hey, everyone! So I may have found a solution. After speaking with reps from Lenovo (not helpful and trying to charge extra for someone actually good), and then calling Microsoft tech support (not helpful, no live person), there was an answer on help.microsfot.com. One of the posters advised to reinstall Zoom and the camera (which clearly does not work). But the other advised to do the following (which works): 

1. Log into Zoom

2. Go to Settings

3. Go to Video

4. Scroll down to Advanced at the very bottom

5. Change Video Capturing Method from "Auto" to "Media Foundation"

This should work.

What I also found works in a pinch, though extremely inconvenient, is logging into the laptop camera and keeping it on while logging into Zoom. It defies logic because the camera technically is open in two concurrent apps and should not be working. But it worked like that as if Zoom camera function was piggy backing on the general camera. But that also meant keeping the laptop plugged in all day and general camera on. I could log in and out of Zoom camera as long as the main one stayed on. The moment I experimented and turned the main camera off and then on and logged into Zoom, it did not work unless I repeated all the steps from going into setting to turning on the camera. So this also works but again, changing video capturing in Zoom should do the trick. 

All the best!

[MKieffer]

So - I logged in and went to Settings.  Where is Video once you are in Settings?  I am not finding it anywhere

Thanks in advance for the help

[Brandy_R]

Open settings in the zoom desktop app. Then there's Video in there. 

[csain]

This worked for me: Change Video Capturing Method from "Auto" to "Media Foundation"

[SCOPED_216]

Same same .. and yes!! This seems to be working. Thank you so much. Lenovo was helpful and went through everything with me to confirm the issue was not my hardware. This was so great - thank you for sharing. Get with it, Zoom ... clearly it's on your end! Thanks. 

[VP13]

I just posted a long reply but it disappeared. In short:

1. Go to Zoom Settings

2. Video

3. Advanced Settings

4. Video Captioning Method - change from Auto to Media Foundation

[Brandy_R]

Just tried it (Video Capturing). It does work! Thanks! 

[VP13]

Which settings are you talking about? If for Zoom, it's very convoluted. It's not on the Zoom dashboard. You have to log into a Zoom meeting, then left click a little ^ sign next to camera icon on the lower left, click on video setting at the bottom of the pop-up menu. When the window comes up you will see "Advanced" in the middle of the footer of that window. Left click on that. Then choose last of the three "Video" pull-down menus. They should be all set to "Auto" by default. Then you change the last one to "Media".