.net 3.5 windows form application, using webcam

Question

Having searched high and low for native c# hook to webcam, I found 5 basic ways to interact with the camera.

1. Video for Windows (VFW)
2. DirectX
3. avicap32.dll
4. WIA
5. 3rd party tools

My requirement is to take a photo. The application will be used on some legacy windows XP and Vista machines, but going forward Windows 7 and greater will be required. So what might the best approach be with the broad install base? Just reading WIA looked like the way to go but looks like some changes were made so it works a little different now (I don't know for sure). I understand that some people have done combos.

Might need to crop photo, but that is really about it.

For school visitor monitoring.

Answer 1

I think the best thing is to use the WIA. I know a third party toolkit that could help you doing your requirements which is leadtools. You can check this Tutorial