Dropbox Hijacks Camera Mac/OS

[Frustrated99]

Hi.  I have a Sony Alpha connected to my Mac using the Imaging Edge Webcam software.  It's important for Zoom video to work for me.  However, if I have dropbox running I get the error message "Failed to connect to the camera due to conflict with the function of another applications that are running, or the camera's "PC remote" settings being not appropriate."   If I quit dropbox, the camera immediately connects and works perfectly.  If I start dropbox, the camera is immediately disconnected and I will get the message above again.   Quit dropbox again, and the cam comes back.   Very poor, since I depend on dropbox to exchange files.  From what I can tell, this has been an issue for years (I see posts from 2018 complaining of the same thing).  

[Walter]

Hi there @Frustrated99, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you clarify the Dropbox desktop app's exact status and version as shown in your menu bar at the moment? 

Also, can you send us a screenshot of the exact error you're getting?

Have you tried another OS profile or device perhaps to see if there's the same conflict by the way?

Any additional information you can share is more than welcome!

[JonnyBergdahl]

I have the exact same issue. MacOS Ventura 13.3.1, running on a Apple M1 Max.

Dropbox v 174.4.5852, not sure what you mean by "the Dropbox desktop app's exact status"?

The error message displayed is:
"Failed to connect to the camera due to conflict with the function of another applications that are running..."

Exiting Dropbox solves the issue, so it is obvious to me that Dropbox is locking a file or device.

The other webcam in my system does not suffer from this issue. 

[Jay]

Hi @JonnyBergdahl, have you tried disabling the camera upload feature in the Dropbox desktop application preferences?

[JonnyBergdahl]

I do not use Dropbox for camera uploads so yes, it is disabled.

regards;

/jb

[Jay]

Could you try unchecking the first tick on that preferences page, to prevent external drives from being detected, to see if this helps?

[JonnyBergdahl]

I unchecked all of them does not make any difference.

[Jay]

Thanks for the info, I'd recommend contacting the support team for them to investigate this matter in more detail.

[dmpp]

Did you ever find a resolution to this?

I wiped my m1 and m2 macbook pro clean and started with a fresh install of Monterey as well as Ventura.

I installed zoom.  I installed the sony imaging edge webcam, everything was fine. I then installed dropbox, and boom, same issue.

[JonnyBergdahl]

I opened a support case, they replied with several things to try, and none of them worked. The supportcase is now at the state where the support sends me a mail every week with this content: 

Hi Jonny,
 Thank you for alerting us to this problem. Dropbox engineers are aware of the problem and are working on a solution.
 Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
 Regards,

So no solution as of yet. At least the support case is kept open.

Regards;

/jb