title: Capturing a single image from my webcam in Java or Python
body: <p>I want to capture a single image from my webcam and save it to disk.  I want to do this in Java or Python (preferably Java).  I want something that will work on both 64-bit Win7 and 32-bit Linux.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: I use Python 3.x, not 2.x</p>
  
  <p>Because everywhere else I see this question asked people manage to get confused, I'm going to state a few things explicitly:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>I do not want to use Processing</li>
  <li>I do not want to use any language other than those stated above</li>
  <li>I do want to display this image on my screen in any way, shape or form</li>
  <li>I do not want to display a live video feed from my webcam on my screen, or save such a feed to my hard drive</li>
  <li>The Java Media Framework is far too out of date. Do not suggest it.</li>
  <li>I would rather not use JavaCV, but if I absolutely must, I want to know exactly which files from the OpenCV library I need, and how I can use these files without including the entire library (and preferably without sticking these files in any sort of PATH. Everything should be included in the one directory)</li>
  <li>I can use Eclipse on the 64-bit Win7 computer if need be, but I also have to be able to compile and use it on 32-bit Linux as well</li>
  <li><strong>If you think I might or might not know something related to this subject in any way shape or form, please assume I do not know it, and tell me</strong></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>EDIT2: I was able to get Froyo's pygame example working on Linux using Python 2.7 and pygame 1.9.1.  the pygame.camera.camera_list() call didn't work, but it was unnecessary for the rest of the example.  However, I had to call cam.set_controls() (for which you can find the documentation here <a href="http://www.pygame.org/docs/ref/camera.html">http://www.pygame.org/docs/ref/camera.html</a>) to up the brightness so I could actually see anything in the image I captured.</p>
  
  <p>Also, I need to call the cam.get_image() and pygame.image.save() methods three times before the image I supposedly took on the first pair of calls actually gets saved.  They appeared to be stuck in a weird buffer.  Basically, instead of calling cam.get_image() once, I had to call it three times every single time I wanted to capture an image.  Then and only then did I call pygame.image.save().</p>
  
  <p>Unfortunately, as stated below, pygame.camera is only supported on Linux.  I still don't have a solution for Windows.</p>